Changing my Shopping Ways

Spending significant parts of the past 15 months in lockdown has led lots of us to question our lifestyles – from how we spend our time, to our social circles, to what we wear. Gone were the days of dressing for the office, Saturday nights out and a diary brimming with social occasions – instead leggings and loungewear took hold.

I will admit that the lack of events didn’t stop me from shopping, in fact I was probably worse! I was spending more time on my phone, often buying new things out of boredom, sometimes just in the hope that we would have places to go again soon. What I ended up with though was an overflowing wardrobe (or three!) of random pieces and very few complete outfits. I found myself feeling uninspired and in a bit of a rut when it came to putting outfits together as the world re-opened again. My wardrobe was brimming with clothes but I had nothing to wear!

During Lockdown, I came to value the importance of those everyday wardrobe staples and found myself wanting to invest in better basics – the pieces that just make getting dressed easier. Because that’s what we all want in this busy world…to look and feel our best and for that process to be as simple as possible!

A clear out was needed, both mentally and physically; so I set about streamlining my wardrobe and curating my capsule collection.
I took everything out and started sorting through my clothes by category – tops, jeans, dresses, blazers, jackets etc. I did this over the course of a few weeks and while some may argue otherwise, I don’t believe in tipping everything onto your bed in one day. This is overwhelming and none of us need that additional stress in our lives!

Instead, I really thought out my approach and doing it category by category allowed me the time to consider what I was keeping and what needed to go. I was definitely the most ruthless I’ve ever been! I really recommend buying a rail (mine is a basic IKEA one) as it makes it much easier to see what you have in each category – then you can start removing the pieces you no longer love or feel comfortable in.

So what is a capsule collection anyway? It is essentially a carefully edited selection of pieces you absolutely love and will wear again and again throughout the season. I’m not limiting my selection to a set number of pieces but I am ensuring that all of the items are interchangeable, allowing me to mix and match and create multiple looks.

I’m not saying I’m giving up shopping and relying on my capsule wardrobe alone for the whole season, I enjoy style far too much for that! Instead, I’m adopting a more thoughtful approach to what I’m actually buying and why. What is the quality like? How will it work with items I already own? Will I be able to style 3 outfits with it? These are the boxes I’m aiming to tick going forward and I think it will make for a much more enjoyable shopping experience! Ultimately it is about cutting down on buying items that will only get worn once or twice and choosing quality over quantity. I’m hoping I will end up with a wardrobe of timeless pieces that I will enjoy for years to come.

I’ll be sharing items from my Capsule Wardrobe on Instagram along with styling ideas for basic items that most of you will probably already own. I’m so excited for a fresh start and looking forward to sharing my updates as I go!

Thanks for reading,
Laura x