When going to places where it’s truly freezing, you can supplement this with a thinner coat that can easily go over one or both of the other layering pieces.

Even though you’ll most likely be wearing it in the airport and it doesn’t need to fit your suitcase, you’ll still be miserable dealing with a heavy coat, and one should only be brought if it’s absolutely arctic.

Choose things that can be dressed up and down

The best capsule wardrobes can serve a variety of settings, from a business-casual office to a more-formal sales meeting to a more-casual team dinner. As an example, make sure a couple of your shirts are button-collar oxford cloth numbers, which can be dressed-down easier than spread-collar poplin shirts.

Dark jeans, chinos and derby shoes with a cap toe and/or broguing have similarly versatile properties over things like flannel slacks and more-formal oxfords. Obviously you’ll need to adjust based on your office’s standard level of formality, but at least consider it.

Pick for space

All other things being equal, pick the thing that takes up less space.

This is especially true for shoes — stylish leather boots are wonderful, but some wingtips do the job just as well. In the same way, low-profile athletic sneakers like the Nike Free are considerably more space efficient than massive New Balances (plus they look a lot better with jeans).

Step Three: Add Accessories

This is the Modest Man, after all. I wasn’t going to let you go into the world looking like a beige office drone.

Accessories provide uniqueness, variety, and originality without taking up much suitcase space — it takes much less space to always carry two weeks of unique accessories than two weeks of shirts.They also hide the fact that you’ve been wearing the same blazer all week.

Ties, pocket squares, watches, colorful socks, and a colorful knit belt are all great options, and if you’ve got the space, this is the time to even add back a “can only wear once a week” statement piece, like a pair of nantucket red chinos or a fun patterned shirt.