Spring #10x10 Challenge Wrap up

This Spring was my inaugural #10x10challenge. If you’re not familiar, the 10x10 Challenge is an exercise is style and restraint: you’re limited to 10 items of clothing for 10 days. Why? To stretch your style muscle, make dressing for 2 weeks easier, and to prove that it’s possible to dress with less without sacrificing personal style.

Prepping

Prepping for this 10x10 challenge was a bit...well, challenging. It’s just starting to feel more like Spring here in my new city of Sacramento. In fact, when I was putting together my 10 items, I checked the weather and it was supposed to be in the 70s during week 2 (a huge swing from the ~50s and rainy it’s been the last few weeks). I hadn’t switched my wardrobe to Spring yet, but I did sneak into my auxiliary closet (where I keep off-season clothes and costumes) for a couple items to include.

Another challenge was that I had a professional photoshoot during the first week, and I wasn’t sure if I should count the outfits for that in the 10 pieces or not. Ultimately I decided to work them in—after all, this challenge is about creativity, getting out of your comfort zone, and wearing things you don’t always wear and in new ways!

10 Pieces

Something that made this challenge easier for me (at least easy to prep for) is that I already have a somewhat limited wardrobe and color palette. Ever since I got into Color Analysis, I’ve begun paring back my wardrobe to only clothes within my color palette. The great thing about that is everything (theoretically) goes together! For this challenge, I initially went with a pretty simple, springy palette of white and red, with neutral accents of pink, gray, black (but gingham, so it reads as gray), and blue jeans.

Breakdown:

1. White button-up from J.Crew

2. “Salut” white and red t-shirt from J.Crew (similar t-shirt)

3. White jumpsuit from Club Monaco (currently marked down!)

4. Gingham blazer from Club Monaco (currently marked down!)

5. Red sweater from Ann Taylor (similar from Everlane)

6. Pink cashmere sweater by Barney’s New York, purchased at Saks Off Fifth (similar from Everlane)

7. High-rise, skinny jeans from Madewell

8. Red trousers from J.Crew (similar from Antrhopologie)

9. Tan wooden-heeled mules by Report Shoes purchased at Nordstrom Rack

10. Gray suade slip-on flatform sneakers by Vince purchased at Nordstrom Rack (similar in white)

With my 10 pieces chosen, I was ready to start the challenge!

However, I checked the weather again on the first morning of the challenge, it was saying rain was coming week 2, not 70+ degree weather. I let it go the first day, but when I checked the second day it still said rain and gloom, so I decided to pull a mulligan and switch out a couple of pieces: the “salut” t-shirt and the red pants.

Here’s what I replaced them with:

• Oatmeal mock-neck wool and cashmere sweater by Vince purchased at Saks Off Fifth (similar from Vince)

• Burgundy wide-leg trousers from Reformation (similar vibe from Nordstrom Rack)

My new color palette focused more on neutrals than red after the switch, and had a little more color variation and more “winter” colors and textures.

10 Days

Here’s what I wore.

Week one, I had a photoshoot on Wednesday (with the lovely Christina Best), which meant I ended up wearing 2 different outfits that day. Why are there still only 5, you ask? Because I ended up wearing the second outfit again on Friday. #outfitrepeater

On Friday I cheated.

I volunteer for Creative Mornings Sacramento and we had an event on Friday, so I wore my CMSac t-shirt in the morning during the event (and then promptly changed into the red sweater when I got home.

I also changed into jeans in the evening to go to a very casual birthday party. I didn’t post that photo because, again, I re-wore that outfit in week 2.

Week two ended up not being as rainy and gloomy as I anticipated (and planned for). It’s also the week we went to see Hamilton (!!!!!!!!!), which meant I changed up what I planned to wear a bit in order to look a little more polished (I switched out the slip-ons for the mules).

Wrap Up

How did I do?

I think I did pretty alright for my first #10x10Challenge. Aside from the weather confusion and the one incident of cheating (which I don’t think really counts, right?), I followed the rules and managed to pull off 10 pretty unique outfits without too much trouble. I had the right mix and number of pieces to create enough variety in my outfits to stay interesting and not look like (and feel like) I’m wearing the same thing every day. Because of #thegrid, I was more conscious of the order of outfits than I otherwise would have been, but that added another interesting challenge.

Here’s the breakdown of how much use I got out of each piece:

So, was it wise to switch out the t-shirt and pants from my original 10?

Not sure. I definitely preferred the burgundy trousers to the red. They’re more comfortable and were more subtle, so it didn’t feel as weird to wear them casually. The sweater only ended up being worn once. Even though I put together 3 outfits that I liked using the sweater, I only wore one of them because it was just not cold enough to justify a wool sweater AND a blazer. Ultimately, I think I made the best decision with the information I had, but next time I might not swing so far in the other direction and choose maybe a long sleeved t-shirt or another button-up instead.

What did I think?

As I mentioned, this was the first time I’d participated in a #10x10. Overall, I thought it was really fun! I really love problem solving, creating systems, planning, and fashion, so this was kind of my sweet spot. In fact, now that I don’t have such a limited wardrobe, I do find it harder to get dressed. I think that mostly has to do with the planning, though. It was really nice to have a full 2 weeks worth of outfits planned out. So much extra time and brain cycles!

What did I learn?

So much!

1. “Wild card” spots are a major key.
   As I mentioned, I ended up switching out 2 items on the second day of the challenge. I thought this was “cheating”, but I learned from Alex Hood (over at Tinted Green) that a lot of people have “wild card” spots, which means they only choose 8 or 9 pieces at the outset and then let circumstances dictate what items you fill in later. This would have been super helpful! I would have kept the last spot open and probably would not have chosen the sweater, but a lighter shirt. Maybe even that t-shirt (but probably a something with long or 3/4 sleeves.)

2. Pre-planning is helpful, but also difficult.
   I picked some pretty simple items (my style tends to be pretty simple), so I assumed my combos would be pretty boring. I didn’t think creating 10 outfits would be that challenging, but I was a little worried that they would all kind of look the same. So far, though, that hasn’t really been an issue. The real hard part was deciding what to wear on what day, keeping in mind the weather, any events for the day, and #thegrid. Had I chosen more appropriate items for the weather, this may have been less difficult.

3. Weather.
   Boy, I did not expect this challenge to revolve so much around the weather! But it makes sense, especially since it’s Spring and the weather can be so unpredictable. I’ve never been so obsessed with whether or not it’s going to rain in a week…except for the lead up to my outdoor wedding, when I was checking the weather daily for 3 months.

4. Color Analysis was a life saver.
   I mentioned briefly before, but my seasonal capsule already have a limited palette based on my Personal Color Palette. This made choosing 10 pieces to mix and match MUCH easier, because everything in my closet more-or-less goes together.

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