My 2024 Winter Capsule Wardrobe

It’s that time again for another wardrobe edit! This time it’s my winter capsule wardrobe for 2024. But first, happy new year everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great start to the year. At the beginning of this year, I was really focused on getting my first sewing pattern launched, which is why this post is coming a bit late. But even though it’s a little late, I still wanted to put together a winter edit of my wardrobe because I just find the process so helpful, especially at the start of a new year.

I often get asked how my wardrobe edits or capsule wardrobes work, why I do them, etc. Basically what I do is every season, I curate a small selection of my wardrobe which becomes my capsule for that season. The exact number of items varies, but usually it’s around the high twenties to low thirties. The wardrobe includes all of my day-to-day clothing items as well as accessories like bags and shoes, but doesn’t include things like active wear or loungewear.

There are a lot of reasons why I do this, but the main one is that it keeps my wardrobe feeling refreshed without bringing in any new items. It gives me a chance to go through my closet and see if there’s anything I’m not really using anymore that could be sold or donated. It also helps me assess any gaps in my wardrobe so that if I do want to purchase something, I can really carefully consider it and make sure it’s something that I actually need. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to put together! I love the process of picking out pieces from my closet in my Stylebook app and then searching for outfits on Pinterest that I can recreate. I often find new ways of wearing pieces that I never would have thought of on my own. Over the years that I’ve been practicing this, it’s really helped me to maintain a slow and sustainable wardrobe and get more use out of what I already have.

That doesn’t mean that I never add anything new to my closet. Especially because I’m a sewer and knitter, I do slowly accumulate pieces that I make myself. When I do shop for something, I always try to purchase secondhand or from sustainable, slow, and small businesses if possible. One such piece that’s new to my wardrobe this season is the tunic-style shirt from one of my favourite Canadian brands, Power of My People. This shirt is called the Darling Wayward Fit Tunic and it was kindly sent to me by the owners of the brand this season. It’s honestly such a beautiful piece, is so well-made and is something that I will keep in my wardrobe for years to come. I will be doing a deeper dive into the brand as well as this style in particular in an upcoming blog post, so stay tuned!

Now, on to this year’s winter wardrobe edit. Sometimes my winter wardrobes can feel a bit dark and boring. Living in Canada, I always need to make sure I’ve got enough warm layers to keep me going through the season, so this season’s wardrobe in particular ends up being more function over form. That said, this year I did try to spice things up a little by adding some bright pops of red and blue to lighten up all of the black and grey. The end result is a capsule that still works well in cold weather but gives me the flexibility to have a little bit more fun if I feel like it.