Wanna know why today is so special?
Because it’s Aaron’s birthday. Today my handsome hubs turns 31.
:) :)
So today is all about him — let’s look at his first ever capsule wardrobe!
t-shirt / graphic tee / grey jeans / sweatshirt
marled henley / charcoal button up / puffer jacket / canvas jacket
denim button up / dark rinse jeans / checked button up / t-shirt
dot short sleeve button up / plaid button up / vintage button up / tan jeans
casual boots / work boots / waterproof boots / sneakers
A lot of you have asked me whether or not Aaron has a capsule wardrobe too. Generally he subscribed to the idea of less clothing — but he’s a guy, so this is no surprise. His closet has always been tiny, but it never really had a clear direction or style.
Earlier in January, though, he decided he wanted to change that. He spent a few days putting together his vision. He even filled out the little capsule wardrobe planner. :)
Anyway, this is his first capsule, and I’m crazy about it. Just stinkin’ crazy about it. It’s so him.
In case you’re wondering, he works from home, so he rarely needs to dress up. But for special occasions and work trips he does have a few extra pieces: a suit, two dress sweaters, two dress shirts, and one extra pair of dress pants.
Aaron’s capsule is basic and simple, yet styled. At 20 pieces, I think it’s is a great model for any guy with a casual lifestyle. So if you’ve got a husband or a boyfriend or a brother or just a friend of the male persuasion — here’s the formula:
- 6 button up shirts (all different weights to work in different temperatures)
- 4 t-shirts (two solid, one graphic, one long sleeve henley)
- 3 outer layers (all different weights — sweatshirt, canvas jacket, puffer)
- 3 pairs of jeans (indigo, tan, and dark grey)
- 3 pairs of boots (social boots, work boots, weather boots)
- 1 pair of sneakers
Do you know any guys doing capsule wardrobes?
xo
I have been so busy planning for my spring capsule that I haven’t even thought about my husbands wardrobe!! This ia a life-saver! He is big &tall so it’s so hard to find clothes that are nice, so we just buy whatever we can find whenever. I think by him having a capsule he will have more options and always look put together (Duh) thanks so much for this blog!!
Hey Aries-
I have the same issue as your husband. I’ve found that Banana Republic has a great selection of tall items, and Eddie Bauer has some great jeans cut very long (originally for use with boots): I’ve found 36″ and 38″ lengths online that make those jeans the best I’ve ever bought.
thank you so much for sharing. My husbands wardrobe is so big, and now I have an idea about were to start – and settle :)
How timely! My husband and I are spending part of our snowed-in time here in NC working on his first capsule wardrobe! I just finished planning mine for spring, so we decided to go ahead and create his for winter, just to give him a taste, before we do a real one in spring. One we actually buy stuff for, I mean. If you google the word “lumbersexual”, that’s Jake. Only he’s a real mountain man and has had a beard for 10 years (he quickly points this out to anyone who dares mention Duck Dynasty to him). With a recent promotion – within the NC Dept. of Agriculture – he has decided he wants a slightly more refined look for himself. Think more J. Crew type plaids than actual work flannel plaids. We actually stumbled across this website: cladwell. It seems pretty cool so far. It’s like a free personal stylist. They help you plan your wardrobe based on your body type and lifestyle. They offer suggestions of where to purchase the pieces you need — that’s how they get paid. So anyway, how cool to see your hub’s first capsule too! Would love to continue to see his for other seasons as well.
Taylor, thank you for that info on cladwell.com. I’m totally going to do this today for my husband. :-)
Hey Kim and Taylor,
Wanted to let you all know that Cladwell also just launched Capsules for women that helps you build a minimal and versatile wardrobe: capsules.cladwell.com . Just wanted to give you the heads up in case you and your husband were interested. Thanks!
My husband is who started us on the minimslist wardrobe! He read a book, then got rid of all his clothes in all his drawers and decided he’d only keep the 10% of clothes he always wears that fits in our tiny closet. I have to admit that I love how little laundry there is now! Shortly after, I minimalized my three kids clothing and now only have one load of laundry per child per week now! I came across your blog around the same time, and I do not look at clothes the same way now. The only catch is that I’m 16 weeks pregnant and still figuring out this whole capsule idea for a rapidly changing body. Any blogs you can refer me to?? And thanks for posting your husband’s capsule, love it!!
Try missminimalist.com!
Thanks, will check her out!
You might like this one too
http://thelovelylauralife.com/
Already following her, thank you!
I’m 29 week pregnant and it’s been a bit of a challenge. At the beginning I’d slowly phase out clothes as they stopped fitting. I found that stressful as I had gotten used to the grab and go nature of having a closet full of stuff you love, but I didn’t want to fully transition to maternity clothes before that because I waited to tell my workplace and was trying to minimize the bump. I told my boss + HR at 17 weeks and co-workers at 19 weeks and then had a huge belly growth spurt soon after that. I felt like I got the timing just right – I didn’t want to start showing too much and create a rumor mill of speculation. An observant few had started to guess but most people were surprised.
Once you hit 20 weeks you can pretty much solidify your capsule. I got a bunch of items at Motherhood – they had a buy 2 get the 3rd free special for clearance items going after Christmas. Score! Plus I had friends who passed on some items. All the maternity jeans I have are from friends!
I had a bad experience shopping at Macys on black Friday. Not worth it at all. They mostly had the same items as the Motherhood store, but everything was full price and the coupons didn’t apply. It was treated as separate from the rest of the store.
Thanks for your input! This is baby number 4, so I started popping at 10 weeks, well before I was ready to tell anyone! Now, at 16 weeks, I feel huge, but people still say they can barely tell. I just started wearing maternity clothes I bought from another mom’s closet. Paid $65 for a bunch of stuff, and it was well worth it! I’m hoping it will be my second trimester capsule along with some Lululemon leggings, a Gap maternity dress, a pair of H & M denim, and some basic layering tanks. The last time I had a child was 4 1/2 years ago, so my friends are all well beyond having babies. But that’s okay, I’m happy to buy second hand! Have you tried J Brand jeans? OMG, they hold everything in so well and do not sag! Definitely worth the price if you can snag a pair!!
If you go into the archives of The Small Things Blog, she had a capsule during her pregnancy too.
I’d love to try kids capsules, I have a boy, girl and a baby(girl). Are there any blogs that detail how?
Hi Jenni, Here is an example of a year-round kids capsule! http://www.thismomsgonnasnap.com/stevie-fan-club-creating-a-capsule-wardrobe-for-kids/
Good luck! :) xo, Caroline
THANK YOU for this..forwarding to my fiance…. He could use some help :)
This is great! I’ve been meaning to help my fiance with his wardrobe, and this is the starting point I needed! He works in a production so he doesn’t need much for dress clothes either. I do have a couple questions, though.
So my fiance loves sports. Like, loves ’em. Hence, his closed is filled t-shirts for his favorite teams. How would you recommend he incorporate sport wear into his capsule? And one last question…is Aaron’s wardrobe an all-season capsule? Or will he swap out some shoes and pants for spring/summer items? Thanks!! -Audrey
this is so inspiring and yet my partner’s wardrobe is at least double (maybe triple) the size of mine. I’ve chalked it up to needing a business wardrobe and a casual wardrobe + a lot of clothes as gifts + a general reluctance to ever give ANYTHING away… It’s kind of an ongoing struggle, because we end up doing so much laundry and 80% of it is his.
Do you have any advice for supporting spouse’s/partner’s beginning into minimalism, or talking to them about making the minimalism “jump”? How did Aaron go from “meh” to interested in a capsule wardrobe? And is this something he wants to continue for all 4 seasons or only a few?
thanks for sharing!
I would also love to hear your advise on getting your partner “on board”!
Me too!
My husband did a capsule wardrobe long before I started attempting it (even though he didn’t call it that). Seeing how intentional and neat his closet was really kept encouraging me to seek out information on the concept, which is when I ran across your blog! I do have a non-capsule related question. You’ve mentioned that you and your husband both work from home. This past year, we did a big lifestyle right-sizing when we moved from a gigantic 1920s house (two stories, two kitchens, huge basement- just for us and our pup) to a 1940s adorable cottage style home. It felt AMAZING! However, my husband also works from home, and while we use the spare room as his office, it also hold all of our instruments and has my closet as well. In the old house, he had a designated office-only space. Okay- enough about me…haha. My question is this– how do you create good home office space for both of you when (as you’ve mentioned) you, too, have “right-sized” your living quarters?
Happy Birthday Aaron ! Hope you two have a great day celebrating it. I showed this wardrobe almost instantly to my husband and while clothes aren’t really his thing, I think it’s a fun opportunity for him to see some possibilities.
This would be a big project, I know, but I’m definitely curious to see how you minimize other areas of your life such as your home. I’ve been slowly trying to clear things out of our way too big home in hopes of downsizing when our mortgage term is up and I always enjoy when you share glimpses of you living space on instagram. Take care!
I really like this! Aaron has great taste and nothing is outrageously expensive.
Ooh – this is going to be seriously helpful in “assisting” my partner to minimize his wardrobe. He has literally double the closet space I do, and his stuff still spills out everywhere (and I recently discovered he has like 100 t-shirts in storage at his parents house). Thanks for this!
Related – does anyone have any good resources for reasonably-priced, hip-ish clothes for supertall fellas? We can never seem to find him a dang shirt that fits, and the shops we know of that carry tall sizes tend to be really pricey :(
Not sure how tall “super tall” is, but assuming he’s between 6′ 0″ and 6’4″, I recommend Lands’ End. They’ve totally overhauled their brand so most of their clothes (men and women) are super cute now. My guy is 6’2″ and their “tall” size is just right or even too long for him depending on the style. Oh also, they do 20 or 30% off pretty frequently so most items are very affordable.
Thanks Lia!! My bad for using such vague terminology there – “tall” is certainly subjective! He’s 6’6″, so the Land’s End tall sizes tend to be barely-right on him, but do often fit. That’s usually where we end up, but are hoping to add to the tall-fella clothes repertoire a bit :)
Yay I hope you post pics of his outfits! My hubby needs all the help he can get. I helped him purge his wardrobe a couple months ago with your tips and he is already enjoying having more options (that aren’t a white stained undershirt). Everything fits him and is “him”. He could stand to get a few more pieces because he got rid of a lot.can’t wait for this.
okay. How flippin’ adorable are y’all!? A cute little capsule family :) Next…Puppy capsule fashion, courtesy of Stevez the Whippet. *hahaha* Happy Birthday to your Hubs…yay for celebration fun!
My husband has quite a small wardrobe except for tshirts. I keep getting rid of them but he is so attached! He works in an office but can wear chinos or jeans with a shirt. He has about 20 shirts but we don’t do washing that often at the moment. I’m 28 weeks pregnant so I plan to reduce his shirts down once I’m home every day and washing more often…
Love the idea of this :)
Emma | ohflowerchild.blogspot.com
My husband has what I consider to be an insane amount of clothes. I’ve tried to get him to downsize but it’s sooo hard (stages of grief much?). Can you please give me numbers/formula for a guys capsule wardrobe who has a bigger closet to begin with and likes to have “more” clothes.
He does have a pretty defined style, I just think giving him numbers will help motivate him to get his closet in order.
Thanks!!
hey Caroline! huge fan from Brazil :)
can i say something crazy? my capsule wardrobe looks pretty much the same of you hubs, can you believe it? except the boots and jackets (here in Brazil is crazy hot, so i’m reduced to sandals all the time), the colors are alike, hahahaha!
it’s soooo amazing see how this works for different people around the world.
My husband was JUST talking about how someone needs to put together a men’s capsule. Great minds! ;)
Hey, I call my hubs hubs too! I Hope he’s having a wonderful day!
The hubs and I have been working hard to pare down and take on our first season capsule wardrobe. Thank you for your inspiration!
Looks awesome!
My husband was my inspiration to simplfy my own wardrobe. He knows what he likes/what looks good on him and then just goes with it. I’m getting there . . . currently on my 2nd capsule and am really enjoying the process. Appreciate your blog and thanks for sharing your hubs’ capsule!
Love this! Will be sharing it with my husband!
I’ve been using a capsule-ish wardrobe for a couple of years now and love it! My husband doesn’t like getting rid of stuff or fussing over clothes, but he’s recently lost a lot of weight and needs to replace a lot of his wardrobe. He was talking the other day about starting a capsule wardrobe and I almost threw him a party I was so excited! I think he might currently have more clothes than me ;) cheers to healthy lifestyle changes of all sorts! This formula will help us a lot when we go shopping – thank you so much for publishing this!