Establishing a Seasonal Capsule, Part 1

I specifically asked my sister in law to take this last picture. I can’t even tell you how much I love these buttons and I just felt like your life wouldn’t be complete unless I shared them with you.  I got them both in England and they are possibly my most favorite souvenirs of all time.  Here’s the thing.  It takes about two seconds once you have met me in person to realize that I LOVE to read.  I mean (I’m not joking here) I have actually thought about getting a Ph.D. in Literature so that I can have an excuse to read.  Even more than that, Harry Potter and Jane Austen are my absolute favorites.  So… these buttons… I just love them.  Okay.  Nerd moment over.  On a side note, this outfit is just ME.  There is something about it that I think is just so perfect.  I feel phenomenal anytime I put it on.  I think it’s a little bit hipster, but a little bit outdoorsy.  And that’s me (and just about every other Minnesotan… am I right?).

I asked you last week if you would be interested in hearing about how I am planning for my fall capsule.  First, just let me tell you that it’s been really fun! I am going to take a risk though with this capsule because I want to keep experimenting with how my style works in a capsule setting.  I’m not going to tell you yet what that risk is… I want to keep some mystery before I reveal it at the end of the month (I’m so excited!).  I thought I would break my process down into three blog posts.  It’s fairly straight forward, but I don’t want this to be a novel. This may seem so simple, but as soon as all the fall catalogs came I gathered them all together, brewed myself a cup of coffee, handed the babe off to her daddy and went to town.  I circled and marked them the heck up with everything that I loved or wanted.  If I loved the way something was styled, I tried to think of clothing that I already own and wrote that on the catalog as well.  I love Pinterest, but for this step I really liked to have the physical catalog in front of me.  Doing this really helped me to organize my thoughts and to “remember” what I already own; it helped me to figure out what I really needed.  It also helped me to figure out one or two things that I wanted just for fun.  I THEN compared what I came up with to my Pinterest boards to make sure I stayed focused on the aesthetic I’m drawn to.  Shopping can make you forget what you actually like.  I guess that’s what stores are hoping to accomplish in their marketing campaigns right?  Focus is key in a capsule process.  I think I’ll leave it at that for now.  On Friday I will talk a little bit more about how I begin to shop.  How about you guys?  How do you start the process for each new capsule? How early do you start planning? Let me know in the comments below!

Until next time,

Outfit Details:

Top: Old Madewell. Similar

Jeans: Old AE. Similar

Necklace: Old Madewell. Similar

Clutch: Old Anthropologie. Similar

Shoes: Chacos