How To Build The Perfect Wardrobe With Less | Courtney Ryan

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my channel. If you're new here, I'm Courtney Ryan and in this video I'm going to talk about how to build the perfect wardrobe with less. I am a firm believer in going for the classics when it comes to building your wardrobe to make it as meaningful, versatile, and worth your money as possible. So I'm going to go over exactly how to do that to make sure you never think to yourself, I have nothing to wear ever again. If you focus on building a capsule wardrobe instead of constantly buying trendy one-off pieces that are just going to be out in the season anyway, you're going to be good to go for any situation, for your outfit at least. So what exactly is a capsule wardrobe? I'm going to read a little definition for you so you all know what I'm talking about. A capsule wardrobe is a streamlined collection of carefully chosen clothing that can be mixed and matched to create a stylish outfit for every occasion. That means that every item or accessory in your wardrobe should be something you can wear with several different outfits. So what are the pros of having this perfect wardrobe? Number one, you'll stop buying clothes that you never wear. It's incredibly versatile. You'll have something to wear for every occasion. It makes putting an outfit together way less stressful, less clutter. You'll save money in the long run. I mean really, I could go on and on about why you should all be doing this. So you're probably thinking, okay Courtney, you've said why I should do it, but how the heck do I do this? Number one, you really want to start with a closet clean out. The first step is going to be going through your closet and getting rid of some things. A rule of thumb that I have started doing is if I haven't worn something in a year, I'll put it off to the side and unless it's something for maybe a special occasion or something that I know I will wear at some point, just I don't maybe wear it all the time, I will keep it. But if not and it's just some random thing that I could wear on a Tuesday, but I'm clearly not wearing it, I get rid of it. Because when you think about it, unless it's for a special occasion, if you haven't worn it in a year, you probably don't need it and you're probably never going to wear it. And once you get all the clothes you no longer want in a pile, be sure to either sell them or donate them. There is someone out there that would be so thankful to have the clothes that you don't want anymore, but if you go the route of selling them, you can use the money you make from selling them to put towards the new things that you're going to buy. Step number two is figuring out exactly what you need after you've found what you no longer want anymore. So now is the time to kind of look in your closet, evaluate what you have and what you specifically need to add to it. The best way I recommend doing this is making a little checklist, a shopping list you could call it. You could do this on a piece of paper, on your phone, whatever floats your boat. But really think about your day to day and exactly what outfits you're going to need. You obviously want to make a shopping list to figure out what you'll need to make those outfits happen and the title of this video is creating that perfect wardrobe for less. So at the end of the video, I'm going to go over pieces that I would recommend starting with. If you're someone who is just starting out, you have nowhere to start, but really this is going to look different for everyone because once you do that closet clean out, you're going to be left with the start of your capsule wardrobe, right? So you might already have button downs or denim or chinos or whatever it is and you'll just have to add what you feel like would make your wardrobe more meaningful for your day to day life. So something to really consider here in order to get the most versatility out of this is the color and versatility of the pieces that you're going to be buying. Think about what colors you already have in your closet. If you're a guy who wears all white, blue, neutral colors, you're going to want to kind of stick to those tones to get the most out of the things that you're going to be buying as well and be able to create more outfits with everything that you have. If you really want to make this more versatile and meaningful, you'll want to kind of create a color palette and stick to that in order to get more wear out of everything that's in your closet. So for me specifically, I really don't wear a ton of color. If you see me in a color, it is a one-off thing that I've purchased on a whim that I really probably didn't put any thought into because I mostly wear all black. I wear white, tan, cream, navy. I mean, I really stick to the solid basic colors and the reason why I've started doing that and only buying pieces like that is because I get more use out of them. So I could wear this black long-sleeve shirt with a pair of jeans. I could wear it with a skirt like I'm wearing right now. I could wear it with a pair of leather pants. I mean, I could wear this with absolutely anything. So it's a staple piece in my wardrobe. So you really want to find those staple pieces that are going to give you the most versatility. So for the last little part of this video, I'm going to be going over the items that you absolutely must have or that would be great to start with for your capsule wardrobe. Number one is the classic t-shirts. Keep these simple. White, black, blue. You know the drill. These are great on their own, but they're also great as layering pieces. So they are essential for that versatile wardrobe. And I would recommend sticking to that crewneck style, especially if it's something that you're going to be wearing on its own. I personally really don't like a v-neck style shirt. I think the crewneck just tends to look a lot better. Two, we have button ups and button downs. Every guy needs one of these for those situations that call for dressing up, even if you're not a guy that necessarily wears these every single day. They're just nice to have. Again, you can wear these on their own with the sleeves rolled up. You could wear it under a cool jacket for a laid back type of look. You could wear it under a blazer for a business meeting. I mean, really, the options are endless. Definitely start with white. If you already have white, you can branch out into a lighter blue. And then after you have those two, you can start to get into prints if that's something that you're into. I would recommend sticking to a basic thin stripe, maybe a white and a blue. I mean, this kind of depends a little bit more on your personal style, but I'm just thinking about versatility here. Any of those three that I just mentioned, you can pretty much wear with anything. And remember, button ups tend to be a little bit more dressy, and button downs or oxfords tend to be a little bit more casual. So either one is totally fine. I would recommend having at least one of each to make sure you're good to go for any situation. Next we've got knitwear, and there are a ton of options under the category of knitwear. So again, this one is going to really focus on your personal style and what you prefer. You could go for a crew neck, a cardigan, a turtleneck, a hoodie, a pullover if you're a little bit more athletic, maybe more of an athleisure guy. I mean, again, the options are endless. And again, like always, I would recommend sticking to the neutral colors to get more use out of them, like a brown, tan, black, navy, charcoal. You know what I'm talking about. Next, I have a suit. And this is one of those things, again, that regardless of who you are, you need to have a suit. It's like the little black dress for a woman's wardrobe. Every girl should have a little black dress, and every guy should have some sort of suit. Another great thing about going with a versatile color like black, navy, or charcoal is that you can easily wear these as separates as well to get that extra versatility factor out of them. So if you maybe didn't want to wear a full-fledged suit to something, but you wanted to look a little bit more business casual, you could wear a pair of dark denim with your navy suit jacket and be totally good to go. My next category is outerwear, and really think about where you live for this one. This is also an area where I think you can allocate a little bit more money to. I have wasted so much money on cheap jackets that I really wish I would have just saved up and splurged a little bit more on a nicer item so that they lasted me longer. So don't make the same mistake that I did. This could be a bomber, overcoat, puffer, trench coat. Again, you really want to focus on where you live for this one and what makes the most sense for you. For example, I live in Ohio, so I have a wide array of heavier coats that I can choose from because it's cold like seven months of the year. So that is high priority to me. It might be different for you if you live somewhere a little bit warmer, but just find what works. Versatile colors, again, are so important for outerwear, especially if you're going to be spending a little bit more money on them. So the colors I've mentioned a million times already, black, brown, tan, navy, charcoal, you get it. My next category is pants. And to start, I would recommend having a denim and maybe a pair of chinos. And then you'll obviously have your pants from your suit that could obviously be worn as separates for other more fancy occasions. So having a chino and a denim is important. That chino is going to be great for the days where you maybe want to be a little bit more elevated and not necessarily wear your denim. Or maybe even in the summer when the weather is a bit warmer and wearing a pair of denim just sounds pretty awful and I get that. So the chino would be a great option for those warmer months. For the denim, I would recommend a dark wash or a black. Neither one of these will ever go out of style. You could even get away with a medium wash, but I would still recommend the dark wash over that. I think they can often be dressed up a lot better and easier than a pair of light wash or medium wash could. And for the chinos, I would stick to a tan, brown, olive, navy, things like that. My last category here is footwear. And again, I think this one does depend kind of on where you live, but I think pretty much any guy can follow this three category rule, which is a dress shoe, a sneaker, and then another casual shoe, maybe like a boot, maybe a leather lace-up boot or a Chelsea boot. Stick to brown, black, and white for these. You're just going to get the most versatility out of those. Again, shoes are kind of like outerwear in the sense that it doesn't hurt to spend a little bit extra on them because they are, you know, on your feet. They're going to be kind of taking the brunt of all of your walking. They're going to get a little bit more worn down and destroyed than maybe a sweater would. So keep that in mind. It's okay to splurge a little bit when it comes to shoes. You don't need to go crazy. Just make sure that you're getting something high quality that's going to work for the climate and wherever you live. And a tip to kind of round out everything I mentioned today is quality versus quantity. I do think that quality is far more important than quantity, which is why I titled this video the perfect wardrobe for less. So you really don't need to have a ton of pieces in your closet in order to create a meaningful versatile wardrobe that's going to carry you through the entire year and probably last you years to come. More does not mean better and I can tell you that from looking in my closet. I'm about to do an entire closet purge, which is why I thought this was such a perfect time to make this video. It's really helpful for me, so I imagine that it will be helpful for a lot of you as well. I have so many things in my closet that I just completely regret buying. Trendy pieces that are already out, trendy pieces that will be out next season, crazy things that I would literally never wear, colors that maybe don't look the best on me. So keep all those things in mind as well and understand that less is more a lot of the time in life and definitely I think your wardrobe is one of those times. You do not need to have a ton of clothes to look good. Less is more and often basics make the best outfit, so don't forget it. Alright guys, that is all I have for how to build the perfect wardrobe for less. Let me know what you think in the comments down below. Be sure to share your tips below if you have any that I didn't mention today. If you've done any of these things, let me know how they were helpful for you to kind of give some other guys encouragement to create that perfect wardrobe. If you haven't already, be sure to follow me on Instagram at CourtneyChristineRyan. I love connecting with all of you guys on there as well. As always, thank you all so much for watching and I will see you all next time.