I’ve talked a bit before about the basics of building a wardrobe that works for you.  Starting with colors and shapes that mesh with and reflect your own personal coloring and shapes is key.  But even if you’ve done this, you might end up with a lot of clothes that individually are lovely, but which don’t work well together.  (For instance, if you don’t have enough solids, too many of your prints might clash.)

The Full-Year Wardrobe Capsule Plan

The Full-Year Wardrobe Capsule Plan from Carina at Frump Fighters (which is in the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle this week) provides a capsule plan that makes an excellent starting point.  It’s a little on the larger side for a capsule (you’ll have more than 10 or so garments), and it has several specific features to recommend it.

1. It’s designed specifically with stay-at-home-moms in mind, so there aren’t a lot of unnecessarily fussy or formal clothes.  (There’s a work version available if you need that.  This version, though, would probably also work well for women who wear a uniform when they’re at work.) 
2. It’s modest.  Of course, your own specific garment selections might make it more or less modest, but the plan as a whole uses modest pieces in modest ways.
3. It covers all four seasons.
4. It includes notes on adjusting each garment in the capsule for maternity or nursing.  (This might be my favorite feature!)

There are over 280 outfits specifically laid out and pictured for you, so there’s virtually no guesswork.  (You can actually get just the capsule plan — which garments to include — for free here.  But if you want the outfit ideas themselves, you’ll need the full plan.)

On the negative side, not everything might be a good fit for your personal style.  Information is included for adjusting, to some degree — like for choosing your own overall color palette.  But some items are pretty “set.”  For instance, the capsule includes three striped garments and two plaid shirts, and I don’t really wear either stripes or plaid.  It’s going to take a bit of effort to determine what best to substitute those with so the plan will still work right.  “Olive pants” are also a specified garment — something that might not work well if olive isn’t your color.  You get the idea.

Still, even just having the outfit ideas helps with thinking outside the box when building outfits.  And looking over the included pieces helped me identify some “gaps” that help explain why I was struggling with certain outfit needs (like not having a winter sweater that falls into the right “category” to have the versatility I needed in winter).

Basic Principles — and Alternatives

Of course, the real key here is not this specific capsule (although it’s very handy that it’s been designed with all the important lifestyle factors for a stay-at-home-mom), but the basic principles.  Principles like making sure you have a mix of neutrals and colors, and making sure you have enough solids.  And like making sure you have both foundation pieces and “outside” layering pieces.  But there are other ways to accomplish this.

One method some friends have alerted me to is the “4×4” capsule at The Vivienne Files.  One interesting feature of this method is that a single 4×4 capsule can be your entire wardrobe, but you can also have a number of 4×4 capsules within your wardrobe.  (This template fleshes it out a little.  This post is also exceptionally helpful for explaining how and why it works.)

Start with What You Have

While we might like to have any excuse to buy more clothes, it’s best to start with what you already have.  Identify what you already own and how it works together, and then identify any gaps.  It’s these gaps you’ll want to shop to fill.

Shopping on a Budget

I’m very small, and my size is hard to find, so my options for shopping new without breaking the bank are pretty limited.  Overall, the bulk of my new clothing comes from Old Navy and Target, with the occasional garment from Kohl’s or a “teen”-targeted mall store like Charlotte Russe.

But I open up the possibilities by shopping primarily used.  My two favorite sources are Swap.com and ThredUP.  Swap.com typically has lower prices but a much wider range of quality.  ThredUP is pretty fussy about what brands they’ll accept, so the prices are higher, but the brands are generally higher-priced to begin with, too.  In either case, shopping markdowns can save you even more.  (Both also sell kids clothes, if you’re looking for that.)

What’s Your Gap?

I discovered that one of my biggest clothing dilemmas (besides not having the “right” layerable neutral sweater for winter) is that I shy away from neutral pants (trousers, for any Brits reading this).  I love my printed jeggings — but then if my shirts are mostly prints, they clash.  I do have solids, but the particular assortment of solids and prints I have is awkward (leaving with prints with prints and solids with solids).

How about you?  When you assess your wardrobe, what gaps do you find?