Newborn babies are kind of boring. Hear me out before you mom-shame me. It's just that they don't really do much during the first weeks. Mostly they just sleep and try not to freak out about life outside the womb. One thing they are fantastic at, however, is looking adorable in baby clothes. I went full-on hoarder with baby clothes after Ezra was born. Little hats, teeny bow ties, tiny cardigans with wildly unnecessary pockets.
Playing dress-up with Ezra was one of my greatest sources of joy during those strange first weeks as a new mom. But by month 3, baby clothes became the bane of my existence.
Getting him dressed in the morning was an endless cycle of trying to find matching pieces in the correct sizes that were cute but also practical. This usually narrowed things down to the same 3 outfits, despite having a closet full of baby clothes.
I tried going extremely minimal, taking only 10 items with when we moved to Puerto Rico. I buying plain onesies and pants in every color. Nothing worked.
A silver lining is that babies grow so fast you get to scrap everything and try a new idea almost every month. So after much trial and error, a lot of research, and using some best practices from my own capsule wardrobe methodology, I perfected a process for creating a functional, minimalist baby wardrobe that's also hella adorable and sparks dress up joy. Ezra currently has 27 pieces of clothing that cover all his little baby needs. In this article, I'll walk you through my process, share my favorite baby fashion tips, and show you what's in Ezra's 9-12-month baby capsule wardrobe.
How To Build A Baby Capsule Wardrobe
For the purposes of this article, I will assume you know a little about capsule wardrobes (if not, check out the article I wrote about them here). I will also make a quick suggestion not to do any serious wardrobe planning until after the newborn phase. 1- You'll already have lots of baby clothes you got as gifts, 2- It's too difficult to get the sizes correct since you don't know how big the baby will be, 3- They sleep so much during the first 2 months, all you really need is pajamas and blankets. Okay, let's begin.
Step 1: Choose A Color Scheme
First things first. Do not buy anything until you settle on a color scheme. Then stick to it. Resist the temptation to buy things outside the color scheme lest you end up with rogue pieces.
Your color palette should have 1-3 neutral colors that match with anything (blacks, whites or greys) and 2 - 4 accent colors.
I originally bought all of Ezra's clothes in grey and white b/c I wanted to be gender-neutral and also neutral-neutral. But I discovered that both colors are fairly unflattering on babies AND they are the worst colors in terms of showing spit-up and dirt.
Here are some tips on picking a palette:
With a typical capsule wardrobe, you start by looking at your existing clothes and noticing what colors you gravitate towards. With a baby wardrobe, you're generally picking colors out of utility not preference so you actually have to start from scratch.
For babies specifically, go for warm gender-neutral tones. I think because primary colors are so popular for baby clothes, tones like oatmeal and rust stand out and create a polished feel.
3. See how each color matches against the others. Not every color needs to work with every other color but the majority of them should. For a baby wardrobe specifically, simple is better. For the color palette pictured here, only 2 of the colors combinations don't work well.
4. If you decide on warm neutral colors, you'll have a difficult time finding brands that make clothes in those colors. I've included a list at the end of this entry with all my favorite brands with all the best colors.
5. Fun fact: One color scheme = one load of baby laundry. You don't want to have to sort baby laundry if you can avoid it.
Step 2: Identify What Pieces You Need Using a Grid
Create a grid with your color palette along the top axis and types of pieces along the side. Then fill what you already own and add placeholders for what you need.
But wtf are the "types of pieces" babies need? I had a difficult time with this at first. Baby wardrobes have some unique clothing types that you might not even know to search for. The short answer is, it really depends on age, weather, lifestyle, and your baby's particular brand of messiness (for example, I own half a dozen bibs that match his outfits because Ezra is a very spitty-uppy baby and thus has to wear one constantly.) You're probably already aware of the basics; onesies, pants and jackets; but after lots of trial and error, I've come up with some good tips for choosing pieces:
Rompers are amazing. They are single pieces, like onesies, but have more structure and style. They are usually soft, machine-washable, easy to take on and off and can be worn with or without layers for different temperatures.
Knit material is phenomenal. Whenever I can, I look for rompers, pants and overalls in knit. They're extra soft, hide spit-up, dirt and wrinkles and keep well after lots of washes. Knit also has a very vintage European baby feel, which is the style I'm always after.
Bloomers are another one of those stylish + practical clothing types. They are equally as comfortable and easy to put on as pants but look just slightly more intentional. I almost exclusively use a bloomers + knee-high socks combo instead of pants when I can because it looks so Prince George-esq. (BTW- Did you know that the reason Prince George always wears those iconic knee-high socks is because of a British royalty etiquette custom? Apparently wearing pants before you're a certain age is considered a middle-class thing. Crazy right?)
Adjust the quantities of different pieces you need based on weather, age, lifestyle and your baby's particular brand of messiness. Mine is based on an "endless summer" because we're following warm weather as we move around on our nomad journey. Colder weather would probably include a category for jackets and hats (oh how I miss teeny little cardigans!). For babies less than 3 months, I would double down on zip-up, footed onesies. And for messy babies (like mine) you might need to include bibs or extra onesies.
What I won't tell you (that every other blog will), is to optimize for things like zippers over buttons, machine-washable vs. hand-wash only, envelope style onesies vs. over the head. You know all that. Or you will soon. And you're not going to listen to it anyway. I bought an adorable hand-wash only, button-down onesie from Italy that was a pain in the ass but I LOVED IT. You do you. Don't let the internet tell you that you have to sacrifice style for convenience if that ain't your thing.
Step 3: Mix and Match Using An Outfit-Maker Grid
Okay this is where I go a little off the rails from a typical capsule wardrobe but it's BECAUSE I CAN. Baby clothes are all meant to match with each other style-wise, you can actually create a matrix to create outfit ideas. Basically you line up all your onesies and one-pieces on the top axis and your bottoms on the side axis and where they intersect, place a checkmark if they match and an X if they don't. And if you want to get REALLY nerdy, you can use it to see what pieces are weaker (by only matching with a few other pieces) and which pieces are particularly strong. You can also see problem areas in your color palette if there are large areas of X's.
STEP 4: Categorize your Outfits by Use Case
Babies have a limited but still diverse set of outfits they need. So now that you have countless combinations of teeny baby clothes, this is where you categorize them by use case. This last step is especially useful because when you're dressing your baby, your first step should really be to think about what you'll be doing that day and select outfits that match that criteria. I have 5 use cases for our life in Berlin:
Rainy Day Lounging: These are mostly long sleeves and pants that optimize for being cozy and crawling around the floors inside when it's cold and rainy. This is the "leggings and a hoodie" adult equivalent.
Sunny Day Lounging: These are for when it's hot outside but we're still just lounging around the house and probably not going anywhere.
Playing in the Park: These outfits are for looking a bit more stylish in warm weather. They're also outfits that have either darker colors or patterns b/c we'll probably crawl around a park somewhere and get a little dirty.
Running Errands: These are stylish outfits because we're going to be out and about but a little more on the comfortable side because we'll probably be in a stroller or carrier.
Travel Day: Travel Day outfits are for plane rides or long car rides. They accommodate multiple temperatures with layers and optimize for comfort while still being cute enough to limit the shade thrown at us by other passengers when they realize there's a baby on their flight.
And that's it. This is Ezra's second capsule wardrobe and I'm happy to report that after 3 months, this continues to solve things quite elegantly. Until he gets old enough to have an opinion and demands to wear Frozen people clothes (or whatever Disney equivalent exists at the time), I'll consider this problem solved.
Brands
Real talk: I haven't done the my homework on the ethical practices of all of the brands listed below, but I included what I do know. These are just my favorites in terms of color pallets and style. Some of them are also ungodly expensive. Apologies. I welcome any recommendations or feedback anyone would like to give!
Kate Quinn THE best neutral toned, reasonably priced, softest basics I've found.
The Simple Folk If instagram made baby clothes, this color pallet would be it.
Linen Momma Shop Speaks for itself. Best linen baby clothes ever.
Rachel Riley Made famous by the royal family, retail therapy'd by me when I have a bad mom day :)
Pepa & Co- The Brooks Brothers of Baby Clothes
Selena- Great swiss brand that has some of my favorite knitwear I've found.
Quincy Mae - Not just the mother of all neutral-toned pallets, they last for-e-ver. One of their onesies lasted 6 months (that's like 40 years in baby clothes time)
Kongessloejd- A Danish brand great for basics with, like, 30 different shades of white.
Moumout- Single greatest producer of that gorgeous grey-ish white, rice colored onesies. Also their waffled onesies are incredible.
Ethically-Made / Sustainable
Cleobella Angela is a friend of a friend who's nomadic days inspired a line of clothes by partnering with local artists.
Mostly Infants & Newborn Sizes
Pehr One of the more "baby" style brands but exceptional color pallet.