Creating a minimalist wardrobe can be tough! Especially if you are just started to figure out what your style is. It can be difficult to determine what to add, keep, or get rid of when curating a small wardrobe. As a minimalist, you are going to want a wardrobe that is 100% you, makes you happy and feel good, but is also practical for your lifestyle. Here are some simple minimalist style hacks for a small wardrobe.
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1. Start with Practicality
You want to keep your personal lifestyle in mind when you are first curating a minimalist capsule wardrobe. What does your day to day look like? What is your job? Are you a busy stay at home mom or do you work a corporate job that requires you to meet a certain dress code? Perhaps you are very active and would like to wear more activewear than the typical person. Or perhaps you just love wearing dresses all the time, no matter what the occasion is.
Whatever your own lifestyle looks like, this is what you need to work around. Personally, I love how feminine a pair of heels look like on many women. I can get easily do down a rabbit hole on Pinterest, pinning outfits with heels, before realizing that heels just aren’t practical for my lifestyle. Personally, I love dressing casually and it’s just what I feel the most comfortable in. I also work from home so I know I would rarely ever wear a pair of heels. My own personal wardrobe consists of jeans and pants, t-shirts, and sweaters, sneakers, and sandals for the warmer months. If you haven’t already, check out my blog post on minimalist Spring outfits, where I share how I style all of the pieces from my capsule wardrobe.
So if you love wearing dresses and know that you will actually wear them over and over again, then go for it! However, if you know that these pieces are more for your fantasy self, just skip them and go for a more everyday style. Think of the things that you love wearing over and over again and feel super comfortable and confident in, for starters.
2. Create a Pinterest Board
Okay, so one of my favorite minimalist style hacks, creating a persoanl style Pinterest board, is meant to help you find your signature style. Are you going to dress like a French minimalist? Or is your style going to be more flowy and bohemian minimalist? Personally, I think my style lines up more as feminine/neutral/ casual minimalist. I don’t have dresses because I never wear them (except on special occasions of course!) I do love the look of dresses so I might add a casual dress this summer that I can wear over and over again (we will see!).
The most important part of creating a Pinterest board for your minimalist wardrobe inspiration is to stay true and honest with yourself. Don’t add outfits for your fantasy self! For example, I love searching “neutral minimalist outfits” because I love the look of neutral outfits. If you want to add color, then perhaps you can add that term in your search. Pin only the outfits that you can see yourself wearing until you have enough images to inspire you to start searching for similar items!
3. Choose a Color Pallate
Doing this step will make it much easier on you when you are putting outfits together. You are going you want colors that look good together because you are probably going to wear each item in different ways. Remember, you are creating a small wardrobe so you want to get creative and make the most of it! If you have one piece that you love but doesn’t really go with the rest of your wardrobe, it’s going to be really hard to style it. For example, my color palate is neutrals (whites, ivorys, creams, tan, brown, gray, black etc.) with a pop of muted colors (greens, pinks, yellows, blues). If you are a more colorful person, you can still have a minimalist wardrobe. Just determine what colors look good together so that you can have a cohesive wardrobe that you can easily mix and match! You can also just simply stick to a monochrome wardrobe of black and white, it’s a really classy, simple style!
4. Make a List of Essentials
Essentials and basics are really what make or break your wardrobe. Having good essentials is like having a good foundation for your wardrobe. These essentials can be plain t-shirts, tank tops, bodysuits, and a solid pair of every day jeans. Having 1-2 of each of these things is a good start, depending on how minimal and small you want your wardrobe to be. Personally, I don’t focus on the numbers, just on how much use I get out of everything and why I own it. You can then add other pieces such as a blazer or coat you love to throw over.
5. Declutter First
And finally, before you start adding anything to your wardrobe, you need to declutter! If you have clothes that you don’t like anymore and never wear, make sure you donate, sell, or get rid of them before adding anything new. You might even find some pieces that you actually want to keep using that go with your capsule wardrobe! Declutter anything that is no longer your style, doesn’t fit you, or just doesn’t make you feel good. Even if it’s really cute, you won’t wear it if it doesn’t make you feel good! Plus, why would you want to do that to yourself anyway?! Focus on only buying/owning thins you feel totally confident in, it’s life changing.
Hope these minimalist style hacks help you throughout your process in building a small wardrobe! Just enjoy the process because it’s honestly so much fun!
Sincerely,
Denise
