Capsule Wardrobe Update, Shoes, and Germany Preparations
I’ve just been taking stock of what I have in my current wardrobe so I can figure out what I need for our next trip to Germany. We’ll be there from October 10th until December 6th, so it should be pretty straightforward fall weather. It doesn’t snow there that much, so I can forgo the snow boots and heavy parkas, but I will need some layers for colder days. I recently added some sweaters from storage for that very purpose. Here’s my 26-item capsule wardrobe:
And that is what my year-round closet is looking like. Yes, I have 4 navy blue T-shirts. Yes, I have 3 black T-shirts. I never said it was pretty; it’s just what I’ve got. But I think I have a good solid base to start with. The oatmeal cotton sweater, linen pants, and white skirt aren’t great for fall, and the jeans are just way too big, so that puts me down to 22 pieces to work with. The black silky square-shaped blouse and skinny black jeans at the bottom are my “dressy” outfit for special occasions. The grey men’s pants were replaced by their smaller (identical) counterparts found on Ebay. But the jeans I ordered didn’t work out, and the joggers in storage were too small, so I’m still looking to round out my pants section, hopefully with a pair of men’s jeans that actually fit.
The “new” sweaters I’m thinking about packing are:
Lightweight, open, light grey cardigan with the brand label cut out
Black, super-soft, boxy pullover with the brand label cut out
Blush, cotton, boxy, H&M pullover
Full-zip, cable-knit, dark grey cardigan with a mock neck from Hinge
That gives me four sweaters to work with, plus the two cashmere sweaters I already had in my capsule. I certainly don’t need 6 sweaters for the trip- I’ll probably go with 4, but which ones I don’t know yet. We’ll see what’s practical as the weather starts to cool off. I just thought I’d take out everything that fit well and could give me more options for layering. For mild or chilly weather, I tend to wear a T-shirt and sweater every day, with a top layer if I need it. I’m thinking of wearing the long raincoat on the plane and bringing the “packable” parka that I can squish into its little bag. I don’t know if I need the tan jacket, green shirt, and hoodie, so I may narrow it down a bit. The thing is, we’re each checking a bag for this trip, so I do have the luxury of a little more room than on our last trip to Berlin.
For shoes, I think I’ll stick with what worked last time and wear the boots on the plane, although getting through security with the boots can be an issue. On our way home from Berlin, we weren’t required to take our shoes off, so the steel shank in my boots set off the metal detector. After an extensive conversation involving 3 security officers and a pat-down, they ran my boots through the scanner and discovered it was in fact the steel shank. I think I garnered a little respect from the officers; Germans do love a well-made shoe.
Anyway, I’ll be packing my Adidas sneakers and my running shoes. That way, if I have 3 pairs of pants- hopefully a new pair of men’s jeans, grey pants, and maybe my black skinny jeans? - that gives me equal wear of both the boots and the sneakers. The boots go with Levi’s or pants; the sneakers go with Levi’s or black skinny jeans.
The tricky part is Matt’s opening night: I can easily pack my silky blouse to dress up a pair of black skinny jeans, but heels would really be the only way to make it look right. I don’t know if I can spare the space for that, so I have thought about other options. One possibility would be to bring these cream wide-leg pants and wear the silky top and my boots:
The pants don’t fit just yet, but by opening night at the end of the trip they might… then again I don’t know if I can handle that kind of pressure. In any case, the pants might take up the same amount of space as the heels anyway, so maybe it’d be easier to just bring the shoes.
There’s always all this fuss for one night where I might not even have to socialize after the show. And then there have been times where I couldn’t even attend opening night, when I wasn’t feeling up to being in public. I really regret not getting to see Matt’s work, but when I can’t, I just can’t. It sucks.
So that’s where I’m at with my capsule and my packing plans. The only major shopping that needs to be done is finding some pants. Ideally, I’d like a new pair of men’s Levi’s and some kind of black men’s dress pants in a suiting material. I’d rather not rely on the black skinny jeans since they tend to make me feel bad about myself. For some reason, the black skinny jeans aren’t as bad as the blue ones, but still, I’d rather have something that makes me feel great. I feel like I keep trying to shortchange myself, saying, “Well, I’m in the home stretch. I almost fit into my old stuff, so why bother getting anything now?” But the reality is, weight loss is slow. Agonizingly slow. I’m at least 3 months away from fitting into my storage clothes, and I need to wear pants. Why torture myself over it?