When less is more

With consumerism and fast fashion booming in China, Tiffany Tan susses out if the Chinese are ready for capsule wardrobes - a collection of only a few essential pieces that can be mixed and matched.

Imagine owning 200 articles of clothing but wearing fewer than two dozen of them. This is what Sun Yumiao has decided she will do in 2013.

Related: What's essential, what's not

The reason - she won't have to think of what to wear every day, unless she's attending a party or doing something outdoorsy.

On New Year's Day, the 25-year-old Beijinger surveyed her closet for what to wear for the rest of winter and the coming spring. She selected four blouses, three turtlenecks, four sweaters, five cardigans, two coats, three pairs of trousers and two pairs of jeans.

At a time when consumerism and fast fashion are booming in China, why is Sun doing a U-turn?

"I want to simplify my life and focus on the really important things," she says, during a break from her government translation work one afternoon. She talks about reveling more in the little joys of life, like the flowers in the park near her home or the heartfelt singing of a cab driver - rather than worrying about how to keep up with the latest fashion.

She made the decision after reading Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie - a book about the importance of human relationships over possessions and accomplishments - and after visiting a sick friend last month.

Her friend, Sun says, used to spend two hours a day on her hair, makeup and clothes.

"Now, as I lie here in the hospital," she quotes her friend as saying, "I realize these things are not so important after all."