Please help me with a capsule wardrobe

[Mousing]

I need to replace a lot of my work clothes and I thought it would be good opportunity to start again with a capsule wardrobe. I want clothes which mostly go together so that they don't need much co-ordinating in the mornings. I'm a primary school teacher so needs to be quite practical, e.g. comfy shoes, no skirts or low tops, wash well. I'd rather spend more on better quality stuff and not have to replace things for a few years than buy things which are fashionable now but poor quality and need replacing.

I don't really know how to start. I did a measure yourself thing which tells me I am straight shaped. I'm size 10-12, late 20s and I'm ginger so lots of colours make me look washed out. In terms of style I want to look professional and smart but I still want to look feminine. I don't like to mix my work clothes and non-work clothes.

Mistral and Seasalt might work for you. You could do the whole dress,cardigan and tights look or tunic with skinny crops. They tend to do collections that go together.

Have a look at the Putting Me Together blog. She gives really good advice on creating a capsule wardrobe.

Another bit of advice I read was to choose a main neutral, a second neutral and an accent colour. then buy each garment/item you need in your plain neutral, plain accent, a pattern containing both, possibly second neutral too.

For trousers go for 1st neutral, 2nd neutral, denim. Add a printed pair if patterned trousers are your thing.

Same goes for accessories: bags shoes scarves jewellery etc. I loosely followed this advice but not religiously (many fewer items than it would suggest!) and it did make everything coordinate better.

What are your favourite colours OP? What really suits you? (I'm dark with pale skin so v different although I have 2 redheaded dcs who suit surprisingly strong colours)

I arrived here to ask about a capsule wardrobe too. I had decided on navy and cream/ beige as my starting point. Not sure about accent choice.

I want to do this for my holiday as we are on minimal baggage! However, I also a primary teacher so it could be interesting to see where we get to on this!

You could have a look at the Vivienne Files:

www.theviviennefiles.com/p/four-by-four-wardrobes.html?m=1

This is quite similar to LikeASoul's suggestions and there are examples with different colour palettes.

Oh I like that link nowhere

Chartreuse and Teal as accent colours look amazing on redheads. I suggest navy or charcoal grey as one of your main colours instead of black which will make you look washed out