April 1, 2025
No, I don’t do April Fool’s Day jokes. Just not my style…
What I DO is look for a long time at beautiful paintings, and then dream of ways that we can internalize the beauty and colors from the paintings, and express that in our wardrobes! It’s pretty fun…
Let’s start with this beauty:
As March ends, with wind, rain and cold in Chicago, our heroine has this 16-piece wardrobe:
Maybe Spring has completely sprung where you live, but here in Chicago, we know (well, we TRY to remember!) that we aren’t going to be consistently wearing warm-weather clothing until May. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t start looking at linen, and cotton sweaters, and SANDALS!!!
Earrings – Anthropologie; scarf – Soft Strokes Silk; glacier teal tee – L.L.Bean; linen shirt – J.Crew; navy cotton sweater – Lands’ End; linen pants – J.Crew; sandals – Sam Edelman
If we fit these new garments into our heroine’s Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, it looks like this – the linen shirt comes in as a 2nd layer for summer. In reality, a good linen shirt can be worn every month of the year, and with reasonable care should last the rest of most of our lives.
A survey by Closet Maid tells us that the average American woman owns 103 garments. Maybe we all need to choose better – these 20 pieces could go a LONG way to getting someone dressed most days:
As always, this heroine is going to get her new garments home and start thinking about the different ways she can wear them with her existing clothes:
One thing I’ve noticed about my linen clothes: the longer I own them, the less they need to be ironed. That crispiness that characterizes new linen washes away with time, leaving soft fibers that are strong yet comfy to wear…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, we looked at a second version of a wardrobe based on Edouard Manet’s Steamboat Leaving Boulogne. A 4 by 4 Wardrobe with grey, blue, ivory and taupe…
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
This is so pretty, Janice! I could honestly see the beautiful J. Crew dress from yesterday, as well as many of the other pieces, moving into this capsule wardrobe extremely well too!
I feel guilty. I have far more than the average 103 pieces. In all honesty, I do have different seasonal wardrobes because I live on the Maine coast and I do travel. But, I do have far more. I also have an entire room dedicated to be my closet/dressing room, which I love as ‘my space’. But, I’m on the upper end of the numbers. That being said, as a widow, I no longer share a closet or a bedroom, so I do have the storage. But, still….I’m just not a minimalist.
Don’t be too depressed. I AM a minimalist and I have more than 103 items in my wardrobe, but I count every single item (what the exception of socks and underwear). I only live in a “two” season climate (hot and cold). We don’t get much in-between weather.
The closet maid survey included a mere 1000 people and I suspect the prime intent of that survey was to sell closet organizational tools. Because the intent of the survey was to sell more product, I suspect the survey questions are purposely designed to yield the desired answers. Specifically, that if Americans bought closet maid merchandise, they would be so much happier with their wardrobes. Sidenote: I wonder how those 1000 people knew the count of their wardrobes, if they did not actually count the clothes in their wardrobe.
This rebuttal does not mean that Americans don’t own a lot of clothes. We do. Even us minimalists. But there is daily pressure to buy more and more and more. There are very few websites dedicated to learning how to *manage* or plan that wardrobe so many of us suffer from wardrobe bloat.
I hope you enjoy your closet/dressing room. I suspect you earned it. Best wishes.
103 seems surprisingly low as an average. I think most people have a lot more. I certainly do if you count work clothes, casual clothes, lounge clothes and jackets for my 4 season climate.
These additions are lovely. I think the new scarf will go with many things.
The painting posts are my absolute favorite. It is these types of posts that have taught (are continuing to teach) me how to build and manage a wardrobe. Without it, I would have a severely bloated closet that would not meet my needs.
I have made so many buying mistakes over time, but after having read TVF over the years, I have the most workable wardrobe ever. I am truly grateful to Janice and this community.
Sincerely – A Former Magpie, who thinks of herself as a minimalist
I have a ton of clothes. But I’m not feeling guilty because: 1) I have a collection of slop-around-the-house clothes. I’m not going to wear my cashmere sweaters digging up ferns, cleaning the cat pan, or having the pets sleep on top of me. 2) I rarely wear stuff out. I’ve had many simple sweaters, basic solid color dresses, and “dress” pants for 10-15 years. At least 50% of my wardrobe is black. I gave myself permission to buy a French five twice a year but wasn’t able to accomplish it for fall/winter. I did purchase a grey sweater blazer, a grey cashmere turtleneck (Quince) and a beautiful skein of yarn for a scarf, but wasn’t able to find two more due to being so disappointed in the black and grey stretch corduroy pants from Lands End that they went back. For spring/summer I bought navy topsiders (replacing ones I wore to death) and am ordering blue linen to sew a shirt/skirt combo similar to the Alex Mill ones from a few days ago, but the fabric will be less than 1/3 the cost. And yes, I’ll probably have it for my remaining lifespan. Using ideas from TVF, I have at least 50 combos for each of 4 seasons, assembled in Stylebook. I also assemble all scarves and accessories in some color groupings. It delights me to scroll through them, and I feel very rich!
But I’m on the lookout for two more purchases!
I love this wardrobe even though I don’t tend to wear brown. Love Love Love the crane scarf! I have 159 items…. ouch! That being said, many of them are core navy items. Which I don’t actually seem to wear all that much anymore. And I have work items in a couple of bins that probably haven’t been worn in at least a year and I keep them “just in case” Just in case of what I don’t know. And then there are the “dressy” items that seldom get worn, but again, “just in case” I would need them there they are. (although the lack of shoes to wear with them could be problematic). At one time – maybe a year ago – I was closer to the 100 mark. I suspect if I weeded out all the things I did not wear on a regular basis I would be there again. Thank you Janice – Love this wardrobe.
I would take this wardrobe in a heartbeat!! Thanks so much for this beautifully put together wardrobe. I know I have more than 100 clothes but I try to keep them to the ones I’ll wear. Every time I switch out my seasonal clothes I move out ones that don’t serve me any more.
The crane scarf is gorgeous! And I do like a navy cable sweater …
I too am guilty of having too many clothes. I am recently retired so doing an experiment over the next year to see if my new lifestyle, will include my dress trousers, jackets etc. if not they will go. So hard to know what you think you might need and what you will need.
Really like this wardrobe and llove the scarf.
Well a post on a Tuesday is a nice surprise – I thought you were still M-W-F so thank you!
I am MWF EXCEPT when I’m doing the six paintings/12 months. For these, I do them every weekday, because they’re not very big posts and they don’t take long. If I do them MWF, they take a full two weeks to finish!
hugs,
Janice
That survey must’ve included men who, in my experience, would bring down the average number of clothes in the closet quite substantially.
I also have significantly more clothes, some of which are decades old. Anything that doesn’t fit or is broken goes immediately. So, I only have favorite pieces in my closet.
The light-colored pants are a beautiful addition to the capsule. And this scarf… 🤩
I do like this wardrobe. I look forward to seeing the transition into summer, especially the dark brown. I do wear navy but a light navy in summer.
I’ve never counted the items in my wardrobe but it must be more than 103 (weird number to use). I do know that about half my clothes are in smaller sizes that I can’t get into but I live in hope. Why do I keep them? I lost a lot of weight some years ago. These are the clothes I bought for the “new me”. Fine till the pandemic and I put the weight back on and more since then (health problems). When I lost weight I sent my “large” clothes to charity shops. I’ve had to buy them all over again. So needing to lose weight, I have a wardrobe of clothes waiting for me to wear again.
This! Bodies and lives change in all directions (or at least mine certainly does!)
I also have lots more clothes than 103. How does one stop buying when there are so many lovely things out there. I love love love every item I have but if an item ceases to appeal it goes to the charity shop. They never refuse my cast offs butI do feel guilty sometimes that I can’t stick to a plan despite being a long time reader of TVF.
I want to support you, please make it easier to find items from previous months so I can click through!
Thank you!!
As someone who lives in a climate that can go from minus 40 degrees (F) in the winter to 90 degrees in the summer, I have a lot more than 103 items of clothing. I might be wearing four layers in the winter and struggling with one light layer in the summer. There are very few pieces that can function through those kind of temperature swings so I switch out my closet entirely from cold to hot – and everything in between with the outerwear to match. Like others, I have special occasion clothes, clothes for cleaning/gardening or laying about the house, work clothes, and casual going out clothes. I can’t commit to a small wardrobe that folks in more moderate climates may be able to function with, but I am committed to taking care of everything (cleaning and polishing the boots before they go away, washing the down and wool, mending anything that needs it, and tossing the items that have reached their end). As a result, some of the things in my wardrobe are 20 years old – some of those pieces, I’m delighted to see when I unpack in the spring or fall and some I don’t welcome back with such relish but hang on to because they serve a particular purpose. I’m a maximalist in my home decor as well…
I’m finding that I get the most mileage out of linen or cotton button-front shirts. I wear them under vests or sweaters in moderate weather, I put a tee shirt under them and a sweater over them in the bitter cold, and I wear them as a shirtjacket over a tank top in the warm weather. I have some gorgeous shirts, so I’m happy to wear them all the time!
hugs,
Janice
I got the sequin Vionic flip-flops from the look back and still wear them. They are well made and very comfortable, as well as having a bit of pizzazz that still makes me smile. Thank you!