Capsule Wardrobe Plans Archives

I’m Using a 28-piece Wardrobe Template to Refine My Wardrobe…

January 16, 2026

My wardrobe feels pretty stable, but I'm always looking for things in it that I'm no longer wearing on a regular basis. We don't have mountains of room (although compared to my sisters in Europe, I'm wallowing in space!), and I don't like to keep things that might be of use to someone else...

So I initially thought I would use a 30-piece, six cluster template to organize myself:

But then I made a critical aesthetic adjustment to the 28-piece, seven cluster template (yes, they do indeed get confusing!):

Having the bottoms longer than the tops just makes good sense, doesn't it?

I'm hopeful that you can "right click" on these and copy them, or print them. They're useful if you're just writing on them, or ... View the Post

Cool Weather Travel? Start With a Scarf – William Morris Mixed Patterns by The Met Store

December 19, 2025

If all has gone according to plan for the last eight days, I'm flying back from Paris! Cross your fingers for my experience in the Charles De Gaulle Airport - it's usually dreadful...

Many of you love your navy neutrals, and rely on it particularly when you're traveling. That's the role a dark neutral should play in your wardrobe - what to wear when you might get dirty, or spilled on, or just plan have to wear the same outfit for a really long time!

How about we start with William Morris as our inspiration?

Today's wardrobe isn't going to include red, but it's worth remembering that it is a possibility:

Just as we did on Wednesday, we begin with a dark "suit" to which we add an accent top and our ... View the Post

Don’t Know What to Pack for the Holidays? Start With a Scarf – Snow Globe by kate spade new york

December 17, 2025

I should still be in Paris.... fingers crossed!

I've heard from quite a few people who just don't know what to do when they have to pack for a holiday-season trip. Some people want to go full-tilt festive, while others just want to pack sweatsuits and hide indoors...

I can't necessarily help you know what's best for your trip, but at least for me, I'm finding that starting with a scarf is a good option!

This Christmas content of this scarf is pretty subtle:

And there's nothing about these colors that identifies with any specific holiday:

I'm always going to suggest that you travel in either a "suit-like" ensemble, or a solid column. Why complicate things? Nobody's going to look at this outfit and ... View the Post

Want a Complete Capsule Wardrobe? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 21, 2025

After all of this traveling, our heroine is starting to realize that she has a LOT more clothing than she needs. She's already quite disciplined, in that she makes all of her purchases within this color palette:

Our heroine's first trip this fall was to see her alma mater play women's basketball:

Her second trip was to an office that she'd never visited before! It's always a challenge to pack for these kinds of unknowns...

Her third trip was also for work. For many of us, the majority of our travel is for work - at least mine was, for years! It gets to the point that if you're in the office for too long, you feel like something's gone wrong.

And her final trip this year was for the THREE ... View the Post

Want to Pack Only Neutrals? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 19, 2025

Our last travel capsule wardrobe for this heroine - although I am going to accumulate all of her wardrobes together on Friday to see where she finds herself, clothing-wise. I may even see some additions that she could use...

Here's the painting with which she always starts her planning:

Her overall wardrobe palette includes four core colors:

Her recent numerous travel adventures have included travel capsule wardrobes based on these four related, but all slightly different, palettes:

A Dressy Long Weekend It happens every few years - ALL of the work-related holiday parties to which they are invited fall within a few days of each other!

Their solution is to find a hotel room that's centrally ... View the Post

Want to Skip Brown? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 17, 2025

Our heroine is back to business travel... but no matter why she's packing, or where she's going, she always stick with her inspiration:

Her complete wardrobe is mostly these four colors:

And she has realized that if she omits one color from these four, she has four ADDITIONAL palettes that are ideally suited for small travel capsule wardrobes:

It's business travel again, but to an office that she knows pretty well. This trip is not particularly dressy, but there are excellent restaurants near them, so she still wants to be able to dress appropriately for that!

And her last trip, when she wore her velvet blazer, was full of excellent customer service. Thus she's wearing it again! Get ... View the Post

Want to Pack Dark Colors? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 14, 2025

Monday's heroine has to travel for business - it's surprising to me how many people STILL have to show up in person, press the proverbial flesh, and breathe the same air as the people from another office...

But of course, sometimes the in-person touch is essential. You hear the whispers in the ladies room, and glances from the corner of the room in a meeting, the strange phobias about using a particular printer - office life is weird and can be illuminating!

Her inspiration? This fascinating piece:

Her "master" color palette includes four neutrals; she does include the other colors in the painting in her wardrobe, in tiny amounts - there's a whole range of interesting beige to greenish bronze ... View the Post

Ready for Leafy Autumn Colors? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 12, 2025

Another heroine who is going to experiment with her neutral colors, to try to change the... feel? the mood? of her travel capsule wardrobes by omitting one of her neutral colors. Let's see how this works!

First up is her wardrobe inspiration, by an artist with a name that CAN'T be typed quickly:

The core of our heroine's wardrobe is black and ivory, with definite accents of brown and rust...

After getting dressed with mostly these colors for years and years, our heroine realized that she can take one color out of her four-color palette and have FOUR new, smaller color schemes:

Women's Basketball Home Opener! She and many of her friends played basketball when they were in college; it was VERY ... View the Post

Brown with Black? Start With the 4 T’s in Brown…

October 24, 2025

For our first adventure into using the Four T's as the basis of a capsule or travel wardrobe, I'm (of course!) going to see how black works out...

First, let's take another look at the brown things that we assembled on Wednesday:

This isn't at all complicated - now let's add four black garments. The most basic four garments possible, I think...

We could stop with just these four additions, but let's get our heroine up to 13 garments. This would meant that for travel, she could wear a 3-piece outfit, and pack the other 10 things. I'm quite smitten - for no good reason! - with the idea of packing 10 pieces of clothing...

Here's the fun part! Finding accessories that include both black and brown is ... View the Post

Like Unusual Accent Colors with Classic Neutrals? Start With Art – In Vaudeville by Charles Demuth

September 26, 2025

If things go REALLY well, I'm flying back from London to Chicago today. I'm writing this on the 17th, so if things are sold out or if something is haywire here, I apologize! I will fix it next week... xoxo, J

We looked at this painting a long time ago, and I still think of it often. The colors are like nothing else!

This could be quite a complete wardrobe in ivory, taupe and black, of course. But adding yellow and rosy coral is a real departure from what one might expect...

Our heroine's going to a dance competition - having talented children occasionally requires hitting the road for a few days! They're going by train; the dancer in question has a LOT of gear to bring, so packing small is in our ... View the Post

Love Olive for Autumn? Start With a Scarf – Velour Garden Scarf by Artifact.

September 24, 2025

One last look at the fun of packing 10 simple garments, based on something really beautiful like this scarf:

There is enough blue in this scarf that you could include denim in this wardrobe; I haven't done that here, but it's worth remembering!

Maybe she's driving, and doesn't have to worry about getting her cool beige cords dirty...

The red tops don't have to match, unless you'd like to layer them together. Even then, a good strong dose of "similar tones" should work; I think that the two tops here could go together if that appeals.

This feels perfect for autumn, for those among us who don't wear orange or brown!

As with any wardrobe that includes a carefully chosen and edited ... View the Post

Prefer Navy for Your Travel Capsule Wardrobe Neutral? Start With a Scarf – Eon Silk Scarf by Artifact.

September 22, 2025

The world does not live in black alone - although if you saw my closet some days you might wonder!

Maybe this is a scarf that you want to pack...

There's a lovely shade of medium blue in there... but it's that lime green that our heroine finds most fascinating! Of course she could pack both of those colors as accents, but I didn't find anything that I loved in the light blue.

Comfortable, but still nicely presentable! Just because you're going to sleep on the plane doesn't mean that you MUST wear your pajamas...

This travel capsule wardrobe is exactly what I packed to take to London, except that it's all different colors! This is both classic and very current - that lime green isn't always ... View the Post