The best way I can understand the French Five, and see its great potential merit, is actually without rigid rules but with general concepts and lots of arithmetic.
Assume you have a budget. Any budget. That is finite or with some range even accounting for "fudging".
So let's say $2000 per year--just picking a number out of a hat--you could halve it, double it or triple it, or, more on that below.
You review your wardrobe, style goals, occasion needs--assuming you need anything--so it actually assumes you have some mental/inner image of wardrobe goals and even what's out there to fulfill them with.
First, can you identify a signature style and a few great silhouettes or 'uniforms" or even ways of putting clothes together that seem really "you". Then, what helps you be happy with wearing the fewer pieces multiple times or ways--color, fabrics, simple styles, fashion-forward styles?
Then...Would a new good winter coat or trench in a great fit and style amp up your look? Do you need new leather boots for winter? Did you find some amazing jeans that make you and all your outfits look great? Did you review your sweaters and decide that you look and feel great in gray cashmere V-neck but don't have one and want a high-quality one? Would a wrap dress in a neutral color fit this goal? Etcetera.
So... if you think about where you could find these pieces and at what price points. You have a focus for wardrobe items that work together or form small capsules that work.
So....if you buy the coat, the boots, a sweater, possibly designer jeans. a dress, in really good quality (and this is a debatable continuum, IMO) unless you are thrifting or getting great sales, then poof, half your budget is gone; and if you aren't counting underwear, PJ's and so on, you don't even have half. So maybe it's 5 or it's 4 or it's 8, but it's likely not 20 or 30 if you are buying retail.
Extremely savvy and successful bargain or e-bay hunters could throw off this math, of course.
Yet, you over time build a better wardrobe than if you bought 5 tops at TJMaxx every month.
The "more on that" concept that I see is that if over time you also decide you don't need 6 winter coats, 8 pairs of boots, 12 pairs of jeans, 20 sweaters, whatever, and/or if your items last a bit longer and your turnover is less, and/or if you had earmarked a larger budget but decide you can find lower price points, or both, then you either a) could splurge on really high-priced items (I mean, things you might never even have considered before ) if somehow they spoke to you or b) you could take a trip to Paris packing your 10-piece French wardrobe!
If your budget is $5000 and you don't really lust after anything that costs more than $100 and you want to spend your whole clothing budget every year, then you'll buy lots of items.
I think the pathway that most likely would work for me is (b). I occasionally notice some super high-priced item that looks great--quality, fabric, leather--but I'm also skittish about wearing anything that costs huge $$--just makes me nervous! and I have realized that my work and lifestyle don't really care about or demand exotic expensive outfits or status items. There is a certain middle ground that works for me. So if I continued to try to work with the "best of" sort of moderate retailers and sales here and there, maybe a wildcard or "name" item here or there, but kept total numbers of items lower, I could probably eat my cake in Paris, fully clothed.
