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Written by Sarah Anne Hayes

A Definitive Guide to Minimalist

Fashion


When you hear the phrase “minimalist fashion,” chances are a few things come
to mind. You probably picture those tightly curated wardrobes you see all over
Pinterest lled with wispy, shapeless-looking pieces in various shades of black,
grey, and taupe, with the occasional color thrown in there for good measure.
Or maybe it’s a general feeling or vibe. e possibility of a few items of clothing
might excite you because getting dressed in the morning would be that much
easier, or it might make you cringe because getting dressed in the morning
would now be super boring.

All of these things represent pieces of a much larger puzzle, but none give the
complete picture of what a minimal approach to fashion looks like.

ose wispy, neutral- lled wardrobes are one aspect of minimalist fashion,
speci cally minimalist fashion as an aesthetic. Similar to minimalism as a décor
style, where you’ll nd nary a tchotchke on the white furniture in the room with
white walls. You can have a maximalist wardrobe, lled with hundreds of
pieces, but have a minimal aesthetic just as easily as you can have a minimalist
wardrobe, lled with a limited number of pieces, but with a maximalist
aesthetic.

A Minimal Approach

A minimal approach to fashion, as opposed to a minimal aesthetic for fashion,

is more about the attitude and thought process behind things than it is about
your color palette (or lack thereof) or the speci c number of items in your
closet.

Having a minimal approach to fashion means that you approach your closet
with intentionality, not aiming for the largest (or smallest) number of things.
Rather, your aim is a wardrobe that ts your lifestyle, and is lled with high-
quality pieces you absolutely love that will, hopefully, last years.

e goal isn’t getting your shoes or dresses down to single digits. e goal isn’t
only having shades of black, grey, cream, and taupe. e goal isn’t to make you
hate your minimalist closet. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

Did you know that the average person only wears 20% of their wardrobe on a
regular basis? at means 80% of those clothing items we simply couldn’t live
without spend the majority of the time on a hanger in the dark, while we reach
for the same well-loved dress or sweater again and again and again.

If you’ve ever looked at your closet and thought, “I have nothing to wear!”, that
probably isn’t the case. Rather, you’re most likely plagued by decision fatigue or
the paradox of choice—the more choices you have to make, the harder it is to
make a decision, and the less con dent you are in the decision you ultimately
make.

But what if that didn’t happen anymore? What if every single day, you opened
your closet and saw only things you absolutely love so that no matter what you
picked, it would make you feel con dent, amazing, and unequivocally you? at
is what a minimal approach to fashion is all about.

Declutter Your Closet

So you want to have that amazing feeling of looking in your closet and only
seeing things you love, but how on earth do you get there? Chances are, looking
at your closet is a little bit overwhelming, but decluttering it and ridding
yourself of all those items you can’t stand or only feel ‘meh’ about is the rst
step to that dream wardrobe.

e Four Piles

We begin by pulling everything (yes, everything) out of your closet and dresser
and putting it on your bed. e reason for this is it forces you to nish the
process of sorting through it all before you can go to sleep—otherwise you’ll
have to push it all on the oor and deal with the aftermath in the morning.

Once you’ve got it all out in one giant pile, you’re going to create four other piles
—“love”, “nope”, “maybe”, and “seasonal”.

1. e “love” pile.
 e “love” pile is for any piece that you adore without a doubt. ese items will
be pretty easy to spot because they’re most likely the ones that you reach for all
the time anyway.

2. e “nope” pile.

e “nope” pile is for any piece that you look at and immediately think, “Ugh,
nope!” ese items are also probably fairly easy to spot because they’re the ones
that you never take out of the closet.

3. e “maybe” pile.

e “maybe” pile is where things start to get a little bit gray. ese are the items
that aren’t solidly in the “love” or “nope” pile for…some reason. Maybe you used
to love it, but it doesn’t t quite as well now as it did when you picked it up two
years ago. Maybe it looks amazing, but the zipper is broken, there’s a tear in the
seam, or the straps need shortening. Maybe you don’t really like it that much,
but it was a gift or you spent a lot of money on it or it reminds you of a certain
time in your life. Whatever the reason, any item you don’t de nitively love or
hate goes here.

4. e “seasonal” pile.

e “seasonal” pile is an optional one, based on where you live. If you live
somewhere with de nitive seasons and di erent wardrobe pieces necessary for
each, it’s for you. What goes in the “seasonal” pile will depend entirely upon the
time of year you go about decluttering your wardrobe. If you’re decluttering in
the spring or summer, then fall/winter pieces like boots, sweaters, and heavy
coats will go into this pile. If you’re decluttering in the fall or winter, then
spring/summer pieces like sandals, tank tops, and swimsuits will go into this
pile. Saving items for their actual season allows you to go through those items
when you’re already wearing them, rather than when you haven’t or won’t wear
them for another 3-6 months.

Once you’ve divided everything into the four piles, place everything from your
“love” pile back into your closet and box up your “seasonal” pile and set it aside.
en the analysis begins.

Once you’ve gone through everything, start with your “love” pile (that’s now
hanging up in your closet again) and “nope” pile and search for similarities and
patterns.

It could be the cut, color, silhouette, or fabric, but chances are, there are some
similarities between the items you absolutely love and the ones you didn’t
hesitate to get rid of. As you look for these similarities, make a note of them on
your phone or a notepad. You’ll be coming back to them later.

Next, go back to that “maybe” pile. Just like with the love and “nope” pile, look
for some of those similarities or patterns. Do you have a few shirts with a cut
you love, but the fabric is a little itchy or the color isn’t your favorite? Maybe you
have a few dresses that would all look amazing, but the straps are too long.
Whatever gives you insight into creating that dream closet, write it down.

Now it’s time to make some decisions.

Starting with your “nope” pile, decide whether you’re going to sell, donate, or
trash those items. If they’re still in good shape but just not for you, they’re
probably great candidates for selling through local yard sale groups or online
sites like redUp, or for donating to a local homeless shelter or thrift store. If
they’re not in good enough condition to do either of those things, consider
 nding ways to reuse them—like turning old t-shirts into cleaning rags—and if
you do actually dispose of them, look for a textile recycling facility in your area
rather than dumping them in the trash.

With your “maybe” pile, look at your list of notes again. If you have items that
would be perfect if you took them to the tailor, do that. If you have items that
would be perfect if they were made of a di erent fabric, make a note of what
you love and don’t love about it for future reference and set it aside for selling,
donation, or recycling.

If your “love” pile is looking a little sparse, supplement it with your favorite
items from the “maybe” pile, then box everything else up and store it along with
the seasonal items. Pick a designated amount of time, like three months, and
when the time has passed, pull out the box again. If you haven’t missed or
wanted any of the pieces in the box, sell or donate it all.

Now that you’ve boxed up and stored your seasonal and maybe items and
handled your “nope” items accordingly by selling, donating, or recycling them,
it’s time to take a breather.

Shifting to a minimal, intentional approach to slow fashion is a big change, so

give yourself some time to get used to having a smaller wardrobe. If you
struggled to identify commonalities between your favorites, use this time to do
so. As you spend more time with your minimized wardrobe, you’ll become even
more aware of the things you love and the things you wish were in your closet.

De ne Your Style

Once you’ve nished decluttering your closet, it’s time to de ne your style.
 e distinction between your style and your closet is similar to the distinction
between decluttering and minimalism. Your style is the expression of your
personality through your clothing choices and other elements like makeup and
accessories. Your wardrobe is the actual pieces of clothing that help make up
that style.

You’ll always have a wardrobe, but chances are, if you don’t take the time to
de ne your style, a few months or years from now it’ll be just as cluttered as it
was before you began this journey.

1. Get visual with your clothing.

One of the best ways to start guring out your personal style is by making it
visual. Create a Pinterest board or a designated le on your desktop and pin or
save to that anything you nd that represents great style to you.

e board can include everything from full out ts to hairstyles, makeup or

jewelry choices, editorial shoots that give o a speci c vibe, and even color
palettes.

2. Identify patterns with your wardrobe..

Just like you did with the piles in your wardrobe, once you’ve created a visual
representation of great style according to you, start analyzing it and identifying
those patterns again.

Make note of the colors or patterns you’re drawn to. Which silhouettes, styling
choices, out t formulas, or accessories show up over and over again? Take note
of everything from the obvious like colors and patterns to the subtle, like the
way an item drapes, the type of fabric, or a quirky element that makes an out t
pop.

Once you’ve done this, compare it to that list you made during the decluttering
phase. is will help you begin identifying the gaps between how your
wardrobe currently re ects your style and how you want it to change in the
future.

3. Experiment with your minimalist fashion.

is is where things can get really fun, because it’s all about experimentation.

Start playing around with some of those silhouettes, pops of color, or styling
techniques you kept pinning to your style board. It’ll push you outside your
comfort zone, make you think outside the box, and help you gure out what
you like in reality and what you like in theory.

You may love how a certain color or silhouette looks in photos, but aren’t quite
as pleased with how it looks on you. Or maybe it’s a pair of shoes or a styling
technique that do look really amazing, but they’re too high maintenance for you
to deal with on a day-to-day basis.

4. Use color palettes.

Part of your experimentation will deal with colors and nding a color palette
that works for you. ere are three major approaches to color in a minimal
wardrobe.

You can go primarily with neutrals and the occasional pop of color, which
makes versatility super simple. You can go with a very de ned palette of
neutrals, mains, and accent colors. is takes a bit more work on the front end
to choose a palette that works for you, but the result can be a colorful but still
versatile wardrobe. A third option is to focus your colors in items that will
never be worn together so it doesn’t matter if they coordinate or clash. is is a
great approach if the thought of sticking with all neutrals or even one
coordinated color palette doesn’t appeal to you.

Tips for Future Curation

After you’ve decluttered and started identifying and developing your style, you
now step back into the world of shopping, but with a di erent and more
intentional mindset.

Shopping for the rst time after simplifying your wardrobe and de ning your
style can feel a little overwhelming, and with good reason, but there are a few
techniques that will help make it less so.

1. Set rules before you buy.

Rules may sound like a pain, but they can be a lifesaver when you’re agonizing
over a potential purchase and do wonders for reducing—and ultimately
eliminating—purchases you later regret.

Start by deciding what your non-negotiables are—those few things that an item
has to have in order for it to go in your wardrobe. ey don’t have to be super
speci c, but de ned enough that it will help you during that critical moment of,
“Should I really buy this?”
Your rules could have to do with an item’s quality, versatility, shape, color,
comfort, fabric type, or how they make you feel, and you can have non-
negotiable rules and ideal rules, so long as they help keep your wardrobe
limited to pieces you love.

2. Embrace out t formulas.

If reducing decision fatigue was one of your primary reasons for minimizing
your wardrobe, the out t formula will probably be your best friend.

Practiced in its extreme by people like Mark Zuckerberg, who are literally
wearing the same clothes every day, an out t formula works much like a
formula in math—you set the parameters and plug in the speci c numbers, or
in this case clothing items, from day to day.

A formula could be as general as jeans, a shirt, sweater, and shoes or as de ned

as a ared skirt, tted button down, statement necklace, and ballet ats.
Chances are, you have a couple of subconscious out t formulas already, but if
no ideas immediately come to mind, go back to that visualization board and
see what kinds of out ts pop up again and again.

3. Develop a wish list.

Hands down the best way to ght against overwhelm when you’re shopping is
by developing a wish list. is means you go in with a speci c plan for what you
want, which makes nding items that will seamlessly integrate into your
wardrobe that much easier.

Just like with the out t formulas, a wish list can be general, like a structured
pair of jeans, or super speci c, like a striped 3/4 sleeve peplum top. Make it
speci c enough that it’ll help with those inevitable, “Well, maybe” decisions, but
not so speci c that you nothing matches the picture in your head.

Capsules v. Year-Round Wardrobes

Even if you’ve only done a small amount of research about minimalist fashion,
chances are you’ve at least heard about the capsule wardrobe. In some respects,
a capsule wardrobe appears to be almost the exact same as any minimal
wardrobe—a limited number of more versatile pieces you absolutely love—but
there are some distinct di erences.

Every minimal wardrobe is not a capsule wardrobe and you don’t have to create
a capsule wardrobe to have a minimal wardrobe.

ere are a couple of di erent ways to approach the number and type of items
that go in your capsule, but the general premise is the same—choose a set
number of versatile, high-quality items you absolutely love for a season. When
that season comes to a close, repeat the process and choose the same number
of versatile, high-quality pieces that work for the upcoming season.

Many people start their minimal fashion journey with a capsule wardrobe
because it puts speci c parameters around how many items they can have and
a time limit on it. e limits force you to really think about the items you love,
and more seriously consider their quality and versatility than you might have in
the past, and even if you start getting bored with certain items as the capsule
season nears its end, you can look forward to pulling out fresh items from
storage at the end of it.
Capsules also work well for people who have more than one type of wardrobe
necessary for their life. You may have a work wardrobe appropriate for
corporate America that is quite di erent from a wardrobe for evenings and
weekends, so creating a capsule for one or both of those wardrobes can help
keep the number of items from getting out of hand.

One major downside of the capsule is you put all o -season clothing out of
sight in something like a separate closet or underbed storage. is works well if
you live in an area where the weather is consistent each season, but if you live
somewhere with an unpredictable climate and you can experience major
temperature swings no matter what time of year, the capsule can be di cult.

In those situations, or simply due to personal preference, a year-round, but still

minimized wardrobe often works better. You can apply the same principles of a
capsule—only high-quality, versatile clothing you love—and even decide to
limit yourself to a speci c number, but rather than rotating pieces out each
season, everything stays in your closet no matter what the season.

e double-edged sword of this is that you have access to all your clothing all
the time. On the one hand, it means you’re always prepared for unpredictable
weather and can creatively style o -season clothing to mix things up. On the
other hand, it has the potential to cause a bit of boredom when you’re looking
at the same limited number of items all the time.

Both approaches have their pros and cons, but if the result of both is a
wardrobe you love, the speci c path doesn’t really make too much of a
di erence.

Minimalist Fashion Experiments

When you’re rst getting started with a minimal wardrobe, experimenting can
be one of the best ways to get a feel for what you love and don’t love and how
you want to move forward curating a wardrobe and de ning your style.

You can come up with your own experiments as they pertain to whatever part
of your wardrobe and style you’re trying to gure out or join in on an
experiment designed by someone else.

1. Project 333

Started by Courtney Carver of Be More With Less, Project 333 is quite possibly
the most well-known minimal wardrobe experiment and challenge. It’s a
capsule wardrobe and a minimal wardrobe experiment rolled into one, which
can make it a great starting place for guring out what does and doesn’t work
for you in a more minimal wardrobe.

e way the project works is by choosing 33 items to wear—including clothing,

accessories, jewelry, outerwear, and shoes—for three months. Since accessories
and jewelry are included, it’s a bit more strict than most other approaches to
the capsule wardrobe, but can be a great reset for those who are new to a
minimal wardrobe and veterans alike!

2. 10×10 Style Challenge

If you’re looking for an experiment that takes a bit less time than something like
Project 333, the 10×10 Challenge might be the perfect thing for you.

Created by Lee Vosburg of Style Bee, the 10×10 Challenge takes place once a
season. You choose 10 items—including clothing, shoes, and outerwear—and
attempt to create 10 unique out ts worn over 10 di erent days.
It’s a micro-capsule wardrobe experiment of sorts that can be a wonderful way
to get you thinking outside the box and prove just how much you can do with a
small amount of clothing.

Quality v. Quantity

When you begin talking about reducing your wardrobe and shifting from ve
pairs of sandals to one or 10 shirts to three, the question that inevitably comes
up is, “How will my clothing last?”

is comes from a generation accustomed to $8 t-shirts from Target that wear

out in a season or two, even if they’re worn in rotation with 30 other items. As a
result, you think that if you’re wearing (and presumably washing) an item more
often, you’ll wear through it faster.

e answer to the problem, of course, is to shift your buying habits to purchase

items of higher quality. In short, focus on quality over quantity and buy less so
you can buy better.

Does price really matter?

In a capitalist culture, we are taught to associate a higher price with higher

value. us it’s reasonable to assume that a $30 shirt is of a higher quality than
an $8 shirt. But is that really true? Does price really matter? e answer is both
yes and no.

Generally, yes, an item that costs more is going to be of a higher quality, and
there are other arguments to be made for purchasing expensive clothing, but
that isn’t always the case. I’ve had a $15 dress last almost a decade and a $250
purse start to fall apart after only four months. Price often indicates a higher
quality, but it’s not the only determining factor.

Brand recognition can often be the di erence between an expensive shirt and a
cheap one, even if the shirts were made from the same fabric in the same
factory.

What makes something “good quality”?

is of course begs the question what makes something, speci cally clothing, of
good quality?

Unfortunately, we as a culture have shifted almost completely away from an

awareness of how to make our own clothes and thus what makes a garment
well-made or not. ough it’s likely obvious, it’s important to note that a brand
name and the price tag that goes along with it do not necessarily denote quality.
In fact, they can sometimes represent the opposite.

High quality items are determined by the weave of the fabric, which a ects how
it bears up under multiple washes, or the stitching and seams, which indicate
how well the garment was constructed and how long those seams will hold up
after years of use. Whether or not an item is lined, how well the patterns line
up, and the presence (or lack thereof) of loose threads can all be indicators of
the time and care that went into constructing a garment.

In order to learn how to better recognize high quality garments, consider

stopping by a store known for its quality or visiting a tailor and asking
questions. ey will likely love the fact that you are interested in being able to
better recognize a quality garment when you see it.
Ethical and Fair-Trade Fashion

If the numbers in our closets don’t show it, the numbers in our land lls
certainly do. Over the last several years, clothing has shifted from being
something you invest in and hold onto for as long as possible to being
something as cheap and disposable as the food we buy.

We no longer have four fashion seasons a year, but closer to 52. New items
come into stores all the time and we’re encourage to buy, buy, buy. So we do and
then do the same next week, when new items show up on the racks, and the
result is closets over owing with poor quality items we feel mediocre about and
15 million tons of textile waste being produced in the US each year, 85% of
which sit in land lls.

Fast fashion has shifted the way we buy and think about clothing, but at what
cost? It takes 2,700 liters of water to make enough cotton to make one shirt
using traditional means and the chemicals used in harvesting that cotton seep
into the soil and eventually render it useless. Beyond the environmental impact,
countless big name brands utilize sweatshops in the production of their
clothing, paying little or no attention to local labor laws and safety regulations.

While price isn’t always a good indication of the quality of a garment, it is

almost always an indication of the ethics and sustainability of it. It’s nearly
impossible for a shirt that cost you only $7.99 to have been made from
sustainable materials in an environmentally friendly way in safe working
conditions by a person who is being paid a living wage.

Fortunately, in the same way that the tide of consumerism is changing in the
culture at large, the tide is starting to change in the fashion industry and there
are many wonderful companies out there ghting for higher quality garments
made from sustainable materials, in environmentally conscious ways, under
ethical and safe working conditions.

Much like minimizing your wardrobe requires a shift in how much clothing you
buy, taking ethics and sustainability into account requires a shift in what you
buy and where you buy it from.

In addition to its implications for the environment and ethical practices

surrounding the production of garments, one of the major bene ts to
purchasing ethical, sustainable, and fair trade clothing is that it is almost always
of a higher quality. is means garments last longer, and when they do show
signs of wear, companies encourage you to repair the item if possible, rather
than replacing it.

Some, like Patagonia, allow you to recycle in store and provide guides for
repairing and caring for other items. e Patagonia Fair Trade Clothing
movement is de nitely setting bar high for outdoor clothing manufacturers.

Now, there is a distinction between ethical and fair trade clothing. Fair trade
fashion, which must be certi ed by Fair Trade USA, speci cally focuses on the
compensation for workers and farmers associated with its production, while
ethical fashion aims to reduce the negative impact on the environment and the
places the clothing comes from.

Finding fair trade and ethical companies is not always easy, which can be a
deterrent in shifting your buying habits, but companies like Good On You and
Buy Me Once are making it easier, and the positive impact a little bit of extra
time researching can have on the environment and individuals you may never
meet is astounding and absolutely worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions

Here are a few questions you might have when it comes to minimalist fashion:

1. How do I handle accessories and jewelry?

Depending on your personality, accessories may be a super easy part of your

wardrobe or the part you dread most. However the thought of minimizing it
makes you feel, the process is quite similar to handling your main wardrobe—
take an honest look at all you have, from jewelry to purses or scarves, and
divide it up into things you love, things you feel meh about, and things you
know you need to get rid of.

If you’re still guring out your style, it can be helpful to wait on this a bit until
you have a better handle on what kinds of things pair well with your new
minimized wardrobe.

2. How do I minimize the rest of my closet?

Miscellaneous items like workout attire, undergarments, and formalwear are

rarely, if ever, included in a capsule wardrobe, which can make it hard to gure
out exactly how to approach them, but similar to the accessories, the process is
exactly the same as minimizing your main wardrobe.

For some of the miscellaneous items, even if you have a year-round wardrobe
for everything else, a capsule is often a great way to approach it, because they’re
all used for a speci c purpose.

If you work out ve times a week, you may have a capsule of ve complete
workout out ts. For something like formalwear, you may have one dress or
out t for di erent kinds of events like one black-tie gown, one little black
cocktail dress, one summery cocktail dress, and one holiday dress. And just like
the rest of your wardrobe, there don’t have to be hard and fast rules—it’s about
what works for you and your life.

3. What about travel and packing?

One of the questions that comes up the most is how do you nd good quality
clothing for traveling. It’s simple—just ll your closet with good quality clothing
in the rst place. at way, when it comes time to pack your bags for a new
adventure, you don’t have to worry about whether or not your boots or shirt or
coat will last through the excursion.

One consideration for travel that doesn’t necessarily apply to the rest of your
wardrobe is how well the fabric does while it’s packed away. After all, a high
quality piece that wrinkles after it’s been folded up doesn’t do you much good
on the road.

If you travel often, that’s something to take into consideration when you’re
purchasing clothing for your main wardrobe. ink about not just the quality of
the item but how it would do while traveling and whether or not you want to
deal with the hassle of getting it wearable again after a six-hour ight.

When it comes to packing, again, the same principles that apply to your main
wardrobe apply to a travel wardrobe—the more versatile the pieces you own,
the fewer you have to bring with you.

Conclusion
 ere are countless facets to the world of minimal fashion, but the most
important thing to remember is this—there is no one way to do it. Minimalist
fashion, just like the rest of a minimalist life, is about what works for you.
Period.

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