What My Favorite Outfits are Telling Me: a Winter Capsule Wardrobe Recap

To continue on with my Project 333 journey, I have kept almost everything the same in my January to March capsule as my October to December (view the capsule here), with only a few small changes. I introduced a few tops this last capsule since I was lacking there, and took away one blazer and a summery feeling dress. Since most of the clothes are the same that I’ve been wearing for the last 3 months, I have come very in tune to what I prefer to reach for and what outfits I feel my best in.

Left to Right: Striped J.Crew tee (similar), Taylor Stitch dress (similar, similar), Madewell gingham courier (similar), Maeve from Anthropologie tiered top (similar)

The favorite outfits are as follows:

⁃ Black and White Anthropologie tiered top, black jeans or a black skirt, clogs, leather jacket

⁃ Black and white gingham Madewell top, black pencil skirt, jean jacket, black booties

⁃ navy pencil skirt, gray tights, striped tee, brown booties (or tall boots)

⁃ OWM painting-esque blouse, black jeans/skirt/blue jeans, leather jacket or black cardi, black booties

⁃ Taylor Stitch dress, black tights, leather jacket, black booties, mustard scarf

Above: Lotta from Stockholm T Bar clogs

Take Aways:

1. Limited Color; the color palette that emerges from my favorites is very neutral-a mix of black, cream, navy, and cognac brown.

2. Lots of Texture; the leather jacket was the main player and easily became the star of the show! Leather, chunky knits of my cardi or mustard scarf, or the tweed feel of my navy pencil skirt and Taylor Stitch dress all add interest to the pieces without being colorful.

3. High Waisted; I feel the most comfortable in high waisted bottoms to add a little extra coverage and support- my AG jeans, Paige black jeans, and Anthropologie pencil skirts are all key in doing this!

4. No Blazers; even though these are mainly outfits I’d wear to work or to dressier occasions, I don’t reach for my blazer. I go for a more interesting look with my leather jacket, which brings me to my next point…

5. High-Low Dressing; I love the interest of wearing my tough leather jacket with dainty blouses or a dress, or a tee with my pencil skirt. To keep from looking too “stuffy”, I enjoy applying the high-low techniques. Another way to follow this technique is to wear a jean jacket with a dressy outfit, which I do love as well!

From these points, I can deduce a few things. First off, I can remove my blazer from my winter capsules. This may change for warmer weather capsules as I won’t be wearing a leather jacket all the time, but the last few months I was constantly reaching for my leather or jean jacket! Also, I can stop feeling like I need to add color to my wardrobe for interest or because “I should wear color”. To me, texture is the most important part of an outfit, so who cares about the color! This also could change for warmer weather outfitting, too though- it’s all a learning process! And lastly, I realize I like billowy tops paired with slender bottoms- balance is key to make an outfit look proportional, so I can continue to stick with my pencil skirts as long as I have enough looser fitting tops. Once again though, maybe for summer a looser bottom will be more comfortable so I may be switching it up to see how I like that!

It is so true that with restrictions comes creativity- I would have never realized these things about my personal style if I wasn’t utilizing a capsule wardrobe. What a fun project this has been!