Hey everyone! so right around a year ago I decided to do project 333
and I challenged myself to do it for a full year
people want smaller and more curated wardrobes for different reasons
for me I wanted to: invest in fewer but better quality and ethically made pieces,
refine my style I had quite an eclectic mix of stuff
and items that I had from high school and I just really wanted to
refocus and figure out a little bit more what my personal style was,
wear the items that I enjoy the most and get lots of use out of them,
not feel overwhelmed when I look in my closet at all my clothes,
be more sustainable a smaller closet with better quality items is a lot more
environmentally friendly then a huge closet full of disposable clothing
and there was also an element of necessity
I knew that we were moving overseas in the fall and had limited storage space and that we could take with us
Right around a year ago I was researching capsule wardrobes
and that's how I came across project 333
it was the perfect challenge and push that I needed
plus I really wanted to see if I would actually be happy with a smaller wardrobe
for the initial declutter I did what I think a lot of people do I hauled
everything out and I started dividing it into piles of
things I wanted to for sure keep things I wanted to donate
and then the maybe pile one thing I found really helpful was to think about
if that piece wasn't currently in my closet, would I purchase it if I saw it in the store?
for my first big declutter I had a lot of problems with the maybe pile
but I ended up packing it up and revisiting it quite a few times and
slowly whittling it down into the things that I for sure wanted to keep
and what I wanted to donate
I ended up donating 3 huge garbage bags full of clothes
and also giving a ton of stuff away to friends
If you're new to project 333, just getting started, or feel like you could use some guidance
I really recommend the Dress with Less Microcourse which I'll link to below
it's really helpful and walks you through both the decluttering process
and building your capsule wardrobe
when building your capsule I think it's really important to focus on your favorite items
the items that you wear the most and that are most often in your laundry
and build around those. I decided to buy
very little especially for the first few seasons
and I found that really helpful unless you can see very glaring holes in your wardrobe
I think it's really good to not purchase things right away
because as you wear your capsule wardrobe you not only refine your style a bit more
but you get a much better sense of what's missing
it's also really helpful to take note
of what it is about your favorite pieces that make them your favorites
and also what it is about the pieces that you don't wear so often?
is it the colour? the cut? maybe the fit?
by thinking about those things it helps with your future capsule wardrobe planning
it helps with defining your style and it also helps when shopping for new pieces
and it's really important to not stress if things aren't perfect
it's a huge learning experience and things arn't going to be perfect
I learned that: you don't need a huge wardrobe to be happy and to look good,
it feels really nice to get rid of things and have extra space,
I enjoy both the simplicity and the surprising creativity that came along
with having a capsule wardrobe,
people don't notice and don't care if you wear the same outfit,
having a capsule wardrobe helps you be a lot more analytical and thoughtful about
new purchases
it really reinforced my desire to invest in quality pieces that i'm gonna have
for a really long time, it's good to look for versatility both the pieces that I
already own and with any new purchases,
sticking to neutral colors is easier but definitely not necessary,
it really helps to notice patterns in your dressing what are the pieces that
you wear most? what are the outfits you wear most?
and what are the items that really connect those pieces well
to create lots of different options? and it's good to identify if there are
connecting pieces that might be missing
so for example if you have a lot of casual tops but don't tend to wear them
because they feel too casual
it may be worthwhile to invest in something like a blazer so that you can dress them up
and get more use out of them and it's always important to focus on what works for you
not feel the need to copy other people's capsule wardrobes or fit into any kind of mould
I've noticed that there is a tendency to focus
on the rules and while they provide a really great framework
and challenge it's also important to identify what does and doesn't work for you
remember that you're doing this for yourself and no one else
so if you want to swap something out, add in an extra piece,
change the season time-frame, or remove a category
that's totally fine! It's your journey and your experience!
so what happens next? for me going forward after this year long challenge
I'm definitely always going to have a capsule wardrobe I'm never going back
I bought very few things throughout the year and now I have a much better sense
of what I want my capsule wardrobes to look like
so I'm slowly going to be investing in and replacing some key pieces
and I'm going to allow myself to be a lot more flexible with the guidelines
for example when I was in Canada the season's definitely didn't match up
perfectly to what the weather was
so I'm not going to worry about if 1 season is maybe a little bit shorter and
another season is a little bit longer
I'm gonna be less strict about the 33 item limit
that worked really well for spring and summer but I found it
to be maybe a little too few for me personally during fall and winter
with layering and everything I think I'd be more comfortable in the 35 to 38 piece range
and I'm not gonna feel guilty if I decide to wear something that's
outside of my capsule wardrobe I have a couple fancier dresses that I never
included because I didn't think that they would get enough wear
and as a result they got no wear or love
and I do really like those dresses so I think going forward
I'm just gonna wear them if I want to, if the occasion is right and not
feel guilty that they're not part of my capsule wardrobe
and in the same vein something that I actually missed was occasionally
borrowing my husband clothes
again I didn't want to do it I felt bad doing it because it wasn't part of my
capsule wardrobe
so going forward I'm gonna occasionally borrow them
and that's fine and I'm not gonna feel bad about it so I do want to emphasize
that it shouldn't be at all about guilt
and suffering it's about challenging yourself and a learning experience so
don't worry about making any adjustments that you need to
looking back at this year I'm actually really amazed at how much having
capsule wardrobe has taught me about myself about personal style and about
the role and value clothing play in my life
I not only love and appreciate my clothes more but I feel more confident wearing them
I'm also really excited to continue to build a curated capsule wardrobe
of ethically minded pieces that work well together and reflect my lifestyle
personal style and values
I hope you enjoyed this look back at my year of project 333
I'm so happy that I decided to do this and for any of you thinking about trying it
I definitely encourage you to take the challenge I learnt so much that I don't
think I would have if I hadn't limited my pieces to only 33 items
and it was such a great learning and personal growth experience
so I would love to hear your thoughts, comments, tips, or anything that you've
learned from having capital wardrobe
thank you so much for joining me and have a great day!