We wore 30 items of clothes for 30 days!
That is what the #moms30for30 is all about. Picking 30 items in your closet and spending a month putting them together, getting dressed each day, and getting more acquainted with your closet.
In the past, I’ve done this challenge and posted it all on Instagram along with other participants. This time we did it a little different. We had a closed group chat of about 30 women who wanted to take part and shared our outfits and conversation there.
(I shared some of the outfits on my Instagram stories as well!)
Not every person posted and not everyone posted each day – but it was so cool to have this little community following each other along and offering encouragement and their own insights on what they are learning.
5 Insights from the Summer Closet Remix (+all the outfits)
Every time I do this challenge I feel like I am learning new things, and digging deeper into old realizations. With that, I will share my top takeaways from this capsule wardrobe challenge:
-
I can commit more to ‘my style’
It can be so easy to love EVERYTHING. Many trends that come out are so fun and exciting to try. It can be tempting to feel the need to have one of everything in your closet.
A year or so ago, I looked at the theme of my Pinterest style board at the time and asked a facebook group of women to help me ‘name my style’. From that I was able to put together a rough description of the style I feel represents me and how I like to dress.
As I did this challenge I looked at the photos of my outfit and found a few pieces that aren’t fitting ‘my style’. Even if I like the item fine, I am ready to let it go because I don’t need all the trends and all the options.
This year I set a goal in the Life on Purpose workbook to be very intentional about making style purchases I LOVE (I added it to my Outer Expression category).
My mission is to have a wardrobe I LOVE and am excited to wear every day (I’m very very close!). I want more of what I truly love the most and feel like I am editing my closet over time to reflect that. This helped me see a few more items that can be passed on, and get excited about items I love and learned to wear in new ways.
-
I have more than enough
I say this every time, but I needed to see the truth of it again. I really have so much. 30 items is plenty for a whole month (note, my 30 items doesn’t include lounging or gym wear). It really is.
I ended up wearing 25 items this month and had 32 outfits. I could have made more.
This insight showed me that if I have up to 30 things I LOVE in my seasonal wardrobe I can easily dress in the way I want to* for a whole month. This realization also gave me the push to let go of things I reach for least of all, with the confidence that I will always have something to wear that I enjoy wearing.
*I used the hashtag #wearyouwant on Instagram because I think we all need that reminder and permission that we can wear whatever makes us feel like ourselves. We don’t need to fit a mould, play it safe, or stay in the lines. Some of us love polka dots and sequin pants! Some of us love cashmere and guess jeans! WEAR WHAT YOU WANT!!
-
I can get more creative on ways to wear a single piece
This challenge is also good because it helps me stop and pay attention to more options than how I autopilot throw outfits together.
With this challenge, I find myself ‘trying’ different ways to wear a piece. I would put on a shirt and try a bunch of bottoms, skirts and shoes with it. And because I am already in the Dork Zone I take photos, because photos tell us SO MUCH about how an outfit really looks! This process is what I call ‘practicing getting dressed’ and it really is how I learned to dress myself in my late 20s.
It is such a helpful way to get more creative on the ways I can wear something in casual ways, fancy ways, new ways. It makes a piece so much more versatile.
I really do love variety in my wardrobe and usually turn to thrifting to keep a rotation of clothes going. But this challenge reminded me that I can find variety in my closet it as it is with accessories, shoes and trying different combinations.
-
I don’t need backups, there is always something else that will work
This point goes along with number two but it is more about seeing the ‘duplicates’ we have in our closet. I had decluttered these a while ago, but I see that I’m getting back into the habit of accumulating white tees, or black tanks, or skinny jeans of the same shape and tone.
Sure, I enjoy wearing them, but I don’t need duplicates.
In putting together different outfits I learned that other things will work. I don’t need another white tee, I need to just try something new and different with something else in my closet (because, after all, it IS in my closet because I LIKE/LOVE wearing it!)
-
I should rotate my closet more often
Like many of us, we get into a cycle of wearing the same items most often. If you pay attention to what you wash each week, you will see the clothes you repeatedly reach for.
When I selected my 30 items, I put the rest to the side of the closet. I selected items that I wasn’t wearing often to be part of this challenge. I wanted to take the time putting them into outfits and building up the confidence in wearing them. I wore items I rarely ever wear.
It helped me realize that I’m ready to let go of some of them, they just don’t work. It also helped me see the items that I do enjoy and the different ways I can wear them.
I think it can be helpful, if you feel overwhelmed by your closet, to set aside about ten items a week and challenge yourself to wear just those.
GO TO OUTFITS
The best thing about a closet remix is that it gives you 30 new outfits you can just throw on without a lot of fuss and thinking. Well, close to 30, there were some outfits I didn’t like or items I’m ready to let go of.
With that said, here are the 32 outfits I wore for the 30 days of August.
Dresses 3
Skirts 2
Pants 4
Shorts 5
Tees/Blouse 5
Tanks 5
Kimono 1
WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT STYLE? Check out the Style for the Reluctant Mom Series!