The philosophy of a 5-Piece French Wardrobe is to focus on building a wardrobe of high-quality, neutral basics, then adding only five new “non-basic” or statement pieces per season (spring/summer and fall/winter). It encourages investing in quality, reducing impulse buying, and instead, creates a more versatile, curated wardrobe that can be easily mixed and matched with any number of the other pieces.

In January of 2015, as part of my New Year resolutions, I spent a weekend tearing apart my closet and identified the pieces I wanted to keep as part of my 5-Piece French Wardrobe. I created a short shopping list to fill holes, purged my wardrobe, and packed away those “sentimental” pieces I wasn’t sure I could part with and placed them into storage. With an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, I marked my calendar to revisit the totes again in six months to see what I would be willing to part with, and planned to repeat the process until all that remained were the few pieces hanging in my everyday closet.

Since then, I’ve maintained some version or another of a capsule closet. The result is a wardrobe that feels like me. I’ve slowly built a closet around silhouettes and staples that I return to again and again, swapping out worn pieces for replacements when needed, but rarely reinventing the wheel. Trends are fun to watch from the sidelines, but what matters most to me is wearing what feels authentic and flattering, most importantly, clothes I look forward to putting on day after day.

Tops

Camisoles

I love these silk camisoles because not only are they great for layering, since silk is a natural fabric, it’s incredibly breathable making it comfortable for everyday wear. They also feel so luxurious and soft against skin and are the perfect way to elevate your everyday look.

Tees

When I’m wanting a little more décolletage coverage or a more-fitted look, these slim fit tees have been my go-to. They’re so comfortable and softly hug your curves in all the best places.

Breton Shirt

The Breton shirt is one of those pieces I never get tired of. Stripes are seasonless, but there’s something about wearing one under a trench coat in autumn that feels so right. I’ll often layer mine under a cardigan or blazer for a chic, French-inspired look. It’s simple, but it always makes me feel pulled together.

Button Downs

In my opinion, this is a wardrobe staple no matter the season. Button-downs are incredibly versatile workhorses in your capsules, from layering under sweaters, alone, or over camisoles & bodysuits, this piece is a must-have. For autumn, I love a mix of textures including cotton, silk and denim.

Silk Blouse

This is where you can really begin to play with texture or pattern. While I prefer natural fabrics and keep my everyday pieces pattern-free, choosing instead to accentuate with accessories, the final “top” piece is truly yours to customize.

Outwear

Leather Jacket

There is something both incredibly chic and sexy about mixing textures like silk and leather together. Plus, this moto style just lends to an aura of mystery. Drape it over your shoulders on a chilly autumn evening or layer over a silk cami for that effortless, je ne sais quoi.

Blazer

When you want to sharpen any outfit, add a blazer. Whether I’m pairing one with denim and a camisole or throwing it over a dress, it gives a sense of polish without trying too hard. I like classic cuts in wool or linen blends that transition across seasons.

Cardigan

The unsung heroes of my closet. Cardigans bridge that awkward in-between weather when you don’t quite need a coat, but you still want a little extra warmth. I love a longer, slouchy cardigan for casual days and a more structured, cropped one when I want to dress things up. They’re versatile, layer-friendly, and often take the place of a jacket in my wardrobe. Bonus tip: one of my favorite ways to wear a cardigan, especially a V-Neck variation, is backwards. This is an unexpected way to be a little more versatile in your styling.

Trench Coat

The trench coat is an icon. It’s practical for rainy, transitional days but still feels elegant. I love that it works equally well over jeans and a sweater as it does over a dress. A timeless beige trench anchors my outerwear collection, but I also love the idea of a darker tone for variety.

Bottoms & Dresses

Classic Denim

A classic cut of denim is something I return to year after year. After years of low-rise tugging, my go-to styles these days are the Levi’s Wedgie Straight or Skinny for a closer fit and Ribcage when I want a wider leg. Both have the button fly which I prefer over the zip, and are available in a variety of washes. Personally, I find dark washes feel more polished, while a faded blue can add a relaxed contrast to structured pieces like blazers.

Ponte Pant

A slim cigarette Ponte pant has become one of my favorite alternatives to denim. They give a more refined look without feeling fussy or over-dressed. A slim-leg silhouette is timeless and pairs perfectly with loafers, sneakers, or boots.

Pencil Skirt

A midi pencil skirt strikes that balance between feminine and practical. It’s easy to style with boots, sweaters, or blazers, making it a versatile piece in my capsule. For my everyday capsule, I like mine in knit wool that can be paired with sneakers for casual days, or dressed up with pumps for business wear.

Shorts

Tailored shorts are easy to style year-around when layered over a pair of sheer tights and knee-high boots. I love the texture of these shorts, and best of all, they have pockets!

Dress

I love having at least one go-to dress—something I can throw on and instantly feel like I’m put together. This sleeveless wool dress is versatile all year long. It’s easy to layer with a cardigan tied across your shoulders or a button down underneath. Dresses keep me from overthinking outfits and you can easily shift from day to night with a swap of shoes or accessories.

Shoes

Knee-High Boot

You’re going to have to pry knee-high boots from my cold, dead hands. I will never give up this style! They instantly elongate the leg and pair beautifully with skirts, dresses, or tucked-in trousers. I gravitate toward leather because it ages so well and only looks better with wear.

Classic Pump

When you want to elevate your outfit to another level, a classic pump is the perfect way to up that factor. Finding a pump that’s comfortable enough to wear all day can be a struggle, this pair has cushioned insoles, ensuring luxury in each step.

Casual Sneaker

Sneakers are a must have. They balance out more tailored pieces and make an outfit feel effortlessly cool. When it comes to my everyday capsule, a classic white sneaker is my go-to, leaving more muted neutral tones as additions to my autumn or winter capsules.

Ballet Flat

The flat of the moment might be a loafer, but ballet flats will forever have my heart. They’re the perfect in-between when I don’t want a boot but still want something polished. They’re feminine without being fussy and pair well with trousers, denim, or skirts. I like classic leather styles that mold to the foot over time.

Slide Sandal

Perfect for a day out shopping or a night on the town, these sandals are a versatile and chic addition to any wardrobe. Not only are they easy to slide on, they’re comfortable enough for all day wear on those summer vacations to Europe.

Accessories

Scarf

A silk scarf is the simplest way to polish and elevate your outfit. Best of all, the styling options are endless. Tie it in your hair, around your neck, on your handbag, or even wear it as a belt. They’re also a great way to add a bit of color, pattern, and texture to your outfits.

Jewelry

I’ve simplified my jewelry over the years, but I still like having a small rotation of everyday pieces. A delicate chain, a simple watch, and my heirloom wedding rings are usually all I wear. They add subtle shine without overwhelming my look.

Sunglasses

If I’m outside, I’m guaranteed to have on sunglasses. Between the sun and the wind (car AC included), my contacts make my eyes pretty sensitive. Even on the cloudiest of days, I’ll be wearing a pair. I love Warby Parker sunglasses for the elevated option of prescription sunglasses. This pair is a beautiful mix of metal and acetate and gives off the perfect Audrey Hepburn vibe.

Everyday Clutch

When I want to be hands-free, I reach for a crossbody. It’s practical for errands or travel days, but still sleek enough for dinners out. I like styles that are minimal in design but big enough to hold the essentials.

Everyday Tote

A structured tote is my workhorse bag. It fits everything I need throughout my day without sacrificing style. Since it’s my day-to-day bag, I stick with neutral leather so it pairs with anything in my capsule.

SHOPPE THE CAPSULE

Chances are, you already have several of these pieces in your closet. For the ones you don’t, I hope this gives you a clear starting point for building (or refining) your own foundation.

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“SHOPPING IS MY CARDIO.”

-Carrie Bradshaw-

In the early aughts, when I was in my late teens and early twenties—in typical millennial-girl aesthetic—Sex and the City became my entire personality, and I lived by this Carrie Bradshaw quote. Shopping, for me, was a combination of cardio and therapy. Whenever I was feeling restless, anxious, bored, or lonely—which was often in those early days after I moved back to Omaha and didn’t know anyone—I’d grab my slouchy hobo bag and head for the mall. If all I did was walk a few laps and window shop, taking in the recent trend arrivals, and noting the pieces I wanted but would wait for a sale, I considered it time well spent. Usually, those trips included a stop at Barnes & Noble to flip through stacks of Vogue and InStyle magazines, which fed and fueled my passion for fashion. This was, in it’s own way, my Omaha version of Carrie’s— albeit, unhealthy—sentiment:

When I bought my first home in 2009, a darling little 2-bedroom bungalow, I quickly converted the second bedroom into a walk-in closet—à la Carrie Bradshaw’s brownstone studio— drilling rods and adding shelves to the crumbling plaster walls. My motto was most definitely her’s: “I liked my money where I can see it . . . hanging in my closet”. And when I ran out of hanging space, I bought a 5-tier wire shelving rack and configured it to hold the excess hangers, shoes, purses and accessories.

Yet as my twenties began to fade and thirty crept ever closer, something shifted. Shopping began to lose its allure and started to feel more like a never-ending chore. Although my walls were overflowing with clothes, I found myself reaching for the same few pieces over and over again. And then one day, while haphazardly pinning away on Pinterest, I came across a pin for The 5-Piece French Wardrobe.

The philosophy of a 5-Piece French Wardrobe is to focus on building a wardrobe of high-quality, neutral basics, then adding only five new “non-basic” or statement pieces per season (spring/summer and fall/winter). It encourages investing in quality, reducing impulse buying, and instead, creates a more versatile, curated wardrobe that can be easily mixed and matched with any number of the other pieces.

In January of 2015, as part of my New Year resolutions, I spent a weekend and identified the pieces I wanted to keep as part of my 5-Piece French Wardrobe. I created a short shopping list to fill holes, purged my wardrobe, and packed away those “sentimental” pieces I wasn’t sure I could part with and placed them into storage in my basement. With an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, I marked my calendar to revisit the totes again in six months to see what I would be willing to part with, and planned to repeat the process until all that remained were the few pieces hanging in my everyday closet.

I documented my journey on an older version on this site, and in May of 2015 I was interviewed by the Omaha World Herald for an article titled, “Capping the Closet” which discussed the pros and cons of developing a capsule wardrobe:

What the article didn’t ask at the time, and I didn’t have the words for until much later, was that there were bigger reasons at play for choosing to downsize my wardrobe:

I was slowly beginning to recognize that I was using shopping as a mask for uncomfortable feelings and instead, I needed to sit with those and understand what I was avoiding.

I was beginning to feel incredible shame at the overconsumption of capitalism. I started asking myself: Did I really need to buy Old Navy plastic flip flops in every color of the rainbow just because they were 2 for $5? I knew that there had to be a different path forward.

Similarly, I was beginning to question where my personal taste ended and trend saturation began. I began asking myself: who was setting and driving the trend? Who did it benefit by promoting clothing and body standards that were unattainable? This feeling went deeper, when, in 2016-2017, in my post-election outrage and fury, I took a magnifying lens to my spending habits, researching companies to see who owned what (quickly learning that monopolies were alive and well in the 21st century), who had donated to political campaigns and I made the conscious effort to bring my spending into better alignment with my beliefs, prioritizing companies that stood for sustainability, human rights and ethical practices.

I prided myself on the fact that, compared to my peers, I was living relatively debt-free—aside from a mortgage and car payment—however, I had next to nothing saved. When I started doing the math and totaling up the cost of my wardrobe every two weeks, regardless of whether I needed something new to replace something worn, I was shocked and honestly, disgusted at the amount of money and time I had spent over the years on clothing that, even when cared for properly, usually only lasted about ten wears before giving out.

I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of pieces in my small bedroom-converted closet. Even though I had plenty of pieces that meant I could probably go a month or two without ever needing to do laundry, most mornings I stood in my closet and struggled to find anything to wear. There were clothes that I wore once, laundered and never wore again because they shrunk, lost their shape, pilled or no longer draped as they once had. There were pieces in colors that didn’t suit me. It was, simultaneously, too much and never enough. I was craving clarity, simplicity, and that’s what the capsule provided.

Now, over ten years later, capsule wardrobes have become second nature to me. So much so, that I’ve begun building capsules for different areas of my wardrobe like intimates, loungewear, and workout wear alongside my everyday capsule. I’ve also begun building capsules for things like cleaning supplies, bath & beauty products, nail polish, as well as household textiles. For me, quality is always better than quantity. I’d much rather have two-to-four crisp fitted sheets or nice, fluffy, hotel-like linens in my bathroom than a linen-closest that’s stuffed full of assorted towels in all shapes, sizes, colors and conditions. I buy enough for my household and I only buy new when something needs replaced.

Although I no longer adhere strictly to The 5-Piece French Wardrobe, my capsules are still based in European lines, with simplistic, minimal styles and colors that stand the test of time. These days, Poshmark is my first-stop when shopping for pieces. I love the usability it provides by allowing me to use keyword searches for specific items, browse my favorite brands, “heart” and save pieces for later review for those ones I admire but aren’t quite sure they’re the best fit. Best of all, it’s prolonging the life of vintage and gently-used pieces rather than sending them to an overflowing landfill of textile waste.

If you’re interested in trying a capsule wardrobe but aren’t sure where to start, I’ve got you covered!

Below are free guides I’ve created, going step by step, through the process I use when evaluating and updating my capsule wardrobes.