Plus Size Capsule Wardrobe - Fave Outfits #1

We are currently at the halfway through month one for the capsule wardrobe, and I am loving it! I have come up against a few instances where I've done omg what am I going to wear, to putting something on in many different ways and hating each way it looked! but I haven't buckled!
I have found a way out, out of each and every lost for an outfit moment so far! So I am calling that a win in my eyes!
The urge to shop is STRONG! I've picked up a few items and gone ohhhh this would look cute with this and this and this...and then I stop, and remember its not two weeks before spring yet (the time to shop and collate for next seasons capsule)...so what are you going Courtney? ...and I put it back.

I thought I'd do a fortnightly/monthly post on some of my fave outfits that have been worn during each three months. Some images will be actual photos where I've made an effort to pose, and some will be in front of my wardrobe mirror before I run out the door (expect more of the later, I'm a mum with a hectic home life most days) I will also show you when an item pops up more than once in a week, and how it looks in different styles,  I have a grey oversized boyfriend cardigan that made it into two outfits this week!.

So outfit one with above mentioned cardigan was with a floral dress, tights and grey leather boots.
this outfit soared to the top of my faves very quickly, its girly and comfy, and totally wearable for winter!

The boots are from city chic currently on sale 

Dress from asos - no longer sold

belt is also Asos (came with a skirt)

Cardigan is Rivers.

Tights are from City Chic (and super comfy)

I wore a long silver chain with a amber pendant gifted from my sister years ago to tie it all together

Then a few days later I put the cardigan to work again with a more casual look

Ignore the dirty mirror and my ghastly hair! ( I do try and clean the sucker daily but apparently missed a spot)
I paired the boyfriend cardigan with a tucked in graphic tee and a navy middi skirt, tights and black boots.

Boots are from target

Skirt is from modcloth 

belt is from Asos (came with a dress)

tights are from city chic 

Graphic Tee is from Rivers 

Caridigan is from Rivers.

I'm also wearing a SUPER adorable handmade necklace for some pop which is from Hello Emily Green Store

Other outfits to make the cut this fortnight was that dress I bought, that was a new edition to my capsule

I fell head over heels for this dress when I saw it on sale, it had to be mine! I paired it with a long cardi and belted it in, tights and boots. It was perfect for a Saturday out with the family, was comfy and I got so many compliments on the dress from strangers!

Cardigan with Belt from Citychic 

Dress is from Citychic

Tights from CityChi

Boots from Target.

Lastly is another item that I bought for my capsule is the 17Sundays chambray button up, it was on sale so I snapped one up for my capsule and I am ever so glad I did! it is such beautiful top and so comfy! I have two outfits with this top, although I wore it over a babydoll dress aswell but didn't get a good photo in that outfit.

This outfit was the top buttoned and tucked into an Asos Midi skirt. I wore it with bare legs (and regretted it as I froze) I paired with with simple black pointy flats and a Ena and Albert rainbow double strand necklace which also gets heaps of compliments on.

 Chambray shirt is from 17sundays - Currently on Sale

Skirt is from Asos

Pointed Flats from Betts For her

Necklace Ena and Albert

 The Chambray shirt got worn quite a bit in the two weeks prior this is the second outfit I snapped for a simple sunday food shopping trip I wanted to be comfy but not in gym attire as I spend so much of my weekdays in gym clothes, its nice for a change!

 

 I wore the 17Sundays top with a long black singlet, and a pair of leggins, and pointy flats. The hello emily green necklace again, and my black raybans. 

Chambray shirt is from 17Sundays

Long Black singlet  is from Crossroads 

Black leggins are from City Chic

Pointed flats are from Betts for Her. 

 So that is where I am so far! if you have any questions about anything please leave a comment I love answering questions! or even if you have outfit ideas for me! leave them too! 

x Courtney

Capsule Wardrobe Plus Size Version- What made the Cut?

Thank you for such a positive response on all my media platforms about the plus size capsule wardrobe  post! It really made me stand up and take notice that it is a big gap that needs filling! I am here to fill the gap just a little!

After last post I left you with the room of doom, where I sorted, and collated my wardrobe bit by bit and now its time to show you what made the cut! and also what I purchased. The total of my items and maybe and outfit or two.

Each week I will try to do a collection of outfits, I'll show you what items I wore and how I wore them. So both you and I can see what has gotten the most amount of wear, what is the most versatile and what could have been left out by the end of the three months.

I have a total of  40 items altogether broken up into, tops, bottoms, outerwear, shoes. I have considered adding scarves to my total but the jury is out on that at present moment. I am seriously considering not counting my handbags and my scarves as they come under accessories. (in the end scarves and bags were not counted although my total for both is still very low)
Moving onto the clothing items:-

For tops I have

1 x Black lace 3/4 sleeved top - Thrifted
1 x Chambray button down - 17sundays (currently on sale) this was a new addition
1 x Deer Print Top - MINK DENIM - no longer available but MINK do some amazing tshirts! I have my eyes on a few for spring. available at myer.
1 x long sleeved black top with puffer sleeves CityChic-no longer available(bought for new york trip)
1 x Color block grey long tshirt - Best and Less - no longer available 
1 x Bird print grey 3/4 sleeves Jersey Top - H&M
1 x White Grapic Tshirt - Rivers no longer avialable
1x grey quirky neckline jersey top - Katies  no longer available
1 oversized grey top with yellow details - h&m australia - can't find it online (new edition to my wardrobe)

1 x Over sized off white long sleeved top with sheer detailing - Big W no longer available
1 x Long White top with layering detail - Piper Woman no longer available
1 x Long white singlet - Rockmans currently on sale for half price
2 x Black long singlets - Rockmans currently on sale (these are staples and go under all my slightly too short tops.
Above are all my tops so 14 all together.
For outer wear I have

1 x Black trench coat - City chic no longer available but there is a similar one on their site
1 x Denim Jacket - Lee Cooper Big W no longer available but he brings out jackets to big w a lot.
1 x Biker type jacket - Autograph no longer available but have similar items on their store currently
1 x Grey long sleeve boyfriend cardigan - Rivers  no longer available (new addition to my wardrobe)
1 x Black chiffon layered zipped jacket City Chic no longer available but similar online at the moment
1 x Dark grey long sleeved flowy cardigan - Katies  no longer available
1 Long sleeve Belted Cardigan - City Chic bought in current sale but no longer in stock
1 x Grey turtleneck cable knit poncho - Rivers no longer available
1 x Mustard cardigan - Forever21 bought in new york should have bought more of them!

All together I have 9 outerwear items some get a lot more wear than others I've discovered but you will get that with any wardrobe in coming posts I'll sure what gets the most wear, and how I've used an item in many outfits to create different looks.

For Bottoms + Dresses I have.

1x Polka dot Midi Skirt -  City Chic was in current sale but sold out.  This was a new addition
1 x Floral Dress - Asos Curve no longer available but asos always update stock!
1 x White Origami print smock dress dress - Asos Curve currently out of stock
1 x Blue Middi Button Skirt - Modcloth  - link takes to you to similar one
1 x Black Midi Skirt - Asos Curve currently not available but always have similar styles
1 x Boyfriend Jeans - Target
1 x Dark Wash Jeans - City Chic currently on sale but can't find online - new edition.
1x Gold Zip flirty skirt - City Chic - no longer available.
1 x Black Dress with kite details City Chic - currently on sale but not online.

This brings my bottoms and dresses total to 9


For Shoes I have selected 5 Pairs - one not photographed (totally forgot - but you will see in outfits)

1 x Black pointed ballet flats - Betts for Her currently on sale just not online - New addition
1 x Charcoal Suede Leather ankle bots - City Chic Currently on Sale - New addition
1 x Black ankle boot - Target currently not available but have many boot styles in store similar
1 x Brown ankle boot - Rivers currently not available but again have many similar styles in store.
No photographed - 1 x camel coloured ankle boots - Rivers not currently available but have many styles
Total shoes 5 pairs.

Which brings all of the above items to 37 items I want to make my capsule number an even 40 so these are the current maybes.

Current maybes which are fence sitters.

we have
1 x black and white flowy dress - h&m  currently unavailable
1 x Hot pink and black dress - City Chic currently unavailable (this is high contender for being added just for a pop of colour and because its a heavy winter dress)
1 x black button down dress - Big W the Chrissy Swan range - currently not available
1 x Black maxi skirt - I own one, its packed is that a sign to leave it packed.... we shall see if I get it out of the boxes/bags or not.

the two handbags which I will be using (which I'm not counting as part of my total are

1 x brown leather tote - whippingpost, this is my everyday carry 99% of the time.

1 x Teal Green handbag - Michael Kors (bought from Nordstrom Rack in NYC)

I also purchased a plaid scarf to wear with my capsure wardrobe and that thing is already a workhorse! I bought the scarf from Forever21 the Sydney store and as far as I know is till currently available.

 For now this is all I have, in the coming posts I will be posting outfits and clothing combinations to show you what has worked well and what really hasnt.

Which of my 'maybe' clothes do you think should make up my 40 items? There will be a pair of  black leggins added to the 40 so only 2 items from the maybe's will make it.

I will be back once a week with a capsule post, another part of the series will be #projectwearit, where I purchase a high end item and a low end item and wear them the same amount of times to see if spending an extra few dollars will be worth it.

what items do you want to see in outfits?
x Courtney

Plus Size Capsule Wardrobe - The Beginnings

I never thought I would be talking about fashion or clothing on my little blog, its not something I see myself ever really sharing. Being a big girl, I would always shy away from fashion posts even though I do adore clothing.

The plus size girl movement is a current and amazing thing to witness, and after reading countless blogs and videos where big wonderful fashionable girls talk style, and clothes, it gave me the push to start talking about it too, not a lot, maybe once a fortnight.

I stumbled onto the idea of Capsule Wardrobes a couple of months ago now, reading on of my fave blogs mentioned it and before I know it I'm falling down the rabbit hole. researching it like a woman possessed (If you haven't noticed I have a total addictive personality)

The idea of the capsule wardrobe is that we overhaul our closets to collate a small number of clothing items that are wearable, matchable and absolutely loved. The capsule wardobe is to limit the amount of clothing shopping you do and to really think about what you want, invest in some key items and really make use of the items that are in your wardrobe.
It is a method that people are using to make getting dressed in the mornings or weekends something that is effortless as 90% of your wardrobe will make an outfit and it will match seamlessly.

I am a woman who buys way too many clothes, I usually buy from sale racks and don't really consider what will this go with, how can I wear it, will I get a good cost per wear out of this item. Which results in me having a wardrobe full of clothes and nothing to wear. Usually my clothing barely matches, which again results in what do I wear syndrome every weekend before we leave the house to go out. It drives John crazy.

While in the rabbit hole I found  some of my fave links that talk about Capsule Wardrobes:-
Un-Fancy  this blog was so amazing to read  she also has some wardrobe planner pages you can print and use for your own capsules
LightbyCoco this is a youtube playlist from a lovely woman called Coco who takes you through her capsule wardrobe aswell as some outfits with the items she chose.
Elise Blaha A blogger I've been reading for years now and was actually how I discovered it in the first place, the link takes you to all her capsule wardrobe posts.

Now all these links are lovely! don't get me wrong, but I had a really hard time finding plus size capsule wardrobes to draw inspiration on! I found whispers of them around the youtubes and pintrest, but nothing like the above links, and that made me wonder why?

So instead of wondering I decided that I would be a plus size girl who did put up posts on capsule wardrobes, so that if any other women were looking my blog might help them with ideas or outfit inspiration! Now I am no fashion blogger, I have absolutely NO experience in plus size fashion posts! I am not in the league of Gabbifresh or the lovely Aussie SugerCoatIt or Stéphanie Zwicky. I do know what I like to wear, and I am not a bad dresser by any means! so be gentle with me, give me some time I'll get the hang of photographing myself.

So my wardrobe and drawers got completely emptied

Excuse the HORRIBLE quality shot, I didn't think I would ever blog this! this was just a picture I sent to my bestie as a OMG my room threw up kinda deal! I never expected to be showing you world war 3 bedroom status on my blog.

I bought some bags from ikea and started packing up clothes. Australia is currently about to head into Winter, so I was making a winter capsule wardrobe to wear for the next three months. So summer things went into storage. I packed HEAPS! I threw out a lot, I will put some items up for sale, I have a few items that currently dont fit but will soon so they went into the bags, if I didn't love it, it went into a donate bag. If I haven't worn it in the last 6-12 months I either sold it, or donated it. I was ruthless, I was hesitant at first then it became a overwhelming sense of joy as I saw the piles get smaller and more organized.

This process took me approximately a week to complete, my room was in a state of chaos for most of that, and it was so tough on my anxiety to have my room that crazy disorganized. I was tripping on bags and clothes and boxes but I knew it was going to be worth it in the end. Although many a swear word was mumbled, uttered and yelled when my foot connected with a bag or a box or even an item of clothing over the duration of the week.

I had a general idea of what I wanted in my wardrobe, I found a few lists floating around and customized them to fit myself.

I made notes on things, what I thought would go together, lots of planning before even selecting items to keep in my capsule. I also made a wishlist at the back of my notebook for items that I can see would be a great addition but would take time to save for like a leather jacket, and leather wide calf boots these items would have to wait till I had the money for them.  I had an idea of what items I wanted to shop for to fill the gaps that I had in my winter capsule.

I made a list, and did some online looking. I knew I wanted a dashwash pair of good fitting jeans, a new pair of black ballet flats, an all rounder scarf, a few basic long singlets and a few neutral layering items. I had a small budget of around $250 to get these items so I needed to do a lot of hunting to get good prices. I wanted good quality clothes that would last, which with that budget some may say is hard, but I did it.

In my next post, I'll be showing you what made the cut, and the items I purchased to fill the gaps.
I hope this series is welcomed to my blog, it took me a very long time to get the guts to post this! I had talked myself out of it many many times.

Now to get used to photographing myself! if you have tips for that post a comment!
x Courtney