Capsule Wardrobe Templates

As I mentioned in my last post in this series ("Curating My Perfect Wardrobe!"), this is where I am going to break down how I am going to create my capsule wardrobes.

10x10 Capsule Wardrobe

The purpose of the 10x10 capsule is to create a small wardrobe for in-depth analysis.  The goal is to track my outfits, activities, and weather.  I also want to track whether the outfit/type of clothing was appropriate for the activity and weather.  The plan is to organize the 10 days (actually 11 days) to cover 1 work week and 2 weekends.  This means that 5 of the daily outfits will be for work, and 4 will be free time/the weekend.  To start breaking down the categories for this capsule, I used the 5-4-3-2-1 method as a guideline.  If you are unfamiliar with this method, I wrote a separate post on it related to travel.  Using this as my guideline, I decided on:

• 4 tops
• 3 bottoms
• 2 layers
• 1 special

I figured this gave a good spread of items.  Then, I broke it down even further based on the 5:4 work-to-casual ratio.

• 4 tops
• 2 work
• 2 casual
• 3 bottoms
• 1 formal
• 1 work
• 1 causal
• 2 layers
• 1 work
• 1 casual
• 1 special: jacket or dress (depending on season)

Based on this breakdown, I then looked holistically at the different 10x10 capsules across the year.  According to the schedule in my last post, there will be 8 capsules every 6 weeks or so.  I then opened up a spreadsheet and started to piece together what types of clothes would fill each category during which season.  This way I would be able to have a good variety of items despite the small number of items to mix and match based on the weather.

30x30 Capsule Wardrobe

The 30x30 capsule is basically a smaller seasonal wardrobe.  Since I now live in a climate with 4 seasons which I am not entirely familiar with, it made sense to split the seasons in half, especially with such a small wardrobe (30 items).  This allowed me to split up early spring from late spring, for example, which are both rainy but with very different temperatures.  Similar, to the 10x10 capsule I broke down the 30 items into categories and went from there.

• 10 tops
• 9 bottoms
• 8 layers
• 3 special

Unlike in the 10x10, during the ~30 day period, the outfits are not as evenly split for work and casual wear.  Over 5 weeks (35 days), I would be at work for 5 days a week versus a 2-day weekend.  This should translate into 5 work outfits and 2 casual outfits per week.  However, it is more likely that there will be additional casual outfits that I would wear during the work week if I go out in the evenings.  Also, I don't particularly mind outfit-repeating at work (i.e. wearing the same five outfits at work each week), but generally, when I hang out with friends, I am more selective about my outfit.  As a result, my work-to-causal clothes ratio isn't 5 to 2.  Instead, I opted for a minimum of 5 work items per category.

• 10 tops
• 6 work
• 4 casual
• 9 bottoms
• 1 formal
• 4 work
• 4 casual
• 8 layers
• 5 work
• 3 casual
• 3 special
• 1 jacket
• 2 dress