STEP 1 – Purge + Pile
STEP 2 – Nerd Alert List Time
STEP 3 – Fashion Show
STEP 4 – How Pinteresting
STEP 5 – Pull It Together, Girl!

We are over halfway done creating our capsule wardrobes together, buddies!! In case you are just now jumping in on the capsule journey with us, the first step of the series is [HERE], and step two is [HERE]…both super easy, so it’s not too late to join up with us or go at your own pace!

Okay ladies (and gents…maybe…?), it’s time to get our inner Gisele on and STRIKE A POSE!  It’s fashion show time!  Bust out the mirror, pour yourself a glass of something yummy, turn on your best cat walk jams, and let’s have some fun with step three!

Alright.  We’ve purged our closets, we’ve sorted items into piles, we’ve filled out the easy capsule wardrobe planner, and now we are ready to get our hands on our final contenders for the spring capsule wardrobe!

This step is pretty vital for a couple of reasons.  First, if you’re like me, you might have changed sizes a few times over the course of the last few years for whatever reason (pregnancy, weight gain, nursing, weight loss, etc).  Sometimes a new season rolls back around, but we might not even remember what fits us anymore!  That’s why it’s pretty helpful to do a little mini fashion show and check in on what still fits.  (Note: we are not dressing for the size we HOPE to be someday…maybe…once I hit the gym…and give up desserts for life…maybe…😬😂).  We are capsuling for the body we have now, but, if things might change soon, store a few goodies so you won’t be naked if something does.  This will declutter your closet during the transition, plus you’ll be able to zone in on what fits NOW.

Now listen here.  I know it isn’t always the MOST FUN THING EVER to try and squish back into the jeans of yesteryear, trust me.  Four babies plus nursing for about seven years straight has morphed my body into all kinds of shapes and, um, textures (?) that baffle to this day, BUT!  If we don’t try it on, how will we know?  No one needs to actually SEE us slithering and scrunching around on the bathroom floor tryin’ to zip the dang jeans–but in order to narrow down what you still need for your capsule, ya gotsta at least try.  😉  I’m right there with you, writhing on the floor, stuck in those pleather leggings I bought before baby, hoping against hope they can still contain the squish.
(Update: they can’t.
Out you go, traitorous pleather pants, you.
Shoulda known, ya can’t trust a fake.  😉)

The fashion show step is the perfect time to tackle your “lovelovelove it” and your “kinda like it, maybe” piles of clothes you created during The Great Purge.  Especially the later.  For me, this pile is usually made up of items on the fringe, maybe too trendy these days, maybe an impulse buy, maybe something I’ve held onto for a bit too long hoping it would be back “in” someday.  If you couldn’t decide on an item during the purge, try it on now and make the final call.  If it stays, hang it up by season/product type.

A few things I try to be aware of during step #3:
-How many items are making the cut?  Am I being too lenient?  Am I getting excited and cutting too many, leaving me a naked, capsule-less cray?
-Am I being honest with myself as I look in the mirror?  Do me, myself and I love and feel comfortable in this item, but maybe so and so will look at me sideways since it isn’t TOTES IN, GIRL.  💁🏻🙄  WHO CARES!  You do you, lady.  You are beautiful because your style reflects YOU…don’t make capsule decisions based solely on what others might think, what is trendy, what looks good on the gals on Pinterest.  You do YOU.  Because you are amazeballs. 🙌🏻

I’ll warn you…starting a capsule can be a bit of a self-discovery lesson, and it was pretty hard for me to face head on a few of the behaviors and subtly negative self-talk I was cycling through without really noticing.  Choosing to drastically narrow down your wardrobe, your style, the way you outwardly express the inward vision of who you are…it makes ya think.

Can I be honest with you?  My struggles centered around shopping when I was bored/sad/anxious, I cared too much about staying ahead of this or that trend so I could be the one who found it first 🙄, and I held on to things embarrassingly long, just hoping to justify my unnecessary purchase by waiting for that style to come back around.  😳😬  It never did, and I was left with a closet of poor choices, a closet that defined what OTHERS might think of me rather than what ERIN thought of me, a closet that didn’t define ME so much as it defined society’s pressure on women to keep up, to look a certain way, to spend spend spend…without ever taking a breath to figure out WHAT DO WE EVEN LIKE!!

Starting my fist capsule was embarrassing.
It was hard.
It was emotional.
It was cathartic.
It was therapeutic.
It was liberating.

Friend, this is the step where it all starts to click: why we spend the way we do, what our motives for buying this or that were, how we think of ourselves when we look in the mirror and when we pull out the wallet.  I encourage you to accept this little moment of self-discovery, learn from it, and make whatever changes you see that need to be made.
You are BEAUTIFUL because YOU ARE YOU.
And, if you’ll let it, step number three can alter this facet of your life
for a good long while…for the better.
❤️

Now that the fashion show is over, save aside the clothes from all seasons that made the cut, and we’ll zero in on the final steps in the Cotton Stem Capsule series…stay tuned!  I’d love to hear from you–does any of this resonate with you?  I shared some personal struggles regarding my capsule experience–did any of those relate?  Let’s chat in the comments section below 👇🏻, and come say hi on Instagram and Pinterest, too! 🙋🏻

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