Wardrobe Capsule Challenge

For some reason, I've been really struggling this week - I've been VERY tired, and just feeling a bit flat physically... I suspect its because I've been indulging a little and had a few too many bits of chocolate cake this week...

Anyway, this week, I took part in a Wardrobe Capsule Challenge. The idea was that for 5 days (Mon- Fri), you could choose 10 items of clothing (including shoes) and 5 accessories and use only them for the 5 days.

Now it wasn't too hard for me because its still so very hot here so I don't need many clothes LOL BUT, I did find limiting my accessories to just 5 was quite difficult... I've really started to LOVE accessories so to suddenly be without many made me realised just how much I missed them.

I also realised that almost every day has contained a thrifted or hand-me-down item of clothing, or something I had altered myself!

So, on Monday I wore this outfit. I was able to dress up a little today because I had to go to the hospital to visit my Nan - and I always freeze in hospitals. So it was nice to wear jeans and a long sleeve top for a change. I felt really chic in this outfit. My lovely top was bought at the local Red Cross shop for $2.50.

Tuesday I wore this. All I had to do on Tuesday was take the girls to school/kindy and have a brief meeting with the kindy teacher. I just LOVE this colour top on me. In today's outfit, the skirt was a hand-me-down from a friend. I have also worn this top with my red beads from yesterday and loved the red & blue combo.

Wednesday was a particularly boring day! I was literally at home all day with the exception of taking Miss 5 to school, so I didn't bother with accessories at all. Had I been going anywhere else I would have worn my red beads from Monday with this dress. I like this dress a lot though because its 100% cotton so very cool and lightweight in our hot climate.

Thursdays outfit was interesting for me. I didn't particularly feel super comfortable in it all day... I think it looked good, but it wasn't really *me*. And you know what, I would never have worked that out had I not forced myself to wear this outfit for the day! In this outfit, the skirt is the same one from Tuesday, and the stripey top I bought 2nd hand from eBay a few years ago.

And today, I'm wearing a favourite dress! This was a maxi-dress that I bought a while ago, but barely wore because, despite the whole world seeming to be maxi-dress crazy, they just aren't for me. So I chopped it off to a much better length and re-hemmed it!

All in all, I quite enjoyed this challenge. It taught me to look at some of my clothes a little differently. I think it would be more challenging to do something like this in Winter when you have a few extra layers to add!

The things I have learned are:

1. I LOVE accessories! I really missed my collection of beads, necklaces, scarves (that I usually use in my hair LOL) and earrings.
   
2. I really don't feel as comfortable in button-thru tops. Even though the one on Thursday wasn't done up, I still felt very "trapped". I think it might be because it brings back memories of uniforms - school and work... also I just think they are too strict and rigid for me... I think they remind me of the *old* me. These days I feel so much more free and relaxed and the stiff woven button-thru shirt just doesn't mesh with that. OK no one can probably understand my ramblings but that's ok LOL
3. I realised how much I love dresses and skirts!
   
4. The only pants in my wardrobe that I truly feel comfortable in are my jeans. Prior to the start of this challenge I tried on a number of combo's, thinking a pair of plain shorts would be a perfect mix & match item... well, they may have been, but I wasn't feeling the love for them so opted for skirts/dresses instead.

So, after this week, I can honestly say that whilst I enjoyed it and learned a lot, I really want to go back to using my accessories!

Of course, I'm not sure how some of the other challenge contenders were able to wear some items of clothing on most days - I only had to wear my skirt twice and managed to dirty it and have to give it a sponge bath between wears LOL

But, now that I've summarised all of that, I think its time for some lunch! And no more chocolate cake for today :D