﻿Own LESS Clothes Yet Build MORE Outfits [0:00:00]
So, perhaps the biggest misconception I see out there about men's style
is that you need to be rich. You need to have a lot of clothing to look good.
Gents, I'm here to tell you that that is not true. In fact, in today's video, I'm going to share with
you a minimalist style philosophy that's going to enable you to build a wardrobe with more outfits
with less clothing spending less money. Are you ready? Let's do
this. [Music]
Now, the style philosophy I’m about to share with you is deceptively simple,
but don't let that fool you. In fact, most guys don't implement this and therefore,
go out there and buy a lot of clothing spend a lot of money, but have nothing to wear.
So, the style philosophy I'm talking about is known as the capsule wardrobe. It was
first coined the word, capsule wardrobe, by Susie Faux in the 1970s. And the idea here was
basics that could be mixed and matched. Then, in the 1980s, designer, Donna Karan,
she actually put out a set of clothing designed to be a capsule wardrobe for women.
Now, menswear designers eventually stole the term and I think we've perfected it
here at Real Men Real Style by breaking the capsule wardrobe into three parts.
As you can see here with this simple Venn diagram, we've got direction, interchangeability,
and quality. When you have all three of those things in your closet, you've got a capsule
wardrobe, a set of clothing that's going to enable you to get more outfits from less clothing.
Now, if you're watching this and thinking, “Well, that sounds not inspiring,
that sounds like a boring wardrobe.” Guys, stick around to the end of this video,
I'm going to address specifically how to make sure your capsule wardrobe is not boring.
And, in fact, I'm going to have some lookbooks that you can check out,
so you can look at different combinations you can put together and how they would look on you.
And with that being said, let's dive right into this. So first up, direction. What do
we mean by this? The direction that you want to take this wardrobe, what
message do you want to send with your image? So, the first factor here is what does your
physical environment demand? We're talking about the weather, we're talking about where you live.
If you're down in Miami, the way you dress the way you put your wardrobe together is going to be
very different than if you're over in Seattle, if you're up in Chicago, if you're over in New York
City, if you're urban, if you are rural. You've got to take all of that into consideration.
Whenever you're getting advice from somebody whenever you're looking at pieces of clothing,
you've got to say, you know what? Is this going to suit my physical environment?
I mean, if you're in Southern Cal, when it comes to outerwear, you really
don't have as many options because you don't need the options. Peacoats, overcoats, I mean,
they look great, but you probably don't need to add one to your wardrobe versus looking at
headwear, spending a bit more on sunglasses. When it comes to casual lightweight shoes for a
warmer environment, that's where you want to maybe spend your money.
If you're over in Chicago, you get the four seasons. In New York City,
you're in an urban environment and you don't own a car, you're commuting, so you want to make
sure you're spending more on footwear that's going to be very practical at the same time,
look good, but be easy to take care of. Next up, let's talk about your professional
need. Are you blue collar? Are you white collar? Are you someone that works
at home or you go into an office and you interact with clients on a daily basis?
This is going to have a huge effect on are you going to go with more formal clothing?
Clothing that sends a message of confidence or you're going to go for a little bit more casual
clothing? Clothing can be laid back because you're just talking to people on the phone?
That being said, you still want something that makes you feel good. And believe it or not,
even with relaxed dress codes around the world, there are still professions there
are still positions in which the clothing you wear sends a signal of who you are.
If you're a lawyer in a construction firm, it doesn't matter that everyone else in the
construction firm dresses down. The thing is you are the lawyer, you're making sure that
everything is great. And the contracts, these are multi-million dollar deals,
you're expected to dress like an attorney. That being said, if you are a consultant
and you travel a lot, you're over on the west coast moving over into down South Texas,
where it gets hot and humid. Yes, you want to have clothing you can pull off, maybe a jacket.
But, it is something when you go into that air-conditioned office
and you're going to be around other consultants at McKinsey or Bain, you want to be able to have that
blazer jacket that sports jacket that you could put on to basically match them in their dress.
Last, but not least, let's talk about your personal style. This is where you bring
something fun, you bring something unique into the combination. And I think even in
conservative environments, you can have fun. I actually knew a lawyer. He loved skulls and
crossbones. He was a pirate guy and he actually had them on cufflinks, he had them on a ring.
He felt it actually kind of sent a message of a little bit of intimidation. I don't
know about that, but I do know that he had fun even in an environment in which a lot
of people think that you can't. And this is the difference of, hey, yes,
you may have to wear a suit, you may be required in your blue collar job to wear a uniform,
but can you actually adjust it? Could you actually adjust the fit on that uniform, so it looks better
on you? Can you actually really wear that suit? Yes, you need to wear a dark colored suit,
but can you bring in a pinstripe? Can you bring in a set of pocket square?
Can you have fun with the necktie? Instead of going with a necktie, maybe bring in a
bow tie because they're just as formal. The point is you can have fun and you can
wear this clothing, so it looks great on you and you feel like a million bucks.
[0:05:00] The next key concept in
the capsule wardrobe is interchangeability. I've actually talked about this a lot on my channel,
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So, going deeper on the idea of interchangeability, how do you
make sure that the items that you're buying are all going to work together? One of the
first things you want to do is make sure that you're going with the same level of formality.
If in general you've determined the direction is going to be a bit dressier, you work
in a banking institution, you're a consultant, you're a lawyer, you're wearing suits, then
bringing in casual shoes is not going to be part of that particular capsule wardrobe.
And you could have multiple capsule wardrobes by the way. You can have one that's more casual,
you could have a capsule wardrobe that is more formal. But, assuming that we're
sticking with one, you want to make sure that the formality level of the items is about the same.
It sounds obvious, but so many times I see somebody falls in love with an item because
it's on sale or it looks really good as an individual piece, but it's not going to work
with the other items in their wardrobe. If you got a very casual wardrobe,
it doesn't matter how much those dress shoes are on sale, you don't have anything to wear
them with or any occasion, so skip them. Next up comes color. And this is where so
many people fall in love with things that are a little bit shiny, things that draw a little
bit of attention, things that they think have a bit of, wow, there's a pop to it,
I got to bring that into my wardrobe. The reality is, gents, is that the vast
majority of items in your wardrobe are going to be boring base colors. If you can compare
it to painting, these are the colors that are basically just going to set the stage.
We're talking white. That's going to be about 20% of your wardrobe. Gray is going to be about 18% of
your wardrobe. Navy blue, 14% of your wardrobe. Black, 13% of your wardrobe. True blue, 12% of
your wardrobe. Brown, 10% of your wardrobe. And right there, we're at 87%
and we haven't thrown in really any bright colors, anything that stands out.
Now, why go with all of those bland colors? Because they're easy to mix and match. They are
easy to form the base. And believe it or not, those bright colors a lot of people think are
really fashionable, they like to draw attention with, it's like salt and seasoning. You don't have
to add a whole lot to an outfit to make it pop. [0:10:02]
Now, with that remaining 13%, how would I fill it? I know for me personally with my colors with
my complexion, 7% I'm going green. Why so much green? Well, that is one of my favorite colors.
And I just find that it's a nice way to fill my wardrobe with certain shirts,
maybe a jumper here or there, a jacket here or there. Green is just something I gravitate
towards. I, then, give purple about 2%, red about 2%, orange 1%, and gold 1%.
All that being said, again, you can change this up depending on your personal preference,
your complexion, colors that you know look great on you. There's probably a
particular shade of a color that whenever you wear people compliment you, say, “Wow,
that looks good on you.” So, latch onto it. Again, green for me, olive green in particular
was that particular color that's why it's a big part of my wardrobe. So, find something
that works and don't be afraid to repeat it. Now, we can't talk about colors without talking
about patterns. In general patterns, I keep reserved when you're just starting
off and you're building that capsule wardrobe at the beginning, especially when it comes to
trousers when it comes to jackets. Anything that's going to be a large expensive piece,
you want to keep in general solid. That being said, once you've got a base of,
hey, I've got three pairs of solid shoes dark brown, medium brown, tan. I know I like browns,
so maybe you can go with the two- tone, maybe you can go with something that brings in a little bit
of suede in that with your fourth or fifth pair. When it comes to trousers, though, I am very
careful very conservative here. I think that just go with solids the majority of the time.
When it comes to patterns, the easiest place to bring them in shirts and accessories and
the reason being is these you can take a little bit more risk with, you're going to usually own
more of. And they aren't as expensive as some of the core pieces I was talking about earlier
like footwear, trousers, jackets. Shirts, you can have a little bit of fun with
that especially stripes small repeating patterns that almost look like a solid from a distance.
Accessories, that's where you can bring in dots, paisleys, brighter colors.
Another easy way to nail interchangeability is to stick with classic items. Some people yawn at
classic items. I say that, you know what? If it was in style 30 years ago, it is still in
style today, you can rest assured it's going to probably be in style 20 years from now.
This allows you to spend a little bit more money on it
or whenever you acquire the item to simply wear it with less concern that this is something
that is going to be falling in and out. If you're going to be buying a classic item,
try to buy it in its classic form. So, a blazer usually going to be in navy. There are some
classic patterns when it comes to sports jacket, when it comes to jeans. We know that dark denim
and, you know, that color right there, you know, is classic has been around for a long time and
works with so many other items in your wardrobe. Leather jackets, fatigue jackets, jean jackets,
oxford shirts, penny loafers shoes in a dark brown. Again, these are classic items
that we see again and again and when you add these into your wardrobe, you can rest assured that
they are going to work in various combinations. And, finally, when it comes to interchangeability,
don't be afraid to color block. This is where with a particular type of clothing,
you stick with a few colors. For me, when it comes to trousers, I'm going to
go with dark blue, usually in denim. I'm going to go with grays and with tans. That way I know that
any type of shirt I wear that's going to be white is going to work with any of those combinations.
Green jackets, I don't wear pretty much any green trousers because I know I keep the green
in my jackets and it's going to work with a variety of my shirt combinations,
which are usually white, light blue, mixing with those trousers mixing with those jackets. And
that allows and gives me the freedom to be able to piece things together very easily.
Now, of course, you don't need to stick with this 100%. I do have items in my wardrobe that
break these rules, but, again, we're talking about the capsule wardrobe. The few items
that are just easy to mix and match that you could walk into your closet blindfolded and
still put together a good looking combination. Now, let's talk about quality. When it comes to
quality, you should expect you're going to have to pay more to get better isn't always
the case and there are ways around this. But in general, when you buy quality, yes, you're going
to cry once about the price, but you are going to love it and it's going to look great on you
and you're going to get your money's worth out of this item because it's going to last longer.
And, particular items like shoes like leather bags, those actually develop
character. They over time they get better. When it comes to watches and certain accessories,
these can actually increase in value over time. Now, one of the most common questions I hear
about quality is, is there a way to get high quality at a low price? And the answer is,
yes, but it can be difficult. There are two things that you got to pay attention to here.
First, your knowledge of what you're looking for of the products of style should be high. In
addition, if you've got plenty of time, a high amount of knowledge, you can be on the lookout
for some great deals and occasionally find them. You'll find certain businesses that are going out
of business and they're having 50% off. And you can spot that that is a quality sports jacket,
you can spot those are quality made shoes from a brand you respect, you can pick them up.
[0:15:02] Yes, they have
a slight blemish, they were used, they were over in a thrift store. You can spot these
things and realize those shoes can be rebuilt. There are many ways to be able to save money.
But, the vast majority of us are going to be taxed because we need something quick,
we need something and we don't have maybe a deep knowledge of it. So, those things right there are
going to -- we're going to have to pay, yes, the almost the full retail for these a lot of times.
That being said, even paying full retail for certain items can still be worth it if
you understand the style theory of value. And that is basically the value is equal
to the number of wears times the way it makes you feel divided by the price.
An example of how this works in the real world. You got to make a choice. Go with
the cheap suit for 100 bucks or the expensive suit that's going to look good on you for 400.
If you go with the cheap suit, you wear it once, you don't feel great about. It sits in the back
of your closet. You never wear that thing again. The cost to wear that suit one time was $100.
The more expensive suit cost $400, but, man, you got compliments all night. You start finding
reasons to wear this thing. You're wearing taking your, you know, your girl out on a date
wearing this suit. You start showing up giving presentations in the suit. You find more weddings
to attend in which you can wear this suit. You ended up wearing that suit 40 times over
the next couple years, guess what? That was $10 a wear and this suit is
still going strong after those 40 wears. Yes, which one was the better deal? Well,
I think that that more expensive suit actually had a higher value
because you got a lot more wear out of it. The point being is don't attribute an item's value
with its price. Think about how many times you're going to wear this and how important it is to you
the way the item is going to make you feel. That being said, in a capsule wardrobe if I was
just getting started, what items would I look to be spending the majority of my budget on?
Well, it's going to be those high ticket items that are going to last.
Maybe it's going to be that suit, it's going to be the footwear. If you already have a very
casual wardrobe, but you really want a watch that you are going to be able to have for years.
I'm not saying you got to go with a Rolex or a Tudor, you could just look at getting a really
nice Seiko. Point being is don't be afraid to buy that item that, yes, you're going to
wince a little bit, but you know that that item is going to last you a decade or more.
And speaking of accessories, let's talk about how to spice up the capsule wardrobe. I promise
this at the beginning, I want to make sure I deliver. Have fun with your accessories.
Your base wardrobe may be simple. I know for me oftentimes it is shorts. It’s going
to be gray trousers, it's going to be jeans mixed in with a variety of navy shirts. But,
I have fun with my sunglasses. I've been bringing in a variety – variety of hats. I've been having
fun with other accessories like my watches. This is an area that you can bring in some color,
you can bring in some style, some class. Maybe go with something that's classic, spend a little bit
more money. Find something that is a style that maybe, you know, wayfarers for me have just been a
lot of fun over the last summer. Also, clubmaster sunglasses are just a nice combination.
Point being is you can have fun with those accessories and spice up that capsule wardrobe
that it doesn't have to be boring. And at the end of the day, just allows you to focus in
on what you want to and send the message you want consistently without you having to think.
And what about those lookbooks, what about some capsule wardrobe ideas?
Guys, down in the description of today's video, I'm linking over to Real Men Real Style. I've
got an entire article with a number of images set up, so you can go check out the different
capsule wardrobe ideas we put together for you. And what video to watch next? How about ten
clothing fit tricks that every guy needs to know? Seriously, do you know these? Well,
find out by clicking on the video. Go check it out, it's a good one, guys.
And, yeah, if your clothing doesn't fit, it is a big no-no. So, yeah, go check it out, guys,
good video. And, I'll see you in the next one. [0:18:38] End of audio