{"id":260,"date":"2022-05-28T16:55:20","date_gmt":"2022-05-28T21:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manlife.com\/articles\/?p=260"},"modified":"2022-05-28T16:55:21","modified_gmt":"2022-05-28T21:55:21","slug":"benefits-of-a-capsule-wardrobe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manlife.com\/articles\/index.php\/2022\/05\/28\/benefits-of-a-capsule-wardrobe\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of a Capsule Wardrobe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This summer, I happen to be doing a fair bit of traveling, and to different climates. This week I’m in the tropics, and in a few weeks, I’ll be in the rainy Pacific Northwest. With my general distaste for paying airline baggage fees, that means I have to pack seriously smart. I also want to look good doing a variety of things, from kayaking and hiking all the way to dinners and meetings in academic settings. With that in mind, I want to share with you one of the things that guides how I practice style and pack: a capsule wardrobe.

A capsule wardrobe is one that follows one or two colors and tries to build on core pieces to make the most out of each one. In this piece, I want to go over the benefits of designing your wardrobe around a small color range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Capsule Wardrobes are Stylish<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A capsule wardrobe can be a deeply stylish choice, if for no other reason than it’s a wardrobe that you’ve carefully planned out. I doubt that you’d get up in the morning, pick any random set of shirts, shoes, and pants and just head out for the day. Without any forethought, you have the risk of looking seriously goofy in the process. Instead, you’d take the time to try to coordinate an outfit that makes sense for the day’s activities, and makes you think that you look good doing it.

With a capsule wardrobe, you buy only things that look good together. Thus, by the time you have it put together, you ought to be able to pick any one shirt, pair of pants or shorts, and shoes, and they will, at the very least, make sense together. In fact, that’s one way to test the versatility of a capsule wardrobe: if you can mix and match the pieces and random and still find it visually appealing, you’ve done a good job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Capsule Wardrobes Save Space<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is one of the important ones for me in the context of traveling. In a capsule wardrobe, everything works together. Thus, each piece does duty in multiple outfits, which means that you have fewer total things if you want to build a wardrobe that can work for multiple occasions. A great example is a black t-shirt in my wardrobe.
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Of course, I’m fine with sleeping in a black t-shirt. It also pairs very well with a classic pair of light jeans. It’ll also look great with a pair of khakis, or a pair of shorts in any color. With some navy suit paints, it’s a slightly dressier look. Top it off with a cardigan and you’re ready for a meeting. Add the suit jacket, and you’re going out to a nice restaurant. You get where I’m going with this: the more uses you can get out of any one thing in your bag, the more worthwhile it is to carry. The same applies in a closet: the more versatile each item is, the fewer items you’ll need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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They Make Getting Ready in the Morning Easier<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned before, the whole idea of a capsule wardrobe is to coordinate around a few colors or a theme. If you’re like me, the time and mental energy savings can really add up if everything in a wardrobe looks good for everything else. Since I teach at the university level most days, my schedule is busy enough that I do not want to spend what little free time I have thinking about coordinating colors or planning outfits.

Instead, as my morning coffee is brewing, I can pull out a button-down shirt, some pants in a coordinating color, and some dress shoes. It doesn’t terribly matter which ones I pick since when I bought each item, I thought about how it looks with the rest of the things I already own. Thus. by the time the coffee is done, I have planned an outfit, steamed the shirt, and can focus on getting to class on time and prepared instead of worrying about whether or not my outfit makes sense. This might be a small thing, but saving that time every morning takes one thing off of my to-do list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Capsule Wardrobes Make Travel a Breeze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Travel can be a little bit stressful these days, to say the least. You’ll likely be at the whim of airline schedules, often trying to figure out public transit, getting used to sleeping in new places, and the like. The more things you can do try to make that experience more predictable, and less stressful, you should.

Here’s where a capsule wardrobe can come in super handy. Before heading off for a trip, I take a look at the weather possibilities and make notes on what kinds of activities I’ll be doing. From there, I pack my wardrobe to have the minimum number of things that will meet the needs of each thing I’ll be doing. This means that I won’t have to spend any time at my destination trying to figure out what looks good. Of course, I think it’s a great idea to have a few spares of things like t-shirts, socks, and underwear. But, if everything looks good together, then you can spend your time enjoying your vacation as opposed to worrying about what to wear or, worse, looking like an out-of-place tourist in badly put-together outfits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In my view, if you’re a man starting out in your career, it’s an awesome time to start a capsule wardrobe. Take a look at your style, climate, and job as well as your hobbies. With that in mind, buy pieces that look good together, get what you need done, and can be coordinated easily with things you already own.

This makes your life simpler and easier, and it’ll also enhance your style. If you have a consistent look, it will also prevent you from spending money on things that don’t work well together and, thus, would end up sitting at the back of your closet which is something that you should avoid, in that it’s an awful waste of time and money to buy something you never wear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, I happen to be doing a fair bit of traveling, and to different climates. This week I’m in the tropics, and in a few weeks, I’ll be in the rainy Pacific Northwest. With my general distaste for paying airline baggage fees, that means I have to pack seriously smart. I also want to … <\/p>\n

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