Do you dream of having the perfect wardrobe? My style system is made up of MICRO CAPSULES each of 6 items. These give you enormous flexibility and help you get control of your wardrobe and have more outfit combinations for all seasons and occasions than you thought possible. Today I share one of my micro capsules.
I get asked a lot about creating a capsule wardrobe – This video is my take on that – it’s an introduction to my simple style system to navigate your wardrobe, to easily maximise outfits, without having to buy lots of new pieces.
In 1985 at the height of power dressing, and women taking a new place in the workforce, Donna Karen introduced the world to her 7 easy pieces, saying
“So many women find assembling the right clothes bewildering today.”
We might have moved away from the giant shoulder pads of the 1980s, but with more options than ever before available to us, clothes can be as bewildering as ever!
Rather than think about a single capsule wardrobe, I’d rather think about micro capsules. Today, we live rich and amazing lives – at midlife you are incredible multi-faceted women, and so you’ll have clothes that represent the different sides to yourself, as well as different occasions and weather conditions.
By the end of this video, you’ll see how you can maximise your wardrobe for travel, work and play, to create over 50 looks with just 12 garments!
Donna Karen’s original 7 easy pieces that could be simply mixed and matched included a tailored jacket, a cashmere jumper, a white shirt, a body suit, a wrap skirt and loose trousers- these are wardrobe staples for many, and I have to say that her 7 quickly expanded into more like 700 as the seasons went on…to include a little black dress, a leather jacket and all sorts of things.
So, in my simple style system, I want you to think of your wardrobe in micro capsules. Each micro-capsule has 6 interchangeable pieces plus shoes and accessories and a big overcoat if you live somewhere cold – 6 easy pieces that go together – of things that effortlessly mix and match with each other, and that’s what todays video is all about!
Of the 6, you should have 3 tops, 2 bottoms and one outer layer. You know that I love a dress, and dresses count as bottoms here.
But capsule dressing doesn’t have to be classical or boring – I’d suggest that you put one of your personal style superheros in each micro capsule (and if you don’t know what that is check out my video on style superheros! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?
It’s about what we call in the industry building the looks – adding to them and playing with accessories and styling.
These 6 pieces will give you about 10-12 outfits.
If you struggle with wardrobe overwhelm, then give this a go…and photograph yourself in the micro capsule looks and log them in your phone, one folder per micro capsule…This can make your life so much easier – Busy women can pull one micro-capsule a week and you’re done, and for travel, simply pull one or two complimentary micro capsules…
Because of course, if you take this micro capsule’s friend – another group of 6 pieces in the same spirit as the first, then you’ve suddenly got about 50 or so potential looks!
Add accessories and change up the shoes, and you can likewise completely change the looks! I recommend that you refresh your micro capsules seasonally to keep things fresh.
And if you’re enjoying this video, please do subscribe to my YouTube, as there’s loads more content like this that will help you to feel confident and in control of your own style – whatever your age!
Here’s my first micro capsule of 6 pieces
My 3 tops:
Alaia blue knit top
classic black ribbed Polo neck
a Prada burgundy cardigan
My 2 bottoms (that go with the tops):
Dress slip dress > this is one of my personal style superheros – I love a slip dress – so versatile!
A high waisted black McQueen skirt that I had altered to fit my proportions
One outer layer:
For me today, that’s a lightweight black leather Chanel jacket, because that’s my style – for you it could be a lightweight cardigan or a perfecto – that is I mean a leather jacket, or a blazer.
Don’t forget, there’s also a caveat here – of course if you live in a cold climate, you might want to add an extra big overcoat over the top of lighter underlayers!
I’ve also got a few accessories, and three types of shoes – I tend to have one everyday shoe – for me that’s usually a mid height heel, or could be a boot, one comfortable shoe – such as sneakers or flat sandals – my beloved birkenstocks, and one pair of heels that go with the micro capsule.
In this instance, I’ve got my fun Miu Miu silver boots, some heeled sandals (part of my personal inside out style identity is sandals all year – with or without tights!) and some sneakers
And then we have Jewellery bags scarves all sorts of accessories!
Ok, so I’m going to try and do this quite methodically, so that it’s clear…
Want to see it in action? Here we go – watch the video for details!
There’ll be more examples of micro capsules in future posts! Let me know what you think!
Lots of love Aleksandra xoxo
