Suddenly feeling that urge to freshen up your wardrobe? We all like to think we’re spontaneous and unpredictable, but as soon as the first sign of sunshine rolls we inevitably get that itch for a spring clean. And there’s nowhere more satisfying to start than your closet.
Did you know that on average women wear just 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time? While many will express shock when hearing that stat, we can all sadly believe that it’s true.
We have closets bursting full of clothes that we bought with every good intention, but for one reason or another – often our fear of stepping out of our comfort zone in real life as opposed to a store changing room – they never get worn.
But do you ever think about the journey that that specific piece has been on prior to its destination at the back of your wardrobe?
With more and more awful truths about the industry’s ethical failures and its unsustainability being exposed every day, it’s time to get serious about our waste. And that means jumping onto the ‘capsule wardrobe’ bandwagon.
Less w*nky than it sounds, it really just refers to having clothes in your wardrobe that you actually wear and not having any that you don’t. It’s, really, what a regular wardrobe should be, but we misused them to such an extent that we now have to add the prefix.
Don’t think it’ll catch on? Marie Kondo, the Japanese organising consultant and author, recently landed a wildly popular Netflix show thanks to her devotion to the immaculate, minimal wardrobe – so we’d suggest that it already has.
So how to transition yours from the current mass of fabric to a tight edit of pieces you’ll use and re-use constantly?
There are really only 9 things you absolutely need. And we’ll give you, let’s say, 20-30 free slots to fill with all the (re-wearable!) extras – such as t-shirts, party dresses, and skirts – that you see fit.
Scroll down to read up on the essential foundations for every capsule wardrobe…
For more from Glamour UK’s Fashion Editor Charlie Teather, follow her on Instagram @charlieteather