It’s the end of week 1 of the May 30×30 capsule wardrobe challenge! I’ve had fun mixing and matching my items this week to make colorful and easy summer outfits. I was pleased with the light and warm colors and kind of retro vibe of my outfits this week that made my normal black and white wardrobe a bit more fun. Here’s what I wore this week!
Continue reading “30 pieces for 30 days: Week 1 of Summer Outfits”
The bigger my closet gets, the less outfit ideas I seem to have. So I’m excited to be joining an instagram challenge this month to create a 30 piece capsule wardrobe and wear it for the whole month of May. This capsule would be perfect as a minimalist summer wardrobe or even a summer packing list for an extended trip to anywhere with hot weather. I included mostly casual items but also some work appropriate dresses and pants for office wear. Here are my picks for the month of May!
Continue reading “30 piece capsule wardrobe: My May 30×30 picks”
We are now two months in to the 20in2020 challenge, a delightful instagram community of people trying to limit their clothing purchases to under 20 items this year. This month…I bought more things. I dealt with some guilt. This post is me letting the guilt go because there’s NO LOOKING BACK. Here’s what I bought, what I learned, and what’s on my March wishlist. Plus my thoughts about the extremely philosophical question: Do I shop end of season sales?
Continue reading “20 in 2020 update: Month two of my low buy year”
One thing about being on a clothing budget that I don’t like so much is that it makes me want to make “big impact” purchases. I love instant gratification, and compliments. In my opinion, the things that make the biggest splash in those categories are dresses and cool shirts, so, no surprise, those are the things I love browsing for the most. Taking a step back from shopping has meant thinking more about purchases that will make a difference to how I feel and not just how I look. So here are reviews of accessories and wardrobe basics that aren’t as “flashy” that have really made a difference in my closet (including some trendy internet-only brands like ThirdLove, Boodywear, Thinx, and Bombas).
Continue reading “It’s the little things: Reviews of 5 (physically) small wardrobe accessories I’ve been loving”
Do you track how often you wear clothes? I do in Cladwell and I really enjoy it. The app lets me know when I haven’t worn something in 3 months by putting a dot next to it, and it shows me my most worn items. I’ve learned a lot from tracking how many times I wear things, so today I thought I would share my greatest hits and misses from 2019. Here are my best women’s work clothing purchases of the year and what landed in the giveaway pile.
Continue reading “The search for reasonable work clothes: My absolute-most-comfortable business casual clothing (and the stuff that didn’t work out)”It’s not *quite* freezing yet so I’m enjoying some in-between dressing right now, and I’ve made quite a few outfits with midi skirts and sweaters this month! This is an easy winter outfit idea for work and it has definitely become a habit of mine. Here are four midi skirt and sweater combos I’ve been enjoying:
June is coming to an end and there’s not much on this blog or Instagram to show for it. The month started with a much needed reset–6 days of Grand Canyon rafting and camping–and from there…I just didn’t think about getting dressed much. I guess I would call this month “clothing neutral”–I just put clothes on because I had to, without worrying too much about the creative expression of doing it. Here’s what I’ve been up to this month…
In the winter, I sort of look like a grayscale (almost typed Greyscale..too much GoT on the brain!) cartoon. But, maybe because winter was way too long this year, I am now finding myself craving more colorful outfits. The problem is that I don’t find pairing colors as “effortless” as picking neutrals. After browsing Pinterest for way too many hours, here are some colorful outfits I’ve put together lately:
Continue reading “4 combos for adding color back into my summer outfits”When I arrived at my MA program, I had a lot of clothes, and liked clothes, but was also one of those people who never felt “pulled together,” and especially not in a way that looked effortless. Fortunately, I had a habit of stress reading blogs. And I soon found capsule wardrobe bloggers. Through their influence, I figured out that my problem might actually be too many clothes, going in too many directions. So I started doing a couple of things to find the direction in my style.
Continue reading “How I figured out my personal style in grad school”
The Summer 10×10 starts Friday, so I’ve picked my 10 items of clothing out to get ready to make my outfits. Here are my picks (some not pictured):
-4 tops (boho, knit tank, tie t-shirt: all thrifted, and chambray: J Crew investment)
-3 bottoms (linen pants, white midi skirt: thrifted, jean cut offs: here)
-1 dress (here, on sale for $40)
-2 pairs of shoes (converse, sandals thrifted)
No black clothes!
I tried to pick lighter colors this time around and gave myself the challenge to pick no black clothes. Black is my go-to neutral color and I’m trying to move toward tan and white in the summer.
On my agenda
My 10×10 this time consists of nothing but dissertation writing and social time. I need outfits that are appropriate for field work (I am doing qualitative research in a casual, but masculine, environment–I usually opt for muted colors and pants in that situation), but that’s my only constraint. I tried to pick fun items to remind me to go outside, downtown, and away from my laptop in general.
The other challenge of my 10×10 is that it’s so hot that all clothes seem like bad options. I picked linen and other soft, breezy items for that purpose.
That’s my 10×10 kick off–see you on Friday with the first outfit.