Although fashion may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of me, fashion has played an important role in my life and my life has played an important role for my sense in fashion.
I am, in no particular order, a dancer, a debater, a MUN student, and an occasional Frisbee player. My wardrobe must therefore encompass clothes from sporty to formal and everything in between. At the same time, I don’t really like putting that much effort into my wardrobe because I am a lazy person.
Growing up, I had a very distinct set of clothes. One or two basketball shorts, a couple t-shirts, 2 blue jeans and maybe a pair of black jeans, a couple pairs of shorts, a white button up or two, and maybe some dresses and skirts. I wore one pair of trainers all year and had sandals for summer and heels for formal events. My casual was basketball shorts and a t-shirt, my formal was a dress and heels, and my semi was a button down and jeans. It sounds odd, but what reason did I have to own more clothes than that? I had a uniform, I didn’t need to wear street clothes that often.
My clothes still reflect that standard. Every piece is carefully chosen because of it’s versatility. A white button up is great with a black skirt for MUN, but it’s just as great with a pair of blue jeans for a dressy casual dinner. They’re also carefully chosen so that I don’t need more than one of each kind, saving me money and time as I don’t have to choose between two almost identical pieces.
In addition, each piece must be durable for many years. I haven’t grown since seventh grade, so many of the pieces are from then. I grew up with hand me downs and have learnt to embrace the joys of being able to choose the best of the hand me downs and put together stunning outfits from them.
My fashion is in a sense, an extension of my personality. The things that go into the wardrobe are carefully curated, meaning that I can grab anything and it will look put together. If you have a good base, the results are bound to be good!
If someone were to ask me what my style was, I would say that it was an ‘I don’t care’ style because I often pull things out of my wardrobe and put them on without even noticing them, but can I still look put together. Really, I don’t care what I’m wearing. As my summer school roommate told me, ‘It doesn’t look like you’re packing heat, but you just keep pulling out outfit after outfit. I haven’t seen you repeat a thing, man.’ This, my friend, is the essence of the capsule wardrobe.