How to Assemble A Capsule Wardrobe for Travel

From Someone Who Has Been a Fashion Influencer for 5 Days!

Ok, in case you aren’t sick of hearing about it, we recently did the podcast in Toronno! And then I went directly to Minneapolis, Minnesota to hang out with my friend Emily and swing by Prince’s House (Paisley Park), before driving up to Duluth for the Catalyst Content Festival, where I did virtual Qs&As with David Letterman and Tina Fey before receiving a surprise career achievement award at the end-of-festival gala and having to accept it while I was on an edible!

Why is this important? It really isn’t. But, I was gone for 10 days and had to pack for 10 days, and I really don’t like to check my luggage if I can help it, because you know what’s harder than finding cute outfits in size 16 or above? Finding cute outfits in size 16 or above in a country or city where you don’t know where the fudge you would even find that. Plus, you’re in a rush because your trip is planned to the minute, including when you might possibly have time to poop if the need arises. I have sweat rolling down my back into my buttcrack just imagining it. I rebuke checking luggage and my reasons are valid!

So, how did I pack enough for 10 days with just my Béis rolling carryon & weekender bag? I assembled a capsule wardrobe for my trip! If you’ve ever read a fashion magazine or looked at an instagram ad, you probably already know what a capsule wardrobe is. It is, simply put, a handful of pieces that can work together to create several looks. But I feel like in those contexts I just mentioned, we’re often being convinced we need to BUY a new capsule wardrobe that’s just come out, and that somehow, it will transform us into a bunch of real put together bitches who constantly look effortlessly chic. Welp, that’s not exactly true. But neither is it true that you need to buy a bunch of new shit to look like real cute.

Now, you’re gonna kill me for what I’m about to suggest, and yet, suggest it I will. Consider arranging your closet and dresser or whatever clothing storage method you are currently using BY COLOR. Some people organize by season, or by item type. I maintain that you can do either of those and ADD further categorization by color and this will make putting outfits together at ANY TIME one thousand percent easier. If you don’t organize your closet by season, item or color, or by any logic at all, well, I don’t even know what to say to you right now. No, that’s not true. I *do* know what to say. I want to say that this must be very frustrating and looking for something you know you bought last year but you can never find over and over must be exhausting, so it is no surprise if you keep reaching for the same pair of jeans and grey hoodie every day even though you don’t love wearing them all the time. Organization, I find, brings me some internal peace and calm. It’s never perfect and my systems are always evolving, but there is nothing like knowing exactly where something is and being able to put your hands on it instantly when you want it.

NOT MY CLOSET! I took pics of mine, but because of the sliding doors, they don’t show the concept that well? This gives you a better idea so I stole it!

So, my closet is organized chiefly by color, in rainbow order plus a black/grey/white/brown section, and then within each color’s section, additionally organized by season/garment weight, with lighter things on the left, heavier on the right. Jackets and tops hang on the top rail, and dresses and bottoms go on the bottom rail. Things that can fold are also categorized by color and go on shelves in my closet. Shoes are on the floor in my closets, also arranged by color. TBH, sometimes a little messily! But everything does have a home, even if it’s not exactly hung neatly on the hook it’s supposed to be on or folded perfectly. It’s a living system and I still know pretty much where things are without tearing up the whole room.

Now, I’m super lucky, because the spare bedroom in my house also happens to be my office and I get all three closets in there, so it’s also my dressing room. However, the closets are from 1954 when neither houses, nor wardrobes nor people were very large. But since the word “season” in Los Angeles mostly means 8 episodes of a TV show and has nothing to do with weather, I can pretty much fit everything I currently own in there. But it’s tiiiiight. So, next time I get something new, I’m going to have to have a hard talk with myself about what needs to go to a new home with the help of Poshmark. And then I’m going to have to have another hard talk with myself about how even though it’s a pain in the ass to take pics and post them on Poshmark, that is no excuse to shove those items in a big box in the middle of my office that I then have to walk around, pretending it is not there for the next several months, like I currently have been doing. I SAID IT’S A LIVING SYSTEM!

If you’re dealing with even less clothing storage space than I have, that’s okay! You can definitely stash all your cold weather clothes away during warmer months and then switch everything over in the fall. The only thing is, you have to actually do it. You have to. You cannot be walking around in December wearing a tissue-thin tank top looking like you’re smuggling raisins in your bra because you didn’t switch your closet over when the leaves started to turn. I won’t have that for you. So just do it. On September 1st, put “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” on your laptop to watch while you work and try to crank it all out so that you’re done by the time Sally is ripping Linus a new one for making her miss tricks or treats. That dick.

Ok, now that I have thoroughly convinced you to organize your closet by color, it’s going to be SO SUPER EASY to coordinate a capsule collection for a trip or for any other reason you might want to do it! It might even be fun to experiment with weekly capsule wardrobes you could pull on Sunday night so that you don’t even have to think about choosing outfits in the morning for the rest of the week. The possibilities are endless! Ok, they’re not. There’s only, like, two possibilities. But the possibilities for outfits will be a lot greater, I swear.

How *I* start is, I pick one item I know I’m really going to want to wear on this trip. For me, I was thinking about what I wanted to wear onstage in Toronto and it was a sweater and wide legged pants set that Gabi Fresh designed for Fashion To Figure last year. It’s in this glorious raspberry color that I thought would look good from far away and in pics, plus it is comfortable and, as I bragged about on the pod, I’d recently taught myself to hem the pants so they better fit my babylegs. So, big deal, right? That’s only one outfit! But, that raspberry/hot pink also instantly became the star of my “color story” for this capsule wardrobe. And the next step was to take a look at everything else in that color’s section and see if there were any other items that would make sense to bring that were also in that same color family.

My photos are terrible, especially for a fashion influencer?

I skipped the hot pink vinyl pencil skirt and my fave ModCloth dress with the Zodiac print in mostly hot pink, because neither would be warm enough. But I did grab the hot pink crushed velvet pants and matching fuzzy hot pink fair isle sweater with the navy and mustard pattern I bought from Target last year. Minnie Driver has worn this exact sweater on Instagram and I hope she also purchased it for $12 on sale, because it is cute and I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth in compliments and coziness already. I also grabbed a raspberry tee I purchased to wear under the Gabi sweater, because that is cropped and I just am not the kind of girl to let a slice of my belly peek out. Plus, it never hurts to have layering options that don’t take up too much space in your bag.

Ok, at this point, when I’m still standing in front of the section that is the star color of my color story, I look at the colors to the left or right of it. To the left of hot pink/raspberry in my closet is bubblegum pink, which could work well with the stuff I’d pulled. This is basically an “analogous color palette” where you wear two colors that are right next to each other on the color wheel. Colors next to each other on the color wheel are harmonious and complementary and I love looks that employ those strategies! But, this time I eschewed the bubblegum pink J. Crew suit, even though it’s very fetch, and I also passed over the red Eloquii suit on the other side of my hot pink section, which could have also worked (I LOVE RED AND PINK TOGETHER!!!), because I already had another thought in mind, which brings us to my next step in creating a good capsule wardrobe!

The next step, for me, is to scan the other sections of my closet, looking for other items that have a different anchor color, but that might contain a bit of my star color. In this case, I passed over a hot pink/black/brown/white blouse, because I knew I’d be grabbing a Navy Eloquii suit from a few years back with a gorge cherry blossom pattern all over it. Or maybe it’s geraniums? Anyway, whatever flower it is, it’s in…hot pink, baby! So now, I have essentially 7 pieces that make 3 outfits, but that could all be mixed and matched to make, like, 6 other outfits if I wanted them to? Also, what I now have is the second color in my color story. Navy. Navy is a neutral, yes, but it’s also really chic, I think. Everyone’s instinct is always to grab black, and I get it. I do. Black is almost foolproof. But navy can do a lot of the same heavy lifting as black, while also looking very fresh and less expected. And in this case, my own clothes are telling me my beloved raspberry/hot pink and navy combo works well together because they are already paired on clothes I know I love! Navy with hot pink cherry blossoms, and that hot pink fuzzy fair isle sweater from Target and Minnie Driver’s Instagram also has navy in it! So, now it’s time to take a look at my navy closet section and see what else I’ve got in there that could make the trip. I think briefly about grabbing some jeans, but I skip them only because I think I own many things that are just as comfortable, but look more polished and I’d like to look pretty polished as opposed to casual at basically every moment on this trip. What I DO grab is a pair of pull on navy tapered pants with sparkly sequin stripes down the side from the Joan Rivers Collection on QVC AND I get out this navy trench dress I also got from QVC, from the Girl With Curves line. Here’s why I’m a genius for this. Yes, it’s a dress and a really cute one. But, unbutton it and it’s also basically a trench coat, and it’s made from stretchy crepe and will be so comfortable no matter what I layer beneath it, even sweaters on the bulky side. Plus, it’s not gonna wrinkle. So, I have a dress that’s also a coat, plus another pair of pants that goes with everything else I’ve pulled, bringing me to somewhere around 16-20 possible outfits in 9 pieces.

I’ve got plenty at this point to make it through the 10 days, but I have a bit of room to add a few other items, so I grab a pretty lacy high neck pure white top that works with everything and a white button down shirt that also works with everything. I grab two jersey camis in navy and white. I got them so long ago at Forever21. They cost negative dollars, I think. I know, fast fashion. Guilty. But I have worn the absolute hell out of them. My point is, if you don’t have tanks/camis in your most frequently worn neutrals and favorite colors, consider it. They’re great for layering and will cover up an insanely patterned bra that would otherwise show under a light shirt, which is a shockingly frequent problem for me! (Also, even though I feel so guilty about the Forever21 tanks, they come in long lengths, so they stay tucked into everything, and they are v-neck-ish, but sometimes I turn them around if I’m looking for a straight neckline. They are v v versatile.) Now I’m up to…what? Somewhere around 30 possible outfit combinations!

So, now I’m ready for my penultimate steps. Accessories and shoes. You know from this very Substack that I’ve recently committed to wearing cute, colorful berets even if it means I have to stretch them over a plate to fit my big pumpkin head. I grab a, yes, raspberry beret, and a mustard colored one, because mustard is also in that one sweater, so I know it works! (Also, if I spill mustard on that sweater, maybe nobody will notice? BONUS!) Because I’m going to a cool place, I also grab this big hot pink cashmere scarf that I love so much and not just because I got it for free in a swag bag once. This scarf is very important to me and I love to travel with it because it’s big enough to use as a wrap on the plane or you can wad it up into a pillow? But it’s also light and not bulky. It’s basically the perfect item and I will die if anything bad ever happens to it. DIE I TELL YOU!

If anything is gonna throw me into a tizzy during this process, it’s shoe choice. But, I don’t have hot pink shoes, so I check out what I have in the navy section. I have t-strap pumps, loafers and glitter sneakers. I’m not wearing the t-straps, because heels. The sparkly sneakers are cute, but I remember I’m trying to be sophisticated, so I go with the navy loafers. I also grab a pair of cheap white platform sneakers I recently purchased because Trinny London’s Facebook videos convinced me they look super cool with anything. I think she’s probably right. I would have loved to bring a pair of knee high brown riding boots I wear throughout fall, but while I think they could work with some stuff, they wouldn’t work with enough things to make them worth packing. Plus, because of their size, I’d probably have to wear them to the airport and even though they’re pretty comfortable, I’m not hauling ass through LAX in a hundred degrees with my knee pits sweating because I’m in boots I’m going to have to get a stranger to help me pull off once I get to security, y’know?

Because my Béis weekender is going to be my personal plane item and it’s pretty roomy, even after zipping my shoes in the bottom, I still have space to bring not one, but two purses with me. I choose my fave satin Balenciaga from a few years back because, even though she is technically a summer bag, the floral print has all the hot pinks and golds, and I think it works! I don’t have a navy bag, but instead I go for this Pinko bag that I love. It’s neon lemon yellow and while it might not go with the Target sweater, it does look pretty excellent with everything else I’ve packed, and it’s small, so it’s worth including for days when I don’t need to carry a ton of crap. (How would one know for sure that this yellow purse goes with what has been packed? Well, you could just go with your gut. If you love it, you love it! That’s what matters. But, you could also technically confirm you are on the right track by using ye olde color wheel. That yellow is a “split complement” for all my navy, and it’s a “triadic contrast” for my hot pink. I know you didn’t sign up for a class in color theory, here, but I love it and use it all the time for dressing, home decor and set suggestions when I’m working on a show. If you want to explore further, there are many neato color wheel apps you can download, or you can get a spinny cardboard one like your high school art teacher probably had. That’s what your girl here uses!) The chain strap on the Pinko purse is gold and that’s my preferred jewelry metal, not that you can’t mix and match if you want. I pack my favorite gold hoops, necklaces and ring by ReadyMade jewelry in a little velvet pouch.

What’s left? Unmentionables. Let’s mention them. I pack hot pink, navy and nude bras, plus their matching skivvies. I have enough pairs of pink and nude panties to round out the remainder of the days. The other thing I’m not doing besides checking bags is laundry. Not even gonna rinse out one pair of drawers in the sink. If some misfortune befalls me, I’ll just go commando. I’m not planning to wear a lot of socks, but I toss in a few pairs in case I really need them. One pair is white/hot pink/navy from Happy Socks and further confirmation that my palette choice is solid!

The very last thing I do is toss in a navy bamboo nightgown I bought on Amazon. (I KNOW! THE GUILT! AGAIN!) I choose this for a few reasons. It’s comfy to sleep in, yes, and that is the plan. But it can also be used as a slip under that trench dress if I wear it on a chilly evening. And, it’s nice enough to be worn AS a casual dress under a jacket, sweater, or blouse, should the need for 5 additional outfits somehow arise! For real, if my plane went down and I got stranded on a mostly deserted island where I immediately interviewed for an office job, I could have easily worked for almost two months without repeating an outfit! And for those of you who are like, “You’d really wear a nightgown for a dress?” Yes, I would. I regularly wear pajama separates for clothes if they are fun looking and I also once wore my silk bias cut slip to the Emmy Awards because I decided at the last minute it was actually prettier than the gown it was meant to be worn under. And I sat next to Ed Asner and we talked about the size of celebrities’ heads and he didn’t once say, “Hey, by the way…are you just wearing your underwear right now?” So, I guess you could say I’ve got spunk? (Old people will get this.)

If I was able to pack one more item, I probably would have brought a denim jacket, because even though I was going for a polished vibe, I think a crisp denim jacket would have looked fantastic with any of the combos I could have come up with and would have been perfect for a casual moment. And I absolutely could have made space for one if I’d chosen to wear one of the very comfy outfits I’d packed as my plane wear. But I opted for some nutty colorful pull-on pants I’d also gotten from QVC, with my aqua Hokas and a white Prince tee with multicolored graphics, because it would be insulting to for me to go to Minneapolis without one! The pants had hot pink too and worked with lots of the aforementioned items, but honestly the most important thing about them is that they were soft and easy to throw on in the event that the hotels I was staying in did that infuriating thing where they make you go to the lobby to get coffee in the morning. (Why, hotels? Why do you make people who are just checking into your establishment have to look at me, in my pull on-pants, with no bra and a post-it stuck in my hair because I fell asleep in bed working the night before? All because you can’t put a Keurig and some pods in my room? What do we think this does for your image? I’m never gonna see those people again, but you might not either, y’know?)

That’s pretty much it. If you made it this far, thank you! If you skipped to the end, I guess the bullet points are 1) organize your closets by color 2) pick a hero color, plus a complementary color & a nice neutral for the color story of your capsule wardrobe 3) don’t sleep on QVC, they have some great stuff and 4) all hotels should have in-room coffee for fuck’s sake.

Thank you for hanging out with me here on Substack. As someone who has been a fashion influencer for 5 days, I can’t tell you how rewarding it is for me to be able to share my experience and I cannot wait to find out what the next 5 days of my fashion influencing career will bring!

For fun, I’ll put some other hero/complementary/neutral combos I could create a capsule out of in the comments! You can too!