Summer Capsule Wardrobe 2019 – What I Wore

It’s been a hot one!

Contains gifted items and affiliate links.

I favour the capsule wardrobe method for a few reasons. The main one is that I always have something to wear. By taking some time at the start of each season, I can make sure all my clothes fit and look good together. If something is too small, I’ll store it away and take it out again another time. If it’s too big, I’ll usually get it altered to fit.

I find I buy fewer clothes too and the clothes I do buy are of better quality. I make mistakes, though – I tend to go a bit overboard in the vintage shops in summer. It’s an excitement for the hot, carefree weather, I think. However, I could wear the same few pieces all summer and feel comfortable so overbuying is still something I’m working towards reducing!

This summer I loved wearing my clothes, as always happens though – it wasn’t perfect. I’ll let you know the things I wish I’d done differently but first here are is my summer capsule wardrobe for 2019.

Everything looks squeezed on the rail. However, I usually keep a lot of the pieces folded in a chest of drawers! The majority of the clothes are from past seasons – you can check out my spring capsule wardrobe 2019 here. And I’ll link the summer capsule from last year too, most of my summer pieces were also worn previous years.

The summer climate is much hotter in Berlin than I was expecting so I only really wore these jumpers and jackets at the very start of summer. The white jumper is organic cotton from Das Matia; the blue jumper is from Armed Angels, the blazer from Everlane and the denim jacket is Levi’s.

I own quite a few skirts but have found it easier to choose three or four and pack the rest away for the season. Looking here and the skirts look quite similar, but they are actually quite different in fit and cut, or they are to me anyway! They are all vintage or secondhand, and I’ve had the first three altered to fit. As with the jumpers and jackets, it was just too hot for jeans or trousers, so I hardly wore them at all.

A combo of dresses that I love. They are either at least a few years old, bought secondhand or from ethical companies. The linen blue, orange and pink block colour dress and the navy and white maxi are my most worn this summer by a country mile. So much so that the linen dress is starting to look a bit worn after years of wear. I’ll pack it away and see if it revives itself under my bed by next years summer capsule wardrobe!

I found myself short on tops at the start of the year so kept an eye out for pretty summer tops on Oxfam. I picked up a few secondhand and also bought some new tees from Armed Angels. They are made from such soft organic cotton that I often sleep in them too. I have three plain white blouses or shirts and a white blouse with blue detail. This seems a lot of the same thing, but they are all different shapes and textures.

I feel like this isn’t all my summer shoes? I hope I’m not going to upload this and find another pair I’ve forgotten! The ones on the right have been worn daily all through the summer, I bought them new last year and have got so much wear out of them. The trainers are both from Veja and stay in my capsule all year.

I love the coconut button detail on this linen shirt from Etsy. The skirt I bought a few years ago secondhand on Etsy, I wrote about it in my detail here. The bag is from my favourite vintage shop in Amsterdam; it has been trailed everywhere this summer.

I bought these hemp shorts just before I left for the holidays. I have a pair of organic cotton white denim shorts but felt like I needed something more comfortable in my summer capsule wardrobe too. They are from Daniela Salazar, who is a sustainable designer here in Berlin.

Yeah, I did wear these shoes a lot! The rubber soles are perfect for walking on all terrain, and I like how they look, so it’s a win-win! I’m wearing an old top from Zara here. Although I don’t shop there now, I still wear this top every summer. The skirt is from a secondhand shop in Berlin, the tag looks really old, but it’s possible to buy skirts identical to this brand new nowadays. The necklace is from Crave, Carli makes them using upcycled leather from old jackets.

Spreading good vibes with this positive tee from Shy and Mighty.