The Capsule Wardrobe: 1,000 Outfits from 30 Pieces

Let's be clear: I hate to shop for clothes. My short (5'1"), rotund (I'm not going to share, but I'm definitely plus-sized) body does not lend itself to a happy day of perusing the racks and searching for the next great piece. Add in a relatively boring sense of style (solid colors, black pants, penny loafers) and fashion and I are not on speaking terms.

If this describes you in any way, The Capsule Wardrobe is the book for you.

Think of The Capsule Wardrobe as the successor to the KonMari method. If you, like me, have considered a great clean-out but panic over the idea of being naked and afraid, Wendy Mak's book will provide you with some peace of mind and comfort. Wendy Mak demonstrates that it is possible to pare your wardrobe down to 30 items and still have a functioning wardrobe. The thirty items?
7 bottoms (skirts, pants, etc)
6 tops
6 top layer items (blazer, sweater, jacket, coat, etc.)
3 purses
6 pairs of shoes
Accessories.

(Don't count that. I know it's not 30 but I don't have the book in front of me right now.) Work wear, weekend wear and going out are all included. This does not include loungewear or gym wear. She doesn't tell you to pare down underwear or socks. Just your main dressing pieces.

More importantly, she provides a full table of possible combinations. Again, I'm not brave or confident in my attire and my ability to match things up, so having a foolproof guide helps.This book is designed as a jumping off point and not something that is set in stone. Work with it, make it personal, and remember: each part must work with the whole. Don't buy just because it's on sale. How will the new piece work in your wardrobe?

Now, the book does have a few weak points. I think every woman will raise an eyebrow at her impassioned defense of skinny jeans (or is that just me?). She defends it ably (your legs and bum don't look as bad as you think, you need to be able to tuck your pants into your boots, etc), but that might be further than most women want to go. Also, she maintains that this will give you over 1000 different looks. I think that might be overstating it, but you'll definitely get over 100.

So now that it's January and I'm standing in front of my closets in disgust, looking at clothes I must have purchased on an alcoholic bender, shoes in need of repair that I haven't repaired or discarded, and shirts and bottoms I haven't worn in two years, I'm feeling brave. Between Marie Kondo and Wendy Mak, I can finally remove some of these clothes from my closet and pare down to the essentials. The Capsule Wardrobe is helping me make the decision on what to keep and what to toss/donate/give away and I'm doing so in the knowledge that I'll still be able to leave the house looking relatively put together in the end.

Advance Reader Copy supplied by Publisher. This review is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think her capsule wardrobe ideas are great. In my younger years, I never had the basics in black, grey, taupe etc and that led to frantic times, trying to figure out what to wear to work!! I like the way she doesn't stick with any type of fashion dogma as well.
One problem I did encounter with the book is that half of the length consists of lists of more than 1000 outfits which I didn't feel like was needed. One main outfit tweaked by a different purse or a different pair of shoes. To me, that's not a 'new' outfit but the old one just...tweaked. But if you have absolutely no imagination on how to coordinate your outfits, this is the book for you.
When I'm buying a book like this, hardback, I always look at the page count, to make sure it's not a Kindle wonder with only 40 pages!! So in this case, the book is more like 120 pages, with the rest being lists of outfits, which I had a hard time even reading (small print, grey and very hard to read.). And that was the only reason it has a four star and not a five.
Author gives lots of excellent advice, though, so it's still a recommend!!

Title is somewhat misleading. She counts carrying 3 different purses as 3 different outfits. Yes, I see how that is one view of what makes an outfit. However, since I stash my purse at my desk all day, her 3 outfits would be identical in the office as far as I'm concerned. Light on content, the 1000 outfit list pads out the number of pages. There are better books, try the Curated Closet instead.

In a quick definition, a capsule wardrobe allows you to create multiple outfits from a few basic pieces. If you are like me and the idea of looking in your cluttered closet is getting a bit overwhelming; the capsule might be the next step in a wardrobe makeover.

Wendy Mak goes on to explain her vision of thirty necessary items, from 7-bottoms, 6-tops, 6-top layer items (blazer, sweater, jacket, coat, etc.), 3-purses, 6-shoes, and accessories. Work wear, weekend wear and going out are all included. This does not include loungewear or gym wear. This book is designed as a jumping off point and not something that is set in stone. Work with it and make it personal. Remember that each part must work with the whole.

Ms. Mak then goes into the specifics of style and color to add a bit more flare. She did lose me a bit here when she talks about skinny cuts. Not everyone has the body type for skinny so you will have to adapt. Presto change-o and you have a fast new wardrobe of 1,000 options.

Wait, not so fast, simple math tells you that the numbers do not add up. After a couple of pages of item suggestion and a few mix and match drawings of outfits you begin to realize that you are still not seeing 1,000 options.

Then you hit the appendix and this is where the whole idea fell apart for me. Changing an accessory or shoes or purse is not a new outfit. The same jeans and basic tank are used for the first 50+ outfit suggestions. Nope, I just knew that this was too good to be true.

Right on the heels of today's popular "minimalist" movement comes "The Capsule Wardrobe: 1,000 Outfits from 30 Pieces" by Australian mentor, speaker, and coach Wendy Mak, who appears to have evolved into something of a jack of all trades these days, but who started as a personal fashion stylist in 2004 after leaving an unfulfilling career in telecommunications and commerce.

Now, mind you, I am not enormously captivated by the aforementioned minimalist movement in general. Sure, just like everyone else, I'd like to pare down some, but I am not inherently adverse to having lots of "stuff". Why on earth then, you may ask, did I want to read a book offering to reduce my wardrobe down to a mere 30 items? As it turns out, I tend to take long trips. Like everyone else, I also of course take easy-to-pack-for short weekend jaunts, but I also take yearly month-long visits home to Colorado, famous for having weather that can go from a 100° high during the day to a bone-chilling 40s the very same night, by nature of its semi-arid, mountainous climate. Obviously, packing for such a stay requires a bit of finesse and cleverness, or one winds up lugging an oversize, 75-pound behemoth of a suitcase with them (trust me, I know this from firsthand experience!). I'd hoped that "The Capsule Wardrobe" would help me figure out how to pack the minimum amount of mix-and-match pieces to get the maximum number of combinations in a travel wardrobe. And it did indeed give me some good ideas. Also not expressly targeted, but definitely another potential group that this book should appeal to, are fresh-out-of-college Millennials who are trying to assemble their first professional work wardrobe but have no idea where to start.

Those compliments stated, I'm afraid I have some pretty harsh criticisms of this book. What you need to know going into it is that just a few pages shy of half of the book's 240 pages comprise page after page of spreadsheet-looking tables of possible wardrobe combinations, enumerating all the possible ways you can combine your 30 items, with no organization based on season or occasion, no images or descriptions, nor anything else that would make these tables even remotely practical. What are you going to do – staple 110 pages full of rows and columns of tiny text and put it in your closet? That does not make it a "handy reference", even if you "highlight your favorites", as the text helpfully suggests.

The shame of it is that the author could've done so much more with this wasted half of the book! In no particular order: Rather than reducing putting an outfit together down to looking it up on a computer-generated table, Ms. Mak could have used some of those pages to get into the practical theory behind successful fashion, guiding readers up the learning curve to creating smart, inspired ensembles rather than automatic ones. The concept of having a few timeless, well-constructed, and classic pieces in one's closet has been around for many decades; since this particular capsule wardrobe include them, it would've been a great opportunity to educate aspiring fashionistas as to what makes an item of clothing a classic and how to shop for high-quality separates that fit their budget and style. What kind of cuts and tailoring are best-suited towards different body types? What effects do different accessories and pieces of jewelry have, overall, on an outfit? One short chapter addressed some of the "rules" about mixing and matching shoes and bags with the rest of one's clothing – the development of that skill could've used a lot more elucidation and expansion. And there is not nearly enough guidance on shopping (or retaining out of your existing hoard) your base of 30 items.

What could've been a really solid contribution to the body of introductory fashion education in a minimalist age is instead literally half the book it could've been. I feel like I'd have a hard time recommending even checking "The Capsule Wardrobe" out from the library for most readers, because even the worthwhile information that is found within its pages comes off as disappointingly incomplete. If you're already competent and confident with fashion, you'll be too advanced to need this book to put together a capsule wardrobe, but if you're more of a beginner (or just fashion-disabled, like me), you'll only be satisfied with what this book offers if you're happy with making automatic, uncreative daily wardrobe choices without really understanding why they work. But as I mentioned in my second paragraph, if, like me, you already have a rather overstuffed closet and you'd like to put together a temporary capsule wardrobe for an extended trip, you may find some helpful tips and strategies, and again, I also think the book will benefit young women just entering the workforce who want to look smart and professional but have no real interest in fashion per se.

(I received an advance electronic copy of this book via NetGalley, courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing, in exchange for my honest feedback and review. My initial downloaded copy had some issues, but Molly from Skyhorse was immensely responsive and helpful, and quickly made sure I got a readable copy. Kudos to Skyhorse and Molly for outstanding reviewer response and an obviously awesome culture of customer support!)

Great but impossible to implement due to the fact it uses wardrobe examples that are out of date and impossible to acquire and the website link does not provide any updated or current wardrobe staple examples this would've been better if it had utilized classic cuts and colors and not 1990s fashions. I'm sure somebody with experience in putting together a wardrobe would find this very useful to rip off her concept and claim it as their own idea, however I think the majority of people purchasing this to implement in their own wardrobe would find it frustrating as I do to not be able to use the concepts outlined in this book due to the fact you cannot purchase any of the fashions in any store.

The Capsule Wardrobe by Wendy Mak is the perfect starting point for building a cohesive wardrobe.
Starting with steps for clearing out your current wardrobe and identifying what's worth keeping, it then guides the reader towards the items that will provide the most versatile wardrobe for the fewest total pieces. This is a guide for all of us whose wardrobe options don't match how we actually live (4 different evening dresses and 1 or fewer occasions to wear them in any given year. Lots of office attire, but my job comes with a uniform! - or is this just me?!)

I found the author's style to be warm and engaging and she certainly seemed aware that not all of us would be comfortable with her first choices (but I might be tempted to give them a try having heard her perspective!) The suggested changes to the mix for different climates/lifestyles are handy too.

Possibly the greatest benefit of this book is that it encourages taking stock of what you have in front of you and mixing it up! The lessons in this book will transfer well to travel scenarios too.

Interesting book, has many pages in the end to show you how to put things together, which I suppose would help the really confused amongst us. Best part of the book is its early pages when the book encourages people to reduce items from their closet they are currently storing and not wearing. Would have been helpful if more time was spent on constructing the wardrobe.

This book was too much. She has PAGES of ways to coordinate outfits and it is FAR too complicated for a normal human being to follow. The beginning chapters were cute and seemed easy to follow but the rest of the book was annoying and difficult to follow. It went to Goodwill.

I expected to see images or illustrations of all of the outfit combinations but instead, there are illustrations of the thirty pieces and several illustrated combinations. The rest are words organized by columns. If you're expecting visual inspiration as I was, look elsewhere.