HOW TO FINESSE A CAPSULE WARDROBE
Interchangeable pieces are the solution to today’s clothing chaos, says Stephen Doig
Last week this column looked at how to streamline your personal paraphernalia and adopt a minimalist approach to bags, shoes and tailoring. This week, after negotiating planes, trains and automobiles across Italy in the noble name of men’s fashion (spare a thought, won’t you?) with two large suitcases, two pieces of hand luggage and one shopping bag from the spoils of a Prada discount outlet, it’s part two.
It feels apt, when things are chaotic in almost every other facet of life, to look at how to distil your wardrobe. Not purely in the name of narcissism, but in the fact that lifestyle guru Marie Kondo has created a craze for decluttering, and that every men’s brand from Milan to Marylebone is now offering a “capsule” wardrobe of interchangeable pieces.
Perhaps I should have taken note before clattering through the Santa Maria Novella station like Widow Twanky.
It all boils down to the idea of that most trite of phrases: “wardrobe staples”.
It’s a tricky business defining what makes a staple, because men’s style has changed dramatically in the last decade – most men no longer wear serious tailoring like they use to. A blazer is an essential to most men, but to the millennial man a sportswear item like a bomber or chunky trainers might be more deserving of the status.
Similarly, it’s about finessing what can be tweaked and interchanged; you might be partial to those inoffensive camel cords, but whether looking to downscale your wardrobe or simply travelling, are they something that can fit easily into every situation?
First up, as menswear institutions from Paul Smith to Hugo Boss will tell you, it’s about a “go anywhere” suit. No one is about to dispute the sharpness of a traditional suit, whether it’s bespoke or crafted to your spec (which is advisable with off-the-peg varieties), but this new variety is – hear me out – made from tech materials that are crinklefree, designed for travel and, in a lot of cases, machine washable.
Not the thing for your wedding day, of course, but if your working life involves a flight to Brussels once a week, or just a tedious working day involving a suit that’s less stuffy to see you through meetings to Manhattans, this might be the solution. “Break” it by teaming the trousers with a plain T-shirt or the jacket with jeans. And one item that’s interchangeable is the polo neck – a thin, lightweight variety in a muted colour can be worn with casual attire or under a tuxedo.
Likewise the rise of the fancy trainer. Basically your garden variety elevated with patent leather or in a smarter form, means you can wear it with chinos or a suit and it will work just as fluidly. And once the wardrobe is fine-tuned, think about how it’s packed: Louis Vuitton, makers of trunks since the 1800s, advise rolling everything, and utilising the space that shoes take up by tucking underwear, T-shirts and socks inside them, as well as turning blazers inside out to make sure they aren’t damaged. Maybe I’ll even heed my own advice one day.