Minimal Monday: Magic Capsules

A lot (okay, the majority) of my research on reduced consumption/simplification/minimalism has focused on clothing. Behold my platonic ideal:

I get that this wardrobe won’t transform my quasi-suburban house into a warehouse studio. But I do imagine a freer, more actualized self, much like the women in the Title Nine catalog:

Vocation: Nonprofit Communications
Avocation: Knitting and Sewing
Kryptonite: Naps
Fridge: Cold-brewed coffee and string cheese

The pressure (real or imagined) to have a consistent but not redundant "look"  has stopped me from paring down my wardrobe. As a former colleague used to say, these might be “old feelings that are not appropriate for the situation I’m in right now.” I entered the workforce in 1992 in a large but conservative city. Weekend- and work-wear were distinct categories, business casual environments were rare, and dressing for the job you wanted meant owning a week’s worth of different skirt suits.

I'm the one on the left.

It’s 25 years later. I live in a casual city in the laid-back southwest and work part-time for a nonprofit. I’m pretty sure no one thinks about my outfit frequency. With this in mind, I dove into my wardrobe.

The resulting "system" is a 6 Items or Less/Miss Minimalist mash-up. I've designated four "modules" of roughly 6 items each: Fall/Winter work,  Fall/Winter home/errands/dates, Spring/Summer work, and Spring/Summer home/errands/dates. The home/errands/dates capsules definitely skew towards home/errands. Unless you go on a date to the grocery store, which is a very real thing when your kids are little.

I'm going to re-visit my Make Nine list this week, and this whole exercise has caused me to rethink (for the 800th time) my approach to making clothing.

Have you ever experimented with a small-ish wardrobe?