Capsule Outfit #34/At the Piano
Posted: December 15, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black, black jeans, black riding boots, capsule fall/winter 2014, maroon cardigan, mustard scarf, red, style imitating art, white, white button-up, yellow 1 Comment
Yes, this is a new cardigan. Yes, I’m still categorizing this as a capsule outfit because I’m using this cardigan to replace… something. I don’t know, something I haven’t worn yet. If my memory is correct, there are at least three pieces in this capsule I haven’t worn, and it doesn’t look like I will wear them in the foreseeable future, so it doesn’t matter which one I’m replacing. And it’s a nice and warm cardigan, and I don’t have anything maroon/burgundy in my closet (I refuse to call it “oxblood”, which is so 2012 anyway), so I think it’s a justified purchase, don’t you?
Of course, this is also my outfit for this week’s SIA, inspired by Whistler’s “At the Piano”. It’s pretty self-explanatory: the cardigan reflects the deep red of the carpet and the piano, the jeans and boots are for the lady’s black gown, the shirt for the little girl’s white dress, and the scarf and the brooch are for the picture frames and the details on the wall. I am very thorough when it comes to SIA 🙂
Don’t forget to check out Jess’ blog for more interpretation of this painting!
Shirt, Cardigan, and Boots: local shop, Jeans: Hermes, Scarf: Forever21, Brooch: vintage
Capsule Outfit #33
Posted: December 12, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes | Tags: black, black riding boots, blue, capsule fall/winter 2014, navy skinny jeans, pink, pink sweatshirt, stars and stripes scarf 4 Comments
Is it hard to find a color that goes with pale pink? I’m legitimately asking, because I like this sweatshirt, but I almost always have to wear a scarf with it, and none of my scarves really go. This is the closest I could get, and even then I’m still not altogether happy with the result.
Another thing that annoys me about this sweatshirt: the “elbow” patches are absolutely ridiculous. I’ve tried to ignore it, but I can’t. I mean, look at this shit: even if I pull the sleeves down all the way, the patches would be nowhere near my elbows. Did they think elbows are located somewhere along the upper arms?
I am grumpy today, apparently.
Sweatshirt: Zalora, Jeans: Mango, Boots: local shop, Scarf: gift
Capsule Outfit #32
Posted: December 11, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes | Tags: black, black polka dot pants, brown, brown suede ankle boots, capsule fall/winter 2014, red, red scarf, white, white cableknit sweater 5 Comments
Apparently I’m losing my mind, because I thought that my capsule would end in January, not December, and that the turtleneck tunic I wore on Monday was part of this capsule (it wasn’t, although I don’t know if it matters or not, I’m constantly pulling stuff out and putting new stuff in anyway). At the same time, I also forgot that certain pieces, like these pants, are in the capsule from the beginning.
It just goes to show that this whole capsule wardrobe thing isn’t working out as well as I’d expected. I will stick it out until the end of December, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep doing it in the upcoming year. I like the idea of a wardrobe where everything goes together; it’s just that I need a better method to build it.
If my goal is to make the best of my closet and not shop so much, then I think I need to get rid of the idea of a “capsule” altogether. It’s useful for when you’re traveling, but in normal, everyday life, it doesn’t make sense to limit yourself to an arbitrary number of items. That will only bore you and make you want to shop even more. I need to stick to what I have and learn to work with those first.
So, I don’t know. A shopping ban? I tried it once and it didn’t work out so well for me either. Outfit planning? Like a weekly capsule, instead of one for the entire season? Maybe. Any suggestion?
Sweater: Atmosphere, Pants: Old Navy, Scarf: Icing, Boots: Topshop
Capsule Outfit #31
Posted: December 4, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes | Tags: black, black jeans, brooch, brown, brown riding boots, capsule fall/winter 2014, chambray shirt, white, white chunky sweater 2 Comments
This isn’t what it looks like.
Actually, no. This is exactly what it looks like – I got another sweater for the capsule. I don’t even have any excuse for buying it, I just liked it. And as I was trying to think about which piece I could replace in the capsule, I realized I may be going about this whole “building a capsule wardrobe” thing the wrong way. Yeah, I admit it. If this was an experiment, then my method was incorrect from the get-go, and the experiment would be bound to fail.
Here is what I came up with: I shouldn’t start by picking out an arbitrary number of items that I think are going to work. It failed because I couldn’t possibly predict what the weather was going to be like, and something I thought was great three months ago may not fit me that well now. Instead, what I should do is to wear all the things from my closet as usual, and at the end of that season, pick out the items that I wear the most, and put those into my capsule. My goal is to build a cohesive year-round closet, so culling would certainly make more sense than picking blindly.
But I still have a month left in this Fall/Winter capsule, and I’m going to stick with it. I just won’t bother with maintaining the “40 items” anymore. And for the Winter/Spring capsule, I’m going to try this new method, to see how well it turns out. What do you guys think? If you have tried a capsule (or are doing it now), is there any piece of insight you can share?
Sweater: local shop, Shirt: Esprit, Jeans: Hermes, Boots: Aldo, Brooch: vintage
Capsule Outfit #30
Posted: December 2, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes | Tags: black striped top, blue, blue scarf, brown, brown suede ankle boots, capsule fall/winter 2014, navy linen blazer, white, white jeans 1 Comment
So I had to teach a class in front of the school’s faculty today, and this is what I chose to wear: the blazer says “professional” to the faculty (I hope), but the white jeans and striped shirt say “fun” to the students (again, I hope). But then again, I’m always showing Pixar movies and British comedies and having lengthy discussions about the Marvel cinematic universe vs. DC, so I guess the students know what kind of instructor I am already.
Shirt: Forever21, Blazer: Atmosphere, Jeans: Calvin Klein, Boots: Topshop, Scarf: hand-me-down
Parade/Capsule Outfit #29
Posted: December 1, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black brocade boots, blue, capsule fall/winter 2014, chambray polka dot button-up, navy skinny jeans, red, red gold scarf, style imitating art 2 Comments
So, for those of you who celebrate it, how was your Thanksgiving weekend? Filled with good food and good company, I hope? For me it was just a normal weekend, but the nice thing about working for a US company is that you get the US holiday off too, so I did have some slow time to catch up on my TV shows and my books.
Anyway, here’s my entry for this week’s SIA, inspired by the short film “Parade or Here They Are Coming Down Our Street” by Charles and Ray Eames. The piece is so rich in colors and textures that I had a hard time deciding where to pull my inspiration from, but after watching it again, I saw this clown figure and this Japanese carriage:
I decided to put the two together, using my polka dot chambray shirt and my dad’s Japanese scarf. I then added my floral ankle boots because hey, some more patterns and colors won’t hurt, right? And better yet, I managed to stick to my capsule wardrobe! Win-win.
Don’t forget to check out Jen’s blog for more interpretations of this awesome piece of inspiration!
Shirt: tailor, Jeans: Mango, Boots: Betts, Scarf: borrowed from my dad
Capsule Outfit #28
Posted: November 26, 2014 Filed under: Capsule, Clothes | Tags: blue, blue striped sweatshirt, brown, brown suede ankle boots, capsule fall/winter 2014, navy skinny jeans, red, red scarf Leave a comment
Yes, yes, another replacement, I know. But after taking out my navy cable knit sweater last week, I’ve noticed how worn it is, all pilling and gross, so I replaced it with this sweatshirt. And when I say “replaced”, I didn’t just mean in my capsule wardrobe, I mean in my closet as well. I demoted the cable knit sweater to the rank of “around the house” clothes, which includes stuff I wear when I’m at home and maybe to run a quick errand. Sweats, if you will.
I’m slowly refining my closet now, separating it into things that I would wear now, and things that still fit and are wearable but not I don’t like enough to be worn to work or to go out. Because that’s my goal behind the capsule wardrobes – hopefully, after doing a few of them for all seasons, I can figure out a solid, cohesive “work clothes” closet that doesn’t make me go “I don’t know what to wear!” every morning.
Sweatshirt: Forever21, Jeans: Mango, Scarf: Icing, Boots: Topshop
