Forget The Capsule Wardrobe — Wear What Makes You Walk Taller

The Style Edit

I don't have a capsule wardrobe. I have three wardrobes full of clothes and wear maybe a quarter of them. And I have never once followed a style rule that didn't feel like mine first.

What I have instead is a signature. Built over decades, refined through thrift stores and vintage markets and one extraordinary afternoon on Second Avenue in New York City, and completely, unapologetically mine.

Let me tell you about the jacket.

The $20 Givenchy That Stops Traffic

In 2019, I spent a few fabulous solo days exploring the Lower East Side and East Village in New York. If you've never done a solo trip to NYC, do it. There is no better city to be completely yourself in.

I found it in a vintage store on Second Avenue. A Givenchy jacket. Twenty US dollars. I didn't hesitate for a single second.

A few years later, I upcycled it — added a gold Chinese lucky cat decal I found on a cheap jacket at an Australian thrift store. The happy cat was an impulse decision. I wanted gold. I found gold. Done.

That jacket is now a literal traffic stopper. People approach me on the street to ask about it. Not where I got the Givenchy — where I got the cat. And I love that. Because that cat is the jacket now. That cat is the whole story.

When I wear that jacket, I walk taller. Shoulders back, chin up, completely at home in my own skin. That's what the right piece does. It doesn't just cover you — it reveals you.

I've Been Shopping The Mens Section Forever

Here's a funny story. Art school. Early twenties. I used to wear vintage old man pyjamas — plum and navy stripe — with oversized suit jackets and Doc Martens. Full look. Every day.

I was a trailblazer. My mother was mortified. She always wanted a girly girl and got me instead. 😄

Nothing has fundamentally changed since then. I still reach for the oversized jacket. I still wear the Doc Martens — platform now, because why not. The pyjamas have been retired but the energy remains.

Men’s sections and vintage stores have always had the best jackets. The cut is different — broader shoulders, longer length, more generous through the body. On a woman, it creates that effortless thrown-on look that no women’s blazer has ever quite replicated for me.

The best finds I've ever made have been in thrift and vintage stores. You just have to be patient and keep looking.

On Double Denim And Dark Wash

I'm currently loving double denim — oversized jacket over straight leg jeans, always with a black tee underneath. The key for me is not doing baggy on baggy — if the jacket is oversized, the pants need to be straight or slim. Balance is everything.

Wash depends on the season. Dark denim in winter — it's richer, moodier, more considered. Black denim year-round because black is always the answer. Vintage Levi's whenever I can find them — that NYC vintage store had the motherload and I wish with everything I have that I'd bought more than I did. Lesson learned.

Light washes only in the height of summer, and even then, I'm not convinced.

The Pieces That Make Me Walk Taller

Beyond the Givenchy, there are a few others:

A long black mohair cardigan I've had for ten years. It is divine. When I put it on I feel like a queen — genuinely. Ten years of wear and it still does that. That's what quality feels like.

A navy velvet jacket I found in a vintage store here in Australia. The kind of piece that makes every outfit around it look intentional.

A vintage mens tuxedo jacket — worn with straight leg black pants and a black tee and heavy combat boots. That outfit requires zero thought and looks completely considered every single time.

What I Actually Think About Capsule Wardrobes

I think the capsule wardrobe concept is well-intentioned but slightly silly in practice. Because the colours and cuts and silhouettes that work for me don't work for everyone, and a list of ten pieces that every woman should own ignores the most important thing about personal style.

Personal style is personal.

What I'd say instead — find your signature. Find the pieces that make you walk taller, stand differently, feel completely like yourself. They might be vintage. They might be thrifted. They might be a $20 Givenchy with a gold happy cat on the back.

Build from those pieces outward. Everything else is just noise.

What's the piece in your wardrobe that makes you walk taller? I'd love to hear in the comments. 🙂