Guardian capsule wardrobe article- what items do you agree with and ones that you don't?

[PragmaticDramatic]

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/aug/24/the-ultimate-capsule-wardrobe-the-only-20-items-youll-ever-really-need
I am assuming you need multiples of these items.

tbh every time I see these kind of articles I think of this scene - 30 years old and still probably accurate.

Ab Fab Magazine Editor Meeting

NONE of the fashionistas i know have anything like a minimalist capsule. If you actually hated clothes and shopping it would be quite useful.

I quite enjoyed the article, and the list is a good starting point for building a classic capsule, but it’s not going to suit everyone for the reasons already discussed. The &other stories coat is really nice in person, and has been on my wish list for ages!

I totally get you. I have a capsule because I have very little space, but also I don't like a lot of stuff, especially now that I WFH. They should do a capsule for those who WFH, then leave the house for a run or a walk or a trip to Tesco, then occasionally go out for dinner. Basically comfy lounge wear.

It's a posh person wardrobe I think. So your one jumper isn't getting dirty because you have other people to do your cleaning, toddler wrangling, car washing etc. On the rare occasions it's at the drycleaners you wear your blazer or Chanel jacket indoors over your shirt to keep warm. You can afford the heating on whatever temperature you need anyway so you're not wearing a gazillion layers ever. You get taxis and carry an umbrella if it's raining. A hood would just get in the way when you sit back against the car seat and make your neck damp. You buy a holiday wardrobe for your trip to the Carribbean (or wherever it is posh people jet off to for a few days when they fancy going to the beach). You couldn't possibly own a bikini top and denim cut-offs to visit your local raw sewage system beach because you'd be forced to jump off the cliff if you spotted anyone you know, praying as you fell that your carcass will be swiftly eaten by sharks before anyone sees what you're wearing.

I find the sleeves often slightly too short, waist is a bit too high (I'm not THAT tall!), gape at the chest, give me no waistline. Crease. Come untucked from my trousers. Collars don't sit quite right. I just hate them on me.

The editorial meetings were the best scenes in Ab Fab, just brilliant.

I always think of Helen Lederer when I see some posh twit's shop getting a nod in a mag. "We could do... chairs. My friend's shop has some lovely... chairs. We could get some lovely... photos..."

Helen Lederer! That’s her name! I know so many london PR people, quite a lot of Freud’s ones too, and can completely imagine the ‘my friend has a lovely little interiors shop in Notting hill’ glasses/cushions/candles type chat happening today. It’s like a documentary.

There is a type of glamorous posh London lady for whom the demise of the magazine heyday (80s/90s) and that career path must have been devastating.

I'd add another dress and take away one pair of trousers.

The most boring wardrobe ever. Plus only one dress?! In summer, I live in five or six dresses on rotation.

Me too.
Ridiculous article that - at best - caters for one particular lifestyle.

For those of us with more interesting lives, a wider range of clothes is necessary. I'm off to Cyprus in a fortnight and none of those shoes would be suitable for the beach. Neither would most of the clothes.

Just a word (and I used to love them) ballet pumps offer little or no support and I think contributed to my now recovered plantar fasciitis.

Loafers, I realised after I jumped in the air after a motorbike backfired years ago on me, my lovely soft black LK Bennett loafers offered little or no support. That’s not to say I’d rule them out completely or deck shoes.

Similar.

and there are certain items that MNers here love which I just don’t. Plain black jumpsuits for one, apart from a patterned one which I do like.

"Photo shoot-wise I'm looking at two weeks in the Cawwibbean..."

The rhotacism is a lovely touch.

Not for me. Any of it.

How utterly dull.

Apart from the wide leg trousers and maybe the ballet flats, it could have been written 10 years ago.

Those boxy Chanel style jackets are absolutely everywhere, and not all that wearable, imo.

Surely that's the point. "I've pared my clothes down to a capsule wardrobe: it's really exciting and on-trend" would be a contradiction in terms.

If anything the slip skirt and the Chanel-ish jacket are too 2022-24 to fit the capsule wardrobe brief.

I have most of those items. Along with many more! I think the blazer looks a bit dated, kind of circa 2010.

I don’t think the intention is to look like Kate Middleton when she was newly engaged though, you can be minimal and on trend.

perhaps replace the Breton for a thick cotton boxy t shirt, replace the kitten heels for something more practical (suede trainers? Can’t remember if they had trainers), the cigarette trousers for carrot fit ones… The dress is not for me at all but at least slightly more modern.

ObvIously thats just one opinion. I could never have a capsule wardrobe though, I adore clothes and especially interesting cuts and prints!

I do agree with that actually. I covetted the M&S cream one for months and bought it in at least two sizes, but took them both back because I couldn't make it work.

Also they're well past their peak IMO. They're still in the shops, but surely only clinging on by their fingernails.

I probably only agree with about 3, the Breton, the denim shirts and the lace up boots. I think this is a very boring selection only really suitable for smaller people, can you imagine cigarette pants on someone with a larger middle and chunky thighs, yes I know you can wear what you want, I do, but it's better if the look good. It had far too many jackets and shoes. The worst item for me was the only pop of colour the plasticky looking bubblegum pink ballerina shoes.

I also suppose it depends on the definition of a capsule wardrobe. Are you meant to have the 20 items forever, or can you sell/donate and replace, as long as you only keep 20?

If ballet flats and brogues are years out of date what do you all wear to work if you’re in a professional/ office role? Asking for a friend 😬

You've nailed the problem perfectly ☺️

Thanks for answering! Interesting that you apply it to other things too, especially books - I hang on to them even more than I do clothes, although I'm now starting to realise they don't age at all well.