Being a math person, I found this graphic fascinating. Since I am pear-shaped, I always wore dark colors on the bottom to help balance out my body. I never considered how this had put me in first category of this graphic. I wore jeans almost every day with many different colored tops. I also read about the "Lucky Dozen", where Lucky magazine used 13 pieces to create 31 outfits (http://thefeistyhouse.com/2012/03/becoming-frugalista-lucky-dozen-html/). I began to see that visually my outfits looked the same, since I only wore dark colored bottoms, and that maybe it would be ok to branch out to different colored bottoms.
I had a really hard time finding colored pants in a curvy fit (I guess I'm not alone in wanting only dark colors to attempt to hide my bottom half), but I ordered a pair of "burnt ochre" curvy corduroy pants from Old Navy, and a friend of mine brought them to me in her suitcase after a trip to the U.S.
At the end of October, before my colored corduroy pants came in, I did my first ever "two week packing challenge." I decided to pretend that I had only a suitcase-worth of clothing to wear for two weeks and to try to make as many different outfits as possible from a small number of clothes. In the two graphics below are my clothing items and the outfits I actually wore during those two weeks.
First I chose my colors, which would end up being my focus colors for the entire fall: burnt orange, teal, and neutrals of navy, brown, and white. I chose 4 shirts (burnt orange, teal, white, & navy striped), 2 pairs of pants (dark jeans and dark green corduroy pants), 1 skirt (brown corduroy), 2 blazers (brown corduroy and teal/light blue) , 1 sweater (navy), 3 scarves (brown, white, and blue/orange patterned), 2 pairs of earrings (white pearls and bronze trees), 2 boots (tall camel boots and short dark brown booties), and 1 purse (brown).
I realize there are not 14 outfits - due to the nature of my job, I don't often see the same people every day, and so I repeated these outfits. I found that I could even wear the same outfit two days in a row and no one would know the difference! It greatly reduced my morning stress about what to wear, and I still looked put-together.
The outfit that was the most out of my comfort zone was the orange shirt and light blue blazer. I had never put them together before, but I thought the scarf tied the colors together nicely. Surprisingly, after I made this graphic and looked at the outfits all next to each other, it was my favorite! I've always known that, with my coloring, black makes me looked washed out, but I never realized that what I really need is to have a real color next to my face, preferably blue or green to offset my hair and skin tone. In the picture with the blue scarf, my face looks so much softer. Even the white or brown scarf couldn't compare to how much more flattering the blue scarf was next to my face.
I should mention that shortly before this two-week challenge, I started using the Stylebook app for iPhone. It's not free, but it was $3 very well-spent, in my opinion. For my schedule, it is a great help to write down who I saw in what outfits, so that I can repeat outfits only when I am seeing different people. I also like that I can plan my outfits when I have downtime and not have to stress about what to wear in the morning. I often plan my outfits for the week on Monday (our day off) through the next Sunday.
In November, I went shopping to buy a few things to help make my wardrobe be more mix-and-match. Probably my best purchases were a teal dress, an orange blazer, and a navy/orange plaid shirt. I also bought some gold necklaces and earrings, since recently learning that gold looks better on my skin tone that silver. I bought my first ever skinny belt, which I now love. At the end of November, I had a true packing challenge as we traveled to visit some American friends for Thanksgiving. I tried to put my new mix-and-match skills to work and pack lighter than in the past.
For my Thanksgiving packing, I focused mainly on my core colors of teal and burnt orange, bringing only colored scarves. I brought 5 t-shirts for layering (white, teal, orange, cream/navy stripe, navy/grey stripe), 1 orange blouse (which I never wore), 1 denim chambray shirt, 2 blazers (orange and light blue), 1 sweater (navy), 1 dress (teal), dark jeans, burnt ochre cords, dark brown fleece leggings, 3 colored scarves, my new skinny belt, one long necklace, 2 pairs of earrings (white pearls and bronze leaves), 3 pairs of shoes (tall camel boots, dark brown booties, and tan slip-ons).
I only took one outfit picture over Thanksgiving break (seen below), and I also purchased a few new items: an orange/navy plaid shirt, a long gold necklace, and a leopard print scarf (my first animal print ever!).
This is the outfit I wore on Thanksgiving Day, and it was so awesome to be able to eat with out wearing "real" pants. I felt like I was wearing pajamas it was so comfortable!
In the beginning of December, I primarily continued to use my "Thanksgiving wardrobe." Around the middle of the month, I began wearing more Christmas-themed outfits, which will be the topic of my next post!
