Late to the minimalist game.

I’ve always been so intrigued my minimalism. How amazing would it be to have only a handful of things that all served a purpose? I tried Marie Kondo’s art of tidying, but literally was still left with so many items, far from being a minimalist. What I’ve come to find though is that I’m so multifaceted and have so many interests that it’s hard to fit in a cookie cutter mold. This is why I have fallen in love with the glam capsule challenge.

A huge idea behind sustainable and conscious fashion is slow living. A term for buying and consuming less, but buying better. Consuming less is always going to be more sustainable whether the products you’re buying are good for the planet or not. This is where the 10×10 capsule wardrobe challenge was born. The challenge is to choose 10 pieces from your wardrobe and create 10 different outfits with them. Read more about what the 10×10 capsule wardrobe is about here.

I have been following this challenge on Instagram for a couple of years, but I felt like in order to participate, I’d have to buy really basic pieces to successfully complete it. My friend Benita Robledo from blog, Compassion Fashion, has this amazing idea, to replicate the basic 10×10, but the glam version. If you follow along on Instagram, we picked 10 of our trendiest pieces and wore them for 10 days. To my surprise, it wasn’t as difficult as I had expected, but it did take some strategy since I work a corporate 9-5, had a holiday and bachelorette party to dress for. My outfits had to be extremely versatile!

Here are some tips to successfully survived a 10×10 a capsule wardrobe challenge glam or not:

1. Pick out all of your pieces ahead of time.
2. Rule of 3 – make sure that you pick 3 of each major item (tops and bottoms).
3. Rule of 2 – pick 2 add on items or pieces that won’t look weird if you wear them 2 days in a row (jackets and shoes).
4. Plan out your outfits before day 1, this is so you know what you’re going to wear the next day and to help avoid wearing the same top/bottom the next day.

Here are the 10 pieces I chose, and the outfits I planned for each day:

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What I learned:

To be creative – I think everyone should try this capsule challenge because it’s true that I was forced to think of more creative ways to wear my clothing. Tying them up, layering them, and mixing up colors and prints are just a few ideas that I came up with to change and spice up each outfit.

Sustainability means more than just ethics and production – I know I focus a lot about the things I’m purchasing or getting to be more sustainable. But it’s really important that I talk about how sustainable it is to get full use and life out of the existing things you have! The challenge forced me to learn so many more ways to use my existing clothing items.

Links to all or similar pieces to my capsule below!

xo,