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A capsule wardrobe can free up your time and closet space. Lucie finds out if she can go without her statement pieces in this week's challenge.
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00:00I'm Lucy Fink and this week is 5 Days of a Capsule Wardrobe.
00:04Woo!
00:06What?
00:07Hey guys, it's me, Lucy, and welcome back to Try Living with Lucy.
00:11I have gotten a ton of suggestions to try 5 Days of a Capsule Wardrobe
00:15and before this video, I didn't even know what a capsule wardrobe was.
00:18Seriously, I had never Googled it before today.
00:20According to the woman who coined this term, a capsule wardrobe is a
00:24collection of a few essential items of clothing that don't go out of fashion.
00:28That's what they say.
00:29The main idea is to maximize the amount and the types of outfits that you can put together
00:34by using mainly staple items.
00:36And ultimately, it will save you time, help you pare down, and will let you get creative with what you
00:41have
00:41so that you don't have that sensation of looking into a closet that's just filled with clothing
00:45and think to yourself, wow, I have nothing to wear.
00:49Anyway, I could go on for hours and give you more of an explanation about a capsule wardrobe
00:53or we could just dive right in and I could show you what I did today
00:56and then we'll talk about the topic more as we go.
00:59Let's do that.
01:04Today, I invited Channing Hargrove, the fashion news writer at Refinery29, to my apartment
01:10so that she could help me tackle stage one of creating this capsule wardrobe.
01:13What is the first step? Where do I start?
01:15Okay, the first thing, are you ready for this?
01:17Yes.
01:17You're going to have to clean your closet out.
01:20I think you should really try to stick within the range of five to ten items.
01:24You can get really creative and kind of just challenge yourself within the challenge.
01:29So you're challenging me to challenge myself within the challenge.
01:33Yes.
01:33That's a lot of meta challenges.
01:35I love it.
01:36Will you come with me into my closet?
01:38Oh, absolutely.
01:38Because I'm scared.
01:39Sure.
01:39All right.
01:40Let's go.
01:41Oh, no.
01:42This half is mine.
01:43Okay.
01:44It's a bit of a mess.
01:46I've got another hanging section here.
01:48I actually got this shirt at Party City.
01:52I want to give it to someone who needs it more, but I'm like, I need it!
01:55The big moment of the day, we went through my entire closet, pulled everything out, and
02:00then started sorting through and making different piles.
02:04Okay.
02:05How do you feel?
02:06Sad.
02:07You want staples and one or two statement pieces.
02:10Right.
02:11So anything that is maybe a little too print-heavy or too loud in terms of color.
02:18So this isn't making it into the castle wardrobe?
02:20No, I don't think it will.
02:22I think this is really cute, and I think you can make a lot of different outfits with this.
02:27I do think it is important to have a trusty pair of pants.
02:31Black jeans.
02:31Yes.
02:32Can't go wrong with black jeans.
02:33High-waisted.
02:34All right.
02:34These make it.
02:35Let me show you some shoe options.
02:37Okay.
02:38Okay.
02:39This I love.
02:40Comfortable, but new.
02:41This is really cute.
02:43Very good option.
02:49Channing eventually left me because she had to go to work, so we said goodbye.
02:52I finished up a little bit more on my own, but sooner or later I had to go to work
02:57too.
02:57So I put on my Monday capsule wardrobe outfit, and now I'm home from work, and my room is
03:03a complete disaster, and I've got to go because I have to finish that.
03:12Late last night when it was already dark out, I finished my closet clean up, and the amount of hangers
03:18that were left on my floor with no clothing on them was epic.
03:22I don't think my closet has been this clear in years, and it feels so good not only physically to
03:27see how much space is in there, but just mentally.
03:30It feels so fresh.
03:31So today I packed up two full suitcases that I'm going to bring home to where my parents live and
03:36store it there, and then I packed up four garbage bags filled with clothing and shoes, and I brought them
03:41over to a donation center.
03:42I know what you're thinking, you now want to know which items I actually picked for my capsule wardrobe.
03:48I will get there in one second, but first I just want to tell you about this article I read
03:52called How to Create a Capsule Wardrobe.
03:54And this woman's capsule wardrobe for a three month period had 37 articles of clothing in it.
03:59And that doesn't include your underwear or your workout clothes or pajamas or accessories and jewelry.
04:05It's just your basic clothes.
04:07I thought that since I'm only doing this for five days, I need to really pair that 37 down
04:11and make this a challenge.
04:13Drumroll, please.
04:15Here is what I picked.
04:17Black high-waisted jeans.
04:18A little black tank top, which is longer than you think, and also doubled as a little black dress.
04:24A button down striped shirt.
04:26A long sleeve shirt with stripes going in the other direction.
04:28Rose gold booties that are very comfortable because I have to wear them for five days.
04:33And a bright coral jacket because with such neutral colors in the rest of the wardrobe, sometimes you just gotta
04:38let your color pop.
04:39This is such a short term challenge, but I am really determined to put together a whole range of versatile
04:45outfits with these six items this week.
04:47Yesterday's outfit, once I went off to work, was my black jeans, the button down striped shirt, and my rose
04:52gold boots.
04:53I tied a headband into my hair and then I added a chunky pair of statement sunglasses.
04:57And today's outfit was this striped turtleneck long sleeve underneath my little black dress, and of course my rose gold
05:03boots.
05:04But tonight I'm meeting Michael for a dinner date, so my plan is to slink out of the long sleeve
05:08turtleneck and just leave on the little black dress.
05:10I'm gonna take this choker that I have that has a rose gold pendant, and I'm gonna wear that around
05:14my neck just to kind of coordinate the neck and the shoes.
05:17Keep in mind, I intentionally did not make this capsule wardrobe super wintery, even though it is winter.
05:23And that's for a couple reasons.
05:24One is that it's an especially warm week here, and two is that I want you guys to be able
05:29to use this video as a guide for spring and summer too.
05:32So this is not seasonal, this is just an example.
05:38For today's outfit, I got a little crafty.
05:40I found a video online of Connie Wang, Refinery29's fashion features director, teaching you how to tie a button down
05:47shirt like a skirt.
05:48So the shirt that I wore as a shirt on Monday is a skirt today.
05:52I tucked the black tank top into it, threw on this choker with these feathers for a little pop of
05:56color, and put on my booties.
05:58For the past three days, I've been repeating the same articles of clothing.
06:01I've just been styling them differently, and absolutely nobody at work has noticed.
06:06People apparently love button down blouse skirts.
06:09I mean, that is an amazing fashion tip that could really help a person out if they somehow found themselves
06:14in a situation where they didn't have any pants handy.
06:16But truthfully, even if you do have pants at your disposal, it's still really cute.
06:20Ever since I did five days in the same outfit, I've been obsessed with recycled fashion.
06:24And so actually, the long sleeve striped turtleneck in my capsule wardrobe was given to me secondhand by a friend.
06:30And this tank top dress combo belonged to my mom in the 80s.
06:34And some things just never go out of style.
06:35We currently are living in a world that is obsessed with fast fashion,
06:39and wearing these cheap, disposable articles of clothing that are made in really poor working conditions.
06:44So yes, while the capsule wardrobe can be about saving you time and helping up your fashion game,
06:50in a lot of ways this is more so about being sustainable, ethical, and contributing in your own personal way
06:56to this large global movement.
07:01A few things to know about a capsule wardrobe.
07:04Number one, and probably most importantly, I'm doing a five-day challenge this week, so that's why this is a
07:10challenge.
07:10But doing a capsule wardrobe is not supposed to be a challenge.
07:14It's not about how few items you can wear and how many different ways you can wear the same item.
07:19No, no, no.
07:19Instead, it's a lifestyle and a way of keeping your closet that you can adopt gradually over time.
07:24For people just starting out here, it is okay if you don't have all of the essential items that you
07:29need up front.
07:30And if you need to swap something out or buy a new item to include in your capsule, that is
07:34totally fine.
07:35Number two, and this is a problem that many people who create capsule wardrobes have.
07:39I feel like I'm a very colorful person, and I actually love statement pieces as opposed to staples.
07:45So creating a wardrobe this week of only staples that's mainly filled with blacks and whites has left me feeling
07:50a little bit uninspired throughout the week.
07:52Today's look is my black jeans tucked into the booties instead of rolled up like they were on Monday,
07:57my striped long-sleeved turtleneck, and I added this pop of a bright yellow scarf to give it some life.
08:02Just remember that items like sunglasses, jewelry, purses, and scarves are not part of your main capsule wardrobe.
08:08So you can really use this time to play around with accessories and add a pop of color with a
08:13bright statement piece.
08:14And number three, even though I'm getting really crafty this week by wearing the same article of clothing in multiple
08:20ways,
08:20that's not really what the capsule wardrobe is about either.
08:23It's more so about taking a few staple items and creating a lot of different outfit combinations with them.
08:28This is not about one piece of clothing worn five ways.
08:31That was just something I added in because I thought it was fun, and I wanted to be innovative.
08:36And because it was very fun, I want to do it one more time.
08:39So tonight I'm going out to dinner with my friends, and I'm going to lose the scarf and the long
08:42-sleeve shirt,
08:43and I'm putting the blouse back on, and I'm going to figure out a different way to wear it.
08:48So what I'm doing is I'm going to put it on backwards,
08:50and thankfully this particular blouse has a sort of tied knot and a slit in the back,
08:55so it looks really cool as the front.
08:57And then I'm going to button the top button and the second button down,
08:59but leave the rest of them open so that it creates this open back flare look.
09:03And I'm going to see if anyone even notices that my shirt's on backwards.
09:10All of my friends noticed that my shirt was on backwards.
09:14I have to be honest about that.
09:15But that being said, they still thought it was cute, and I thought it was cute, so I'm cool with
09:19it.
09:20Today's outfit was all black everything except for my rose gold boots and this pop of pink on my neck.
09:25And tonight's Friday, so when I go out I'm going to lose this necktie and just add a pop of
09:29bright purple to my lips.
09:30Alright, here are my fully condensed thoughts on a capsule wardrobe.
09:34I could probably go on with the same six item wardrobe for the rest of the month if you asked
09:39me to,
09:39but I would be feeling a little bored.
09:42It was starting to feel a little limiting by the end, and I almost felt as if I was on
09:46a clothing diet.
09:47And in many ways that was really awesome because it freed up my mind from needing to look through so
09:52many options in the morning,
09:53and it led me to clean out my closet, which felt great.
09:56The major downside is that I'm starting to miss my really brightly colored non-staple items.
10:01I tend to get a lot of mileage out of my clothing,
10:04and after this week I'm starting to feel like a capsule wardrobe was made for people who were not getting
10:09that same mileage.
10:10So I love that I pared down my closet, but I don't think that I need to stick with a
10:14capsule wardrobe.
10:15I feel like this is my youngest child, so that I can show up.
10:16Ptered down my closet, I need to check with my cool habits.
10:16I'm not going to see my beautiful back in the background in the background.
10:16I'm not going to see my old hand.
10:16I know that I can't hear the bottle of metal, but it's not going out.
10:16So that's all my clothes aisles.
10:16Okay, this is my best friend.
10:17I'm going to take off my pocket for the full two different of my own.
10:17I do like it.
10:17I do like it.