I would never have believed, back in the beginning of the year, that face masks would be part of my capsule wardrobe in the 2020.

When we first knew that we would have to wear face masks while in public, my husband looked up a bunch of tutorials and made a variety of different masks. He is the machine sewer in the family. Most of the masks he made we ended up giving away to friends and family, some of them we still use as back ups. He was never quite satisfied with the pattern. By a few months in, we had sort of come up with our mask routine and he stopped making them, so never perfected his pattern. Personally, I went the easy route, a bandana.

I now have three bandanas that I wear and wash in rotation. These were all items that I already had. One is actually a vintage pocket square. I like the bandana bc it’s two layers of cotton, I can tuck the tail into my shirt collar, it’s easy to hand wash and dries quickly if needed, and honestly, it feels kinda cool, like I’m an outlaw.

Without meaning to, I picked three masks that fit perfectly into my spring capsule wardrobe. Somehow without trying, when I pick a mask each day, I know it will work well with whatever outfit I’m wearing from my capsule. That’s one of the joys of a capsule and one of it’s goals: to never have to think much about what you pull from your closet bc it all works together.

In a time when adding one more thing to the list you have to remember to carry out of the house each day (phone, keys, wallet… mask!), taking away the decision fatigue of which mask to wear is great.

How have you incorporated masks into your daily wardrobe?