Let’s continue our summer wrap up by chatting about the pieces in my capsule wardrobe that I wore the least + the lessons I learned from them.
Mistakes — of any kind — usually make us fidget + sweat. After all, if we’re being real, any mistake has a cost.
But … what if there’s another side to our mistakes? A quieter side, that’s perhaps harder to feel, but just as real.
Let me introduce you to one of my favorite people: Benjamin Zander. If I could pick anyone in the world to adopt as a grandfather, it would be this guy. He’s the renown conductor of the Boston Philharmonic + a wildly innovative, out-of-the-box thinker. He says:
“I actively train my students that when they make a mistake, they are to lift their arms in the air, smile, and say, “How fascinating!” It is only when we make mistakes that we can really begin to notice what needs attention.”
(Don’t you love that mental picture? A bunch of serious musicians throwing their arms in the air and exclaiming to themselves? Makes me smile every time.)
Another mistake? How fascinating! Another opportunity to learn something just presented itself.
—
So on that note, here are some of my mistakes this season:
TRACK SHORTS | Oops! Turns out that in 103°F heat, I perspire. You can see where this is going, right? Sweat would show up in the most unsightly of places in these light grey shorts. TMI? My apologies. Maybe these would work for spring when it’s not so-dang-hot.
LITTLE WHITE DRESS | …that got even littler. I accidentally threw this baby in the dryer and it came out short … like real short. You can bet I’m much more careful with laundry these days.
WHITE DETAILED TANK | Truth be told, this was one of my favorite pieces — but 10 seconds after I’d put it on it would wrinkle up terribly. I loved it so much that I’d try to wear it anyway, but I always got annoyed with it. Lesson learned? Do a wrinkle test in the dressing room by grabbing a fistful of the material + balling it up in my hand + checking for wrinkles.
BRUSH TANK | No embarrassing story here, I simply didn’t reach for it over other favorites. Maybe next summer.
TRACK PANTS | I actually wore + washed these pants so many times that they practically fell apart. But they stretched out in the knees each time I wore them, so I would wash them after every wear — which was a lot. I love my track pants so next time, I’m buying higher quality fabric that hopefully won’t stretch at the knees + not need to be washed so often.
YELLOW PUMPS | We all knew these were going to fail, right? They looked cute the few times I wore them, but overall they’re just too fancy for my lifestyle.
So here’s you’re assignment: as you move through your day today, try out what Benjamin teaches his students to do when they make a mistake — smile, raise your arms in the air, and exclaim “How fascinating!” + report back how you felt when you did it.
xo
I totally needed that quote! I already feel like my day is headed in a better direction because of it.
That is a great quote! So often we view mistakes as bad, but really, they can be such happy accidents sometimes.
Oh no, not the white detailed tank! That was so cute, sad that it had to be so difficult.
This post was remarkably helpful! Just as nice to see the pieces that work and reasons behind them as it is to see the pieces that didn’t work! Thanks so much for sharing! Looking forward to seeing your fall capsule. :-)
As someone who’s still studying, that quote definitely reminds me of school… Especially labs, when some people get so scared they barely dare to do anything and learn very little. In reality, no one expects you to be good at the start of a lab course, they expect you to try hard and to think about your mistakes and learn from them. Once you get less afraid of failure, “life” starts offering you more options.
What a great analogy!! (I’m a former scientist, and used to be a teaching assistant in lab classes so this really resonated with me.)
I learned SO much more from this post than your “Most Worn Pieces” post. How fascinating! ;) Loved the quote and loved reading about why pieces DIDN’T work. Thanks again, Caroline!
ok, LOVED this. after having so much thought into planning a wardrobe, you expect it to be perfect and admitting that not every piece worked is a hard thing to do. but i love your spin on it: taking something less-than-positive and learning from it! i just really love your outlook, caroline. ;)
The quote was really quite liberating. I’m going to print it out and hang it up. :)
I’m a classical musician, and I tell my students, especially my college students–and myself–that as musicians we are trying to do the humanly impossible every moment of our musical lives: 100% perfection in execution and expression 100% of the time. Does that mean we shouldn’t pursue this goal? Of course not, but in our pursuit of perfection we must constantly remember we are human and cut ourselves some slack, and use our imperfections to teach us lessons: “How fascinating”, indeed! Thank you, Maestro Zander–and thank you, Caroline!
This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing Glenda! And thanks for doing what you’re doing. :)
xo
Caroline
Love the inspiration of embracing mistakes and dealing with them in a positive way! Looking forward to seeing your fall wardrobe :-)
For the track pants next time- try one with fabric made from 100% tencel. It doesn’t stretch out and is so soft on your skin.
Thank you for sharing this quote – it’s applicable to everything in life. It’s a good mantra. I love making these clothing discoveries and I’m glad that you shared yours with us. Lately I’m realizing that I don’t wear some things I thought I would because of low-quality fabrics making them not my faves…lesson learned for next season!
I think it’s too funny that you thought the yellow pumps were a fail, because you showed ME just how versatile they could be! I wore my yellow sandals a dozen times more than I normally would have this summer after seeing how you styled yours ;)
I have been loving your blog since I stumbled upon it a few weeks ago. Thank you for being real. It seems that it’s harder and harder to find fashion blogs anymore where the blogger actually wears the same piece twice! I had been trying to simplify my wardrobe when I found your blog and your posts have given me a new excitement for my efforts. Most of all, I love that in this post you admit that some things just aren’t for you and you are ok with that (even though the rest of the fashion world may be wearing them). As a stay-at-home mom, it just isn’t practical for me to wear high heals and dresses every day (even though I would love to!) and I have been feeling sad about that. You remind me that I can still have a great, simple, fashionable wardrobe full of things I love, and I don’t need to be always trying to wear what other people wear. Thanks for your awesome blog.
Hi Caroline – I love this post! I think your blog does something that is really hard to do, but also makes blogs really great: when you talk about personal style and minimalism, you also talk about something bigger. Anyway, you convinced a food blogger (moi, duh) who never followed fashion blogs before to read all your posts and get really into capsule wardrobes!!
How brave and smart of you to tell us where there’s room for improvement. Sort of like life. I did wonder about those yellow heels, nice to know I shared your thoughts. Keep it going!
Ahh… fabric. It lies to us in the dressing room. I bought the cutest pair of straight-leg black pants for work. They were perfect! Until I wore them the first time and they stretched like crazy. By the end of the day it looks like I’m wearing wide-leg trousers! Definitely learning to pay attention to fabrics now!
Great quote! Such a lovely way to turn a negative into a positive.
Love this post and that quote! I like the idea of seeing your wardrobe from a different perspective with items that didn’t work. Thank you for putting this one out there!
Thanks, I like that you have shared this. It is interesting to evaluate. I too have shrunk tops and bought pieces that have not held up to a day’s wear. So frustrating but the quote shows us the way to approach it.
Love your blog! I am currently putting together my fall/winter capsule, but loved this so much I am applying it in other areas, and have just created my fall/winter make up capsule! So pumped about it- do you do this in other areas of your life as well?
I LOVE that quote and I’m totally going to bring it up in my class. What I think is fascinating is that, even in a small wardrobe of 37 pieces, there’s still room for “mistakes” like these. Just goes to show that we need a lot less than we think we need! A lot of the reasons for these mistakes also really resonate – not wanting to iron things all the time, too fancy for my lifestyle, too uncomfortable, etc. Also dresses and skirts shrinking in the wash the bane of my existence, ugh. I barely dry anything I like in the dryer anymore.
Whoops – I just posted this on yesterday’s post, but thought you might be more likely to see it here:
I love your blog and am learning so much about personal style. I have a somewhat personal question, but figured what the hey since you shared that tidbit about sweating in your track shorts…
One of my biggest struggles in dressing for the summer is the inevitable sweat. Living in DC, I walk most places and in the intense summer humidity, I am almost always drowning in a puddle of sweat. Sorry for the gross visual… As a result, I usually just end up wearing some top I don’t really care about so I don’t have to worry about ruining it, or I’ll wear dark colors that won’t show sweat marks as much. It definitely puts a cramp in my style, and I haven’t figured out a way to wear the pieces I love without ruining them with stains or walking around with wet spots (under-boob sweat is my nemesis).
Any advice you have would be much appreciated!
I was in DC over Labor Day weekend, and totally found out you guys have the absolute worst summer I’ve ever experienced – and I’m in Dallas!
I think with situations like this, you kinda have to go with the weather. There’s not really a solution outside of dressing to match the weather. My brother in law lives there and he wears work out clothes to work, then work out at the work gym, shower, and change. I’m not sure how your work situation is, but I think what you’re doing works. You can sweat through something you don’t care about and then change your top when you get into the office?
When it’s that hot in Dallas, I end up hiding inside until the sun goes down.
I love this post! How important to look at those mistakes and learn from them. I like to look back through my outfit photos to see what I’m wearing most and what I really love the way it looks. But I also like when I look back and find something that doesn’t work, because that gives me information on how to move forward with my style and for my next closet purge. Thank you for sharing your insights with your summer capsule!
I had the same issue with my track pants.
I adore them, but the fabric does loosen up with every wear, and attracts lint like no other! Constant washing and I too fear they will start to come apart as the seams. I’m thinking rather than having the, as a functioning part of my capsule, I will go ahead and “demote” them to my small loungewear drawer in my dresser.
What a great quote! Maybe you can hem the white dress into a tank top length? I just saw some track pants at Athleta the other day and almost bought them because you make them look so good :) I like the quality of the stuff I’ve gotten there–check them out!
Great post! Why did you think that the yellow pumps were a fail? I feel like you included them appropriately and they were just the right touch to dress up an outfit.
Hi Stephanie!
While I definitely figured out some fun ways to wear them, I just didn’t end up feeling like they were true to my style, you know? :)
xo
Caroline
love the review! I always find myself grabbing for the same easy pieces/dresses during the summer that I’ve now just completely stopped buying random tank tops and shorts
http://heyprettything.com
Great post, Caroline! Also, I just got my own pair of Madewell Vans and love them, so thanks for recommending them. They seem to run true to size if maybe a wee bit smaller. I’m also almost done with cataloging my wardrobe with Stylebook. A very eye-opening experience! I honestly don’t need any more clothes. It’s more a matter of taking note of what I feel good in. Hmmmm. Thank you for everything!
I am so sad to hear that the white tank didn’t work for you! I can’t find a picture of it but I found an almost identical shirt at JC Penny made by a.n.a. — the primary difference is that the eyelet work was only on the front shoulders, not the back as well, but otherwise the cut of the shirt, style of eyelet, sleeve style, everything was almost identical. (And I even scored it for only $6.99 because it was on clearance!!) It’s made of a good cotton/linen blend. It is think enough that it doesn’t wrinkle but still has nice drape and is cool. It became my absolute GO TO for everything this summer dressy or casual, and I probably wouldn’t have even looked twice at it had I not seen your top. It still looks great and is going into storage for spring/summer of next year. Fabric really is the key!
That whole “another-mistake-how-fascinating” thing is beautiful + brilliant!! I love it!!
What a great post (and quote/visual, too)!
I love that your blog has made me really THINK about my clothing choices on a deeper level, and that there are surprising things to be learned even though I’ve been dressing myself for almost 40 years ;D
I wonder if some of your items that you didn’t wear much but didn’t have anything WRONG with them are just a typical experience with any wardrobe, unless you go super-ultra-minimal to like 10 pieces or something? I mean there will always be something that you need for dressy occasions that you wouldn’t typically wear day-to-day, and I think that’s probably ok, right?
And I strongly believe that every “wrong” items is still teaching you something about what you don’t like, or what you should look for next time you shop. (Sort of like dating the wrong guys teaches you about what you need to do in your next relationship!)
That is just *the* best quote- it made me smile, too. I need to keep that in mind next time I want to get all cringey over an error. And what a fascinating post! I don’t really take the time to stop and think about my wardrobe fail pieces, but it’s great to see why you actually don’t really like them. And not make that mistake again! This just gave me a whole new perspective- thank you!
xo marlen
Messages on a Napkin
Caroline – just reading through your entire site via your appearance on the Lively Show! Great concept! I’ve struggled a bit with wardrobing through the years, including several mistakes – how we learn from them!! Wanted to suggest taking that shrunken white dress & if it’s not too thick, wearing it as a cami or longer under layer (like under a chambray shirt). That way it doesn’t feel like a waste of money and you can still get use out of it.
Great post!
I played with Ben Zander for several years! He is truly the most consistently energetic, curious, and enthusiastic person I have ever met. He really does say “How fascinating!” all the time — and then (jokingly) threatens you with a 2000 lb cow being dropped on your head if you make the same mistake again. :)
!!! so funny!