How many clothes do you have?

[yellobunny91]

I have been travelling a lot for work over the last few months and have been living out of my suitcase, only having a limited clothes has made me realise how little I actually need. I am getting ready to relocate from London to New York and have decided that its time to really clean out my wardrobe. I am really keen to try a minimalist approach to my clothing, I have already donated about half of my clothing and accessories and still plan to donate some more. I tend to buy high quality clothing so they do last for many seasons if not years, but I am trying to work out how little I can live with. I am curious to know if anyone else has a minimalist approach to clothing, and how much clothing people typically have.

So far this is what I have now that I have cleaned out my closet (is this a realistic amount of clothes for New York):

T-shirts: 7 (1 white, 3 black, 1 grey and 2 navy)

Long sleeve supima t-shirts: 5 (1 white, 1 black, 2 grey, 1 cream)

Nice Jumpers/Sweaters: 5 (2 black, 1 white, 2 navy)

Blouses: 5 (1 white, 2 black, 1 navy and white stripe, 1 grey and white stripe)

Blazers: 2 (black)

Dresses: 5 (3 black, 2 leopard)

Skirt: 1 (black pencil)

Work trousers: 3 (2 black, 1 tweed)

Jeans: 5 (1 boot, 3 skinny, 1 black straight leg)

Pyjamas: 2 Calvin Klein viscose PJ trousers, and 2 white t-shirts

Loungewear: 1 black legging, 1 grey legging, 2 sweater tunics

I am trying to upgrade my style... fewer better things that I can wear to death while they are still fashionable, and easier to get dressed, plus trying to mix up looks

I think your capsule looks great.. you actually have quite a bit there so Def don't take more than this

You are low on pj's and lounge wear imo but USA has better and cheaper shopping for casual clothes so don't buy til you are there and need it

I think a couple of black tops would add versatility plus you must own some coats?

I think the minimalist thing helps us focus on what we need /use (for me and some friends either moving so having to pack up clothes/keep it in storage when between places) has been the trigger, or weight loss/gain... It also helps you define a style

Downside: fewer clothes means they do wear out. I don't think you should prune further... If you are thinking about it box some things up if in good condition - you may find they are good in the rotation

Looks great, as a fan of outerwear though i'd have though a leather jacket and a couple of coats would be essential (although could be fun to search when you're out there.
I used to enjoy Unfancy's capsule wardrobe blog she's stopped now but there's lots of archive ideas, she's a bit casual though -DD found it brilliant for packing for uni.

Last point... If you have separate work/casual clothes you end up needing a few more items. Google project 33 - but a lot of those bloggers can get by on 33 items incl shoes as it is casual everyday

I don't think I could have a capsule wardrobe as I don't think clothes are made to last, no matter how expensive.

I do try and make sure the clothes I buy can be mixed and matched across a lot of my wardrobe, so o try and choose colours and styles that compliment each other.

I like the idea of a capsule wardrobe. Mines a work in progress

Well, I'm currently quite happy living out of 5 suitcases between me and 2 kids. That includes towels, shoes and gym kit. And some of that is still packaged up as it was for the cooler weather before we left the UK, including coats.
Only clothes we've bought in a month are new school uniforms, and an abaya for me.

I admire people with capsule wardrobes.What I actually wear regularly is indeed capsule but my actual wardrobe contains way more seldom worn clothes that I can't bear to part with.

I did the capsule wardrobe thing for a 3 week trip over the summer, it was really useful while travelling but I really looked forward to a change when I got home. I think while basics in grey white and black are a good starting point I'd be bored by the limitations very quickly.

OP, similar to you. 2 pairs of office trousers, 3 black skinnies. 4-5 casual shirts. 4 dresses and about 5-6 smarter tops and 3 jumpers. Could probably fit my entire wardrobe into a medium sized suitcase. I have a colour scheme and can combine most pieces with each other. I still feel I have too much and I only guy things if I really need them (and for every new piece and old one goes). I don't think I could handle a mahoosive wardrobe

Too many to count . I'm afraid and I probably have an outfit for just about any occasion.

Some definitely needs to go though.

I think the thing with capsules is that they're kind of only good for the moment? Once winter sets in, you'll need warmer layers, thermals, appropriate footwear, hats, scarves, coats. And again in summer, you'll need cooler layers, shorts, sandals etc etc etc. particularly in NYC where the seasons are even more pronounced than in the UK. By all means, start with good basics, but I think it's nigh on impossible to wear the same clothes all year round. Plus I have days where I want to break out of the navy/grey/black rut, and wear patterned trousers, or a red jumper, whatever, and I like to be able to dig something out that's a little bit different every now and again.

I had a major clear out of my clothes and am glad I did as I am now having to store some of DMs clothes as she's due to go into a nursing home soon (she has tons of clothes but that's another story). I think your list sounds good. Anyway you are off to NYC so see how you go with what you have, and if you feel you need something then you can always pick it up there.

About 30 dresses. Seems excessive but I've had some of my dresses for a number of years. And I don't change them in accordance with the seasons. In the autumn and winter I wear them with tights. In the summer spring. I wear them with colourful shoes. And jackets if they have no sleeves, as I hate the tops of my arms being exposed.

8 jackets
8 pairs of shoes, be okay if I were a spider, wouldn't I
About 15 bags
As you can probably gather my shoes bag and jacket have to match my dress and I tend to mix and match a lot. However the shoes have now been put away until next year. In favour of the boots and tights, aside from my navy shoes which I wear with my navy tights.

75 dresses at last count. I'll leave the thread now

Good as it gets... how big is your wardrobe? ?? Is it a whole room?

Um
Not quite! Wardrobe is a three door one the length of the wall but it's the spare room so acts as my dressing room!

I love the idea of this - my life and home would be much tidier and more orderly if I did this. My problem however, is that I really love colourful, patterned clothes. This means that people tend to notice what I'm wearing more and so they'd notice that I was wearing the same things again and again, but also that I can't mix and match everything in my wardrobe as lots of it just wouldn't go.

Yours looks awesome though - will you need/want any gym or exercise clothes? I tend to hoard those...

Oh and scarves - I must have about 25 scarves; they're all beautiful and I love wearing them, but it is a bit excessive! You might want one or two though?

i don't think I have enough clothes...

I love the idea of a capsule wardrobe but they don't leave much room for frivolity or for having things just because you like them. And do you end up wearing clothes for both home and work? I like to keep them separate.

Following!!!!!

New York is much colder than UK in winter and probably hotter in summer so you will need warm coat scarves etc also I think a couple of brighter tops to add some colour, red pink bright blue would all match your basics, for me I would find grey black navy with white/cream all the time quite boring fine for work but a bit of colour would be good, instead of 3black t-shirts maybe 2 black and 1 bright, same with long sleeved tops

I have very few clothes (well under 100 items in total including shoes, and only about 40 of which are currently in my wardrobe, I rotate my wardrobe every 3 months or so). I absolutely love it, but find there are some things I need to stick to/be aware of:

• clothes wear out quicker when you have fewer, so need to be more aware of quality when buying and keep on top of replenishing.
• it's easier if you pick a couple of basics, a couple of main colours and a couple of accent colours
• make sure you use some of the aforementioned accent colours! Life gets very dull in monochrome
• think about how often you do laundry and make sure you can handle, say, three days of identical weather without having a clothing crisis.

Here endeth the sermon

Hi all,
thanks for the responses! I find all of this really interesting!

Sorry, I didn't include my jackets/coats when I added up my clothes. I do have a very pretty dark green trench coat for spring, a grey peacoat for autumn, a black barbour for December and January and a very warm long down jacket for when it snows. As well as two really warm scarves and two lightweight scarves for autumn/spring. I do need to buy a couple warm hats and some mittens.

Swedish: I don't wear work clothes at home, as soon as I get home I put on a pair of gap pure body leggings and a tunic jumper which I have two of.

Hopefully: Good point about laundry, maybe I should buy a couple extra basic warm long sleeve shirts? I am currently obsessed with the long sleeve t-shirts from Uniqlo that are supima cotton - maybe I should buy a couple more of those and another white blouse.

As for colour, I have never been into wearing colour so all of my clothes are already in basic colour (I look best in white).

In terms of summer clothes, I usually buy three or four inexpensive dresses from Zara or Gap for the summer and wear them all summer long, so they are pretty much worn out buy the time autumn comes around. At that point, I donate and then restock the next summer. This saves me from having to store a lot of summer clothing.

I am also going to do the whole capsule wardrobe for my beauty products as well. So I am using up all of my half used products, throwing out all makeup that I never really use and sticking to a palette of my favourite eyeshadow and blusher to keep things simple. And throwing out my huge collection of nail varnish (only keeping five shades that I really like).

I really don't want to arrive in New York with a huge amount of unnecessary things. The one thing I will be stocking up on before leaving the UK are my French skincare products - I plan on stocking a small suitcase with bioderma, a derma and avene!

I'd really struggle with shoes - i love shoes, I hate only wearing a few pairs. And I need so many for loads of different functions....shoes maketh the clothes, imo.