Pitfalls of the Capsule Concept

Why "Ten Easy Pieces" adds up to difficulty for effective wardrobe management.

It sounds so alluring, so simple, so chic!  A capsule wardrobe to solve all your problems!

Capsule wardrobes have for quite some time been the darlings of style consultants and wardrobe advice columnists.  The idea is quite simple -- you combine a limited number of mix-and-match pieces that together can create a plethora of "different" outfits.  The benefits?  Capsule wardrobes allow you an efficiency in getting dressed while offering the illusion of many options.  The price is right -- as you need far fewer clothes to get dressed than you would otherwise.  And with a capsule wardrobe, you never have to worry about mis-matching colors, as everything theoretically goes with everything else.  All these reasons make the capsule concept sound like it is the solution to all our fashion woes.

But there's more to the story.  In spite of all of these benefits, there are some pitfalls to using a capsule wardrobe day in and day out.  I'll tell you up front, I'm not a fan of the wardrobe capsule concept -- at least in how it's often touted in the magazines and in advice columns.  Capsule wardrobes can be a great tool for certain elements of your clothing needs.  For instance, I recommend you think in terms of capsules for weekend wear, or for travel.  But not for day-to-day dressing throughout the entire season.

So, what exactly are some of  the pitfalls of the capsule concept?

A friend of mine, Sue Crutcher, describes one of these pitfalls.  She remembers vividly her 9th grade teacher who was a wardrobe capsule victim.  "We had a new, young female math teacher... who got caught in the 5 pieces = 30 different outfits. I still remember it was a lime green theme. Scary!! After a while, we caught on. We started placing 'bets' amongst ourselves on what combination she would be wearing each day. The good part, I guess, was -- we showed up for class."

Capsule wardrobes put the focus on the total number of different outfits you can create, and not on the individual pieces  that make up each outfit.  However, each piece will necessarily be a part of many of the different outfits.  In fact, most times all that will vary from outfit to outfit is one piece of clothing.  So, depending on the size of the capsule, you can end up wearing the same article of clothing multiple times in a week.  This leads to overexposure of all the key pieces of your wardrobe...and outfits that look eerily similar to one another.  Not such a great idea for an extended period of time!  Not to mention the boredom that will ensue.

Another problem with the capsule wardobe plan is that it becomes very challenging to update your wardrobe.  What many people don't understand is that the fashion industry designs its seasonal "collections" with a certain palette of colors in mind.  This palette includes specific color values that can change from season to season.  This season's yellow may not be the same as the next season's yellow.  And the same goes for all colors.  This is called the dye lot.  When the dye lot changes, the color changes, making it hard to match new articles of clothing to your existing capsule wardrobe.  And because all the pieces in the capsule go together, you aren't just trying to match one new item to one old one.  You have to match the new piece to most of the pieces in your closet.

And yet one more pitfall is in the line and silhouette of the clothing itself.  Even if the colors match, the pieces might not necessarily look so great together.  For instance, a shirt paired with a skirt looks better at a slightly shorter length than a shirt paired with pants.  Try to use the same shirt for both, and one or both outfits will be shortchanged.  Or think about the fact that the correct blazer length for pairing with a skirt is different than the correct length for pants.  And how about the volume issue?  A blousey top my look great with a pair of pants, but miserable with a skirt.  So you either have to limit the styles in your capsule to those that mix and match well, or suffer looking out of proportion a good portion of the time.

Is there a solution? Yes, I say!  Stay tuned for an article that explains more...


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