Two items to add to the #30Wears Badge of Honour list. They're both good wardrobe staples that have plenty of wear left in them, despite being worn a lot.



This F&F jacket has been worn 44 times since I purchased it in April last year (a month in which I purchased rather a lot). I was on a charity shop rummage with Sophie and someone brought it into the shop whilst we were in there. I spied it on the counter and liked the look of it. Before the staff could even hang it up, I asked if I could have a closer look, I checked the size and enquired about the price, within a minutes of it being donated I was paying for it and happily popping it into my shopping bag.

I wore it that day. It was a day of the strangest weather. We had sun, rain, wind, hail and, I think, even a tiny flurry of snow. The extra layer was most welcome.



These pre-loved (but almost brand new) boyfriend jeans were purchased in May last year and have racked up 52 wears.

Do you ever automatically team two items together? It seems that since I found a pair of heeled burgundy boots in September last year, I haven't worn these jeans with anything else! I have a green jumper that until very recently was only ever worn with a particular pair of wide leg jeans. It seems I'm a creature of habit.

Anyway these jeans need to be worn with a heel as they're rather long in the leg, I've tried to wear them with a roll up but it just looks daft, they're too wide. These jeans and my burgundy boots go well together, why mess with a good combination?

---

The 30 Wears concept was the brainchild of Olivia Firth, founder of Ecoage, the idea is that the next time you want to buy new clothing or accessories, ask yourself if you will wear the item at least 30 times? If not, don’t buy it!

To see other items that have earned the #30Wears Badge of Honour click here. 

In April this year Glamour magazine wrote that on average we wear an item of clothing just 14 times in the UK (not that they quoted the source of the findings). In France it's higher at 30 wears.

30 wears is also the number that Livia Firth, Co-founder and Creative Director of Eco-Age, puts on a purchase, saying "The biggest message is every time you buy something, always think, “Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?”. If the answer is yes, then buy it. But you’d be surprised how many times you say no. That should tell you something about how the current model in fashion is unsustainable - and needs urgent change." (source)

I started to keep a record of how many times I wore new and new-to-me items back in October 2017, so I could see the items that were worn 30 times or more, and how long it took me to do so. It'll come as no surprise when I say that I've become fascinated by the amount of times I wear an item of clothing.

As well as keeping a tally of the number of times I wear certain items, I also keep a tally of my spending on clothes, shoes, and accessories in A Buyer's Archive. This has made me aware of how much I buy, and spend, and how much either never gets worn or is worn only a handful of times.

I've been doing this since the beginning of 2016 and as a result I've changed my spending habits. The biggest, if somewhat gradual change, is that I buy fewer new items from the high street, preferring to choose used instead.

Not only that the way I shop has changed too. I'm much more aware of what's in my wardrobe, and what I'm most likely to wear time and time again. Give me a well fitting pair of jeans and I'll wear them until they fall apart. Give me a summer dress that has fussy sleeves, that I can't put a cardy over, and it'll languish in the back of my wardrobe for most of the year.

Before I'd never question how many times I might wear something, or how long I might hang onto it. When I hadn't worn an item for a while I'd donate it to charity or, on rare occasions, sell it on ebay. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I want to reduce my consumption as much as possible.

When I started this blog nine years ago, fashion was very much disposable to me, and it's not something that I questioned. But more recently I began to feel the need to question it, to make changes to limit my contribution to the damage the fashion industry has on the environment.

I'm pleased with how my attitude and spending habits have changed over the years, but there is always room for improvement. I still feel I buy too much, and don't wear what I have nearly enough.

Having completed a Wearing it All wardrobe challenge over the summer, I was made aware of exactly how many clothes I own, carrying on that challenge into Autumn highlights this further.

So, I'm pondering a limit of buying just one item a month for 2020, switching my focus to making the most of what I currently own, and getting more of my wardrobe up to 30 wears and beyond.

You know I like a challenge, and this would be my biggest yet.

In previous spring seasons I've found it hard to put a capsule together because the weather can be so unpredictable. This spring I decided to tweak it every month, hoping that I'd be adding more summery clothes each time.
I have 24 items in this capsule, six fewer than in April, which is more than enough to see me through the month. Twelve items remain from the April capsule, with twelve added, and only seven items are brand new, 76% is pre-loved - a statistic that brings a smile to my face.

April was a mix of cold days and delightfully warm days, my capsule served me well, but I did wish I'd added more lighter tops and fewer jumpers (why did I think I'd need ten jumpers?!). I've redressed the balance for May, and dared to hope that I'll be in need of a pair of shorts.

I wanted to add some rarely worn items to my May capsule. I do have a habit of reaching for my favourite items which leaves things languishing in my wardrobe, forgotten and unappreciated. I've sidelined my trusty navy jumpers for now. I feel little bereft at not having either of them in this capsule, they're usually to hand, season after season. But not having them will make me wear other things, and it's likely I'll find other outfit options that I like because of it.

In addition to trying to wear my less worn items I've also had a really thorough wardrobe clear out and listed a lot of items on ebay. I feel there's little point in having a capsule wardrobe if I'm constantly adding more and hardly wearing the vast majority of it. Better to sell it and hope someone else will make good use of it.

The point of having a capsule was to limit my spending and to make the most of the items I already own. I enjoy having the capsules, and I do feel like I wear more of my wardrobe because of them but it's failed in curbing my spending, I'm still adding too many items.
I now have, what I hope will proved to be, a wardrobe of clothes that work well together and are a joy to wear, making putting together capsules much easier, and easing my guilt at having clothes I simply do not wear.

I have that wonderfully refreshed feeling you get after decluttering. I don't intend to buy any clothes in May, possibly even June too. The shopper in me is going to have to take a little holiday.

Come on May, let's see what you've got.

Ah spring, it's almost here at last! The warm interlude in February awakened my love of bright sunny days that are warm enough to leave the house without a coat. I'm hoping that the sun will be back with us sooner rather than later.

The improving weather turned my thoughts to my spring capsule, I'm looking forward to wearing some recent purchases, mixing them with older items to create new outfit combinations. My cropped jeans are making a reappearance, and my cropped dungarees their first. And the green skirt is back now that it's been mended and is wearable once again.

I've decided to make my spring capsule monthly, just like I did in the summer. It allows me to wear more of my wardrobe, and it lets me tweak the capsule depending on the weather. Spring and autumn are always tricky to get right as the weather is difficult to predict.

This is what I'll be wearing in April.
I've got plenty of things for cooler days, but have enough for days when the sun comes out.

Happy spring!

July was glorious wasn't it? I'm glad I decided to split my seasonal capsule wardrobe into three, I've loved wearing lots of items I don't usually get to wear but there's a lot more in my wardrobe that deserves to see the light of day.

I don't know if it's the slight tan I've managed to achieve, my new attitude of 'life's too short', or if it's just the sun shining so consistently but I've been feeling good. Really good. Body confident and happy in my own skin.

I can't explain it as I still have the same 'flaws' as I had last year, in fact I've gathered a few more, they just seem to matter less. One thing I do know is that putting on an outfit each day that I love has, in some small part, added to my current frame of mind.

Long may it continue.

These are a handful of the outfits I put together from my July Capsule. I read somewhere recently that capsules are full of style classics, and therefore can be rather dull and uninspiring, lacking in any amount of fun. Pah! What nonsense! I've had great fun with this capsule.


I'm looking forward to the coming months with added enthusiasm, the sun is shining and life is good.

My spring outfits were dominated by three things. My red floral skirt, a pair of pink brogues found in a charity shop in April, and a navy bowling bag I discovered in the Pile of Things to be Listed on Ebay (it's safe to say that it won't be returning to the pile).

Looking at these outfits I'm reminded of how gloriously warm spring turned out to be, before summer came along with it's tarmac melting heat. I'm not complaining, I'm not, I'm just a bit hot.

I'm loving my July Capsule. It's probably the best one so far. I love being able to wear all of my favourite summer clothes as much I am, most summers aren't warm enough for this (see not complaining). (But it is a little hot).

The first quarter of the year went by so fast that putting this together was a bit last minute (as in started and finished on April 1st!) Looking at it now I've realised that I've only included one coat, and that's a denim jacket so this might not be my most successful capsule to date.

I have two spaces 'free' because I'm going on a charity shop rummage with Sophie soon and we always come home with armfuls of pre-loved items.

I have some old favourites here - my yellow maxi, my khaki trousers, my khaki mini skirt and some new purchases - a red floral skirt, a floral skater dress, and ditsy print shirt. It's a real mixture of old and new, new and pre-loved. And hopefully a good mix (if we ignore the lack of a proper jacket) to see me through the cooler days of early spring and the (hopefully) warmer days of late spring.

This time around I quickly put together a chart of possible outfits - the things you do on a wet Sunday afternoon! I'll be ticking them off to see how many I wear. I hope it'll be warm enough for me to wear the 23 different outfits with shorts here - we can but hope, right?

How are you ringing the changes for spring?

I wanted lots of colour to see me through the cold months of the year, however this didn't stop me from adding two navy jumpers, and a couple of beige items to this capsule. A girl's gotta have some staples, right?

This time around I've got fewer items than I normally have. Having looked back over all my other capsules I realised I always had a number of items that either didn't get worn or were only worn a few times. My very first capsule had 37 times, I'm now down to 30 and I'm confident that this is plenty.

This year I'm going to keep a tally of how often I wear everything in my capsule. I've become interested in this since finding out about the #30Wears campaign. The idea is we can save a lot from landfill, and reduce the demand for new items of clothing if we just wear our clothes for a little longer.

I have no idea how often I wear things, do I ever wear items more than 30 times? And if so, which items? How long does it take to wear something 30 times? I think it'll be interesting to find out.

I decided to build my capsule wardrobe in a slightly different way this season. Instead of sitting down and picking out all 36 items in one sitting, I allowed it to develop naturally. At the start of October I simply looked in my wardrobe each morning and picked out an outfit that I wanted to wear. By the end of the week I'd got the basics of the capsule sorted - jeans, green skirt (obviously), jumpers, denim jacket, long sleeved stripey t-shirt, lace motif t-shirt, and gingham dress.

I knew I'd need coats, so I added my grey coat, my wax jacket, and a long grey cardy that acts as a coat (not a coatigan, that's not a real word!!).

I met up with Sophie for our annual autumn charity shop rummage and found a gingham shirt, which of course was added to the capsule. When I buy something new, or new to me, I have an irresistible urge to wear it as soon as humanly possible. I also felt the need to add recent purchases of a vaguely Christmassy jumper and heart print shirt.

Since then I've added some colour in the form of a red dress, pink t-shirt, and burgundy heart print shirt. My newly dyed yellow maxi added a bit of an autumnal hue. It's become a wardrobe staple, it's been in very capsule since last summer.

The rest fell into place over the next week.

I have to admit I've been mostly been living in jeans, it happens every autumn when the sun goes in, my jeans come out and I feel like I've gone into hibernation. I've only worn my green skirt a few times since the summer ended. Last time I wore it, I tripped whilst taking it off (I have no idea how I managed that), and tore the fabric around the zip. I think I can mend it, I just need to buy some thread in the right colour.

Are you enjoying autumn so far?

My summer capsule wardrobe changed somewhat over the course of the season. Some items I decided I wouldn't wear, others became worn out, some pieces I didn't wear because the weather just wasn't up to scratch. So at the end of the three months my capsule looked very different from how it did at the start.




My green skirt was worn frequently, it's definitely my favourite purchase so far this year, but it meant that my other skirts weren't worn as much as last year. And I hardly wore a dress at all.

I added a grey lace motif t-shirt and a gingham dress to the capsule, both of which I was given for my birthday, because I wanted to wear them immediately. I added a blue California motif t-shirt when my favourite grey one twisted a little more each time it was washed, until I had to admit it had become unwearable. I hate saying goodbye to a favourite piece of clothing, don't you?


Thanks to the weather I wore my jumpers more than I'd wanted to, and swapped my ankle grazing skinny jeans for my trusty bootcut jeans, and then added a pair of wide leg jeans having I found them for a bargain £2.00 in a charity shop.

So this capsule was swapped and changed more than any other, and in the end I wore fewer items than the original 36 picked out. But I loved all the outfits it combined to make and really enjoyed the capsule, despite that fact that all my colourful over-the-knee options where rendered unwearable by the weather.

Last year I found putting my autumn capsule together a bit tricky as the weather was still so nice in October, but this year it's going to be much easier, it'll be warm clothes all the way. Bring on the jumpers!

I signed up to the Fast Fashion Fast back in June to see if I could go three months without buying anything from the high street. Those of you who read my Buyer's Archive posts will know that I tripped and fell, purse first, into a few.

Taking part made me look at my spending habits, and whilst I have purchased some high street items during the challenge, I'm happy with what I purchased (pictured above) and don't feel too bad about 'failing'.

Because I don't feel like I've failed.

What I have done is reminded myself of what I've known and felt all along. That as consumers we have a huge amount of power to influence the industry by speaking with our wallets. If we buy less, and wear what we have more and for longer, we create less demand, less demand means fewer items ending up in landfill, and less demand on the garment worker at the beginning of the line, not to mention less pollution in the process.

I don't think ethical fashion holds the answer, certainly not yet. I think the price is prohibitive for many and the availability, whilst improving, isn't great. And even when these things improve I don't believe that it will ever take the place of the high street store, but I do hope that one day ethical clothing will make up a greater proportion of the clothing market. Alongside this I hope to see high street and fast fashion stores improving their working practices, closing the gap between them and ethical fashion brands.

In the meantime I've made a promise to myself. To buy a brand new item only if I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will wear it 30 times or more (I'm already keeping a tally). This is inspired by Livia Firth, and was the catalyst for my #30Wears mini challenge.

Recently I read this article, about reducing waste within the clothing industry.

One statistic was this 'A survey commissioned by Sainsbury’s last spring found that 235m items ended up on landfill sites as people readied their wardrobes for summer.'

235 million items. In landfill. In spring. In the UK.

The same survey by Sainbury's revealed some surprising statistics on recycling, 'The study also uncovered the reasons people do not donate or recycle clothing, with 49% saying they did not think they could because the clothes were worn out or dirty. A further 16% said they did not have time to visit a charity shop, or could not be bothered to sort items, while 6% did not realise clothing could be recycled.'

If you feel you have to buy a particular item, I can't understand why you'd simply throw it in the bin rather than donate it. If it's no longer wearable it can still be recycled, although as the article explains this isn't as straightforward as it might seem, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't bother. Of course the obvious answer is not to buy it in the first place.

So, what started out as an interesting experiment ended in a renewed enthusiasm to 'do my bit' - to buy only what I know I will wear, to buy the best quality I can, to wear my clothes for longer, and to continue to donate and recycle what I no longer need / use / fit into. And I'll continue to buy pre-loved clothes and show that they can be as exciting as a shiny new purchase, right here on this very blog.

I will never apologise for being seen in the same outfit twice, which is something that seems to happen frequently in blogland. I'm not ashamed for featuring clothes I've worn before on my blog. I like to find new outfit combinations for my favourite items, mixing old favourites with new (or new to me) items. I consider nothing in my wardrobe to be disposable, I want to wear every item again, and again, and again.

#onlybuyitifyouloveit #wearitagainandagain

Further reading : Love Your Clothes

I bought a new skirt in June and decided to try to wear it 30 times in three months. Long story short - I did.

I didn't take an outfit shot every time I wore it, some days where dull and blustery, some days I just didn't get the time, but here are some of the outfits.

It's safe to say that I adore this skirt, it's really comfy and easy to wear. I can always tell if something is going to be a wardrobe hit when I start to wear it immediately. And, c'mon, look at those pockets!

I plan to keep this in my autumn capsule. I've tried it on with boots and, as long as they have a bit of a heel, it looks fab.

What do you think? Do you like?

#onlybuyitifyouloveit #wearitagainandagain

Signing up to the Fast Fashion Fast has put a spotlight my spending habits, so I decided to note down any thoughts I had on clothing purchases. These are from the last few weeks.

Having signed up to the challenge, I immediately failed and purchased some hosiery. I was going out for a meal that evening and realised I had no flesh coloured tights, and the occasion and venue called for tights, so I had no choice but to make a last minute dash to Asda to pick up a pack of two for £4.00.

Later I looked at the Falke website, having heard that they are the best for good quality hosiery. I found what I was looking for, for £18.00. At first glance that sounded like an awful lot of money for tights, especially when you consider the £5.90 delivery charge. But if they really do last as long as they say they do maybe it's not so much. I could always search around for a stockist with cheaper postage. Would these tights last as long as 4.5 packs of my Asda tights? It's worth further consideration.

I went to Felixstowe to return an item and thought about popping in New Look, to have a look at their summer tops. Then I remembered signing up to Fast Fashion Fast and kept walking. I have plenty of summer tops anyway.

My summer slippers became uncomfortable. I purchased them last year from Asda and they've been worn a lot, but the soles had compacted and the bit between the toes had started to niggle, instead of buying another pair, I'm wearing my flip flops instead. Admittedly, and I totally see the irony here, these flip flops are a recent Primark purchase, 90p, chucked mindlessly into my basket as I made my way to the till point.

Then I fancied a gingham top to go with my new skirt. I looked on ebay and found one I really liked and won it, and I'll be able to wear it with a number of things already in my wardrobe. I've noticed that when I make an impulse purchase, like my green skirt, I invariably end up buying something else to wear it with.

This top was to wear with my green skirt, I didn't need it another skirt but I really, really, wanted it. I know I'll wear it a lot, and I feel that the more options I have the more I'll wear it, but how many options do I really need? I've always said there is absolutely nothing wrong with being seen in the same outfit over and over again.

I also wanted a plain black top to go with my green skirt - I thought about making one. So far I haven't acted on this. I do fancy making something but I really should do something about my mend pile instead, to make unwearable items wearable again.

I want a floaty summer maxi or midi dress - again I could make one but I don't really need it. I already have a maxi I like, why buy another?

The heatwave made me want some cooler PJs bottoms, I pondered something 3/4 length in a thin cotton fabric. In the end I found some pyjama shorts I forgotten all about. I don't like to sleep naked - what if there's a fire? or an intruder?

The hot weather also had me hankering after some non padded, non underwired bras. Nobody likes sweaty boobs. I looked into ethical underwear brands, and although I admit the search was hardly exhaustive (five minutes Googling), I came up with nothing. If you know of any, do let me know.

I wondered if underwear specialists M&S counted as fast fashion? I'd had it in my mind that, to make things easy, I wouldn't do any high street shopping at all during the Fast Fashion Fast, but not all high street shops fall under the umbrella of fast fashion.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a list... *Googles it* ... there is! On Wikipedia, it's not an exhaustive list I'm sure, but it helps. M&S isn't on it, but most of the shops I frequent on the high street are - H&M, Next, New Look.

It's clear that sometimes I shop for the sake of it, mindlessly. Sometimes I could avoid making a purchase by using something else from my wardrobe, but mostly it's made me really think about the high street and how to tell a fast fashion retailer from a non fast fashion retailer. Some are easy to spot - Primark, Peacocks, Matalan, but I was surprised to see Next listed as fast fashion for example.

Is the criteria absolute or are we to decide for ourselves? What high street shops do you consider not to be fast fashion? Are there any shops that you absolutely won't set foot in?

 I've set myself a little goal to work on within the Fast Fashion Fast challenge  - to wear my most recent purchase 30 times or more before the end of the challenge.

Inspired by Livia Firth and her #30Wears campaign which urges us to ask “Will I wear it a minimum of 30 times?” before making a clothing purchase, to challenge the idea of fast fashion.

I purchased this glorious green skirt as a result of one of my mindless scrolling though the ASOS app moments. I wore it the very next day with a pre-loved tee and my trusty Toms. I keep telling myself that these shoes won't last much longer but they just keep going - these have most definitely been worn more than 30 times!

I wore this outfit to the Suffolk Show. The pockets (look at those pockets!!) came in handy on multiple occasions, I was able to sit on the floor comfortably without fear of flashing my under garments, and, as it's a slightly thicker fabric, there was no chance of it billowing up when the breeze got over excited.

I really enjoyed wearing this skirt. I want to wear it a whole lot more, more than 30 times in fact. It's not that it would hang in my wardrobe unworn otherwise, I just want to wear it and stick two fingers up at those who say you shouldn't be seen in the same outfit twice. Clothes are made to be worn and enjoyed time and time again, they're not disposable.

And I do enjoy a challenge of the wardrobe variety.

How would you style this skirt?

I've signed up for a summer clothing challenge - Fast Fashion Fast organised by Verena Erin from My Green Closet. It basically means no high street shopping for three months - June, July, and August.

When I signed up on June 8th, I'd already purchased a new skirt from ASOS, and I'm going to ignore that fact that just a few hours later I popped to Asda to buy some hosiery - needs must. So I might extend this challenge into September.

Why do I want to do it? Well, I love my charity shopping but if I have a specific item I need (want!) I tend to have a quick look in my local charity shops and then head straight to the high street if I can't find anything. And whilst I'm there I often buy other things too (example, my April clothing purchases).

Also, I can often be found scrolling though my ASOS app when bored and making random purchases. Although my latest ASOS purchase is fabulous, I don't have a lot to wear it with so I'll probably (almost certainly) end up buying more clothes.

I really enjoy second hand shopping, so it'll be fun to see if I can make it through the summer without stepping foot in H&M.

Having signed up to the challenge I'll get emails every few weeks with extra challenges, activities, and encouragement. Blogging about it will make me accountable. Let's see if I can do this...

And a quick thanks goes to Charlotte for not only bringing my attention to this challenge, but for also making me think about where my money goes with her Spending Diaries.

Image Source

Some thoughts on my winter capsule.

I was excited to start my second year of capsule wardrobes, but I have to admit that I didn't enjoy this capsule as much as the previous four, but I can't quite put my finger on the reason why. I had a lot of outfits I liked but overall it just didn't hit the spot.

I've been able to weed out some items that I'd been hanging onto despite not wanting to actually wear them. My cat jumper is the perfect example of this. It's lovely but I never feel the urge to wear it. I only wore it once over winter and that's because it was in my capsule and I thought I should.

To my surprise I don't like my new cable cardy as much as I thought I would, but I do like my pre-loved cocoon cardy a lot more. I bought it as a 'chuck on at home in the evenings' type thing but I ended up wearing it every where. It's slouchy and warm, and has super long sleeves. It's like wearing a hug.


Annoyingly my black jeans have suddenly lost their stretch, and my long sleeve stripe t-shirts have seen better days, they're becoming baggy and misshapen. They're staples that I'll definitely need to replace.


I think having 36 items is probably more than I actually need in my capsules but it is nice to have plenty of options. Even if I don't wear something much, as long as I enjoy wearing it it's worth hanging onto.

I'm so glad to have moved on to my next capsule. Yay for spring!

I've been really looking forward to swapping my winter capsule for my spring edition, it means I can wear some of my old warmer weather favourites again, and get my new purchases on my body too!

It took me a while to decide on the final items as spring is a tricky season to predict weather-wise. I've got more dresses to wear, some that can be worn over skinny jeans if the weather isn't brilliant, and of course some options for cooler or rainy weather (fingers crossed these days will be kept to an absolute minimum though), and I've left three spots open to give me some added flexibility.

With more colour and some much more interesting pieces than in my winter capsule I'm looking forward to putting outfits together, mixing new with old and coming up with new combinations.

I've missed dresses for the past few months, and it's so nice to be heading towards cardigan only (or no cardigan at all) territory. Coats are boring. I like to be free from layers, I've had enough of layers now, I just want sunshine and warm days.

I wish spring and summer could last forever.

Although winter starts on December 21st, I start my seasonal capsule wardrobes at the top of the month, just to make it easier, meaning my winter wardrobe runs through January, February and March.

This year I'm recreating last year's seasonal capsules, and this is what I had to see me through winter last year.

This was the only capsule of 2016 to include footwear. Come spring, I decided to wear any thing I fancied on my feet. I have trouble parting with shoes, and I have many pairs, so I decided it would be pointless to let a lot of them go unworn.

Taking my cue from Caroline over at Un-Fancy I chose to have up to 37 items in each capsule, she started with 37 and I figured it was a good place to start for me too.

Having completed four capsules, I think that 37 items is actually rather a lot. In each capsule there were always a few items that were worn only a few times, and some not at all. This time around I wasn't worried about sticking to a certain number, although 36 items will sit nicely in six rows of six for my capsule posts ;)

Of what I had last year I've kept 19 items. There are four items of clothing I no longer own, and I took out the footwear and a couple of other bits I didn't wear much.

I've added 14 items from other capsules, two new-to-me pre-loved shirts purchased in December, and a brand new Tu cardigan - a very recent purchase.

I have no spaces left so there's really no point in buying any new clothes anytime soon *cough* bloody unlikely *cough*.

So here's the winter 2017 line-up


I'm weirdly excited about starting another year of capsule wardrobes, I've made enough changes to keep it interesting, and know that I can create some new outfits from this new mix. I'm also looking forward to recreating some outfits from last year that I really enjoyed wearing.

After a year of reading my posts about them have I convinced you to try a capsule?

I had seven spaces left to fill in my 37 piece autumn capsule wardrobe. I've added a few old favourites and some items found on a recent charity shop rummage, and I think all of them will work well as capsule pieces.

To start I added my first ever preloved purchase - a long Tu cardigan - from the Age Concern shop in Ipswich (which is sadly no longer there). It tends to be my put-on-over-anything-at-the-end-of-the-day-cardigan because it's warm, and some days that's all I'm concerned about.

Next up - my most recent charity shop purchases, a Phase Eight dress (Cancer Research) and Monsoon cardigan (RSPCA). The dress might be made into a skirt, but I'll wear it a few times first to see how I get on. The cardigan isn't exactly flattering but it's slouchy, cosy and warm.

Also, a few old wardrobes faithfuls - Next grey jumper that's been around for years, and New Look grey cardigan, both where purchased new but are now down to mere pennies in cost-per-wear value.

Then we have my preloved stripe jumper, which reminds me of Minnie the Minx, and a check skirt that hasn't been worn nearly enough - so I wore it immediately.

After I enjoyed my summer capsule so much, this ones seems rather boring in comparison, but then I always tend to revert to bog standard jeans and jumper outfits when the weather gets cold. The first few weeks of autumn were lovely, still hanging on to remnants of the sun I was able to go out in ankle grazing trousers and bare legs on occasion, but these days quickly passed.

Cold winds and driving rain have me reaching for layers and I'm less concerned with how an outfit looks, and more with how warm it is. But every once in a while I pull on a skirt or dress and come out of slob mode.

My autumn capsule wardrobe now looks like this -


How are you coping with the weather getting colder? Have you had snow yet?

I loved my summer capsule and have to admit to feeling a little sad that I've put away some of the items until next year. I think it's been my favourite capsule so far.

An autumn capsule feels a lot like spring in that the weather could see warm days and cold, wet days.

I need to cover all bases. Many items from my summer capsule will remain, some have been in all three capsules so far are now making it a full house moving into the forth - my navy boat neck jumper, mid length navy cardigan, and a long sleeve stripe t-shirt.

I currently have 30 of my 37 items for autumn, I've left 7 slots open so I can add things as I go (and I have a shopping trip with Sophie coming up and we always come away with, ahem, a few purchases).

I've kept 19 of my summer capsule items, and have 9 items that have reappeared after being put away for spring and / or summer. So far I have two brand new items - my Next military coat and a long sleeved navy jumper that Andy gave me for my birthday.

I have 17 items that I've bought new, and 13 pre-loved items in this capsule, with most of my favourite pieces being from this category. One day I might add a made-by-me category...


The rules of this capsule wardrobe are simple:
- Pick 37 items from my wardrobe
- Store everything else away
- Accessories, gym clothes (ha!), PJs, and going out clothes are not included the capsule

There is a fourth rule, but it's not one that I seem to be able to stick too, and that's to stop all spending for the duration of each capsule, only making purchases at the beginning of each.

I'm quite relaxed about the rules. If I haven't worn an item I'm happy to swap it for something I feel I might wear more. I find this helps me to identify items that work in my wardrobe and those that don't, as a result I'm regularly popping items in a bag to go to charity.

I am looking forward to getting cosy in a few of my favourite jumpers, and it's time my scarves came out of hiding too. Happy autumn everyone!

Have you ever tried a capsule wardrobe? How did you get on?

My seasonal capsule wardrobe is inspired by Un-Fancy.