In the past, I have been a notoriously bad over-packer. I would tend to pack a lot of "just in case" items. Things that I would never wear at home but somehow thought I'd love on holiday. Then I would end up wearing the same three outfits on repeat anyway. For my recent trip to Japan with Kate from The Minted Blog, I decided to give the capsule wardrobe a go. This was mainly inspired by the fact that we were only taking carry-on bags, so they had to be as light as possible.
The idea behind a capsule wardrobe is that you pack a minimal number of items that you can mix and match to create a much larger number of outfits.
A little disclaimer; I used Polyvore to create this layout and they didn't have the exact items I have in my wardrobe BUT you get the general idea. I also haven't included the (hopefully) obvious things like undies and socks because who wants to see those? I also threw in a few singlets for warmth and layering.
My Travel Capsule Wardrobe
1 pair of khaki jeggings
1 pair of denim chambray joggers
2 long sleeve, turtle neck shirts (1 black, 1 striped)
1 long sleeve grey shirt
1 black knitted jumper
1 3/4 sleeve striped dress
1 navy blue duffel coat
1 pair of black trainers
1 pair of flat, brown ankle boots
1 striped cotton scarf
With this teeny tiny wardrobe, I had a pretty decent number of outfits I could pull together. I did end up picking up a few items of clothing over there to supplement my capsule wardrobe but I could have easily managed without them.
My top tips for packing a capsule wardrobe are:
1. Stick with a basic colour palette.
You're going to be mixing and matching everything so while your red jeans might be an absolute favourite and your green jumper a staple, you don't want to end up looking like a Christmas tree when you put the two together.
2. Pick durable items.
By this I mean that if you aren't able to get to a washing machine, is your wardrobe still going to work? You don't want to lose a huge chunk of wardrobe options because the jumper you picked needs to be dried on a medium heat for 45 minutes every second day. Pick things that are stain-resistant and easy to wash and dry.
3.Limit your number of shoes
This has been the downfall of so many travellers! I packed 2 pairs of shoes, and honestly, I could have gotten away with one. You free up so much space and realistically, one or two pairs of shoes is more than enough for pretty much any destination.
Here are a couple of shots of my travel capsule wardrobe in action:
Dani XO
This has been the downfall of so many travellers! I packed 2 pairs of shoes, and honestly, I could have gotten away with one. You free up so much space and realistically, one or two pairs of shoes is more than enough for pretty much any destination.
Here are a couple of shots of my travel capsule wardrobe in action:
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