I was so consistent here and then, as it always happens, I lost interest, or time maybe? Unclear.
I have since successfully completed the 100 day dress challenge! I had really hoped to share more along the way (and I have at least 3 drafted posts sitting, waiting to be edited and published - I do hope to bring them to you eventually). Part of what I found hardest about the 100 day dress challenge was posting every day. There were so many days where I all but forgot to take a picture and had to get dressed again, or days where I had a crappy day and didn't want to take a picture. Some of those days I couldn't get a picture I wanted to share, and the process of having to share it made me PRETTY MISERABLE.
There was a stretch in the middle, lets call it day 40-65, where I struggled with the challenge. I wasn't putting much effort into my outfit and just felt kind of apathetic and bored. I frequently felt sloppy and unkempt, which never doesn't make me feel like my best self. It is no coincidence that around day 65 we started to get springy weather up here, which opened up a whole new perspective, springy weather and the chance for bare legs and lighter sweaters and jackets. It is hard not to feel a buzz of joy when temps start consistently staying over 45 degrees here. I'm also sure being that close to finishing the challenge put a little pep in my step. I'm not sure what would have happened if I'd started this earlier or later in the year and instead done it over a whole season instead of over a changing season. I think the social media engagement still would have bummed me out - it made me feel like it was a chore and took some of the joy out of the process.
Part of the challenge is filling out a survey of long answer questions about your experience and what you've learned in your 100 day challenge, and I wish I'd waited a little longer to fill it out, because now, at 3 weeks out is where I'm really starting to see and feel impacts.
You know the advice that someone gives you, and you think you know what it means and you understand it but its not until weeks, months, or years later when it really clicks that you go, "OOH that's what that means!" Maybe its age, maybe its experience, but I feel like that about a lot of advice lately. The 100 Day Dress Challenge solidified and reinforced a lot of things that I've been thinking, saying, reading about for years but has never materialized in my wardrobe. In no particular order here they are;
1) Looking good an pulled together doesn't mean you have to be uncomfortable. I own a lot of clothes that don't fit, or are uncomfortable because I've believed that's just how clothes are, and that if I want to look professional or cute or put together it means wearing things that are structured or fitted and don't make you feel at ease. There were many days when I wore the dress and felt miserable, sloppy, fuzzy headed, disheveled, depressed, and cranky - because I threw it on over sweats, or pajamas, because it needed a wash and I hadn't washed it, because I didn't feel like getting dressed so I put on the nearest thing. There were also many days where I spent a total of 5 minutes picking clothes, putting on earrings and felt super pulled together and adorable, and got tons of compliments - even if I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and I felt comfortable all day. This led me to 2 and 3.
2) My mood and how I dress are related, and matter. Even if I work up in a bad mood, or after little sleep, if I put on an outfit with the dress that I felt great in, I eventually felt better. If I threw my dress on over the nearest leggings and teeshirt, and threw my hair up, I found my day didn't get better. I've never been a huge believer in the idea that getting dressed in anything in particular makes a difference - and this really challenged me to see the ways it is true.
3) There's a difference between a wardrobe and owning clothes and single outfits. Part of my struggle to get dressed, especially working from home full time, was "I don't want to wear an uncomfortable outfit to sit around at home when I can wear sweats, or leggings, or jeans and a teeshirt." or "I want to wear this top/these pants/this dress but the only thing I have to wear it with isn't work/weather appropriate." The dress forced me to build a wardrobe where I had more options for outfits than not. I found myself wearing, and rewearing a capsule of items that I felt best in, and getting rid of a lot of the rest.
These feel like kind of trite things to say, and I think these aren't always easy or accessible things for everyone depending on your relationship with your body, and financial situation. These are things that really resonated with me and that I can say I directly learned from this, but I don't expect or think that's a universal experience. Plus from my own experience these were all things that previously I thought "yeah definitely build a wardrobe" and continued to invest in statement pieces and "it would be cute if it just fit a little better, I'm sure I can make it work" pieces. There is also a huge piece of this linked to the bodies and body image society values and those they don't (especially on the level of comfort in what you wear and how you present) that I am by no means an expert on, and that is a complicated relationship for everyone.
So how is this showing up in my life now?
1) Big wardrobe clean up. I have donated, or tossed things that aren't comfortable, or don't make me feel good to wear without agonizing over it like I usually do.
2) Smarter shopping (kind of). I went to Target for the first time since being full vaccinated with the intent to wander. I pulled a ton of fun summer stuff off the shelves. Dressing rooms are being used to vaccinate people, or are closed for customer safety. So I did what so many of us do, I took off as many layers as I could while still staying appropriately dressed in public and tried things on. With almost all of them I had the experience I so often do of, "well, it fits and it isn't unwearable, and the idea of it is so cute! Maybe its just that I have it on over jeans and a tee-shirt." Reader, it was not just that I had it on over jeans and a tee-shirt, and I knew that. So I put them back! Instead I bought one pair of paper bag waistband linen blend pants, which I took home and tried on with a few things - ultimately I loved them so much I bought a second pair in another color. Yes, they are still fast fashion which I am trying to move away from, (and which is a whole separate project and undertaking).
3) I like getting dressed and feel very cute and comfortable on a daily basis. I consider this a HUGE win. It's been some time since I have consistently felt good about what I'm wearing, and felt like I have one wardrobe and not my "in the house/running errands clothes" and my "leave the house clothes." I also don't spend time picking an outfit that I'm never quite happy with. I've even felt occasionally like I want to share outfits on social media because I'm so happy with them, which is new.
I hope that the lessons from the 100 day challenge continue to grow with me. I've said before and will say again, this was an excellent catalyst for solidifying a lot of ideas that I had floating in the ether of my thoughts, and taking action. There's a lot of work around clothes, body image, and my relationship to both that I've put in, and that I know I will need to continue to do, but I'm very happy with where I've landed. I had a hard time writing this one, partially because my brain moves so much faster than my fingers, partially because there are like 6 entire books in here I could flesh out, and partially because it sounds so pedantic and obnoxious to me. I've read posts like this. I've spent a lot of time thinking about a sustainable wardrobe, about creating the wardrobe I want to have and the overlap with the wardrobe I need, can afford, and have the time for. So all that to say, I want to acknowledge the long and complicated, and unclear path many of us have with clothes, our bodies, capitalism and that I have huge privilege. Privilege in my whiteness, my economic status, and even my size and where I can shop and find cute things sized for me. I feel very grateful to have been able to do the 100 day challenge, and reflect on it in intellectual and tangible ways. I hope that what I have to say is interesting, or helpful to someone out there - and if its not that's ok too!
As for the future of this blog, I'm not sure! I'd like to continue to talk about my wardrobe goals, knitting projects, and maybe some book reviews? We'll see what we can keep up with!