How to dress to stress less (the planet and yourself)

The little hand on the capsule wardrobe, timeless fashion, and low-stress mornings. So you can have more time to enjoy your morning coffee.

A few years ago I came across an article about how you can lower your stress by a few habits that you can introduce, outside of the usual breathing techniques, etc..

One of them was a life changer for our family.

Keeping our breakfast as simple as possible during the workdays and have the same type of meal every morning. In our household, we opt-in for a fresh fruit smoothie with oats for the workdays. It simplified our shopping list, lower our morning stress and fulfill our daily intake of fruits:)

Another habit to adopt for less stress was to plan what to wear the next day the night before. It worked perfectly fine when there were no kids around, but once I crossed into the land of parenthood, all planning went out of the window!

Right there, in the middle of the sleep-deprived and fast-paced mornings, I realized I’m only using about 20% of the clothes I owned, which are those that:

• Fit
• Are comfortable
• Compliment my (ever-changing) body
• Are easy to combine with other pieces
• Can be layered easily

I would usually grab a nursing top, loose pants, and a light cardigan for pretty much the whole year 🙂

When the very rare occasion of going out or dressing up for a party or dinner with friends (with kids) arrived I was standing affront of my closet and felt like I have nothing to wear! Does this sound familiar?

I decided to take an action!

First, sort things out!

When the opportunity arises, such as change of the season, I sorted my clothes out.

I put all the clothes that no longer fit (and will not fit for sure anytime in the near future) on one pile. Those that I never wore and might have the tag still on, or only worn a few times made the second pile. A small pile was clothes I loved some time ago but needed some attention or alternation.

Those that I truly love and wear frequently went back to my closet. My wardrobe shrunk to about a quarter of its former size.

Second, only shop with the purpose!

To do that, you will need to define (visualize) your own style and build your very own (capsule) wardrobe. This is how I worked it out:

• Unsubscribe from most of the fashion brands’, resellers’, and outlets’ emails and kept the only subscription to those brands that made it into your revised closet. 
• Bring the piles of extra clothes out of the room and laid down your favorite clothes on the bed
• Take note of the most dominant colors. Dark grey and dark blue for pants; grey, blue, black, and white for the tops. These were my basic colors
• Notice the pattern. I love stripes and the white/blue combination was the most dominant pattern. You need to make sure you have patterns that can be easily matched. 
• Find your accent colors, that will define your accessories. A few pinks, green, and red tops were some of my signature pieces.
• All of my favorite clothes have some other features in common. They were all more on the loose than fitted side and they were all from soft, natural fabrics such as cotton, or linen.
• Most of your clothes should be easy to combine with each other. It made me realized I don’t need that many new clothes, but more importantly, if I needed a new comfy long sleeve I knew exactly what color, cut and type of material will fit my wardrobe!

Thirdly, every time you have the urge, pause, and resist!

The most important takeaway from the closet clean up and creation of my own style was, that I almost completely stopped shopping for new clothes. And you should too!:) You will also find yourself applying these rules for other clothes such as activewear, underwear, or seasonal clothes as well.

But wait, what about all the extra clothes?

• As for the pile number two, look for SWAP events near you or for second-hand shops that buy out used but preserved clothes. You can also throw a ladies’ night with friends to see if you can swap some clothes with them.
• Donate your old but wearable clothes to the charity you care about or ask your friends if they know anyone in need. There are also groups on social media that will appreciate your old clothes.
• Take your loved clothes that need alternation or fixing to the tailor or fix it yourself. You will love to wear them even more!
• For those clothes that are hard for you to fix or reached their lifetime, see if you can find a recycling program nearby. Some stores, such as H&M have a recycling program and you can drop used clothes there. Just don’t throw them in your household waste, please!

Alright, alright what about new clothes?

• Follow your wardrobe’s rules (color, fit, combining with other clothes) and shop comfortable and sustainable clothes.
• Make sure the clothes are made of sustainable materials and in a sustainable way.
• Most of the sustainable brands are very transparent about the materials and processes they are using but search for more details if the material or the process is not described on the label/product page.
• Stay away from the latest trends that do not complement your figure or color scale. Such as cropped tops or animal prints, if your wardrobe doesn’t include any.
• Consider buying secondhand clothes online or in vintage/second-hand shops.
• Shop only items you are missing in your wardrobe and before placing your order/making the purchase pause and think if you don’t already have such an item in your wardrobe.
• When possible, shop from your local brands to lower carbon footprint for overhaul shipping and to support local businesses

How about kids, maternity clothes, partner’s clothes?

Of course, to have the biggest effect you should get the whole family/household on the same boat, but it is not always easy. Especially when big changes in the family and your body occurs. Here are a few some tips on how to deal with them:

• Apply the same rule as above for sustainable materials/products
• Shop clothes with the future. Especially with the kids’ clothes try to buy gender-neutral, so they can be reused or sold used with fewer limitations.
• With kids clothes take in all the given clothes from friends and family, the kid can really care less what they wear/puke/poop in, trust me.
• For maternity clothes stay away from graphic prints that are gender or pregnancy/maternity specific, so you can wear those clothes afterward without feeling awkward. Buy multifunctional maternity clothes, especially outerwear that can be used for pregnancy, breastfeeding/baby-wearing period as well as afterward.
• When buying for your significant other, always look for sustainable and comfortable clothes. He/she will surely be more incline to match their wardrobe to the quality items and being inspired by your low-stress wardrobe!:)