style dilemma solved: 10 pieces, 10 days
Alison of DC Celine is one of the pioneers of the DC fashion blogging scene. She writes about style, the runway, her “Beans” as well as life’s ups and downs. She is a federal contractor by day, an exceptional mom, and–I can personally attest to this–she is also a great friend. Recently, she joined us in our #Stylebook10for10 challenge. Here is the beginning of her recap, an honest and inspiring account of her experience.
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The Alexandria Stylebook team called for volunteers to join their “10 for 10” experiment: 10 pieces of clothing for 10 days. Accessories, shoes, and outerwear? Up to each participant how “hardcore” they wanted to be.
“I don’t have time. I don’t have clean clothes. I don’t like my clean clothes.”
Then I thought about it for a few seconds, without the excuses.
Truth of it is, I’m in a funk. The DayJob is demanding. The Beans have their own demands. Exercise and even eating well, which got me to my #healthyme goal a little over 2 years ago (first post in the series here, and all of them here), aren’t just in the back seat, they’re in the “way back.” I’m up 10-15 pounds from my fit, happy place, where I feel strong and sleek. My closet is full of clothes that fit the strong, sleek me much better than the now me, if at all. I have a few pieces that are more forgiving than others, and I rewear them. Over and over and over.
“So why not?” I thought. I do it anyway.
3 Comments
So honored that you’d share this here. It was a great exercise, and revealed way more than I thought it would. I’m in again, next time you “host!”
Alison, aka DC Celine, knocked it out of the park and gives a great thoughtful account of her takeaway. I finally completed posting the rest of my outfits. Putting together art for the look each day kept me in a more “controlled” version of the challenge instead of the organic approach that Alison navigated. I agree, it was liberating ~ until about day 7 and then I started feeling the fatigue and longing for some new pieces to introduce. It also didn’t help that I was still looking for style inspirations and wanting to channel some of my research into my next outfit. The pieces I selected were a good balance of casual to dressy. I forced myself to use the skirt (completely warm with Plush Fleece Lined Leggings fyi) since I was the stylist who presented the challenge, but was longing for some leggings along the way. One thing is for sure, the process will definitely help me pack for my next trip.
Alicia, I agree, I felt a little pull to add in new, but just didn’t have the headspace in my life to manage prepping like you did. I did think of your setup (especially the leopard print jacket!) when I added pieces in – great inspiration! Can’t wait to hop over and check out your full report, too.