A new fashion challenge (in search of a catchy name)

I got an anonymous comment the other day, lamenting the fact that I post more about food than fashion these days. Yes, eating and cooking is where my interest lies lately, and I have to confess, I am hanging onto blogging altogether by my fingertips; I am extremely stressed about work and all the changes going on there, and it's about all I can do to get through the day and collapse into a mindless heap watching TV and playing online games on Facebook. Setting up photos, writing blog posts, it often just feels like a lot of work.

Add to that I am not at a weight I feel comfortable in, my hair is a disaster, and I am watching all the current trends with a horrified eye (is the fur vest thing over yet? god, emerald green, really? why are all the Nordstrom blouses for plus sizes shaped like muumuu's? when is the uniform of skinny pants/short sparkly tops/megahigh platform heels going to go away, so we can stop looking like hookers?), and I lost my favorite indoor corner for outfit shots (Hubby hung a shoe container on the back of the office door), and I've got myself a soupcon of self-pitying disinterest in fashion. I've mentioned before, I really am just repeating the same boring outfits over and over. It occurred to me the other day that my shopping has decreased significantly. I used to go pretty much every weekend, returning things I bought online through the week, making the rounds of my favorite stores, etc. Now if I go once a month it's a big deal. I never thought my passion for fashion would change THAT much!

My buddy Sheila at Ephemera just kicked off this year-long challenge, where each month she chooses 30 pieces that she will wear for the whole month. Sheila is an extremely creative woman who loves variety and has an amazing closet and lifestyle to go with all of her outfits, so I'm looking forward to seeing how her creativity comes to life when she limits her options. Her decision also got me thinking about my current outfit rotation; when I first read it I thought, well I kind of am already doing that. I used to think when I started blogging that I would hate that; I tried a couple of remix challenges where I wore 10 pieces for a week, or 30 pieces for a month, and it did not work for me. I loved having a big closet with tons of options, I loved wearing all my sweet dresses, and ultimately I chafed under the restrictions, and was pretty resentful of the whole project by the time I finished.

But it struck me that maybe bloggers do have the better attitude about it than I do; instead of calling it "wear the same boring clothes over and over" they call it "remixing". Or they set up challenges for themselves to see how many or few items they can remix over a period of time. Or other bloggers pride themselves on creating a "small closet" with pieces they can easily mix and match together.

So I'm creating a challenge for myself. My intention is not to voluntarily limit anything I wear; I know myself well enough to know that as soon as I say, "I can't wear that", I will desperately want to wear it. What I want to do is track and document how many times I really do wear all of my clothes. It's a challenge to myself to pay attention to what I am wearing again, to keep track on a spreadsheet of repeated items, to take a picture every day again.

I'm not going to be embarrassed that I'm repeating the same items, I'm just gonna wear my clothes like a normal person. I've had this blog for almost three years now, and I think I've gotten caught up in the fashion-blogosphere idea that unless I am constantly reinventing my style or wearing clothes in a creative, fresh way, it's not worth blogging about. That's stinkin' thinkin', as Stuart Smalley would say, and it's time to stop.

I've built my spreadsheet, and I took my first photo yesterday.



Bobeau teal cardigan, Gap polka-dot blouse, Gap Real Straight pants, Naturalizer cuffed booties, BR pewter lariat necklace. I anticipate all of these to have many little x's as the weeks progress.




I'm keeping track by item to see how many times I repeat. There are no rules about limiting new items, or the number of times I can wear anything, etc. I'm just getting dressed every morning in whatever fits/is clean/is appropriate for my day/I feel like wearing, and I will take a picture and track it on the spreadsheet. I can't guarantee I will post it every day, but I will post as often as I can.

All I need now is a catchy name for my challenge.

Dress Like A Normal Person challenge?
You're Wearing That Again? challenge?
Rethinking Remixing challenge?
Fashionstyle challenge?

Hmm. Any suggestions?


P.S. Thank you Anonymous, for getting me thinking about fashion again. But I should warn you, there will still be plenty of food and foodstyle posts. :)