As part of my personal streamlining process, I stumbled across Project333. Essentially the idea is that you have just 33 items in your wardrobe that you wear for 3 months. This sounded easy for me, as I’m not a clothes horse, nor do I really ever leave my cupboard.
But I’ve been surprised by how hard I’ve found it… And yes, the first 3 months I cheated mercilessly! What I found was that despite not really having to go anywhere, there were certain unexpected things that cropped up that needed a specialist outfit – so a birthday party which required more than jeans and a sparkly top, or an unexpected cold snap that required more jumpers.
My daily workwear consists of a pair of jeans, a tshirt and a cardie. It works for comfort, it works for the odd unexpected client visit, it works for doing the nursery run in. It is unusual for me to have to be smarter than that for work, but I do like having something a bit special to go out in the evenings in, and there is the occasional work related event that I might have to wear a dress/suit for. I really like the idea of having a capsule wardrobe of well thought up and coordinated outfits for any occasion – I’m just not very good at it! And additionally, I hate shopping. Yes, I am female. No, I did just say I hate shopping for clothes.
But I think I’ve got it right for the next 3 months – this is my June/July/August wardrobe:
- 3 x pairs of jeans – 2 tidy jeans, 1 pair of lightweight sailor style jeans
- 2 x long sleeved tshirts – 1 light grey, 1 dark grey
- 8 x tshirts (one navy, one b&w stripes, 1 light grey, 1 dark grey, 1 white, 1 bright orange, 1 patterned red, 1 patterned grey)… I decided to make these the staple of my wardrobe rather than the long sleeved ones which I usually wear in winter
- 3 x cardigans – 1 cotton red, 1 aqua cashmere, 1 olive cotton – with it being warmer, I expect these will mostly be the top layer of my clothing.
- 1 x green sleeveless floral shirt – this can be layered with a long sleeved top too
- 1 x going out top – Biba b&w cat top – can also be layered
- 1 x stripey bow tshirt – more of a going out top this one.
- 1 x striped blazer – this is an ebay bargain – I’m aware there are quite a lot of stripes in here!
- 1 x pink cotton cropped tie cardie – I wear this on top of long or short sleeved tshirts and for yoga
- 1 x pair lime green slip on shoes
- 1 x pair of Converse style slip ons
- 1 x blue silk scarf – I wore this as a neckerchief recently which I think is a nice summer look and brings a bit of colour to an otherwise dull outfit.
- 1 x handbag
- 1 x sunglasses
- 1 x gold chain – this is a solid chunky necklace and looks naff in the box, but actually glamourises anything you wear – can wear it with a black dress or a plain tshirt
- 1 x blue knee length dress – it’s a bit like the one Kate Middleton got engaged in
- 1 x 3/4 length raincoat – this is blue with a red lining and big cream buttons
- 1 x chunky cotton sweater in navy
- 1 x cropped linen trousers 3/4 length
- 1 x Brown hoody – I’d prefer to swap this for a slightly lighter weight one but that’s what I have in my wardrobe!!
- 1 x Grey pea coat jacket
I’d be fascinated to see if any of you have tried this or if you have a “uniform” of what you wear each day? Because we aren’t in the office, we’re somewhat freed from the constraints of office wear… Does that make the difference? I know a few VAs with whacky hair colours for example!