Once you know what kind of wardrobe suits your particular lifestyle and body shape, and you’ve determined the colours for your basic pieces, you’re ready to create your very own capsule wardrobe. But one important step is knowing what’s already in your closet and whether the clothes you have are suitable for your new wardrobe.

Below, we outline a few useful tips for taking stock of the clothes you already have in your closet.

First, take pictures of your entire closet, then take all your clothes out, remove any items on hangers and assess each piece individually and thoroughly. If you’re not sure a particular item still fits you, try it on. You’ll need to sort through your clothes taking into account a number of factors, such as the condition they’re in, whether they fit you, are they comfortable to wear, and how many seasons they can be worn for.

You’ll find plenty of tricks for taking stock of your wardrobe arrangement in the Capsule Wardrobe eBook, including the worksheet below:

You’ve arrived at the most exciting step. You now have everything you need to pick out your basic garments and create your own capsule wardrobe. Having a well-functioning capsule wardrobe can be empowering, since it makes everyday life easier, you become much more conscious of what you wear, you don’t make unnecessary purchases, and you know exactly what you need.

Your wardrobe’s basics are the items that you wear practically every season. These are the clothes you pull out of your closet most often and can be combined with almost any outfit. In essence, this is the collection of clothing and accessories that is not seasonal, that you wear most often, that conforms to your body shape and colour type, and which consist of mainly neutral or base colours.

They’re the basics of every capsule wardrobe that you can supplement according to the season. Generally, this basic collection will contain a number of classic pieces, but this will depend on your personality and style. Your basic capsule wardrobe becomes a perfect collection of clothes that you can rely on for any occasion.

Having a well-designed capsule wardrobe is great, but sometimes you’ll want to add new items to it.

If you’ve completed the final step and created your own capsule wardrobe, you may ask yourself what’s next. How can I add new pieces to an already well-functioning system? Does having a capsule wardrobe mean I can’t buy any more clothes? Having a capsule wardrobe doesn’t mean you can’t make any new purchases in the future, but it’s worth keeping the following in mind when you consider a new item of clothing: