13.5.13

Minimalist Monday: My Summer Minimalist Wardrobe

Adding personality to a minimalist wardrobe


Hello dear minimalist fashionlings. I'm preparing to launch my summer/spring wardrobe for Project 333 but I must admit that after the UK's epic winter and fast tracked spring I feel slightly out of kilter and have not yet finished my spring/summer clothes edit. Just weeks ago we had snow and then whooosh here comes summer! If an alien landed in the supermarket I don't think they would know which season they were in. People wearing Uggs and flip flops on the same day is disturbing. Please can we agree what season we are in and banish those boots to the back of the wardrobe? (I'm only jealous, I've often been tempted to insulate my feet in sheepskin). 

Whilst I've enjoyed dabbling with wearing my white jeans, linen trousers and having the occasional sock free day I must admit I don't feel brave enough to completely overhaul my wardrobe from winter to spring/summer. I need to pack away most of my winter items and reinstate some of my summer favourites but I will be keeping a few warmer items to hand, just in case, you know. So rather than a strict spring/summer wardrobe I'm aiming for more of a winter/summer shake up for my next attempt at Project 333. 

If we have more sultry days I want to be able to easily find and wear my favourite summer clothes and an organised and edited wardrobe is essential to this. When I radically decluttered a very full wardrobe a year ago I found I had more summer clothes than winter ones. Summer does tend to go to our heads in the Northern Hemisphere and I, like many others I'm sure, am almost certainly more attracted to summer clothes than winter garbs. Reducing the size of my summer wardrobe last year was a challenge but I'm glad that I did it. I followed the principles of sorting items into throw, donate/sell and keep piles. There are one or two items that I gave away that I still longingly think of but I know that I could probably find something similar again if I wanted to. I believe your wardrobe should evolve and that you cannot keep everything forever. This is one of the reasons why I am determined to streamline the amount of summer clothes I own even further. 

My project 333 wardrobe experiment in December and January taught me a lot. It made me realise that I enjoy a tidy, spacious wardrobe more than an overstuffed one and that I can dress well with a small number of clothes. It taught me to be more creative at putting outfits together and to appreciate the clothes I have rather than constantly lusting for new ones. Post Project 333 I enjoy my clothes more and no longer save clothes for best. Now when I buy new clothes I make better decisions - maybe spending a little more money but overall wasting less money on clothes than I did in the past. 

So how am I going to reduce the number of summer clothes I own even more? 


I will
  • aim for a ratio of 2:1 tops to bottoms 
  • choose items that are versatile
  • choose items that can be layered
  • keep less duplicates
  • keep classic items that can be worn until they wear out
  • keep items that are good quality 
  • only keep items if they fit well
  • limit the colours of my summer wardrobe
  • plan a wardrobe that suits my lifestyle
  • choose items suitable for the UK's varied weather
  • make the most of my accessories to vary my outfits
  • only keep items in my wardrobe that I truly love and that have a certain something that makes me want to wear them over and over again
  • put any undecided items in storage in the loft and see if I can manage without them
  • make myself feel good by selling or donating some items that are unnecessarily bulking up my wardrobe

I believe you can still enjoy wearing clothes with a minimalist wardrobe. Balancing classic and basic items with fun items that you love is the key. Following a few rules when putting together a minimalist wardrobe helps but really the rules are up to you. Your minimalist wardrobe can be as unique and full of personality as you are. 

And for more creative wardrobe fun I highly recommend polyvore. Just click on the set I created above to explore.



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11 comments

  1. Do you already own the lovely items featured, or are they on your wish list? A very interesting post Claire!

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    1. I own similar items including a striped People Tree cardigan (but not this one). I wish I owned this bag though :(

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  2. Thanks for the updates on your Project 333 Claire. I'm going to try it for our upcoming Winter.
    BTW how did your Chocolate Guiness cake turn out?

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  3. I've been a little caught out again. I'm always buying clothes at the wrong time of the year so now we've had a bit of an earlier cold spell and I haven't got a couple of needed underlayers for winter! I have bought some exercise clothes that I will share about soon. Looking forward to seeing your Project 333 this summer. x

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  4. This is really interesting. It gives me a lot to think about. I tend to buy clothing on clearance when it's very cheap, feeling like I got a bargain, then I don't wear it, so it accumulates. I'll have to try some of these things.

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  5. I always buy too many summer and vacation items; trying to get a handle on that!

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  6. An ongoing project :)
    My packing for England was an eye-opener - I got all my summer tops out and found I have far too many, at least, I do if I don't wear them!! So I need to wear them all and see what gets the thumbs up... and I wore a dress yesterday that is lovely and sweet but I had to keep tugging it into place and smoothing the front all day, so out it goes! I need to be ruthless.
    I'm actually perfectly happy with a tiny selection of things and I've been pretty good about not buying much lately, really only replacing an item or filling a gap; now I really don't need anything else. Just weeding, then!

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  7. aha! you have made me think, my wardrobe is looking pretty stuffed again! just tend to wear things of 2 small shelves which is kind of crazy, why is the rest of it there?! Heather x

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  8. I enjoyed reading about you taking part in Project 333 previously. I have been trying to reduce my summer wardrobe too but it is so difficult with the weather so variable. Some of my favourite clothes weren't worn last year as it was too cold!
    Sarah x

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  9. Great to see how you are getting on, I look forward to seeing the summer 33!

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Thanks for reading and leaving your comments. Keep in touch xo

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