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Do you have closets full of clothes but never have anything to wear? People from all over the world joined Holly Trantham, senior marketing manager of M.M. LaFleur, and Nkechi, the founder of Corporate Curly, for a digital workshop to learn how to make a minimalistic wardrobe that lasts for years.
According to Clothes aid more than 350,000 tonnes of used clothing end up in landfill in the UK every year. This is a mix of fast fashion changing every year and the poor quality of the clothes people buy.
Many turn to cheaper brands, such as H&M and Zara, because they don't want to put a lot of money into clothes, but in the long run, this becomes more expensive than investing in a few timeless quality pieces.
“Always choose pieces that can take you from season to season and which you can mix and match with different accessories. The most important thing is that the pieces you have chosen represent 100% you,” Trantham says.
A capsule wardrobe consists of core pieces that fit well and reflect on your style. Before achieving this, you need to do a full audit to see what you have and decide which are the ‘A-list’ clothes you want to keep and donate the ones that you know you will never use. These ‘A-listers’ can be either a luxury jacket, pants, shirts or even quality tops and jeans.
“Every piece of clothing should be of quality and intentionally bought. This will also help you with budgeting the more expensive purchases. Just think about it for a while and try to mix it with the other pieces you already have before you buy it,” Nkechi says.
Having only a few pieces in the wardrobe can sound a bit boring, especially if you love prints and a lot of colours, but that is certainly not the case. You can mix them with classical pieces and still get the capsule wardrobe of your dreams.
“I love everything cute and colourful so the core clothes in my wardrobe are very neutral colour and then I mix the small colourful details, such as shoes, big earrings, and bracelets, with them. In the beginning, it's mostly trial and error – it mainly depends on how well you know your body,” Trantham says.
To keep the simple wardrobe in order, make sure you are actually wearing the different combinations rather than going back to your old patterns of buying clothes that will only fill your closet but make you feel like you have nothing to wear.
“I think as women, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves that everything has to fit and look good. We need to let it go and just try to do what works best for us,” Trantham says.
Here is a playlist for you to listen to while you are creating a wardrobe of your dreams!