this is everything I'm going to be
wearing for the next month why did I
slap that suitcase so hard I'm really
trying to make this romantic
sorry suitcases I didn't mean it now I
first heard about capsule wardrobes
hopefully five years ago at this point
and it's always been something that's
really interested me but just like
minimalism or going to the gym ever or
actually having a semi-regular sleep
schedule it's something that I know
would probably improve my quality of
life but I've never quite been able to
muster the willpower to start maybe just
because deep down I hate myself a little
bit and I don't actually want to allow
myself to enjoy my life and so I just
turned into a giant work machine and
never mind this is a capsule wardrobe
video okay so what is a capsule wardrobe
you ask good question my friend a
capsule wardrobe is essentially a mini
version of a wardrobe which I realize
can sound like a really pretentious way
of describing the phenomenon of just not
being able to afford that many clothes
like all forms of middle ism there's
definitely a solid layer of privilege
there assuming that you even have the
problem of owning a lot of stuff to
begin with and that you have the money
to invest in really good quality items
that being said the idea of a capsule
wardrobe is to select 30 to 40 items
that you love that fit you well and the
mix-and-match and wear only those items
for an entire season the goal is to make
it easier to put together outfits in the
morning and to save money and avoid
impulse purchases because there's a
strict limit on the number of clothes
you can own yes getting these shots with
my feet is as ridiculous as it looks
mm-hmm now the reason I'm finally
deciding to try out a capsule wardrobe
and the reason I'm sitting next to this
suitcase right now is that I'm actually
going to be in London for a month which
in combination with the fact that we're
calling living with 30 pieces of
clothing a challenge just screams
firstworldproblems this whole video is
gonna be like that I'm really sorry
about it I don't know what to do but
nevertheless I thought it would be an
interesting experiment and give us both
some insight into whether owning more
clothing really makes you any happier or
any more fashionable gonna roll Eclipse
ending Ashley
you
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
hey guys so it is the first day after
filming that intro segment and honestly
so far so good I'm feeling good about
this although I might be a little bit
biased because I have only had to pick
out one outfit so far I'm just wearing
my favorite overalls that I've been
wearing in every single video that I
filmed and I layered this little lacy
camisole shirt underneath to change it
off a little bit when I woke up this
morning it was it was really easy to
choose an outfit probably because I
didn't have that many pieces to choose
from but yeah normally even when I'm
going out to run a simple errand or to
get dressed in the morning I can spend
like an hour choosing out an outfit for
something as stupid as like I need to go
to the post office I end up digging
through my wardrobe for so long because
I'm like oh this is a little too fancy
for the post office this might be a
little casual for the post office you
know we got some nail band to impress
here no but it takes me forever and it
prevents me from actually going out and
enjoying my life this morning I just
woke up I popped something on out of my
very limited options and now I'm ready
to go for the day
so overall pun intended we were off to a
strong start this week I realized there
is something really nice about taking
the pressure off my outfits which I feel
like in turn also trickled into me just
caring less about my appearance overall
feeling less pressure to do my hair and
makeup perfectly and just focusing on
staying warm spending time with my
family and most importantly stuffing my
face with Hobnobs
okay we're only two weeks in and I am
already free worn this exact same outfit
like three times Lizzie McGuire you are
an outfit repeater I didn't think I
would settle into wearing the same
outfit over and over again like this
early on but something about being in a
foreign country makes me just like not
really give a [ __ ] about whether I out
there repeat or not because like who's
gonna who's gonna roast me my Airbnb
host nobody gives a [ __ ] that I'm
wearing the same thing over and over
[Music]
hello hello it is Tuesday night I'm
getting dressed for a date a first date
in fact now my normal first date prep
consists of about an hour of me choosing
different outfits and bringing out about
whether I look like I'm trying too hard
or I don't look like I tried hard enough
like trying to find the [ __ ]
effortless sexy balance that is always
impossible to find anyways I thought it
would be easier since I only have about
40 items with me right now but somehow I
have still managed to make a gigantic
mess out of my wardrobe clothes are
everywhere I've tried just about every
combination and permutation of clothing
that I currently own and I think we've
narrowed it down to two options
so the first up we have this outfit
which is very like French made chic it
feels like a little bit more of a
classic first date outfit though usually
with a bit of an open neckline so that
when you're like sitting down and
chatting there's some scheme out there I
don't know I don't know I'm kind of be
flirty I don't know how to
alright here's option number two this
one is a little bit more casual I have
this skirt with a leg slit so we got
some scandalous leg territory but it's
pretty conservative up top I just threw
on a vintage banty that I own and now
I'm gonna throw on these boots which
have a pretty substantial heel on them
so I feel like it would help dress up
the outfit a little bit I don't know
this outfit is very like la cool girl so
that's kind of why I like it because I
feel like I'm always such a try-hard and
I'm constantly overdressed but now I'm
afraid that in London we're going to
like a bar in Soho so I feel like I
might be underdressed
well why is this so hard okay I ended up
going for outfit number two I added this
little tortoiseshell choker that I may
or may not have designed myself a little
help and this coat cool but the coats
coming off later in the evening if you
don't have Sam okay wish me luck
I'm gonna stretch eat my croissant a
little bit to ease the discomfort of
vlogging in public here's what I'm
wearing today by the way the coat some
flak jeans underneath probably what I'm
gonna be waiting like half the time
while I'm in London because it's so cold
in this coat is the only really warm
thing that I brought at this point
London's winter weather was really
coming for my LA ass and I ended up
having to wear this tan coat over nearly
every single one of my outfits even if
it's not pictured here with the tan coat
like in real life I was wearing that tan
coat because I was freeze like otherwise
so ultimately I was really glad that I
brought a couple accessories like this
headband for example that helped me
change up my look even when I was
wearing the same outerwear all the time
[Music]
the next weekend I did step up my outfit
game a little because it was time to
head to Paris and mispronounce all the
names of the pastry's Saturday night
this is what I wore to my first ever
rave in a warehouse and I got these
jeans so sweaty I couldn't wear them for
the rest of my trip which is how you
know you've had a good race I think
that's that's how I she's called me
tonight it's gonna look good
now as I headed back to London I
unfortunately got hit by some type of
cold flu hangover bubonic plague
crossover episode that left me pajama
fied and in bed for the next four days
straight hey guys it is the day before
Halloween and I am so goddamn sick I do
really wish that I had another set of
pajamas
I had a black t-shirt and leggings that
I wore on the train from Paris to London
and I got so sweaty and disgusting
humans and then I've been wearing this
same pajama t-shirt Ashley you don't
need a hoodie you're gonna want to look
cute all the time no no no packing
Ashley oh how you were wrong anyways I
am gonna go to sleep and cheer on my
white blood cells go Ashley's white
blood cells you can do it
it's around 4 p.m. on Halloween and I
don't have a costume I knew this was
gonna be a problem when I packed for
this trip because I wanted to make sure
that every single piece of clothing was
something I would wear on a day-to-day
basis so I didn't leave room in my
suitcase for a specific Halloween
costume I told myself I was gonna throw
a Halloween costume while I was here but
then obviously I was very sick for a
couple days and I've just managed to
rally myself to go to a Halloween party
crazy story but I'm actually going to a
subscribers Halloween party so you girls
trying to dress to impress I've really
been this this would be a situation
where be nice to not have a capsule
wardrobe because then I think I could
effectively DIY some type of costume or
movie character out of outfits that I
already own two hours later
I see I would use the actual spongebob
transition but I've literally gotten an
entire video copyright strike for using
that before so please forgive my
absolutely horrible spongebob voice
hello ladies
I have attempted a look I tried to do
this vampire anything but I don't even
own a red lipstick right now and all of
the makeup stores are closed so I
layered on like five layers of tinted
lip balm I took at my best at least this
dress though is doing a lot for me I
think this neckline will get the message
across for people
I literally just look like a drunk girl
the next morning which I guess I guess
will be my real costume later tonight if
you know what I'm saying
[Music]
so right now I am headed to a cafe to do
a little bit of editing I think the
saving grace of my capsule wardrobe so
far has been the fact that I packed one
tan / neutral color scheme and then one
black color scheme it's made it really
easy to get dressed in the morning
because I either decide that it's a
black day or at and a and if the black
day I'm wearing my black leather trench
coat my black boots has a tan Deo where
my tan poached handbag tan shoes etc so
yeah it's been making the whole outfit
decision process pretty simple I do miss
having a more variety of outfits choose
from a little bit but so far we're doing
okay
[Music]
hi guys so I have 8 days left in this
challenge and I'm slowly starting to
realize that I've only worn about like
60% of my wardrobe so far mostly because
it is [ __ ] cold here in England and I
feel to calculate for that today is
Sunday and I thought I would just go out
and shoot some of the outfits that I
haven't worn yet currently I'm wearing a
little mini dress and freezin my booty
off but yeah I'm gonna try to get at
least a couple photos before I turn into
a giant ice cube and at least get a
little bit of use out of the rest of my
wardrobe just a regular day at the
office
taking pics of my own feet on self-timer
[Music]
so I'm about to post on Instagram and
I'm realizing that for the first time my
outfits are getting a little bit
repetitive now luckily I have an outfit
repeated but because I packed so many
neutral and tanned toned items in my
capsule wardrobe like the outfits are
kind of blending together it's like tan
pants tan top tan pants I think my point
of all this is that there's just an
absurd amount of pressure on Instagram
to look like you have an insane amount
of clothing and like even me with you
know 40 pieces of clothing that's a good
amount of clothing it's still noticeable
when I repeat items I will say another
downside of doing this capsule wardrobe
has been that I have felt restricted in
the number of fashion videos that I can
make I was gonna make a fall outfit
ideas video but then I realized that
since I'm shooting this video pretty
much every single outfit in my fall
outfit ideas video would also be in this
video and I didn't want to repeat
outfits between the two videos so that
is why I haven't actually done like a
fall lookbook or anything yet I've been
feeling a little shitty about it because
my channel is supposed to be a fashion
channel and I just haven't been making
fashion videos because I don't have or I
feel like I don't have enough clothing
to sustain that I guess it's bring me
back to like when I first started
youtube I had I guess a capsule wardrobe
just based off the fact that I didn't
have that much clothing and I didn't
have a crazy amount of money to spend on
clothing and I remember feeling really
frustrated at that time because I would
wear a dress on Instagram
and I felt like I couldn't wear it for
another like three months because
otherwise I would be outfit repeating
and people wouldn't be interested so
ironically that's why I got into
thrifting because it was the only
affordable way that I could have enough
variety of outfits to actually start
doing fashion youtube I guess that just
leads to a question to you guys like
would you rather that I bought less
clothing overall and I had less variety
of outfits on my Instagram and you can
see me reusing the same pieces over and
over again or do you really like seeing
new and fresh outfits every single week
I don't know let me know your thoughts
as the month came to a close I was
getting a little experimental with my
layering and an attempt to get the most
out of my capsule wardrobe here I
layered a sweater underneath a lace cami
so my boobs wouldn't freeze off in the
winter cold and here I popped on a
sweater over a maxi dress this sweater
was a bit long so I tied it in the back
with a scrunchie flipped the tail up and
then jusht the front until it looked
like a crop sweater that hit me
perfectly at my waist
[Music]
so I caved and I bought this red
lipstick because sorry for my
listenger's laughs there we go
I bought this red lipstick because I
can't buy any clothing but I can spend
like five pounds on a lipstick and
change my look up a little bit you guys
know that I'm more into fashion than
makeup and hair but I feel like I always
forget that they're an equally valid way
to change up your look especially if you
aren't working on a small wardrobe so
today we have a red lip and a red outfit
I'm gonna be very cool today but I'm
doing a little bit of a photo shoot so
you know what you suffer for the ground
kids and that just about wraps up my
month here is what I wore on my last
everyday in London I went for some
drinks and a bowling with some new
friends that I had met and then earlier
the next morning slightly hungover and
very sleep-deprived I slipped into a
much more comfortable outfit to go to
the airport and in the wise words of
Miley Cyrus hop on a plane to LAX not in
my head like yeah movin my hips like
yeah hey guys so I am back in LA at this
point amongst my worldly possessions and
obsessive number of plants inside my
apartment I have been back here for
around five days at this point so I
thought I would share my conclusions
from this whole wardrobe capsule
wardrobe experiment overall I think I
overwhelmingly had a positive experience
I feel like I was being really dramatic
at the beginning I was like can I
survive with only 40 pieces of clothing
the answer is like yeah [ __ ] you can
and 40 pieces of clothing turned out to
be more than I needed I felt like I've
overpacked
even though I was there for an entire
month so here were the major pros of a
capsule wardrobe that I found the
biggest Pro of capsule wardrobes for me
was the amount of time that I saved in
the morning it actually simplified my
life so much there was a huge difference
not only in having less outfits to
choose from but having done a lot of the
mental process of selecting items that
would match together when I packed
decision fatigue is the idea that if you
have to make a bunch of decisions in a
day even small ones like what to wear in
the morning what to eat for breakfast
those can mentally tire you out and make
it harder for you to make more important
and bigger decisions later
this is allegedly why like Steve Jobs
were the same thing every single day now
that I was making any Steve Jobs level
moves Mohali was in London but I do
think it helped me feel less overwhelmed
in the morning and like I had a little
bit more time and brainpower to spend on
my actual work something that really
surprised me was the fact that having
less clothing made me want to shop less
I thought it would be the other way
around and I would want to buy more
stuff to fill up my wardrobe but in
reality having all of these pieces that
already matched perfectly together it
didn't feel like there was a hole in my
wardrobe I think oftentimes the reason I
buy something new is because I've
already bought something else and then I
don't quite have the right piece to
match with it so I'm like forever trying
to one-up my past purchases by matching
them with something else having fewer
pieces of clothing also just made me
very aware of which pieces I hadn't worn
yet so I didn't feel the need to go out
and buy a new sweater because I knew
that I had a sweater sitting in my
wardrobe that I hadn't worn that month
yet and I wanted to wear it before I
bought anything else granted I did go
thrifting one time during this month
mostly for a video and for the fact that
I didn't want to leave London without
checking out the vintage shops but I
made sure to not wear any of the new
clothes that I bought so it wouldn't
mess up the whole idea of the capsule
wardrobe there is also something
comforting at the end of the day in
feeling a little bit like a cartoon
character in that I had a certain
selection of outfits and a certain
colour palette that I always wore
previously I had always thought of
clothes as like a costume you could
change in and out of and you could
change your character every single day
so like one day I want to be romantic
girly Ashley one day I'm eager lashley
one day I'm like punk rock Ashley and I
think that's a lot of fun and that's
part of why I love fashion but there was
also something comforting about feeling
a stronger sense of identity with the
clothes that I brought on this trip and
feeling like I was wearing like a
consistent version of myself every
single day I don't know if that makes
sense or maybe I just like rely on
fashion for too much of my self identity
but that was something I felt my cons
are very brief and quite obvious which
is one sometimes it's nice to have a
variety of clothing for a special event
like Halloween or for my job if I'm
making like a 30 outfits video or a
lookbook and second of all on occasion
it did feel a little bit repetitive
honestly it has been really nice to get
creative with my
it's again I feel like I had this little
like giddy moment the first day that I
woke up back in my apartment and I could
put together whatever outfit I wanted so
what are my final takeaways from this
experiment number one my eyes are so
much bigger than my stomach when it
comes to clothing especially once you
realize that textiles are not
particularly nutritionally valuable and
actually quite hard to digest what I
mean by that is in my head I have so
much more time to wear clothing than I
actually do like what I was packing for
this trip I was so stressed out that I
wouldn't have enough clothing I was
trying to like shove one last shirt in
my suitcase
when in reality on this trip I didn't
end up wearing several of the pieces of
clothing I had too many outfits and not
enough time to wear all of them around a
month and a half ago I did a giant
closet clean-out and I got rid of like
half of the clothes that I owned but
this experiment has made me realize that
I am more than happy with way less than
that I don't think that having more
clothing at home made me any happier
than having 40 pieces of clothing that I
really liked on this trip although I
might be slightly biased because I was
in London and it was absolutely lovely
and beautiful and everybody was lovely
and had British accents and was very
sweet so I think I was just happier in
general and my third and final takeaway
is that this month made me realise the
growing gap between what I perceive that
I need for my influencer life and what
actually makes me happy as a regular
human I've been doing YouTube full-time
for around 7 months now and I've slowly
bought into the idea without even
realizing it that influencers need a
huge wardrobe with an infinite number of
outfits that I need a perfect mirror for
my mirror selfies that I need a big
apartment so that I can have a clean
background for all of my videos when a
reality that is the stuff that used to
frustrate me so much about YouTube I
guess I really wanted to become this
influencer who would have like beautiful
clothes and perfectly coordinated
outfits all the time
that I didn't really stop to think about
why I like originally started my youtube
channel which was in part to have cool
outfits but also largely to show people
that you didn't need all this like fancy
[ __ ] in order to dress well I feel
like so much of my life has become
caught up in like trying to obtain
the influencer things like the [ __ ]
house and the perfect wardrobe when in
reality that was never something that I
really wanted or needed so I mean this
is getting way more deep than a [ __ ]
capsule wardrobe I need to like rethink
a lot of my life but that's a topic for
another time so what does this mean for
the fate of my wardrobe I don't think
that I will be sticking strictly to a
capsule wardrobe from now on just
because I do like a little bit more
variety and flexibility than it allows
but I think what with the system that I
think will work well for me in which at
the beginning of each season I'm gonna
separate around 30 pieces of clothing
onto a clothing rack and that's going to
be my like pseudo capsule wardrobe on a
day to day basis I will just choose
outfits from those 30 pieces so it'll
make it easier to get dressed in the
morning and reduce my decision fatigue
but I'll still have the freedom that if
I just want to dress up really cool that
day if I have a video to shoot if I have
a special occasion I still have access
to the rest of my clothing ok I've been
sitting on my feet and they're slowly
falling asleep so I guess on that
concluding note I would 100% recommend
you guys try a capsule wardrobe for at
least a month I think it's a really
really cool idea and I learned a lot of
valuable lessons from it thank you guys
so much for watching see you guys next
week bye
[Music]