Capsule Wardrobe Step 2: The Core

Step 2 of a capsule wardrobe adds two suits and three more shirts. You finish with four suits, the vest from Step 1, and eight shirts. The new suits are a blue and a mid grey windowpane, and the whole step is built to take you from two dark suits that do everything to a wardrobe with some range in it.

This page goes into Step 2. The full capsule wardrobe guide has all four steps on one page.

What You Own Going In

From Step 1 you have a navy suit, a charcoal suit, a navy vest cut from the navy suit cloth, and five shirts: white, a white pattern, light blue, light pink and light grey.

That already covers a five-day week and every occasion that matters. What it does not have is range. Navy and charcoal are both dark and both fairly formal, and if you are in front of the same people every week, they have seen the pair of them plenty of times.

What You Add, and Why in This Order

*A note on the cloth: the fabrics and linings in these photographs are examples, not a fixed menu. Every lining is chosen for the man it is made for, so yours will be its own. Our books also change as mills come and go, and they change without notice. If a cloth you have chosen is unavailable when your order is placed, we replace it with one of the same quality or better, as close to the colour as we can get, and we tell you before anything is cut.*

First, the blue suit

Not another navy. A clear blue, brighter and lighter than the navy you already own, which is the single easiest way to look like you own more than two suits.

Blue does everything navy does and reads warmer doing it. It is the suit for the client lunch, the conference, the day in June when charcoal feels like a lot. It also takes the light pink and light grey shirts from Step 1 better than either dark suit does, so two shirts you were underusing come into rotation.

Then, the mid grey windowpane

This is the first pattern in the wardrobe, and it comes second because a pattern needs solid things to sit against. You now have three solid suits and five solid or near-solid shirts, so the windowpane has somewhere to go the day it arrives.

A windowpane in mid grey is a classic, not a trend. The grid is quiet enough for an ordinary Tuesday and interesting enough that people notice the suit rather than the man's habit of wearing the same two. Wear it with a plain shirt and a solid tie and it does all the work on its own. How to match patterns covers what happens when you start mixing it with a striped shirt or a patterned tie, and charcoal vs grey explains why grey and charcoal do different jobs even though they get lumped together.

Then, three shirts

The three new shirts take you from five to eight, which is a clean shirt every workday with room to skip a laundry.

A second white, because white is the one that wears with everything. A purple, which sounds bolder than it looks and sits beautifully under grey and under the new blue. And a grey herringbone, a shirt with texture rather than a printed pattern, which is the one that makes the windowpane suit look considered instead of busy. Dress shirts start at $199, and how many dress shirts a man needs goes into the rotation in more depth.

This Step Is a Starting Point

Blue and a mid grey windowpane are what we suggest, not what you have to take. Men swap the windowpane for a solid mid grey, take a different pattern, put the purple shirt in a different colour, or run Step 3 first because summer is coming. The order is there so that whatever comes next already goes with what you own, and that survives being rearranged.

Colour and Cloth for Step 2

Cloth is where Step 2 can change. If Step 1 was our wool blend at $899 and you are now in a suit most days, make one of these two a Super 120s wool at $1,299. It handles daily wear better and recovers faster between wears. If you are in a suit a couple of days a week, the wool blend is still a sensible choice. Wool blend vs pure wool explains the difference, and Super 120 vs Super 150 covers the finer end.

Keep the blue solid. The windowpane carries the pattern for the whole step, and two patterns in one purchase is one too many at this stage.

Our suit price calculator prices an outfit in about ten seconds.

Wearing One Suit's Jacket with Another Suit's Trousers

With four suits this gets useful. A navy or blue jacket over grey trousers reads as a jacket and trousers to almost everyone who sees it, and it costs you nothing, which is why I recommend it. The trousers do not have to be made for it, and you do not need to tell us in advance.

A real sport coat is the ideal, and there are two of them in Step 4. Until then, the jackets you already own will do the job. Sport coat vs suit jacket covers the differences if you want to know what you are giving up.

Keep the windowpane jacket with its own trousers. A patterned jacket over plain trousers is a bigger statement than the rest of this wardrobe is making.

Ties and Pocket Squares, If You Want Them

Add-ons again, priced separately, not part of the step. If you are adding some at this stage, three ties fill the gaps the Step 1 five leave: a black and white pattern, a green, and a grey pattern. The green is the one that lifts blue and brown, the grey pattern is what you want against the windowpane, and the black and white goes anywhere.

Two squares, a pink and a navy pattern, cover the rest. Keep the tie and the pocket square different in colour and pattern, and keep the pocket square in cotton, wool or linen. If you skip the tie, undo the top button and nothing else.

How the Pieces Combine

Four suits, one vest and eight shirts.

| Configuration | Works with | Outfits | |---|---|---| | Navy suit | All 8 shirts | 8 | | Charcoal suit | All 8 shirts | 8 | | Blue suit | All 8 shirts | 8 | | Mid grey windowpane suit | Plain shirts best | 8 | | Navy three-piece, suit with its vest | All 8 shirts | 8 | | Navy vest and trousers, jacket off | All 8 shirts | 8 | | A solid jacket over another suit's trousers | All 8 shirts | 8 |

Fifty-six on paper, before a single tie. In practice the windowpane wants the plainer shirts, so call it closer to fifty that look right, which is more than two months of workdays without repeating an outfit.

Where Most Men Go Wrong at Step 2

They buy another dark suit. A second navy, a second charcoal, something safe. That is depth, and depth is worth having eventually, but at this stage the gap is range, not backup.

The other one is the opposite mistake: a jacket in a loud check bought before the shirts that would make it work. On its own there is nothing wrong with it. Bought before the wardrobe exists it gets worn once a month while navy keeps doing five days a week. Common capsule wardrobe mistakes covers the rest.

When You Are Ready for Step 3

Some men stop here. Four suits and eight shirts dress a man in a suit every day for years, and there is nothing wrong with stopping.

You are ready for Step 3 when the season keeps catching you in the wrong weight of cloth: too warm in July, too dark in October. Step 3 is the seasonal step, and it adds a light grey and a brown with four more shirts.

Payment plans are available and you set the pace yourself. If you are not sure which piece comes next for you, a Wardrobe Plan with our Owner and Founder, Derek Burbidge, maps it out: your palette, the gaps in what you own, and the order to buy the rest in. There is no measuring on the call. If you order afterwards, measuring is done separately, in our studio or online with a short form and two photos, and each order takes five to six weeks to make.

On a multi-piece order we produce one suit and one shirt first, and you confirm the fit on those before the rest is made.

Frequently Asked Questions

What comes after the first step of a capsule wardrobe?

Step 2: a blue suit, a mid grey windowpane suit, and three more shirts, a second white, a purple and a grey herringbone. You finish with four suits, the vest from Step 1, and eight shirts.

Why a blue suit when I already have navy?

Because they do not look the same. A clear blue is lighter and warmer than navy, it works in daylight and in summer, and it takes the pink and grey shirts better than either dark suit does.

Is a windowpane suit too much for an office?

Not in a mid grey. The grid is quiet, and worn with a plain shirt and a solid tie it reads as a well-chosen suit rather than a statement. Keep the jacket with its own trousers and it fits in almost anywhere.

Do I have to take the step exactly as it is written?

No. It is a starting structure. Swap the windowpane for a solid grey, change the shirt colours, or take Step 3 first if summer is what is biting. We build the list around you.

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Previous: Step 1: The Foundation. Next: Step 3: The Seasonals. Back to the full capsule wardrobe guide.