The Accidental Wardrobe #2

 

 Hi my lovelies .

Welcome back to the story of my earth shattering discovery, the Accidental Capsule!  Please read my previous post to get the background on how it came about. 

Today I cover the really cold months.  Let’s dive into December and January. 

I carried forward the following into December/January.

Bottoms

Khaki jeggings

Black coated jeans

Brown jeggings

Berry coated jeans

Tops

Grey long line jumper

Black v neck

Khaki ribbed jumper

Taupe v jumper

8 mix and match items

Colours: grey, khaki, black, berry, taupe

WINTER

December

Out came the Christmas colours!

A red cashmere jumper is of course de rigeur this time of year!

Worn with coated jeans.  The scarf in red stone and black blended with much of my winter capsule. 

A berry jumper with a little sparkle was introduced as my Christmas jumper.  For a Christmas lunch I wore it with berry coated jeans and over a cream lace cami, then added my pretty floral scarf for some pattern.

Introducing occasion items like this berry sparkle and the green velvet below means they can be popped back in the main wardrobe when day to day comes back to your world. 

I always want something festive to collect the turkey so over my sparkle jumper I threw on a stone gilet for warmth early on Christmas Eve. 

Green velvet trousers and green sparkle top on Christmas Day with a simple necklace.  This was a comfy yet festive outfit for all activities the day brought. 

Another late Christmas outing outfit, Berry jeans and this time a black polo neck (cashmere of course!). 

Again, the gilet provided an extra layer of warmth. 

January

I allowed the green sparkle and velvet to stick around in early January for a belated Christmas lunch with girlfriends. 

Worn here with layered silver and pearl jewellery.

It was a cold crisp day so I added the suit jacket and a scarf. 

I introduced a thick brown ribbed jumper when the temperature dropped.  Worn here with the brown faux jeggings. 

February

I also allowed this green cashmere longer line jumper to stick around after Christmas, worn here with the berry jeggings.  I think the colours work well together. 

So let’s see what my capsule has been made up with for winter. 

Winter Additions

Bottoms

Green velvet trousers*

Black cosy jeggings (not shown)

Tops and jackets 

Red crew neck

Green velvet jacket*

Green sparkle top*

Green long line jumper

Berry sparkle jumper*

Black polo neck

Brown chunky jumper

*These items have now been transferred back to my main wardrobe, but can of course be pulled out if needed. 

So I’ve added 5 permanent winter items and archived 4 Christmas items , so my winter capsule is now 

13 mix and match items.   

Colours: black, khaki, berry, grey, taupe, brown, green, red

That’s not a bad number for a capsule and tbh I’ve surprised myself that I can do it!  But because this happened accidentally, by stealth and necessity, it didn’t really feel like a draconian deprivation. 

Additions to my Accidental Wardrobe for Winter

Capsule Living Analysis 

1. Getting dressed each day and when going out is now a doddle as my choices are embedded and I know that all pieces are interchangeable.  TBH, I often just stretch a hand in the wardrobe and pull random stuff out.  

2.  Capsule living has got me braver with colours, like forest green or chocolate brown with berry - I never would have given those combos the time of day pre-capsule!

3.  I dress better!  Instead of just grabbing default comfy gym gear because my wardrobe choices overwhelmed me, I can now make quick daily choices of real clothes. 

4.  This approach has made the transitional aspect of dressing gentle and organic, so season changes are easy to glide through. 

5. Over time I’ve realized that a small capsule takes me back to my roots, takes me back to how I used to dress as I started out on the “style” road in my teens.   It feels wholesome and it feels like coming home.  It’s a peaceful way to dress. 

The Road Ahead

And now I’m living the fairytale life of the capsulist, and I love it. 

So much so that TP is talking about building more wardrobes in our “new” bedroom, and I’m dragging my heels as I’m a little reluctant (terrified!) to have more space!

But new wardrobes or not, I’m fired up to continue along the capsule road.  I like that the pace is slow and I’m switching things in and out on a reactionary

basis, with thought, which personally I find the kinder-to-self capsule route.  I’m easy on myself, no pressure.  

And I now find myself excited to see what I’ll be archiving and what I’ll be bringing in for spring!

So over to you my lovelies, what’s your take on capsule wardrobes?

If you’re already on the capsule road, how do you navigate it?

And if you’re not and you’d like to try out capsule living, why not give my easy and organic approach a go?

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

The Accidental Capsule #1

 Hello my lovelies.

Today I’d like to share a bit of an earth shattering discovery. 

The idea of a capsule wardrobe. 

Yes I know this has been around since the Stone Age, but for me the concept of a capsule wardrobe has always been a bit of a struggle.  I viewed limiting myself to an handful of items as draconian, stressful and plain silly!  Yes, I’ve done capsuling on holiday because your suitcase drives your capsule right?  (And actually on reflection I’ve quite enjoyed that liberating feel).  But being someone who rarely throws away a piece of clothing, a pair of shoes or a handbag, capsule doesn’t quite fit in my vocabulary, it’s rather frivolous concept!

Then along came my enfirced capsule, quite by accident -almost literally !

TP and I moved to a downstairs bedroom late last summer. The bedroom houses one double rail wardrobe.  That’s it!

As a carrot to lure him down to the safety of this bedroom (he was regularly hitting his head on the eaves of the cottage bedroom upstairs), I offered him one and a half rails of the two rail wardrobe.  You can do the maths, I was left with a paltry half rail to myself. 

Thus by circumstance  rather than design I quickly found myself with an Accidental Capsule. 

Over the last six months or so, I’ve been moving a few items determined by my needs from my larger wardrobes to my half rail downstairs and dressing from that.  And the items I find myself no longer wearing over time are returned to the mothership, thus keeping within my half-rail parameter, 

Through necessity I have landed myself with a capsule which is dynamic, organic and fluid.  And all the fairy tales I’d heard spouted about capsule wardrobes, the virtues, the benefits - they’re all true!  

I’m a born again capsulist!

Let’s dive into the deets of my accidental capsule.  Ignoring the now irrelevant late summer capsule, let’s focus on the colder months, starting with autumn.

This is what I brought down in …

AUTUMN

 October 

Earlier in autumn it seems grey was the theme.

Grey jeans, longline jumper and a cardi/jacket, brown accessories. 

A silk scarf in toning colours. 

 

Worn with a pendant. 

A hoodie and sketchers on a cooler day. 

I introduced a v neck taupe jumper and wore it with cosy khaki jeggings when the weather cooled. 

I added it to black coated jeggings and boots as it got colder. 

November

The grey cashmere jumper continued into winter. 

I brought brown faux leather jeggings, boots and a cashmere paisley scarf into the capsule. 

I paired the khaki jeggings with a black cashmere v neck, a vital piece in my day to day for most of the year. 

I brought in a khaki jumper to add to the khaki jeggings. 

The stone coloured gilet was worn on repeat through autumn/winter. 

Berry coated jeggings came out as the air cooled, here with the black v neck. 

A pretty flowery scarf goes well with most in this capsule, as its colours are grey, dark beiges, khaki, berry, black. 

Getting close to December the lunches started happening so I pulled out some festive green from my main wardrobe.  Here green velvet trousers are worn with the black v neck.  I added a dark green necklace to bring it all together and make it lunch-worthy. 

This scarf toned in well with the dark green velvet. 

I’m clearly happy with this outfit!

 So let’s see what my capsule consisted of in autumn. 

Bottoms

Grey jeans

Khaki jeggings

Brown faux leather jeggings

Black coated jeans

Berry coated jeans

Green velvet trousers*

(*these were sneaked in on 28 November so I’m taking them into my December count, because I can!) 

Tops

Grey long line jumper

Grey cardi jacket

Black v neck

Khaki ribbed jumper

Taupe v jumper

10 mix and match items

Colours: grey, khaki, black, berry, taupe

I class the hoodie and gilet as outerwear so these are not in the capsule count.

Footwear was Sketchers, brown boots, black heeled boots and black tractor treads - again, choices constrained by space so 4 items of footwear, again falling in the outerwear category, 

My Mix n Match Accidental Autumn Capsule

Living the capsule life has been easy and stressless so far. 

Please join me for part 2 coming up, in which I ditch a few things from autumn and add some winter and seasonal items.  I am also then at a point where I can look back on how the capsule approach works for me - and maybe it can work for you too. 

Meantime my lovelies, what’s your take on capsule wardrobes?

If you follow the capsule road, how do you approach it?

And if you don’t but maybe would like to try out capsule living, why not give my easy and organic approach a go?

A la perchoine,

Mary x. 

What I Did In January

Hello my lovely people!

I really am going to try to make this month’s post considerably shorter than previous monthly round ups. Let’s see how I do.

I created a cosy reading nook and surrounded myself with greenery, bringing the outside in to my warm space. 

A yucca cut to the ground last year is regrowing crazily, surviving the cold temperatures and winter’s storms; toppled pots strewn on the ground evidence recent stormy weather. 

Pretty china cups were brought out to play. 

A pretty cup turns a coffee and sandwich lunch into an elegant afternoon tea. 

January got me thinking of a growing plants from seed and lusting after a greenhouse.   

Do you  have a greenhouse? 

Any tips on greenhouse styles, uses etc?

Before

I tidied up a storage area in the kitchen. 

After

I sourced a couple of baskets from the office and rearranged things a little.  I think it looks tidier and I can spot the equipment I use regularly. 

The Christmas cake was still hanging around.

TP cleared the last piece mid-month!

I hunkered down and baked bread. 

I occasionally smartened up my warm winter jeggings act. 

But only by switching to faux leather jeggings!

And of course seeing myself in shiny jeggings hastened an order of the Nordic 5:2 diet book!

L’Ancresse.

There were some cold crisp and sunny days, but mostly rain prevailed through the month.  The wet leaves strewn along the hedgerows led to …

… Sudafed.  I suffer sinusitis this time of year due to the prolonged rain spawning dead leaf mold and fungi spores, all prevalent in January.  Inevitably I have to pull the big guns out of the bathroom cabinet - only Sudafed has clears sinusitis in my world.

Are you a sinusitis sufferer? Do you have a go-to remedy?

January is a month of comfort food, so I made a meat loaf. 

I was greeted by frosty mornings when I peeked out of my bathroom window. 

So I upped the hot chocolate intake!

Winter is a time for warm woollies.

My green cashmere is a great choice to keep the frost at bay (La Redoute sale). 

We didn’t plan matchy matchy green jumpers but it often happens that we accidentally twin.  

You too with your partner?

Worn here with my retirement uniform coated jeggings (Next) and cosy tractor tread boots (M&S). 

Coated jeggings are my going out version of my cosy day-to-day winter jeggings (I really must write a post on those winter stalwarts).

The twins went out on a date lunch. 

I love the Christie’s Cocktail, a mix of crab and prawn which a local restaurant puts together so tastily.  I steal fat chips from TP and make this my meal. 

Walking back to the bus terminus after lunch I was drawn to this fine display of green scarves hats and bags. 

And I was drawn too to this outfit on the left which I plan to copy.  

Do you find outfit inspiration in shop windows?

Another day and I wandered around a garden centre and was drawn to these blue and white ginger jars - and the 75% off sign!

But only a pair of green candle holders came home with me instead (green must have been on my mind in January).

My 5:2 book arrived and I had days of cottage cheese

and vegetable soup.

Both were very tasty, but then I found myself craving

 

a curry 

and an egg and cress sarnie.  So I had both.  Separately of course!

The good thing is that through January I stuck reverently to my twice weekly 500 cal days and I lost a few kilos; the bad thing was that a little bounced back on.  The net result was a loss of just 1 1/3 lbs!  But it’s a loss, not quite as much as I would have liked (or needed!) but I’m sticking with it as I find it quite easy to restrict myself to two days of 500 cal eating per week. 

Have you tried 5:2 or intermittent fasting?  

How have you fared?  

I’d love to hear from you as I need all of the support I can get right now! 

Let’s move on from dieting disappointments.  Let’s get back to nature!  We spotted a flock of egrets on one of our beach walks. 

I’ve been favouring beach and headland walks since the dreaded sinusitis attack to avoid getting near leaf mold and fungi. 

I accepted a cousins’ challenge to finish a lingering project.  I chose this patchwork quilt as my lingering project.  It’s made up of pretty Laura Ashley fabric.  It’s lingered since the late 80s, and when I unpacked it I realized I’d abandoned it back then … with just TWO triangles of patchwork left to do!

Oh the embarrassment - WHY didn’t I finish it?!!!

With it was an abundant supply of fabric so I have absolutely no excuse not to finish it … watch this space!

In the same stash I found this Laura Ashley fabric in duck egg blue.  Pretty huh?  

Back in the 80s I made two pairs of curtains, six table mats and a toilet bag in this fabric … and I still have several metres left over!

I’ll make a table cloth for the extended table and gawd knows what I’ll do with the rest.  An apron or six maybe?!

The abundance of rain during the month left large puddles.  I named this Guernsey’s Lake District. 

View from Bordeaux headland as I continued on my mission to avoid leaf mold. 

It may have been dry and sunny on some days in the month but we had to bundle up!

However, a cold bracing day is good for the soul. 

Provided you dress for the weather.

Me bundled up to the max and TP with no hat or scarf!

And on that note, I think I’ve taken up enough of your time!

Now, did I fail on the failed on the Norse Saga sized post?

Well, it’s long on pics but shorter on wordage and the latter was my aim, so hopefully you can scroll through this one in record time.  

Please let me know how it was for you!

A la perchoine,

Mary x.