Kathleen Elkins/Business Insider
In the 1970s, London boutique owner Susie Faux coined the term "capsule wardrobe" to describe a minimal wardrobe composed of 30 to 40 high-quality, versatile items that will meet your needs for a given time amount of time.
Wearing only a fraction of your closet is supposed to reinforce the idea that you can be happy with less - plus, you'll save money in the long run buying fewer, quality clothes and skipping the mediocre items, Faux writes on her blog.
Out of curiosity - Are 30 items really enough for a season? Will it force me to dress better? How much truth is behind the mantra, 'dress for success'? - I decided to give it a whirl. I started small, eliminating 75% of my clothing for a month, to start.
But 30 days on a "capsule diet" wasn't nearly enough. Here's how I did it, and why I'm sticking with my 30-or-so items and never looking back.