As I mentioned a couple of weeks back now, I decided to participate in the winter 10 x 10 challenge. This exercise was created by one of my favorite bloggers, Lee Vosburgh of Style Bee. To recap, we took 10 items from our wardrobe and styled 10 different looks to be worn over the course of 10 days.
I was a little nervous to do this challenge. I was worried that I wouldn't have time to style and document 10 looks and it was also super nerve-wracking to share videos/photos of myself on Instagram. But, boy, am I glad I did this.
Things I learned over the course of this challenge:
- I feel a lot better when I get dressed. A lot of times since I work for myself and from home, it's easy for me to stay in my workout clothes all day. This challenge made me get dressed after my morning work out and I felt fantastic! Taking the time to get myself ready felt, in the past, like a waste of time. Like I could be spending that time on getting more things done. But taking the time to get dressed just felt like I was putting my best foot forward.
- You can style some many looks with ten neutral pieces. I know you math-oriented people probably could have told me that, but I sort of felt like I could keep going with this challenge after the ten days were up! I think the key there was to select styles I'm loving right now and keep with a neutral color palette.
- I'll never look at packing for a trip the same way. I've gotten better in recent years, but I used to be a notorious over-packer. I feel like for my next trip I would limit myself to ten pieces. If the trip was a short one, It could cut a few things out. And I believe I could fit all of these items in a carry-on suitcase. Then I'd feel impossibly clever and chic with my pared down wardrobe.
-I'm not much of an accessory wearer, but they can totally change a look. On the days I felt like an outfit I was wearing wasn't super different from one I'd worn before, I'd just add a bandana or a hat!
To recap, here were the 10 items I chose...
10 x 10 items
I ended up making a swap in my original selects a few days in to the challenge. I had included a wool jacket in the mix (pictured bottom right), but realized that I was photographing these looks indoors. So, instead, I included a navy jumpsuit.
And here are my 10 looks in the order that I wore them...
day 1: me-made cardigan (it's the uniform cardigan by madder made), everlane t-shirt, vintage jeans from meek vintage, and troentorp clogs.
day 2: eli & barry t-shirt 2 in hemp organic cotton (from last summer, but a similar version will be launching this spring), me-made cardigan, me-made jeans, thrifted beret, blundstones.
day 3: me-made sweater (it's the knit wit x nido turtleneck), me-made jeans, see eyewear glasses, and blundstones.
day 4: vintage jumpsuit from stressed, me-made cardigan, and blundstones.
day 5: eli & barry smock top (launching spring 2018 in a different color/fabric), vintage jeans, and troentorp clogs.
day 6: vintage jumpsuit (worn as pants), everlane t-shirt and troentorp clogs.
day 7: eli & barry smock top, me-made jeans and blundstones.
day 8: me-made sweater, vintage jeans, troentorp clogs, bandana from madewell (old) and slide (the bead around the bandana) from last chance textiles.
day 9: vintage jumpsuit and troentorp clogs.
day 10: me-made cardigan, eli & barry t-shirt 2, vintage jeans and blundstones.
I want to thank everyone who took the initiate to engage with me and follow along while I participated in this challenge! I felt super connected to my Instagram community and my only wish is that I could keep that kind of momentum and inspiration going. I guess there's always the next 10 x 10 challenge. :)