For December's style posts I decided to pick out 10 go-to items to make it easy to put together 10 outfits - here's a recap of all of the looks I came up with:
We've got another family holiday gathering today, so the pieces in this holiday mini capsule are still totally appropriate - but the great thing about them is they really work for the whole winter season (good thing, because there's a lot of winter to come around here...). It's just super easy to amp them up into festive wear for December!
The outfit combo of blouse + red flats + army green jacket is a long-standing favorite of mine, so it's even better when putting it on puts me instantly in the "festive" category for the season... Christmas colors!
(Also even better because if I'm wearing this in December, that means it's warmed up enough that the snow has melted off the sidewalks...)
Jeans and a blouse is a great base for any season, I think - just stick on a scarf or necklace that suits, and you've got a nice, pulled-together outfit. So for that reason this blouse earned a spot in my holiday season mini capsule, for about the 4th time. I especially love this one with the embellished bib front, because it pretty much makes an outfit on its own - fancy flats and seasonal colors are just icing on the cake. (Or bows on the present, if we're being Christmasy about it?!)
Something I would have never thought was for me? (Faux) leather leggings. But as my mom always says, "never say never" - because after seeing them remixed on a couple of blogs in the fall, I started thinking about how well they could work with my wardrobe to make some pretty fun holiday outfits. Here are two - dressed down and dressed up - with items from my 10x10 holiday capsule:
The first outfit is a more casual version that's cozy for things like cookie decorating parties and the like (or, just for feeling festive on a Monday, like I did in this outfit!). And then the second was what I wore to our neighborhood holiday open house. I love these flats, especially paired with a plaid scarf, for some instant seasonal pizazz, and the leggings made the outfit feel relaxed but amped up a notch - perfect for eating appetizers/desserts and drinking wine in neighbors' homes. (Note that I walked over to said houses in boots, and then when I left them at the door with everyone else's wet things, I could slip on these flats from my purse - a brilliant move that caused a little envy.)
Speaking of cozy, these pants are surprisingly so. I ended up with this version from Loft, and they're nice and thick, plus the inside is a nice soft fleecy feel. I was a little worried they looked too plasticky at first, but I decided to just rock them. After trying on several from Nordstrom, these were the best bet - not too tight, not too thin, not too expensive. The Spanx pair gets a lot of good reviews, but to me they looked more like shimmery fabric than faux leather, and they were super thin.
So what do you think? Could you get on board with the leather legging look?
My holiday season 10x10 challenge capsule is meant to give me options for festive outfits with minimal thought required, and it came good on its promise for the quintessential holiday season family outing: picking out our Christmas tree!
Plaid + burgundy boots = festive feels, and adding a down vest on top (with pattern mixing to boot!) = a cozy casual vibe. Plus some excellent sunshine made going coat-less a possibility!
Funny (or not) story about the tree we brought home: a few hours after Hendrik and I got it all decorated with lights and our new ornaments, we were giving him a bath upstairs when we heard the sound of an ornament crashing down... or was that a bunch of them?! Yeah. It was the whole tree. Good thing I went with the shatterproof ornaments, it turns out.
I've seen this ruched dress raved about on a few blogs, and I thought the long-sleeved style would be so perfect and versatile for the chillier months - and then I realized that it would actually also be perfect for the holiday season with a few key additions, so I included it in my holiday season 10x10 challenge lineup. And now I present five ways to wear a black dress for the holiday season!
1. sparkly: perfect for parties with the addition of a sparkly necklace (some bold red shoes and lips don't hurt).
2. sporty: make it cozy and casual with a vest and scarf.
3. cozy: for a more casual holiday party, it's festive cozy with a cardigan and seasonal flats.
4. as a skirt: give a dress a whole new life with a shirt over top - now it's a skirt! Plaid with red in it is my favorite for the season.
5. with a wrap: a great way to change things up with a scarf is draping it like a shawl. Extra fun when you've got burgundy boots to go with it!
So as you can see, a black dress might not seem like the thing for the season at first glance, but it's totally holiday-appropriate if you just add one (or more) of my go-to holiday season elements: red, plaid, or metallic/sparkle!
Even though I don't need to do any suitcase packing for the holidays anymore (a major perk of moving back to your hometown - getting to do all of the family holiday events, while still sleeping in your own bed!), I still love a good holiday mini capsule that incorporates some festive reds and plaids...
There's just something about getting dressed in December that makes me excited about mixing and matching lots of outfits - partly because I have a few holiday season favorites (like a Christmasy plaid shirt and flats that spell noel) that want to get a lot of wear in a short amount of time, and partly because there are a lot of events and gatherings that call for nice ensembles.
So with how well my fall 10x10 challenge (10 items, 10 outfits) went, I thought I would go for it again this month. Very excited about the remixing possibilities of this lineup, and the excuse to insert a little bit of festivity into my everyday wear (not to mention some great dressing up possibilities for any parties!).
I really enjoy putting together monthly mini capsules of current wardrobe favorites that mix and match well together, so it's probably not a surprise that the 10x10 challenge (make 10 outfits out of 10 items) caught my attention. So I focused my October capsule this way, and it was a lot of fun to stretch to 10 outfits, from the 5-6 outfits I usually come up with from a capsule of this size.
So here is a recap of all of my outfits (you can see original posts here, and a collage of the items here). It's not surprising that they look quite cohesive, since they're made up of the same items, but I do appreciate how they manage to look not too similar. Moral of the story, you can do a lot with a little... and I'm feeling energized about streamlining my wardrobe again after this.
Overall, I am pretty darn pleased with all of these outfits, actually, but I think the last one, with the white jeans and suede jacket, has to be my favorite. (Helps that it came with an extremely delicious date night dinner.) What's your favorite? Have you done a challenge like this? I want to see more examples, now that I'm all jazzed about this!
The final outfit in the 10x10 challenge is thanks to Pinterest... I was already fully intending to include my favorite new jacket as one of my 10 items, and then when I spotted this fabulous way to make white jeans work for fall and date night at the same time (via Extra Petite), I immediately added in a camel sweater. And then lined up a babysitter and recreated the look (+ had an amazing dinner out with my mister).
Besides getting a great date night outfit from some Pinspiration, this is a win for the 10x10 challenge because it's something I think I wouldn't have come up with on my own - and I loved it. (Though I admit this outfit actually has a tiny cheat on the 10x10 challenge since these shoes aren't in my lineup - but hey! It's my blog. And they're very similar to the ankle boots I selected for the challenge - but way better for date night.)
If last week's outfit was "black and white and red all over", then this week's is the "tan all over" version of spicing up a simple black and white outfit - except for the whole "it's late October and the summer tan has faded" part, of course...
My October 10x10 challenge outfits are wrapping up, and this sweater is making its first appearance - along with some excitement about achieving one of the challenge's purposes: creative and effective utilization of my wardrobe. This sweater has nearly been on the closet cleanout chopping block several times because I just don't wear it that much, sometimes wondering if I really like the color or the fit. But pairing it with gingham and all-cognac accessories gave it some new life that I am quite pleased with.
And now that I also know about the idea of putting it under a matching jacket? It's a keeper! Stay tuned for that look on Thursday... Sharing on Trend Spin, Hello Monday, Mix It Mondays.
Recently I happened upon a J.Crew denim dress in my size when listing some items on Poshmark and though I don't really enjoy second-hand online shopping personally (too much to sift through!) I just couldn't pass up the deal (I think I paid $15?) on this classic J.Crew item, when it basically fell into my lap.
The thicker material and long sleeves make it a dress that's perfect for fall - especially because you can do bare legs in the transition period and then add leggings or tights as it gets colder.
I knew right away I wanted to include it in my list of options for my October 10x10 challenge not only because of this perfect season-appropriateness but also because it seemed like it would be really versatile. So I added an extra challenge, to see if I could remix it 5 ways, with just items from my challenge:
1. with a pop of red: the dress is cute on its own, but even cuter with red shoes and lips!
2. with a pop of stripes: Pinterest suggested this cute layering idea to me - bonus that it makes it even warmer if needed for a chilly fall day.
3. belted: easy, peasy - and though I usually don't try to be super matchy, I liked tying all the cognac accessories together.
4. bundled: plaid scarves = fall, and with my suede moto jacket, I think it makes a really cute and cozy look with this dress.
5. casual: adding some leggings underneath turns it into a more casual tunic type look. A bit of a different style for me, but I liked it to change things up.
So obviously I could be wearing this for pretty much any type of event I have planned for the weekend... maybe I'll go with the first one for Hendrik's birthday bash tomorrow!
What's black and white and (pops of) red all over? The next stylings of my striped tee in the 10x10 remixing challenge! I'm also going with "well read all over" as a label for this outfit, because adding my glasses (that I wear only occasionally) always makes me feel like I'm giving off smart vibes for the day...
The moto jacket was a nice layer to add on a blustery fall day, but mostly I wanted this outfit to be all about the graphic black and white stripes paired with the bright red on the shoes and lips. Such a simple combination of jeans + tee + flats, but the graphic punch makes it turn into an outfit. Kind of my favorite kind of outfit to wear.
And I can't deny that the tassels on the flats make any outfit just a bit more punchy - aren't they great? Almost as great as the cutest tiniest tassels on this bracelet.
Back at it with the white jeans for fall - this time featuring the stripes and slides from my 10x10 challenge lineup. Some pops of fall-ish colors in the accessories make it all work for a mild early October day:
I've been seeing cute mules like these all over the place (by which I mean the internet) and have been tempted by this trend, but they don't end up seeming that practical for Michigan - we're fast approaching sock weather... meaning my heels are going to need warmth and/or protection from something cold and wet (can't say the s*word yet).
So when I saw these slides on clearance for $6 at Target the other week, I thought it would be the perfect compromise of something inexpensive but wearable while we're having way warmer than usual weather that is a similar idea. They're super comfy and give kind of a cool Madewell-y vibe to an outfit, I think, so I'm going to be pleased to style them more summer-like next year too!
Yesterday I introduced my 10x10 wardrobe challenge, and today I'm back with outfit #1: a plaid look perfect for apple picking! And also for bringing white jeans into fall (another favorite pastime).
Now, while plaid and some go-anywhere ankle boots might seem like the perfect thing for a fall orchard visit, white jeans probably don't seem so obvious. Besides the "it's fall" part, there's the dirt factor. But I really don't let wearing white jeans hold me back from anything in life - being after Labor Day, being with a kid, being outside, drinking red wine. I mean, I don't spill on myself or trip or whatever that often, so why worry extra about protecting the white jeans? (The only thing I don't do is go anywhere near my bike - I'm notoriously bad about getting grease from the chain on myself.)
Plus it only took us about 10 minutes to bag 30 pounds of apples from about 3 trees - good pickings! - and then we went out to eat at the quaint old-timey restaurant, so it's actually more of a dinner outfit. Faux farm for me.
I've followed along as a few of my best blog buddies, like Erin and Kimi, have participated in the 10x10 remix challenge, and I loved the idea - all you need to do is select 10 items (tops, bottoms, shoes) from your wardrobe and make 10 outfits from them. And have fun getting creative!
This actually isn't all that different from what I do with making monthly mini capsules, or my travel capsules - the intention being to have some fun with your wardrobe, and along the way challenge yourself to take a somewhat minimalist approach to a wardrobe, to figure out a cohesive style for myself, and to make getting dressed a breeze (sometimes fewer choices = way less time trying to figure out what on earth to wear). I usually do about the same number of items, but actually pulling together 10 different outfits and photographing them? Still a little bit of a challenge
I was thinking it would be a lot more fun to do this 10x10 thing when it was good layering weather, so I kept it on the back burner until fall... and now here's what I come up with! Kind of the chillier weather version of the black & tan thing I had going on in August. All of these neutrals are super easy to mix and match, and they feel pretty cozy for the season too.
These items have already provided me a most excellent apple orchard outing ensemble, and then a great date night outfit the next night - stay tuned for photos of those, and of course 8 others, to come!
