Travel Capsule Wardrobe | Summer Season | Winter Color Type

34 Pieces // 105 Outfits

Hey everyone! Today I thought it would be fun to take you through my entire process of creating my travel capsule wardrobe for an upcoming trip to Nashville. I think this will be really useful because not only will it give you some ideas for your next travel capsule, it’s also kind of a microcosm of the capsule wardrobe curation process. So you can take these exact steps and apply them when you create your day-to-day capsule wardrobe as well.

The Planning Process

What are Your Goals?

The first thing I ask myself any time that I’m planning a wardrobe is: what are my goals for this season or this trip?

My main goal for this capsule is to create a few new looks that represent my current style and maybe try a couple new silhouettes or textures. I also want to focus on completing the looks with the right accessories to achieve a moderate level of visual interest and ensure that they aren’t too basic.

Create Your Calendar

Next, I put together a calendar of all of the activities I have planned for the trip or season ahead. This helps me figure out how many outfits I’ll need for each activity.

For our Nashville trip, we are taking our dog Basil, so we will be taking two travel days on each end of the trip to drive down. On the first leg of the trip, we plan to stay in a rural area with a farm nearby, so I think we might like to go for a bit of a nature walk after driving in the car all day. The next day, we will arrive in Nashville so I think we might find a nice place to go for dinner and drinks. Over the weekend, I’ll be attending a bridal shower and a wedding, so I need very specific outfits for each of those events. Now, I’ll fill out the rest of the calendar with various activities that I think we will want to do, like going for coffee, meals, and doing some sightseeing.

If you’ve ever been to Nashville, what was your favorite part of your trip? I’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments!

Based on my calendar, I’ll need at least:

4 - Travel Outfits

4 - Daytime Activity Outfits

5 - Dinner/Drinks Outfits

2 - Concert/Bar Outfits

1 - Bridal Shower Guest Outfit

1 - Wedding Guest Outfit

Start With What You Have

So, now that I know how many outfits I need for each activity, I’ll start building the capsule with items that I already own. I keep a folder on my computer full of images of everything in my wardrobe, so I can easily drag and drop them into a Keynote to visualize my capsule (watch the video to see how). I highly recommend doing this for your own wardrobe if you can. Every time you buy something new, take a screenshot and save it to your own wardrobe folder. This will make planning your future capsule wardrobes so much easier.

For my Nashville capsule, I’ve pulled together a bunch of band tees, some tank tops, a tube top, a couple of button-down shirts, and a couple of knit tops with interesting necklines. I’ve also added some jeans, a pair of wide-leg culottes, and a couple pairs of shorts, three dresses, one leather jacket, and a few pairs of sneakers and low-heeled sandals. I thought about adding some western-style boots, but I think it will be a bit too hot for the ones that I own, and these wouldn’t do well in rainy weather either. I also added two bags, my Chanel classic flap and this really cool Cult Gaia Ark bag that I love for summer and always get so many compliments on. And let’s add a pair of sunglasses too (keep scrolling to the final capsule for links to all the items).

Identify Gaps

So this is a really good start, but there are a few gaps that I can see right off the bat. First of all, I only have two pairs of shorts and they’re both denim cutoffs. Since it’s going to be pretty hot during most days, I’m going to need to add a few more pairs of shorts so that I don’t end up wearing the same two pairs every day. I also need to add another pair of shoes that will be comfortable to walk around in during the day.

If you want to extend the life of your shoes, it’s important to rotate between at least two pairs so that you can give each pair a rest for at least a day between wears. This will allow the shoe to relax back into its intended shape and help to keep them looking nice and new as long as possible. 

I also might want to add a pair of stylish, weatherproof boots for rainy days. I also only have one jacket selected. I should probably either choose a couple more jackets from my existing wardrobe or add a new one so that I have more options. I’ve also been on the lookout for the perfect denim jacket, so maybe I’ll see if I can find one.

Gather Inspiration

Before we go shopping for anything new, let’s gather some inspiration to help paint a visual picture of what this capsule could look like. I’m going to head over to Pinterest and create a board where we can start dumping some photos.

As I’ve been thinking about this trip, I’ve come up with a few trends or themes that I want to include. Check out my Pinterest board for some examples!

Monochrome

The first theme is monochrome. As you might have noticed, I have a lot of monochromatic outfit options in black and gray, but I want to start adding more monochromatic outfits in other colors. 

Boxer Shorts + Oversized Shirt

I’ve also noticed this trend of wearing boxer-style shorts with a matching, oversized shirt which I think looks really cool and chic. It definitely meshes well with my personal style and looks like it would be a really comfortable daytime vacation outfit.

Athleisure

Since we are going to be walking around a lot, this trip will also be a good time to add some athleisure elements. I’ve also been eyeing the Prada Cleo bag ever since I included it in my Spring/Summer outfit formulas video a while back, and I think it really amps up the athleisure vibe and takes casual outfits to the next level.

Go Shopping!

Now that we’ve collected some inspiration and have a better idea of the creative direction for this capsule, let’s go shopping! Watch the video to see my process!

The Final Capsule

The final capsule includes 34 items and can create at least 105 outfits. The color palette for this capsule is a deep and moody combination of red, blue, navy, emerald green, black, white, and cream. The color palette is cool, deep, and saturated, great for the winter color type.

11 Tops

blue striped shirt (OR) // black tube top // cream bing tee // white ribbed tank // green anine bing tee // black one-shoulder knit (OR) // white one-shoulder tank (OR) // red off-shoulder knit // black one-shoulder tank (OR) // linen shirt // charcoal bing tee

7 Bottoms

wide leg leather pants // white denim shorts (OR) // kick flare jeans // striped boxer shorts (OR) // high rise stove pipe jeans // black denim shorts (OR) // dark blue culottes (old)

3 Dresses

white linen wrap dress (longer version) // navy strapless cocktail dress // black linen wrap dress (similar)

3 Jackets

black leather jacket // black denim jacket // blue denim jacket

6 Shoes

black two-strap sandals (OR) // white sorel sneakers (OR) // black lug-sole boots (OR) // platform vans old skool // white strappy sandals (OR) // black sorel sneakers (OR)

4 Accessories

black chanel classic flap // cult gaia ark bag (dupe) // black prada cleo bag // dolce & gabbana squared sunglasses

105 Outfits

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Smart Casual Dress Code | All Seasons | Summer Color Type

35 Pieces // 156 Outfits

So today, let’s talk about the enigma that is the Smart Casual office dress code. Plus, I’ll be sharing a Smart Casual work wardrobe for the summer color type. But first, what is Smart Casual, what kinds of things can you wear, and how should you put together Smart Casual outfits for work?

What is the Smart Casual Dress Code?

The Smart Casual dress code can be ambiguous and encapsulates a range of different clothing items and outfit combinations. Smart Casual requires full looks that include a balance of polished business attire with relaxed elements. This is great because it provides opportunities for you to bring more of your personal style into your workwear wardrobe. However, it can feel challenging to create the perfect balance of casual pieces and formal business attire. 

Especially if you are aiming to create a minimal capsule wardrobe full of Smart Casual outfits, some outfits will naturally come off more formal or more casual. However, creating a Smart Casual capsule wardrobe might not be as challenging as you think. A few key accessories, like a pair of heels, casual flats or polished sneakers, a colorful scarf or funky earrings can be tools in your arsenal to dress up your more casual outfits or dress down the formal ones. Plus, it can be great to have more formal outfits for presentations, meetings with clients, or interviews; and more relaxed ones for casual Friday or after-work events.

Smart Casual vs Other Dress Codes

Smart Casual is probably the most relaxed office dress code. While a creative office might allow for less polish or refinement in an outfit, expectations for creative execution are likely to be higher.

Smart Casual is more versatile and flexible than business casual, allowing for more color and a wider range of items that can be appropriate, like dark wash denim, shirt dresses, and jumpsuits which aren’t typically considered appropriate for business casual. While many people may opt for neutral color palettes, there is room for brighter color combinations in most Smart Casual environments.

Smart Casual also offers opportunities to wear very formal pieces, like suit separates, that are usually associated with Formal business attire. Although a traditional full matching suit in a conservative color worn with a crisp white shirt and heels which would be right at home in a Formal office would probably come across much too formal for a Smart Casual office.

Smart Casual Pieces

Some examples of smart casual pieces include:

Dresses

• Knee-length or midi-length collared shirt dress

• Knee-length or midi-length wrap dress

Bottoms

• Dark wash blue or black jeans without distressing

• Trousers

• A-line Skirts

• Pencil Skirts

• Flowy Skirts

Tops

• Cardigan

• Camisole

• Blouses

• Button-up shirts

• Fine knit sweaters

Tailoring

• Relaxed suits

• Formal jumpsuits

• Blazers

Shoes

• Ballet flats

• Loafers

• Low heels

• Mules

• Clean polished sneakers

The Smart Casual Capsule Wardrobe

The final capsule includes 35 items and can create at least 156 outfits. The color palette for this capsule is a light and radiant combination of lavender cornflower blue, and cool pink with pops of yellow and muted lime green. To provide some grounding for the looks, over 50% of the items are neutrals in off-white, white, navy, and black. The color palette is cool, light, and soft, great for the summer color type.

15 Tops

beige cardigan // lavender floral top // blue cotton shirt // blue knit polo // off-white flowy top // short sleeve white shirt // navy asymmetric tank // lavender one-shoulder top // white t-shirt (or this one) // lavender open-knit cardigan // cornflower blue cardigan // white vintage style top // pink one-shoulder bodysuit // cream halter top // blue puff-sleeve top

6 Bottoms

black leather skirt // white trousers // yellow straight-leg jeans // dark wash wide leg jeans // navy a-line skirt // black trousers

2 Dresses

white shirt dress // lavender tank dress

2 Suits + 1 Blazer

white tie-waist blazer // pink suit jacket // pink suit pants // chartreuse suit jacket // chartreuse suit trousers

4 Shoes

cream heeled mules // lavender ballet flats // black loafers (or these chunky ones) // polished white sneakers

3 Accessories

black hobo bag // colorful scarf // chartreuse handbag

156 Outfits

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