Project 333: A Minimalist Fashion Wardrobe Challenge
This fashion challenge is for anyone interested in minimalism or wanting relief from decision fatigue.
Project 333 invites you to pick 33 items from your wardrobe and dress with those items for the following 3 months.
“Minimalism is the intentional promotion of the things we most value and the removal of anything that distracts us from it.” —Joshua Becker
What is Minimalism?
The phrase “less is more,” was adopted in 1886 by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and continued as minimalism in an art movement that began post-World War II.
More recently, living with less can be seen in concepts such as the idea of tiny houses, decluttering, and, yes, even a minimalist wardrobe.
Clutter Today
The average American household has 300,000 items. Traditional homes have tripled in size, homes have more televisions than people, and Americans spend $1.2 trillion on non-essentials.
And, no worries, we can rent a storage unit for our excess if we need more stuff. Fun fact: Did you know that 38% of us report being self-storage users (of whom I was one)?
A stark contrast to our accumulation is Fumio Sasaki, the co-editor-in-chief at Wani Books, residing in a tiny apartment furnished only with a wooden box, a desk, and a roll-up mattress.
Sustainability
Making our wardrobe more sustainable and reducing our carbon footprint is a significant benefit to having a capsule wardrobe.
The fashion industry has a consequential impact on our average annual clothing consumption. The second most polluting industry in the world, accumulating less would also lower the impact on the planet.
The Burden Of Clutter
As a society, we have so much stuff! The burden of our clutter can also be seen in decision fatigue, and collecting clothing is just one piece of this problem.
Have you ever felt physically and mentally exhausted after trying on many items from your closet, not liking how you feel in them, looking again, trying on more – only to fall back on an outfit you wear often?
Less Stress
After painting a not-so-pretty picture of our way of life, are you feeling a little anxious? The Minimalist Wardrobe 333 Experiment might be a fun way to dismantle the chaos by providing ways to have less stress in our lives.
Try on minimalism, and eliminate excess from your life. Let’s examine your motivation for reading this article.
Project 333: A Minimalist Fashion Wardrobe Challenge
First, some questions. Have you ever stared into your full closet, scanning all of the articles of clothing, only to find you have nothing to wear?
Think about your weekly clothing choices. Are you only regularly wearing a small selection of the whole in your entire wardrobe?
Have you ever bought a new outfit similar to something already in your closet, just in a different color?
As you decide if the project 333 challenge is something you want to try, do you see some new clothes in your closet or drawers that still have the tags on them?
Stay with me—just a few more questions. Do you have a floating wardrobe of clothing items to meet your weight gain or loss needs?
Do you have more than five styles of jeans? A
re there shoes spilling out of your closet (most of them uncomfortable), and you really only wear a couple of pairs during the week?
If you’ve answered yes to more than one of these questions, please
make this your first project challenge.
Emotions can be stirred during this process, and you may discover an emotional attachment to your clothing, yet you’ll find that you’ll rarely miss them once they’re gone.
How does Project 333 work?
This fashion challenge is for anyone interested in minimalism or wanting relief from decision fatigue.
Project 333 invites you to pick 33 items from your wardrobe and dress with those items for the following 3 months.
Not entirely new, London-based boutique owner Susie Faux coined the term capsule wardrobe in the 1970s. She encouraged dressing from a small collection of seasonally appropriate clothes, shoes and accessories easily mixed and matched.
Courtney Carver reinvented the notion of being more with less in 2010 with her book Project 333 and has kept this idea alive as a popular minimalist blogger.
Since the project was founded, minimalist expert Courtney has inspired thousands to minimalize their wardrobes and lives through her blog posts and podcasts.
Let's Get Started
Springtime has just begun at the time of this writing, so this is where we will start our spring capsule wardrobe. Think April, May and June.
Project 333 looks out over an entire year and then breaks it into four 3-month sections. You can find the complete rules for the project in Christine’s book, but the minimalist in me is condensing them here with a few simple steps.
Three tips that will turn your Project 333 into a success
I hope you are excited to start. The following three tips from my experience will help you right away as you create your capsule wardrobe.
#1 Organize your clothing
The fun part. It’s time to dismantle the chaos!
Bring all items of clothing, shoes and accessory you own into sight. That’s right, pull everything (and I mean everything) out.
This step is essential for several reasons, but the most significant benefit is understanding what and how much you are holding on to.
Place the pieces of clothing that fall into the categories of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter into separate piles.
You will then make your wardrobe choices from the Spring stack.
I suggest decluttering your clutter immediately by packing the other seasons of clothing into individual boxes to make the next season more manageable (that’s right, you won’t be getting rid of anything – yet away).
This step will also help your decisions about what to include in your Spring capsule by not having an overload of non-essential items in your view.
Selecting The Essentials For Your Spring Capsule
Next, have fun, choose the 33 items you will create your perfect wardrobe, and place those items in your Spring capsule.
Your capsule will be built around these items. The items you choose should be the ones you love the most, so only put what you are sure you’ll use.
Essential clothing pieces often include:
- Jeans
- Black Pants
- Shirts and t-shirts
- Sweatshirts and sweatpants
- Dresses, tops, skirts and other work clothes
Workout clothing, underwear and socks are the only items you can have as many as you want. However, keeping in line with this challenge, remember less is more.
Depending on your personal style, you will count workout clothes if you wear them the most during the week.
For example, a yoga instructor (or someone working from home) might wear yoga pants the most during the week – so you would count that type of clothing for your capsule.
Essential jewelry & accessory pieces often include:
- Your favorite earrings, bracelets, or necklace
- Purse, bag or backpack
- Scarves or hats
- A pair of sunglasses
Pare down this first time, and only select items from this category you use daily. Leave everything you “might” use or need out. The only items that wouldn’t apply here are things you never take off- a wedding ring, for example.
Footwear
- Flats and heels
- Running and walking
- Sandles
- Boots
One of the best ways is to pick a few pairs of shoes that fit most of your clothes.
This section is solely dependent on the season. Because it’s springtime, you may need both sandals and a pair of boots.
Outerwear
- Jacket, Denim jacket, etc.
- Raincoat
- Winter coat
- Blazer
Similar to the previous section, it mainly depends on the season you start.
#2 Ensure you have enough basics and something that will work for an event.
Think about what you must dress up for during this first challenge. Is there a wedding, job interview or other events you need dressier clothes for? Then, count it and the accessories as part of the 33 items.
#3 – Make it weather and travel proof
Every challenge is different, of course. But planning around the seasons and travel will likely be the hardest.
This new approach to choosing items to wear will require you to think in different ways about planning. That said, consider layers as your new best friends when planning for your minimal wardrobe.
In those very in-between times of the year when temperatures fluctuate dramatically, for example, Iowa in the midwestern United States. Temps here can be more than 60+ degrees different one day over the other in the Spring and Fall.
How else does a capsule wardrobe benefit you?
We expend so much energy cleaning, organizing and considering things we may or may not need.
#1 Happiness
The feeling of happiness that comes from being clutter-free is like no other. Having less stuff allows a clear overview of your clothing options-making choices super easy. And, you get rid of everything that doesn’t make you happy, leaving only the things that do.
#2 Creativity
Project 333 will inspire creativity as you make combinations you have never made before.
#3 More Money
By not buying clothes you adore and wear, you will have more money in the pockets of the pants you are wearing. Then, after this challenge, when you do buy something, it will also be a better quality item.
#4 Simple Living
As a recovering stuff collector, I have had a happier life and a peace-filled mind since starting my journey to less stuff.
At the end of the day, I believe in living more simply with less waste. It’s a positive change that provides a certain freedom we have forgotten in everyday life.
I now understand the benefits of living with less, and I even use this minimalist mindset for meals, eating the same nutritional food daily. It’s easier because I don’t have to expend energy thinking about what to prepare.
Is your closet bursting with clothes, but there's still nothing to wear? It may be time for Project 333. .
In closing, I am sharing another person of note.
Author and activist Christine Platt use storytelling for social change. She chose to live with less, only wanting her closet to be less chaotic, but she became so much along the way!