Building a Capsule Wardrobe, Pt. 2

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In part 1, we took on the first steps in building a capsule wardrobe: we figured out where we are on our sartorial journey and made an aspirational list of what our ideal wardrobe would be. Next comes advice on figuring out not just what would be ideal, but what’s practical.

Figure out what looks good on you

This can be tricky because it’s hard to be objective about yourself. You get excited about the fabrics and the craftsmanship and the steez! But on the flip side, who can you trust to give you solid feedback? I’ve found that a lot of advice from third parties falls into one of two categories: 1) Inexperienced advice from a non-menswear-enthusiast perspective that’s ill-formed and doesn’t take into account any of the Important Knowledge about the clothing that you have, or 2) Advice from enablers, those fellow menswear enthusiasts who can’t be objective either because they do know all the Important Knowledge, or are blinded by the cachet of your item (“dude that thing is sweet, you have to keep it!”).

It helps to have photos taken of you wearing stuff to see how it looks. Post the photos in the “What are you wearing today?” threads, and listen to the feedback you get from guys whose style you respect. If you disagree or don’t understand where they’re coming from, ask questions. Be teachable. If you’ve been thoughtful about what need you’re looking to fill in your wardrobe, you can share that and ask if they think it fills that need. You need to be honest with yourself based on all the evidence and advice – do you actually look good, or not so much? 

My litmus test for what I think looks good on me is essentially this: if I can relax while I’m wearing something without constantly adjusting it, then I’ve got a keeper. I’ll feel comfortable in my natural style because I think it makes me look good and fits well. If you’re fidgeting or adjusting it, that means it probably doesn’t fit well, or you’re not comfortable wearing it. It could be that you’re wearing something you like the idea of, but which looks wrong on you, in which case go back to step 2 (making a list). If you’re wearing something you aren’t comfortable enough to just live in, you may be wearing somebody else’s life uniform.

Temper your aspirations with reality

Here’s the thing: your ideal aspirational wardrobe can’t carry you on its own. It has to clothe you in your day-to-day life. My perfect wardrobe would include a midnight navy with black-facing shawl lapel tuxedo, a white dinner shawl lapel dinner jacket, suits in navy, charcoal, mid-gray, and POW flannel, 8-10 seasonal sport coats, a dozen or more seasonal ties, a half dozen pairs of Edward Green or John Lobb shoes, etc. I would look better than the Prince of Wales himself! But with that wardrobe, what would I wear when we’re grilling outside with friends over at our house? And when will I wear that white dinner jacket?

The clothes that I really love—tailoring, in my case—don’t make sense for many of the types of activities I actually spend time doing. And let’s be honest, nobody really should be wearing tailoring to a barbecue. So you’ve got to put some thought and effort into versatility in your wardrobe. In my case, jackets that are easy to dress up and down, sweaters that can layer under a jacket but also look good on their own, nice casual shirts and pants, and so forth.

Clothes are meant to be worn. Having and maintaining a capsule wardrobe requires that you don’t “save” your nice clothes for “special occasions.”

On top of that, there’s always the specter of opportunity cost. You must prioritize which categories of clothing are most valuable to you and what you wear the most, so you can spend accordingly. For me this means I have to “settle” for a Kent Wang instead of a Luca Avitabile polo to layer under one of my Eidos sport coats. As long as you are wearing something you like and look good in, you’ll convey a personal style that eludes the vast majority of people.

Use this as a guide to organize your thoughts in developing a capsule wardrobe. Be aware, however, that no matter how carefully you try to plan, you will discover that your tastes will change, your life circumstances will change, and what you thought was a “complete wardrobe” in the past has become lacking in some critical way. That’s okay. Continue evaluating, always being honest with yourself and never stop paring down.

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4 thoughts on “Building a Capsule Wardrobe, Pt. 2”

  1. Great write up with many valid points. That perfect wardrobe of yours sounds very sweet indeed, but I imagine one still wouldn’t wear more than 30-40% of it at any given time, what do you think?

    PS. If you ever get a few bucks extra to splurge, I highly recommend the Luca Avitabie polos, you won’t be disappointed.

    • Right, exactly! Idealism has to be tempered by reality. For those who make enough money to basically buy whatever they want, I’d imagine it’d be far harder to commit to the capsule wardrobe concept. For me, it’s fairly easy because I have a built-in limit of what I can afford to do.

      On those “Friday polos” from LA, I may indeed splurge. Only question is, which color do I get? White? Or navy? There is no other choice, is there? haha

      • After all, you can only wear so many pieces of clothing.

        I started out with a brown which is the newest option, and I’ve since added a navy and green.
        I’d love one in white but they don’t seem to be available at the moment.
        I think there is a grey one as well, but I wouldn’t know what to wear it with.
        I say go with brown, it’s proven to be quite versatile.

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