30x30: La La LAAAAA!!!

30x30 ITEMS

Polo: Aeropostale, $10

Cardigan (layered under polo): gift

Pinstripe pants: Kohl's, $30

Wedges: Ross, $7

ACCESSORIES REPORT

Earrings: Icing by Claire's, $5

Scarf: free from clothing swap

Peacoat: Papaya brand, free from clothing swap

Right-hand ring: gift

Hear that? It's the sound of a fat pleasantly-plump lady singing, and that means that the SK{ru}SH 30x30 challenge is officially over. Here's a quick recap of the hits and misses, my outfits from the last thirty days. (Psst: sorry that some of the numbers are cut off. If I were any brand of perfectionist, I'd fix it.)

Here's what I learned from working with my narrow wardrobe for one month:

- I've still got a long way to go before wearing a skirt/dress on a weekday feels normal. Growing up, they were reserved for Sundays only, and I have a long-standing preference for pants because of it. If I've done my math correctly, I wore pants twice as often as skirts/dresses during the 30x30, although I had an even number of pieces in both categories. That said, I really love wearing skirts and have several that I adore, so I'm working to make myself feel more okay with wearing them during the week.

- My shoes and t-shirts were the things I missed wearing the most.

- Scarves are wonderful.

- The state of my hair has a huge impact on my confidence level; no matter how good I felt about my outfit, when my hair was in that botched-dye-job stage (days 5-10), I was self-conscious.

- It is really good to take a purposeful break from shopping. I'll definitely do it again.

- I've got serious love for my chartreuse cardigan, plaid shirt, and striped sweater. I had to stop myself from wearing them too often.

- While the 30x30 parameters did seem silly to me at some points ("Look at all the clothes I'm just ignoring for no reason!"), it wasn't hard to live up to them. I could have made ten or twenty more outfits with ease, even if some of them were awfully similar to earlier outfits, and if it weren't for the fact that I was photographing and blogging every single look, I would have felt fine with exact repeats. Consider this a lesson well-learned for any future time spent living abroad: you can do a lot with a little.

So would I do the challenge again? Maybe, but I think a smarter move might be to do a modified version. I'll just have to wait and see how I feel in a few months, assuming Kendi puts out the call again.

In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to a closet without restrictions. I'll be donning some polka dots tomorrow for Everybody, Everywear, and after that, the world is my oyster ... my rainy, rainy oyster. (It's absolutely pouring right now.) Huzzah!