You have a closet full of clothes, but you’re only wearing maybe like 5% to 9% percent of what you have in your closet, and that’s totally ok. But, when you get ready in the morning and open up the doors of your closet, and you’re fresh and energized to start the day, and then you’re like “Woah, what do I wear?”. And you just start trying things on and wasting your energy, or you just have like this go-to, 1 or 2, maybe 3 outfits max and you just wear them over and over again, and they’re just not doing anything for you! So, if that’s you, then you’ll want to watch today’s video.

Welcome back to Ada Style Minute, for those who already know me, welcome back! And for those of you who don’t, my name is Ada Deferrari, I’m a designer and stylist and I am here to help you to look and feel empowered and confident through style. So again, welcome back!

Today I’m gonna share with you just a quick little capsule I’ve put together for you to give you ideas, to inspire you, to maybe do the same.

Basically, many of my clients tell me that they’re only wearing like a small smidge of what they have in their closet. Because maybe their lifestyle has changed over recent times because, of course, we’re living in very different times right now. Maybe your body shape changed, you’ve lost weight, you’ve lost weight. Perhaps you’re going through a time in your life when you’ve got hot flashes and now you really need to pay attention to what fabrics you’re wearing.

So, for whatever reason, you might only be wearing a small percentage of what you have in your closet, and that’s totally fine. But, it does make it really frustrating to open up the doors of your closet and try to figure out what to wear.

So what I recommend my clients do is basically create a section of their closet. So, put everything off to the side, create a small section of their closets, of their go-to outfits. But it’s not like a complete outfit, like your sweatshirts, your sweats, your leggings, your tunic and that’s it and you just wear them on repeat. That’s fine, no judgment. But, you can wear so many more items if you just pick out pieces that mix and match and then you just create a small section in your closet.

So, whatever you pick out, it goes together really well. And, you have different looks, you have pieces that are doing something for you. They’re making you feel good, they’re making you feel confident, they’re making you look and feel attractive. And that’s really important! Especially during these weird times.

I wanted to share with you just a few ideas of how you can put together this little capsule. And hopefully, you can, after this video, go into your closet, shop your closet, pick out whatever amount. If you wanna go with 6 tops, or if you wanna go with 8 tops, and then, find the bottoms for them. But just look at pieces that mix and match. Then, you’ll go through maybe your shoes, pick up 3 pairs of shoes that also will mix and match. And some accessories, and you’re done! It’s really easy! So I just wanted to inspire you to do that.

Here what I’ve put together is a little mini capsule and what I wanted to show you here. So I basically have 6 tops, a couple of outer layers, and some bottoms that I’ll show you in a second. But what’s really nice in a capsule is that, kind of what you’re focused on, is that all of the colors that you choose are cohesive and work together. So that they mix and match with your bottoms and your shoes and your accessories. It doesn’t necessarily mean that everything has to be all neutral like I have here. You can definitely bring in pops of color. But, you just wanna make sure that they kind of go together.

So the easiest way to do that is maybe going through your scarves collection, maybe artwork, perhaps there’s a really cool print in a top or pants that you really like. And you can pull colors from that print. So I chose this scarf that has this mustard, and this indigo, a little bit of blacks and pinks in here. And I’ve basically built a capsule around this scarf. Now I purposely brought in this fuchsia top to show you: “Hey! This doesn’t really go, right?” Do you see how the hue of this fuchsia top doesn’t really go? Now again, if you’ve liked something and it’s an outer layer, go ahead and keep it in your capsule. It’s not like you’re not gonna wear anything from your closet, but this is just so that you can get ready super quick. So, find a scarf or some kind of print that you really like and pool colors from it, and only choose colors, again, that work with that! So, do you see how this works, right?

Okay, next. What I’d really like to recommend especially for women between the ages of 45 and 65, to wear natural fibers. Why? Because our bodies at that time are heating up quite a bit throughout the day, and so it’s really nice for you to be wearing a natural fiber. They’re so much more comfortable, they’re good for you, they’re good for the Earth. I’ve selected all natural fibers here.

So I have this long-sleeved top that has a little detail here which I really like. But it’s cotton, it has a little bit of spandex, so I really like it. I’ve also chosen this kind of toppy top. Now, this one has these shoulder pads, which I like. Because, for my body shape, it makes my shoulders look wider which makes my waist look smaller. So, that’s like another little bonus tip for you. And if you’re not sure exactly how to dress for your body shape, I do have a Body Shape Calculator, you can click on it on your desktop, and put in your measurements and then I’ll give you a guide on different pieces that would work for your body shape, different pieces that you can just take those and kind of copy and go and shop in your closet.

The next piece is a crop top. The reason I’ve put this and I know many of my clients that are in their fifties, sixties, they’re not gonna wear a crop top. However, if you have a short torso like I do, a crop top will not necessarily look like a crop top. And it’ll actually fit you super well. I love the v-neck, v-neck it’s really nice, it elongates you, it kind of elongates the neckline, and also brings light back into your face. So that’s a very flattering top here that I have.

This is linen, so depending on the time of the year and of course, the climate that you live in, linen is a natural fiber, is very breathable, and you can layer with this piece. You can unbutton the buttons, you can wear it kind of almost as a little throw, you can button it, you can wear a sweater on top of this, but this is what’s touching your skin. And it’s really nice and comfy. And then, of course, a white little tee is always really nice to have.

These are kind of like foundational tops and then I have layers. You can include sweaters, blazers… I really like this kind of blazer-jacket from J. Crew, in fact, I’ve just ordered another couple of colors of this, cause I really like it. And it fits me well, this is an extra small because their sizes run a little bit big, but I think it’s great! It’s 100% cotton, and it keeps me warm, I like the fibers, are just really nicely knitted. I have a sweater, a couple of blazers that are also a cotton-linen blend. So, depends on kind of what you wanna do for your outer layers. If you have pieces here that mix and match, then that’s kind of the toughest part, right?

The next piece, is you wanna get pants that also mix and match. For your pants, it could be jeans, it could be black pants, it could be whatever you want that will also go with this collection. So whatever is going to work really well and you don’t need to have as many pants probably as tops and outer layers. And these ones here, I really like them, they’re actually from Target, they’re like an elevated sweatpant. I think it’s really nice, I’ve been wearing these around the house quite a bit, and they’re super comfortable and I love the way that it looks with this color pallet.

Okay, super important: don’t forget the shoes! For shoes, because we have such a neutral kind of classy color pallet, you can really play it up with some fun shoes. Maybe a python print, maybe something in patent, maybe a red boot. But, really kind of play up with your shoes to bring life into some of these neutral pieces.

So, my capsule is not done yet. What I also do is I put together this trace of accessories that I also will pool for my capsule. I’ll include necklaces, I’ll include earrings. I really like these earrings that have this mix of gold and silver. I think that they’ll look really nice. I don’t wanna forget the accessories, I don’t wanna forget the jewelry! Because it will really give, again, these neutral tons more personality.

I don’t wanna forget about my belts because I have pretty much all pants in this little collection. So when I do my little half tack I wanna belt it and have my belt showing as well. I have my scarf as well that I’ll be wearing in this collection.

Now I’ve picked everything out, it’s very intentional, I know that all of the pieces here fit me, they flatter me. All natural fibers, all breathable, super comfortable, and I’m done! So now, I’ve basically created just a section in my closet, or you can even have a little rack like I have here if you have the room, and those are just like your go-to pieces. Because, again, in the morning we wanna feel inspired, we wanna feel good, we don’t want to have something like clothing to bog us down. We want clothes, we want to use style as empowerment to something that makes us look and feel good.

There you have it! I hope this has helped and I hope this has brought inspiration to create your own capsule wardrobe for whatever stage you’re in your life, whether, again, you’ve lost weight, you’ve gained weight, you’ve got a new kind of situation, you’ve got hot flashes, whatever it might be! I hope this has inspired you to create your own capsule wardrobe.

Leave a comment for me below and let me know what do you think, let me know if you’ve attempted to maybe create your own capsule or if you have any questions or comments that I have maybe missed.

Thank you again for watching, and I’ll see you next time on Ada Style Minute.

Useful links:

Free Online Body Shape Class
Download the Determine Your Shape Guide 
Essentials for your closet
Body Shape Calculator (please use it from your desktop)