032. Your 12-Piece Capsule Wardrobe [Holiday Season Edition]
And A Few Words About What Black Friday Isn't
I have kept a low profile this week, and if you’ve followed me for some time it won’t suprise you. Like you, I’ve received a new Black Friday-themed email every minute since Monday. Among them, the subject line that resonated with me the most came from fellow Substacker
: ‘Black Friday Stresses Me Out’. Even though I have pretty strict rules for myself - only shopping on sale for items wishlisted throughout the year - I have been frantically opening emails and viewing stories animated with the fear of missing out. I write Every Body Gets Dressed to help you build agency over your buying choices, so, you know it, I’m about to dish out a few cold hard facts about Black Friday. However, make no mistake, I have been shopping and will continue to throughout the weekend, and I definitely think you should too, if you have things to buy. I also purposefully shuffled the schedule to bring you today’s newsletter this weekend, so you can save some money if you purchase anything from the edit.What Black Friday Isn’t
Contrary to popular belief, Black Friday isn’t an exceptional opportunity for us to score deals and deep discounts on things we otherwise couldn’t afford to buy.
Some of you may have clocked that, since Black Friday grew in popularity in the nineties, the price of fashion has increased exponentially every year. Especially if you’re over the age of 40, you noticed that the quality that $200 afforded you twenty years ago is very different from what $200 affords you today. And we’re not just talking about inflation. Traditionally, a retail margin in the fashion industry is around 2.2x (i.e., a brand will sell a coat to Net-A-Porter for $1,000, who will sell it to you for $2,200). In more recent years, retailers who have gotten used to selling the majority of their stock on sale during events like Black Friday have ramped up their markups to 3x or even 4x (the aforementioned coat becomes $4,000). By 2019, already 40% of clothes were sold on sale. That percentage has continued to grow significantly since the COVID years; their gruesome impact on retail led to aggressive markdowns, and the number of clothes selling at outlet prices increased by 85%. In light of this, brands and retailers continue to hike up their prices to cushion their bottom lines, further alienating the average customer from buying at full price. And on and on the vicious cycle goes.
This is what makes me feel stressed this time of year; Black Friday feels like a reminder that fashion is gamified and that, if we miss out this weekend, we won’t get to pay a fair price. For now, I’ve resisted the urge to stray from my wishlist; I’d rather miss out than buy a bunch of stuff I don’t need and spend money I’ll regret (which is what’s expected of us on this day). And if all this is news to you, I hope that knowing that the ‘deal’ you’re getting today is simply the price you’d be paying all year-round if Black Friday didn’t exist, leads you to make all the good decisions and none of the bad ones.
This Week’s Newsletter
I hope those of you who celebrate had a wonderful Thanksgiving this week. Being from Europe, I am not fully clued up on what this holiday entails, but I can say that I’m very thankful for you, the people reading and supporting Every Body Gets Dressed. Continuing with the festive theme, this week brings back this newsletter’s most liked and shared feature: the 12-piece capsule. In case you missed it, I previously published a summer and fall edition and will be publishing the winter one in December. If you’d prefer to have a capsule feature every month, rather than every season, let me know in the comments; I’ll happily follow your lead.
If you’re new here, these newsletters are written to demonstrate that you can have a concise and efficient (aka a capsule wardrobe), and still look like yourself. I don’t believe in a list of wardrobe ‘essentials’ or ‘must-haves’ universal to everyone. It would be a shame for all of us to dress exactly the same. These capsules are there to encourage you to make choices influenced by your personality rather than by what you see people wear on Instagram. In my personal style series ( read it here and here), I encourage you to not box yourself up under a strict aesthetic label (classic, minimalist, preppy, etc.). I have used today’s capsules to show you what that might look like. You will find:
A modern monochromatic capsule with lots of metallics.
An ultra-feminine, romantic, Blair Waldorf-esque, jewel-toned capsule.
A chic, sophisticated, ladylike capsule.
A nineties-inspired capsule with a sprinkle of Y2K.
A glamourous capsule with interesting statement pieces.
These edits feature really good pieces including the first jumpsuit I have ever laid eyes on that’s made me want to buy it (and it’s $285), a freakishly cool wet-look top I would do anything for, several very good bags discounted 70% (especially the ones from that Blair Waldorf edit), a versatile pair of Sergio Rossi pumps I plan to buy for myself, and a bunch of very well-priced smart coats. These cover what you would need to see you Christmas, New Years, and every event in between. Each capsule includes two pairs of dressing-up shoes, two evening bags, one dress or jumpsuit, a bottom (skirt or trousers), and two tops that make up two more outfit options, a lounging outfit like a two-piece set or slip-dress with cozy but cute house shoes, one accessory to style the outfits with, and a warm smart coat to wear over them. I hope you feel inspired, if not to buy something, to pull similar things out of your wardrobe that you haven’t worn in a while.
I usually make those capsule synthetics-free, but it wouldn’t be a festive season edit without sequins, shearling, mesh, metallics, and jacquards. Everything else is made of natural or certified fiber. This season more than ever, be mindful when you shop, only shop for what you truly need, and remember that borrowing, renting, and buying second-hand, are always an option.
Last but not least, triple check the offers before buying anything; I have crossed out old prices where the discount was directly applied on product pages, but most of these will have further discounts applied at checkout.
1. Modern + Monochromatic + Metallics
From left to right: 1. Sequin dress, $441 Rotate Birger Christensen, 2. Clutch, $534