I promised a roundup thread and with some delay here is the attempt to summarise whys, whats and what nexts.

[ Outfit 1 | Outfit 2 | Outfit 3 | Outfit 4 | Outfit 5 | Outfit 6 + extras ]

Initially I did not plan to do a series of Flavia inspired outfits. I thought it was enough to do one outfit, write a few lines about what impressed me about her and move on. But that first outfit felt good and very me, and the comments that followed were surprisingly positive, which led me to think I was onto something… so I continued.

What drew me to Flavia's style is the simplicity I try to achieve with my outfits and the fact she's already where I want to be. Her clothes is secondary to her personality and she could have easily worn the same thing all the time and I really could not tell. All I knew was that it all fitted her perfectly and nothing was off.

All the outfits I wore had maximum happiness factor for me. But, even despite that I was surprised to find out I am still not ready to fully go down the route of very few colours and silhouettes. Part of me still wants to wear something crazy (or crazy for me), unexpected or totally off - because I now feel like I know what to do with any piece of clothing, so I'm making up for the years lost in feeling frustrated by my wardrobe.

Or so I thought… what was interesting is that in the week that followed, Picture Perfect Challenge presented me with some situations where I was torn between wearing 'crazy' stuff just because I could justify wearing anything due to participating in the challenge, and wearing what Flavia-week left me with: reliable base outfit created in neutrals with just one accent element which elevates the outfit and paints that one 'me' detail I wanted to highlight.

Apart from not being fully ready to go minimal but striving for it eventually, and careful selection of detail that will infuse character into the outfit, one other thing that I became aware of yet again was the importance of the right piece of clothing: the right fabric, the right cut and fit, the right comfort level. I'm at the stage when I'm still going through a lot of my wardrobe like through the food in the overstuffed pantry - I'm checking what's nearing expiry date and assessing if there's truly any reason left to hold on to it; or I'm creating the meal with the leftovers because it's bordering insane to give up on perfectly good pieces which even suit my style, but I also know there are simply not enough situations in which I can wear every combination I can think of. Therefore I should stick with the favourite pieces alone, I know, and I'm now focused on letting go of what's distracting me from wearing those pieces I enjoy the most.

This brings me to something else - I wore very small number of clothes during the Flavia-week and I was deliberately not reaching for different pieces for as long as I could. I was following Lisa's challenge an her thoughtful management of a small subset of her own wardrobe, so I knew it could be done. Wearing little in terms of variety - but a lot in terms of loving what I wore - just emphasised something that Claire summed up perfectly in her comment:

• I think that careful curating paves the way to effortless dressing because the work has all been done on the front end.

I now know that choosing between very few items makes me feel serene. I like not having to think about too many options, but having a reliable base(s) which will be the playground for adding something else. It was freeing to put in practice what I already wrote about earlier this year - that too much inspiration left me at times bewildered by the options and I had to draw the line somewhere in order to wear everything I wanted to try.

I was not bored of wearing the same base things because there were so many options to change the final outfit - be it the choice of the accessory or the way it was worn. There was a reason to it all and I found a lot of pleasure in knowing it was all a choice.

Reading the comments was as interesting experience as ever. I find it fascinating how I'm beginning to see new layers to my own clothing choices when others interpret them. Had it not been for the comments, I would have not thought that maybe

• intention + own = effortless

or maybe even better

• intention --> own --> effortless

but after this series I do think it's the intention directed into the choice of something which essentially helps to own the look. This is the key to wearing it confidently, which in turn projects the that effortless vibe we keep getting back to.

Finally, I'll leave you with Gaylene's comment which summed it all perfectly:

• But Carter's comment: Whatever it is, it's intentional, not just something that "goes", and your thoughts on distilling down, and the realisation that something as small as a red cord on a pair of glasses could be important made me realize it's these interesting, intentional, thoughtful bits that really personalize our style. Our outfits become interesting because they are reflections of these small, but ever so deliberate, choices about what we want to say about ourselves, right down to the cord that wraps around our glasses, or the way we choose to tie a scarf around our necks, or the careful way we echo the buttons of a sweater with the bracelets on our wrist--and it's the distilling, or simplicity, that makes the precision and thoughtfulness of our choices apparent because these subtle details don't get elbowed aside by a host of other attention-grabbing counterparts.

Where does this experiment leave -- or lead -- me? There's no doubt Flavia's clean style with subtle, but intentional details is something I want to evolve towards. When or how I'll get there, or where I may be side-tracked to, I don't know. As restrictive as it may sound to wear a few neutrals, accessories and colours, I think I've realised that I actually make the biggest strides when the variety is seemingly limited, but that's the best set-up for me to fine-tune my style further.

Thanks for reading (still here? ) and your contribution to the series so far.