The attentive reader might remember that I, foolishly or bravely, have decided to go on a semester abroad in less than three weeks to Madrid, Spain. The preparations have been wonderful. To be fair, that's largely because I have yet to do the heavy lifting, literally, and most of my preparation until now consisted of watching youtube videos and listening to podcasts in Spanish. The winner among all videos? Minimalism vlogs on capsule wardrobes, why they're important, and, most importantly, how to create them desde cero (from scratch).
Creating a capsule wardrobe during my time in Madrid seemed like the perfect step: it's a great opportunity to try out this arguably radical step towards minimalism, a movement that has inspired me for years, and to prevent myself from moving to Madrid dragging three gigantic suitcases with me. And so, watching one video after the other (in Spanish, of course), I lay out all my shirts and sweaters and trousers and dresses and all the rest on my bedroom floor.
Then, the selection started. I started with the sweaters - the easiest part of the whole process. After all, I wouldn't be needing many in Madrid, I thought, as I imagined myself skipping through its streets in short summer dresses. I had already left the majority of my sweaters at my parents' place when returning to Maastricht, only taking the one I was wearing. And so, I selected my two favorite sweaters and two or three thinner ones to take with me. I knew it would be too much, but hey, one can never be too careful. Next was everything else. It was tough, but I was on a mission.
After what felt like days, I looked at my final collection with pride: 19 shirts/tops and 5 (semi-) sweaters. Still not the minimalist's ideal, but close enough. Exhausted, I finally got up and read the WhatsApp messages that I had ignored until that point. A record amount of snow in Madrid. Airport closed due to snow. People can't go outside anymore due to snow.
My mom is sending me my sweaters in a big box via mail.
Jesler van Houdt