My household has been sick for 100 years. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, more like two weeks.
It started as a cough, turned into a sneeze, and before you knew it, everyone had fevers/double ear infections/colds/bronchiolitis/laryngitis/sinus infections. I don’t even know.
Don’t worry, I totally sanitized the whole house. Anyone up for a playdate?
We are never home this much. I usually have daily activities planned with the kids Monday-Friday so when I found myself home for days on end, my inner Monica Geller squealed in delight.
I CAN CLEAN! All! The! Things!
There is nothing better than a freshly organized bathroom drawer, AMIRIGHT?
In other words, it was the perfect time to create a capsule wardrobe! What’s a capsule wardrobe, you ask? You can read all about it here from the original source.
Basically, the idea of the capsule wardrobe appealed to me for three reasons:
1. Half the items in my closet do not fit well (friendly reminder – I just had a baby).
2. Half the items in my closet are not conducive to nursing.
3. I only get dressed in real clothes, like, twice a week.
I’m a big believer in making up your own rules, so here are the rules I set for my capsule wardrobe:
1. Clothes must fit my current body.
2. Clothes must work for breastfeeding.
That’s it. How did I do this? I pulled every single item out of my closet, threw everything on the bed, and only put back the seasonal items that worked for my two rules. I ended up with 45 items, which is more than the recommended 37, but Carson still throws up on me like once a day so it seemed fair to include a few extra tops.
Right away I noticed something alarming: I have a lot of clothes. Which is ironic, considering how many times I stand in front of my closet whining, I have noooooothing to wear! I actually do a great job of rotating my clothes seasonally (usually twice a year, once for fall/winter and once for spring/summer), but I don’t do a great job at paring down my wardrobe to fit my current size and lifestyle. And when you’ve spent a total of 18 months over the past 4 years carrying 2 babies in your belly and a current total of 18 months (and counting) nursing said babies, “size” and “lifestyle” are worth taking into consideration. I spent all of 2014 gaining weight during my pregnancy with Carson, and now I’m in the process of losing that weight, but my chest is 3x bigger than it normally is, which leads to a lot of whining in front of the closet.
Enough of that.
I took all of my teeny tiny itty bitty clothes and threw them in a storage bag so they would stop taunting me and adding to my indecisiveness/discontentedness. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Without further ado, here is my (mostly) nursing friendly spring capsule wardrobe, created to dress me from April 1-May 31st! A lot of the items are old(er), but I tried to include relevant or current links when applicable on a few of the recently purchased/gifted items.
green shirtdress (H&M) / black & white abstract dress with buttons (from Nordstrom Rack) / striped t-shirt dress (bought last summer from Target) / denim shorts (Gap) / black scalloped shorts (ASOS) / denim roll-up shorts (Anthropologie) / hi-rise jegging (American Eagle) / abstract romper (bought in store from Target, like yesterday) / hi-rise jegging (American Eagle)
maxi skirt (Anthropologie) / soft gray maxi dress (thredUP) / floral maxi skirt (Nordstrom Rack) / slouchy tee (Nordstrom Rack) / brown maxi skirt (The Limited) / california tee (Nordstrom Rack) / tissue coral v-neck tee (J.Crew, from thredUP) / striped tank (J.Crew) / coral racerback tank (Madewell, from thredUP)
Madre tee (Riley & Co) / pink racerback tank (Nordstrom Rack) / love tee (free at local clothing swap) / gray essential rib tank (Gap) / black & white striped tee (Nordstrom Rack) / sequin tank (J.Crew via thredUP) / white button down tank (Hi-line via thredUP) / light gray sweater (thredUP) / blue & white striped tank (Stitch Fix)
And now? NOW my closet looks like THIS:
Ahhhhh! Isn’t it beautiful? Isn’t it simple? Isn’t it so easy to get dressed now?
A few things….
-I did not count loungewear/pajamas/workout clothes, which actually account for 80% of my wardrobe (embarrassing). I am hoping that this capsule wardrobe will encourage me to wear “real” clothes more often.
-In non-postpartum life, I wear Paige denim, not American Eagle. I had Carson in October and needed jeans stat, but couldn’t justify buying nice jeans to get me through the in-between phase. AE was having a huge sale, the jeans were $30 a pop, and hey! The high-rise + stretch combination is super forgiving on a postpartum body and made shopping in a store full of teenagers totally worth it.
-I love my Madre tee, but it runs crazy small. I ordered an XL, and it fits perfectly loose on me (I am usually an XS-S). If you ever order one, order up up up!
-My capsule wardrobe was SO inspiring, that Brett has asked me to make him one, too. I am totally up to the challenge, and let’s just call this his father’s day present, yes?
Have you ever tried a capsule wardrobe? How’d it go?