Bekah and the Blue Dress Shirts

Thank you guys for being my capsule wardrobe therapists. It is helping me make sense of what I want and need to talk this process over with you. :)

So I told you already about why I decided to try this capsule thing {here, here, and here} and about the graphic t-shirts I fell in love with and about the plain t-shirts I'm using to make capsule staples. And so far, everything I've showed you has been basic. Many neutrals. And I'm really not a neutral sort of girl.

Over the past few years, I've received the most compliments when wearing some shade of blue. Apparently it really goes well with my skin tone, hair color, and eyes. BONUS: I like blue. BONUS AGAIN: It's Ryan's favorite color. So I decided, as I began this wardrobe building experience, that I would try to make blue a staple color. I did that partly because I already owned a fair amount of it, partly because I owned jewelry to match, and partly because who doesn't like to build up a color she's been told looks good on her? :)

Even though I am not part of the working-away-from-home crowd anymore, I did want to make sure this capsule adventure contained enough options for Sundays, dressy-ish dates, and other such occasions when I need to look a little bit better than yoga pants and graphic tees. And this category of shirts {also in thirds, as has become my accidental rule} is where the blue entered the wardrobe. All these shirts are basic in that they do not have a print to them. I like prints and think they have their place, but I wanted to make sure some of what I have in this wardrobe is plain, because I think that makes it more timeless.

So here are the three blue dressy shirts that made the capsule cut.

One.

This shirt has been in my wardrobe the longest, and not shockingly, it came from Cato...but it's been long enough ago now that I don't know how much I paid for it, and I know I can't find you a link, because you know how Cato has quick turnover in their clothing. But that's the beauty of this piece. Already owned it, so the entry fee was ZERO DOLLARS.

 As the teal part of the blue collection, this shirt reminds me of the beach and that makes me happy. I love the neck on this...kind of turtle-ish without being tight and causing me to suffocate. It has presence and character and I like that. The shirt itself is a medium and is more form fitting, so I like how it makes me feel {except on really fat days, when I just don't wear it.} It goes well with jeans AND dress clothes - and I can wear it in winter or summer because it has short sleeves and can stand alone or be layered with longer sleeves.

OH! And look! it made an appearance in our engagement photos three years ago!

Sentimental value? Extra bonus.

Two.

I bought this navy blue shirt last year, from Cato {gasp!!} and it was featured in our Christmas card photo shoot. So...two good things about it already? ZERO DOLLAR entry fee into the capsule AND...sentimental value!

It's has this beautiful flowy-ness about it that makes it good on the fluffy-feeling days, but it's not SO billowy that it doesn't fit against me a little bit. That's a lot to ask out of one shirt and it delivers. It's a medium, and again, it's got short sleeves, so I can wear it in warm weather, or I can add to it without overheating in colder weather. AND - it can easily dress up or down as well. Bonus!

Ryan LOVES this shirt, and I do too. I knew when I was sorting through shirts that this one was loved enough and worn enough to make the cut.

Three.

The newest blue-shirt entry into the capsule was this one that I bought at Cato earlier this summer when my sister came to visit. Technically I had already begun the mental process of knowing I was making a capsule...so this was a purposeful entry, but I no longer have the receipt, and since the process hadn't officially started yet, I'm marking this one as a ZERO DOLLAR entry fee.

This shirt is a small {WOO HOO!!} and royal blue, which was one of our wedding colors, so I really love that! It's definitely a fat day shirt, meaning it's quite billowy and needs to be worn with skinny pants to keep me from looking TOO pudgy. But I always need a handful of fat shirts in my collection, because for me, some days just demand it.

Ryan really likes the color of this one and how it looks on me, so that's a bonus.

In truth, I'm still learning how to style all three of these shirts in different ways. That's part of the learning curve of this capsule. But I think they have a lot of potential, even though they have really different construction. I love that all three are lightweight and therefore I can layer them without overheating {hopefully} since that's a pretty big issue for me. And I love all three of their blue hues. I love that I can use some of the same jewelry on each of them - because that's a savings of money and space as well!

So...the recap:

Three dressy shirts for the capsule wardrobe: CHECK!
Total cost for said shirts at this point in time: ZERO DOLLARS.
Size breakdown: medium, medium, and small. 
Color base for capsule: navy, teal, and royal blue.
Bekah: very happy with this trio. No need to look further at this time.