Why Have a Minimalist Wardrobe? |  Benefits of Minimalist Wardrobe  | What Budget Do I Need?  | Best Ways to Start  | 6 Easy Steps to Create MW 

Since we are starting to realize how much impact our irresponsible consumption behavior has on our planet, interest in the Minimalist or Capsule Wardrobe concept is increasing rapidly. It is a joy to see that more and more of us realize that we do not need to own much to be happy and can be even more comfortable with less.
But before we dig into the nitty-gritty about creating a Minimalist Wardrobe, let’s cover first what it is.

What Is A Minimalist Wardrobe?

A Minimalist Wardrobe is a minimal collection of timeless and versatile pieces carefully selected to accommodate your personal style, lifestyle, and needs throughout the year. Selected pieces are typically harmonized in color and personal style preferences. They are easy to mix and match to create outfits suitable for any occasion without owning an excessive amount of clothing.

A Minimalist Wardrobe can consist of several capsule wardrobes.

A Capsule Wardrobe, a concept popularized by Susie Faux in the 1970s and further developed by fashion consultant Donna Karan, refers to a limited assortment of essential clothing items. This collection, typically consisting of around 20-40 items, can be mixed and matched to create a variety of outfits for a specific season, set of seasons, or timeframe.

Read more about the difference between these two clothing collections and decide which one is best for you:

Why Have A Minimalist Wardrobe?

As the fashion industry continues to hurt our planet, we, as consumers, can take some actions to help slow it down. We can help by becoming more practical and changing our consumption and shopping habits.

Switching to a more sustainable wardrobe is a significant first step to living sustainably and minimizing damage to our world.

Just ask yourself, DO WE REALLY NEED SO MUCH!?? When we think about it, WE DON’T! We can do just fine with fewer but the right items in our wardrobes.

Bright, spacious, decluttered homes and wardrobes bring us joy and make us happy! So why overconsume? Why overspend? There is no need, and it doesn’t help anyone.

The Sage Journals – International Journal of Market Research studies says that “a positive impact of a 3-week capsule wardrobe on our participants who felt less stressed, detached from fashion trends, have found joy in their fashion style, and enhanced their awareness of conscious consumption.”

Creating a Minimalist Wardrobe is literally life-changing. It is good not only for the planet but also adds many benefits to YOU! Here to mention a few.

Benefits Of Creating A Minimalist Wardrobe

While decluttering your wardrobe and limiting yourself to a minimal closet may seem too constraining at first, you will find that creating a Minimalist Wardrobe is enriching, liberating, and therapeutic once you’ve done it.

Creating A Minimalist Wardrobe Defines Personal Style

Fast Fashion and the new culture of easily accessible cheap items have increased our consumption. We too often buy things without giving them much thought, which leads us to pack our closets with unnecessary items that are unsuitable for us. These foreign choices confuse our minds, and when we look at our closets full of the wrong things, we repeat the famous phrase, “I have a wardrobe full of clothes but nothing to wear!”.

Weeding out unnecessary items and keeping only what you need and love will help you discover your TRUE style. So, if you want to (re)connect with your style personality, creating a Minimalist Wardrobe can help you get back to yourself and define your style preferences.

Saves Space And Organizes Your Closet

A Minimalist Wardrobe is the best way to save and organize space.

Getting rid of unworn, poor quality, and ill-fitting items not only defines your style but also declutters your wardrobe and creates a spacious and easily manageable closet.

Minimalist Wardrobes are built with items of your favorite colors. By coordinating your wardrobe by color scheme, you can easily find something when needed, and as long as you put things back where you found them, wardrobes stay orderly, spacious, neat, and tidy.

A Minimalist Wardrobe Saves Time And Reduces Stress

Deciding on what to wear requires mental energy and time. So instead of starting your day with an eternal dilemma of “what to wear?” a Minimalist Wardrobe offers you peace of mind. You get to enjoy a relaxing morning routine, knowing that dressing is easy when you have a wardrobe of your favorite clothes that mix and match effortlessly. No more headaches about what to wear, as everything you pick will suit you, make you feel good, save time and hassle.

Also, as you own only a Minimalist Wardrobe, your shopping will be minimal, too. It will save you time, energy, and stress spent at shopping malls.

Saves Money

I think money-saving may sound obvious, but it is worth elaborating on.

Minimalist Wardrobes save not only space, time, and stress but also money. The idea is to own a minimalist closet while reducing unnecessary shopping.

Minimalist and Capsule Wardrobe shopping aims to invest in quality timeless pieces. You may be paying a higher price for better quality at the time, but it is undoubtedly worthwhile as it will last much longer.

Money saving kicks in in the long run. You rarely will need to shop again for the same good quality item. It is simple math: add all those cheap items you’ve got, possibly not worn even once. Then, think of what you could have bought for the same amount of money. Perhaps a lovely, excellent-quality piece that you’ve been dreaming about forever.

With Minimalist Wardrobes, you always know precisely what you want to buy as you only replace or add timeless pieces you need. This helps save money on mistakes, impulse buys, and cheap fast fashion choices.

A Minimalist Wardrobe Improves The Quality Of Your Choices

Perhaps, needless to say, Minimalist Wardrobes improve the quality of your closet. Every time you shop, you have options to buy a better quality item than the one you had before. Furthermore, as you have fewer items in your closet, you learn to value each item. As a result, you are more thoughtful and mindful when making choices for future purchases.

Minimalist Wardrobe teaches us to think before we buy, just like famous English fashion designer Vivienne Westwood said:

When buying, think about quality, the necessity of the item and options of styling it. Then, only if it ticks all the boxes and you love it – buy it.

Boosts Confidence

I believe that a beautiful outfit tailors the day!

I don’t know about you, but I feel fantastic wearing my favorite clothes! I want to sing, dance, love, laugh… and when I feel great, my confidence shines!

With Minimalist Wardrobes, you wear your much-loved outfits every day because you own only your favorite items. So when everything in your wardrobe makes you look great and feel great, it boosts confidence in your style and inner-self.

A Minimalist Wardrobe Helps To Reduce Consumption

It is sad to see that the impact of Fast Fashion on our planet and its damage is increasing by the day.

Fast Fashion has made us forget our real relationship and emotional attachment to clothes. We no longer value and love our clothes or accessories. Instead, we see them as disposable and easily replaceable, which leads to a tremendous amount of waste going to landfills each day and ultimately harming our planet.

I believe that Minimalist Wardrobes allow us to fall in love with our clothes again. As items come at higher cost and quality, we value, love, and care about them more. As a result, we build an authentic relationship with our small selection of clothes, develop an emotional attachment, and want them to last forever.

We need to learn to value quality again. With quality comes durability. With durability, we reduce shopping. Reduced shopping cuts waste. This is a simple but effective contribution towards saving our home.

What Budget Do I Need To Start A Minimalist Wardrobe?

One of the biggest misconceptions about a Minimalist Wardrobe is that to have a Minimalist Wardrobe, you need a high budget. Many think you have to spend a lot of money and have only expensive pieces in your closet, which is not true. Whether you want new expensive items or not, that’s a different question!

In fact, it is advisable to start creating your Minimalist or Capsule Wardrobe from what you already have. Shopping your wardrobe first will save you time and money.
The decision on the budget is an individual preference, and only you can decide on how much you want to invest. The fact is that you can create your Minimalist Wardrobe or Capsule Wardrobe for as little as zero! I had no budget allocated when I started my first Capsule Wardrobe, so I built mine with 0 spend!

I started with only what I had. And I am replacing the pieces I want to replace slowly. I still have many things from fast fashion brands like Zara, Mango, H&M, etc., but as they still suit me and work hard for my daily life since I bought them, I keep them and will replace them only when they wear off. This way, I will avoid unnecessary waste.

There are many things that I would like to upgrade for better quality or change some pieces to a different style. But, instead of writing them off as waste and buying new all at once, I do it gradually, focusing on the item’s quality every time I buy something new.

Best Ways To Start Creating A Minimalist Wardrobe

Work With A Professional

The best way to review and refresh any wardrobe is to work with a professional. A personal stylist will help you revamp your wardrobe, (re)discover your style, understand your body shape, and learn how to dress it. Professionals will help you determine your skin tone and the colors that suit you best. They will lead you through your personal styling journey every step of the way.

However, I understand that having a personal stylist service may not be available for everyone for various reasons (money, time, location). In this case, another option to start creating a Minimalist or Capsule Wardrobe is to follow personal styling guidance online, even better if it is a professional one!

Follow Professional Personal Styling Advice Online

There are many guides out there that include cookie-cut checklists and very generic wardrobe advice. But as a personal stylist, I understand that “one size fits all” is never the case! Therefore, I created a detailed step-by-step guide where I share my personal styling experience and advice to help you build a customized Minimalist Wardrobe in the comfort of your home.

This guide is your blueprint to downsizing effortlessly. Packed with step-by-step instructions, personalized worksheets, and real-life examples, it’s your path to mindful wardrobe choices and a more intentional approach to fashion.

6 Easy Steps To Create A Minimalist Wardrobe Customized To You!

Plan Ahead

Look at your current closet and think about what features work for you and what don’t. What would you like to carry on practicing, and what you’d like to change? Think about why you want to make changes in the first place.

Plan how big you want your minimalist closet to be and decide how much you want to spend on it.

Align Your Wardrobe To Your Needs

Even if you think you know your style very well, it is still good to reassess occasionally. Our lives are in constant evolution, and so is our style. We need closets that support our changing lifestyles and serve a purpose rather than garments piling up with no use.

Often, we buy things just because we like them. We think we will wear them one day, but that day never comes. It is because an item is not suitable for the lifestyle we live and life events we have. Learning and establishing what dress codes your life events require eliminates many mistakes in getting items you’ll never wear!

(Re)discover your style personality. I am not talking about taking personal-style quizzes online, which are usually fun but very generic. Instead, I suggest you work directly with your existing wardrobe.

(Re)Discovering your style personality before creating a Minimalist Wardrobe is crucial. Otherwise, it all could go wrong, and you could spend time creating a wardrobe that will feel alien to you, and you will not enjoy having it.

If style personality is a new concept to you, don’t worry. This article will help you understand what it is, why bother, and how to determine it.

Understand Body Shape And How To Dress It

Understanding your body shape is another crucial aspect when creating a Minimalist Wardrobe.

Have you ever bought an item that looked so beautiful on a mannequin in the shop but looked completely different when you put it on? Or did you have an item in your wardrobe that you loved how it looked on your friend, but something was not quite right when you put it on? Of course you have! We all did! It is because our body shapes and physiques can be somewhat different. Some of us have bigger hips, some bigger busts. Some have no waistline at all!

As we all have individual proportions, the same thing will fit us differently, even if the size is right.

That’s why, while editing your wardrobe or buying new clothes, it is essential to understand your body shape and what garments flatter your physique. So you can select the right items, designs, fabrics, and colors that bring you confidence and self-esteem.

Create A Wardrobe Color Palette

Creating a Wardrobe Color Palette is beneficial for many reasons: it simplifies decision-making, a well-curated color palette ensures that the items in your wardrobe can be easily mixed and matched, it helps with closet cohesiveness, and it encourages intentional shopping.

Review And Detox Your Closet

Over time, our wardrobes can accumulate items we no longer like, wear, or need. Once you know your dress codes, personal style, and colors and understand your body shape, it is easy to declutter and weed out items that no longer serve you.

Removing such items makes a big difference. Detoxing your wardrobe creates more space and makes it easier to see and utilize the clothes you enjoy wearing.

Select Your Minimalist Wardrobe Collection

Start with essential pieces for your wardrobe. These are the items you cannot live without and wear often. See how many of those you have. In some cases, there will be enough selection already. In other, you will have to consider what is worth adding to complete your Minimalist Wardrobe Collection to make it functional.

Once you have finalized your Minimalist Wardrobe Collection, remove any excess clothing from the room and sell, recycle, or donate them.

I hope you enjoyed this read and that the information you found here is helpful. Please connect and share your story! I will be thrilled to hear from you and celebrate your achievements or tackle hurdles together! Add @mstylealley in your posts, and tag #mstylealley #happywithless.

I am looking forward to hearing from you! 🤍