Project 333: My Experience With The Minimalist Fashion Challenge
If you’ve ever flipped through a magazine or its present-day equivalent (Pinterest), you’ve probably seen editorial pieces that create tons of different outfits out of ten items of clothing. In the past, whenever I saw these editorials I would get inspired to do the same thing with my wardrobe. I would usually get a couple of creative new outfits from it (wearing a sparkly scarf as a top in my teens… no further comment) but for the most part, I would be stuck with the same combinations over and over again. I didn’t grasp how one could achieve this until I came across Project 333.
In case you haven’t heard of it, Project 333 (P333) is a minimalist fashion challenge created by minimalist author Courtney Carver. The gist of it goes as follows:
Select 33 pieces out of your entire wardrobe and pack away the rest.
Count clothing, shoes, and accessories with the exception of sentimental jewelry you never take off, underwear, pajamas, loungewear, and workout clothing.
Live, work, and play in this 33-piece wardrobe for 3 months – a whole season.
You are not to wear loungewear or workout clothes out of the house except when working out. Athleisure is not a thing in P333.
To be frank, I don’t recall what exactly drew me to P333 when I first tried it a few years ago. It may have had something to do with the fact that I had a closet packed to the brim with clothes, yet I always felt like I had nothing to wear. Also around that time I was beginning my exploration into living with less; having a reduced wardrobe without having to get rid of my clothes point blank seemed like a good compromise.
I documented my initial experience with P333 in a series of videos, which I link for you here. Scroll past the videos if you want to hear what I’ve retained from this experiment four years later.
My thoughts on Project 333 today
Over time, having only 33 items in my wardrobe felt too restrictive for me. To be honest, the number 33 felt completely arbitrary and selected for the sake of a catchy name for the project. I have since stopped following the rules of the project as prescribed, but I am noticing that this experiment has had left a deeper impression than I had realized. Here is what changed:
I do have significantly less clothing than before.
I continue to put away the clothing that is out of season and cannot wear at the moment, but it now all fits into a medium suitcase where it waits inside my closet until it is needed.
I have become a very selective shopper (even beyond clothing), only bringing in items that I know are versatile and will endure multiple wears and washes.
I now regularly, and without hesitation or guilt, purge items from my wardrobe that are not ‘top players.’ I have to say this is pretty liberating.
In the end, the experiment with P333 did accomplish its goal for me – I now live with less, I am perfectly content with what I have, and I spend less time picking what to wear on a regular basis. I do use the items in my wardrobe more often than most people, but that’s ok with me. While I love the creative process of dreaming up a wardrobe, spending a lot of time thinking about clothes is not something I want to do every day.
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I recommend trying P333 if you are looking to live with less, or if you want insight into what draws you to certain pieces of your wardrobe. For a boost of wardrobe-consciousness, I would recommend reading ‘The Curated Closet’ by Anuschka Rees as you near the end of your first capsule wardrobe run. It’s a great step by step guide to selecting pieces that you can get a lot of mileage out of.
Leave me a comment if you’re considering giving this experiment a shot, or better yet, if you already have! I would love to hear about your experience.