What do Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Matilda Kahl, Christopher Nolan and Nuseir Yassin (Nas Daily) have in common?

They wear similar sets of clothes every day, the same type of outfits. It’s like a uniform.

There are several reasons why they wear a uniform, but one major reason is to prevent decision fatigue. Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. For people who make several important decisions in a day, reducing one decision (which is choosing the clothes in the morning) creates more space for the more important topics.

Click here to read Joshua Becker’s article about these famous people and their “uniforms”. (https://www.becomingminimalist.com/wear-one/)

After reading the abovementioned article, I got really interested so I went on to check what remains in my closet after my recent clean up. I then proceeded to researching more about this topic, which led me to the concept of Capsule Wardrobes and Project 333.

If you haven’t heard about those, get ready, read on and see if you would like to try it!

#Project333 is a minimalist fashion challenge where you are going to wear only 33 items in 3 months.

Courtney Carver, the creator of the challenge, defined Project333 Capsule wardrobe as: A small collection of 33 items including clothing, jewelry, accessories and shoes that encourage you to wear your favorite things every day. (not the trendiest things, the most stylish things, or the perfect things … your favorite things).

The Rules

When: Every three months (It’s never too late to start so join in anytime!)
What: 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes.
What not: these items are not counted as part of the 33 items – wedding ring or another sentimental piece of jewelry that you never take off, underwear, sleep wear, in-home lounge wear, and workout clothing (you can only wear your workout clothing to workout)
How: Choose your 33 items, box up the remainder of your fashion statement, seal it with tape and put it out of sight.
What else: consider that you are creating a wardrobe that you can live, work and play in for three months. Remember that this is not a project in suffering. If your clothes don’t fit or are in poor condition, replace them.
Here is her website if you want to read more about the details: https://bemorewithless.com/project-333/

The objective of the challenge is to curate a small capsule wardrobe with all your favourite things. This collection will contain items that are easy to mix and match. No more daily outfit decisions required.

You get to wear your favourite things every day. Less decisions mean less time and energy you spend with dressing up. More time to spend on things that really matter, like your dreams.

Getting interested now?

I started doing it January of 2018 and this is what I did for my first round. I followed the basics but modified some rules. You can also do what works for you.

1. Sorted all my clothes and chose 33 items from my “I love pile”.
2. Made sure it is complete, for all occasions and weather.
3. Chose my “colour palette” and remove those that don’t belong.
4. Selected clothes that are colour coordinated, easy to mix and match.
5. Chose signature items like coats and cardigans that can be used for multiple occasions
6. Modification: I did not include shoes in the list of 33 items.
7. Took photos almost every day on different combinations for documentation and took notes on what’s missing in my first two rounds.

I am now on 3rd round of #project333 challenge and here is my list for this round (July to September 2018).

Here are some of my photos.

 

 

What I learned.

1. Choosing the first 33 items is the hardest part. After this, everything is a breeze.
2. It’s amazing how easy it is to get dressed when you only have your favourite items in the closet.
3. I have more free time on weekends than deciding on what to wear for the following week.
4. Nobody in the office noticed that I was only using the same 33 items for 3 months.
5. I actually look more put together in my capsule wardrobe. The colour coordination is amazing.
6. Quality is better than quantity. Since I’m going to wear them more often, I will just buy high quality clothes that will last longer.
7. My closet remained organized coz I have less clothes in it.
8. I have almost everything I need in my closet. I am not as tempted to do shopping spree now as before.
9. All the clothes that “I like” but I rarely wear will be more useful for my cousins, so I’m giving them away.
10. I found my personal style, my colour palette. This discovery made me more confident every day because I am comfortable with what I am wearing.

I definitely enjoyed and learned a lot after doing this challenge. I will continue doing this, but will be modifying some rules depending on what fits my lifestyle.

Do you want to try dressing more with less? Let me know what you think, and leave a comment if you have questions.