Customizing Your 10 Item Wardrobe

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you are having (or have had) a beautiful day with your loved ones...

Many of you have told me you’re intimidated by the idea of having only 10 items in your wardrobe, and I don’t blame you. It can be a drastic thing going from a 100+ wardrobe to only having around 10 core items, but believe me, this exercise is powerful- even if you only do it for a week. You can learn a lot about yourself and your style- what your wardrobe needs, about your resistance to wearing your nicest things (I still have a fighting urge to ‘save’ my best clothes for later) and about how you want to present yourself as a person…

Now that you’ve cleared out a lot of the clutter, it’s time to customize your 10 Item Wardrobe. This will all depend on who you are, where you live and what sort of lifestyle you lead. An attorney in Manhattan will, of course, have a drastically different 10 item wardrobe than a stay-at-home mom in Atlanta.

Your 10 Item Wardrobe will all depend on what your day usually consists of (Board meetings? PTA meetings? Working from home? Riding your bike?). Also take into consideration the season (Snow? Perpetual rain? Cool sunshine?). And of course, your style and personality… (Fashion forward? Classic minimalism? Bohemian?)

My 10 Item Wardrobe has been tailored as follows to fit my particular life situation: I am a new mother of a young baby, but I still like to look pulled together- so the majority of my wardrobe is casual sportswear with a slight dressed-up edge. I live in Southern California- which has a temperate climate even in the winter. I mainly spend my days taking care of the home and baby, on playdates , writing and going on walks and my choices for the 10 Item Wardrobe reflect my lifestyle.

Here is my current 10 Item Wardrobe for Spring. Every item in this selection of clothing can be mixed and matched, thus creating many sartorial possibilities- a must for any capsule wardrobe.

Sea green silk top


Beige sheer blouse


Navy stripe sailor top


Beige crewneck sweater


Sea foam button down tie cardigan


Lightweight pleated black trousers


Tailored black high waisted shorts


Sea green A-line skirt


Tan khaki pencil skirt


White jeans


The core items in this 10 Item Wardrobe are mainly from a moderately priced retailer and thus, are not 'investment pieces'. They are the best quality I can afford for my budget. My current fashion budget only allows me to spend big money on items in my 'extras' list such as: coats, shoes, sunglasses, handbags, cocktail dresses, jeans and jewelry because these last much longer. A good trench coat or handbag, for example, could last up to 10 years, whereas a silk top, when worn frequently, might only last two seasons. Every one's budget and situation is different- this is what makes sense for me. I will explore the nuances of one's fashion budget in a future post. And next week’s special Thursday post will show you pictures of some of my investment pieces (items not included in my 10 item wardrobe).

And for this Thursday I will be posting an article written by guest author Mr. Chris Cox from Easy and Elegant Life, who will be offering his thoughts on a gentleman’s 10 Item Wardrobe.

I would love to know… what will the key items in your wardrobe be?



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