#13 Let's do this - seasonal clothes switcheroo, a fun little project

and my history with capsule wardrobes

chartreuse is a neutral for me

I always feel inspired to do something different with my clothes when the seasons change. I think it’s that lovely chill in the air when autumn approaches after the dreadful summer heat. Also, I just plain love cold weather and cold weather dressing.

I don’t think it’s only me thinking about clothes because a coaching client also talked a lot about clothes recently (hi L!) and even Anandi wrote a post a few days ago about her spring capsule wardrobe. I admire her dedication to the cause! Go look at her super organised approach.

My foray into the capsule wardrobe concept

Part 1 - I get demotivated with all the clothes

Part 2 - why I tried capsules

Part 3 - how it ended up

I only truly feel like me if I have a pop of colour :o

I did my seasonal switch around of clothes last weekend and it felt So Good. I decluttered a few tops, switched handbags and now my wardrobe has things in it that are fun, inspiring and appropriate for the weather. It was so easy (and fun!) to dress for work this week.

Am I the only one who has summer handbags and winter handbags? I even switched my laptop bag to a mustard, for autumn ;) And, soberingly, I realised that one person does not need 8 varying sizes and shades of a brown leather handbag, so I listed 3 on Yaga, and 1 already sold. And I could probably sell another 1… after winter :)

Two hot tips for clothes

I wrote about my clothing system for work from office days here 4 weeks ago.

If you think you may want to declutter an item, make yourself wear it one last time. I then wear it as the “farewell outing”, launder it and out it goes. Emotionally I feel satisfied because I had one last wear and then I’m done so I feel no lingering thoughts about keeping it “in case” of something (I don’t know what!). Try it and it may help you to let an item go that you know you are done with.

My outfit project

I follow a lawyer on Instagram who posts her outfits every day. She has a proper stylist who comes in once every season and creates outfits for her (or helps her buy the necessary pieces) so that she can just get dressed every morning.

I was inspired! I’m not a lawyer but I am in financial services so a similar type of vibe.

I then decided I would start photographing my work at office outfits every week, save them on my phone so that I can 1) see what I’m wearing and using 2) be inspired and reminded when I forget about looks that worked.

Here are the first two weeks:

Here’s to a short week of work for South Africans, and then I’m on leave until May. Yay!

(my friend who lives in the US told me yesterday that they don’t get Good Friday and Easter Monday off like we do - how sad!)

May your week be full of clothes that make your heart sing, may the emails be short and sweet, and may you experience the random kindness of strangers telling you how good you look in that colour :)

With love

Marcia