The day after Thanksgiving marked the end of my fall capsule wardrobe: three months of wearing the same 39 purposefully chosen pieces. I’m excited to share a full reflection on the process today! (If you’re new to Something Pretty, you can read about why I decided to do a fall capsule wardrobe here, see the pieces I included here, and find two outfit round-ups here and here.) This post is long, so I split it into a few capsule wardrobe FAQs. Of course, if there’s anything I missed that you’re wondering about, let me know in the comments!

What did you like most about it?
1. Honestly, I think I was the perfect candidate for a capsule wardrobe. I know my style pretty well, and am definitely the type of person who would go to my closet every day, spend ten minutes looking around, and then end up in one of my favorite pieces anyway. For the most part, having a capsule wardrobe meant that I was dressing the same way, but cutting out those ten wasted minutes. Being honest with myself about what I wear was key to this, and adding just a few new pieces to the mix made my favorite wardrobe staples feel a little more fresh and interesting.
2. This process was really helpful for not shopping. Over the past three months, the only clothing I bought was one shirt for Bridal Market, which was one of my pre-planned exceptions to my capsule wardrobe anyway. Even though I still clicked around on my favorite stores’ websites from time to time, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to wear any new pieces for a few months definitely kept me from purchasing anything. I’m not naturally an “impulse buyer” to begin with, but having some set times for shopping in place (right before my capsule wardrobe started, and right after it ended—Black Friday!) helped me curb any of those impulses even more.
3. One of my favorite parts of wearing a capsule wardrobe was that I challenged myself to play around a little more with layering, accessories, hair styles, and different makeup looks. As much as I’ve always loved all of the above, I felt like I was in a bit of a style rut this summer, so I loved the excuse to get a little more creative.

What didn’t you like?
1. There were a few times when I simply didn’t have the right outfits for some specific occasions—in particular, in my opinion, the state fair and a late fall football game. While part of that was due to the temperatures dropping, I do admit that another big part of it brings me to my next point…
2. I HAD to keep on top of laundry and dry cleaning, which is not my strongest suit. The only times I was really tempted to pull something out of the back of my closet was when I left myself with only two or three shirts, none of which fit the occasion or weather I was facing that day! Totally my fault, but worth mentioning nonetheless.

What did you wear the most?
My white lace-edged tank (often layered with one of my cardigans), gray v-neck, field jacket, skinny jeans, printed shirtdress (I don’t know how I went so long without a great shirtdress! Mine is from the summer, but I love this one, this one, and this one, which are all also from Loft so I imagine they’d fit similarly to mine), plaid smoking slippers (one of my new wardrobe favorites–they make any outfit more fun!), and black bow flats

What did you wear the least?
White oxford (I tried, but I can’t shake the feeling of being in a high school choir concert when I wear it!), olive pants, printed silk blouse (one of my new pieces, but ended up being a little too summery for the season), white dress (ditto!), cheetah print flats (mine are really old, and never felt polished—I think it’s time to get rid of them.)

Are you going to do another capsule wardrobe?
Yes! The positives far outweighed the negatives in my mind, and I’m excited to try another season. I decided to take December off due to holiday events and the fact that I’ll be spending half the month in upstate NY (not my usual climate :)), but will be doing my next capsule from January-March.

I also want to mention, I would LOVE to do a better job sharing outfits and styling ideas with y’all during my next round. If there are any Raleigh-area photographers out there who might want to team up with me to make this happen, shoot me an email! :)