YouLookFab Forum » Topic: January Recap (long!)

YouLookFab Forum » Topic: January Recap (long!) https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Wed, 22 Apr 2026 05:36:52 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php SarahD8 on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351909 Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:15:28 +0000 SarahD8 2351909@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Thank you so much, Mirjana! The necklace belonged to my Dutch(-American) granny. Mirjana on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351877 Tue, 06 Feb 2024 09:57:24 +0000 Mirjana 2351877@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Lovely outfits! I especially like #2, great blouse and cardigan. The necklace is fabulous. SarahD8 on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351853 Tue, 06 Feb 2024 02:14:21 +0000 SarahD8 2351853@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Oh, those are great bits of editing advice -- thanks for pointing me towards that post, Zaeobi.  You know, one thing I have realized about the outfit selfies is that I often feel better about my outfit before taking the pic as opposed to after. This is I think more my own issue than a case of "pics show us things we can't see in the mirror" -- but the upshot is I don't think they have much utility as a "just for me" exercise. What I might do is document combinations I particularly like in flat lay, I find it easier to capture colors and also the juxtaposition of subtle elements that really please me that way.  I have about a week in between the two trips. One is for family and one is for work. Very different climates indeed! Both will be very casual though. The first one might involve some thrifting, fingers crossed! Zaeobi on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351728 Mon, 05 Feb 2024 04:21:57 +0000 Zaeobi 2351728@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Congrats on achieving so much with this January challenge! You wear those fairisle prints well - & the polar bear More midtones makes sense for you. I don't know if it's necessary to wear *every* single piece *every* year (in the relevant season) - if you have the space to store it, likely some of those pieces will come back into rotation some years but not others (like you said, some slack/ ease helps creativity). Evaluating them periodically is important, sure, but I think sometimes our guilt can come from arbitrary rules like the 'one-year-or-donate' one: <a href="https://www.nadamanley.com/2024/01/what-i-learned-from-a-million-closet-edits.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nadamanley.com/202.....edits.html</a> (see #7, either in the video or article - I like Nada because she gives balanced advice). Speaking of evaluating wears, if you're going to do another challenge, you could always take outfit photos but not post them I've been doing that lately to help me start tracking wears - a photo taken just for your own reference is different to one you plan to post publicly, since hopefully it's less of a burden? Though my full-length mirror is directly behind my front door, so maybe that's why lol - YMMV! PS - Your upcoming trips sound fun! Are they back-to-back? If so, those are very different climates to pack for! SarahD8 on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351713 Mon, 05 Feb 2024 02:10:08 +0000 SarahD8 2351713@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I'm late following up after a busy work week but wanted to say thanks all for your comments! Helena thank you for understanding the joy of escaping the tyranny of Pareto lol! rachylou re shopping your closet -- you get it! Angie thanks for the encouragement! I am an analytical person, so analysis is my comfort zone, but (analysis incoming!) I'm not sure I have always enjoyed it so much, exactly. Sometimes it can get in the way of getting *out* of my comfort zone and moving forward when it comes to style. BUT I do think the more relaxed approach has been good! Suz ooh fascinating re: your wear counts! Seems like we have been on the same wavelength with many of our responses to this challenge. It was really fun doing this with you! Jaime I have been enjoying your version of the challenge too! ChristelJ oh I'm glad the mid-tone observation was useful to you! Lana YES to a big benefit of seasonal capsules being putting things away and them seeming fresh when you pull them out again. I enjoy that aspect very much! cat2 sounds like you got some great insights from January. Your February palette sounds SO yummy! Dee, that's super interesting -- to me the burgundy, ink, and charcoal read as darks. I wonder if we conceptualize colors differently depending on our own coloring? Runcarla oh I'm glad there were some good insights in here for you. Seems like January was a Janus-faced month for many of us: we either focused on variety/mixing it up or leaned into repetition. It's all good! suntiger tracking has surprised me too! I'm enjoying it, possibly due to my aforementioned penchant for analysis. :-) Sal oh that's a great insight about the link between the editing itch and the desire for novelty. I think you're quite right! Joy yes, velvet really is lovely this time of year. Velvet in the non-black colors you mention sounds wonderful -- rich and deep, but not too harsh. Jonesy thank you so much! Jonesy on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351658 Sun, 04 Feb 2024 03:48:22 +0000 Jonesy 2351658@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Lovely color combinations and winter layering, and I think a spirit of curiosity is an excellent way to approach style! Anonymous on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351628 Sat, 03 Feb 2024 15:49:55 +0000 Anonymous 2351628@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Velvet is a wonderful warm winter fabric. I bought much of burgundy velvet last year and wore it a lot. Black velvet is too harsh, too concentrated black for me. I like the idea of navy velvet, or brown. Sal on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351578 Sat, 03 Feb 2024 00:18:44 +0000 Sal 2351578@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Great read. I like the attitude - being organised but not too restrictive. The whole editing thing is interesting. I feel myself wanting to edit and have a very efficient wardrobe but….. I think there’s a part of that that is about creating room for the new. I think it’s good to have a few lightly worn pieces to spice things up. Anonymous on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351542 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 17:20:38 +0000 Anonymous 2351542@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Enjoying your analysis! Yep-there definitely needs to be a little extra space in a wardrobe. It's ok to not wear everything evenly, but it's important to know what those essentials are (and why). Tracking has definitely surprised me! Carla on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351529 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 16:23:03 +0000 Carla 2351529@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I’ve enjoyed following your challenge, and particularly liked your approach: ‘curiousity, not self improvement.’ Your threads taught me something about the value of a generously sized wardrobe. I had the opposite kind of month, wearing 14 items (8 tops, 4 bottoms, 2 toppers).  I did rotate through 4 coats and various hats, scarves, and gloves/mitts however.   Dee on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351519 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:51:42 +0000 Dee 2351519@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Well done on your January challenge, wonderful analysis, you have lots of lovely, practical  and cozy WFH outfits to inspire others, glad your closet went the distance. Nordic and Fair Isle patterns work so well for your style.  I’m a bit of a mid tone junkie myself, and see not only your rose jacquard top as mid tone but also the colours in outfit#5 and the charcoal grey mid tones in #6 ad #9. I find mid tones help brighten or ground other tones of colours, but also work really well with each other.  cat2 on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351515 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:24:25 +0000 cat2 2351515@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Interesting. At the end of my month of teal, cream and grey, I found the challenge was a good way to get me to try on almost everything I had in those colors, wear almost all of them, and figure out which weren’t in great shape and should go out. I am not replacing anything except possibly one of the grey sweaters and some sweats, so my piece count will go down. February will be anything winter weight in blush, rose or burgundy. I don’t have that much, mostly in outerwear and accessories, but it will be a fun pop of color. Lana on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351511 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 13:59:01 +0000 Lana 2351511@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ What a great summary of your experiments! I love in-depth analysis like this. I agree with “if you want to dress creatively by shopping your wardrobe, your closet has to have some slack.” I truly think that putting away some pieces and not using them for a while makes them seem fresh when you do get them out again. It’s like having your own little boutique at home. This is another reason why I do seasonal capsules so I can be creative with the clothes I have. ChristelJ on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351509 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 13:51:05 +0000 ChristelJ 2351509@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Very impressive observations. I am intrigued especially by the one about how useful a mid tone can be. I have never considered that angle! Your outfits are all lovely and quite varied and creative. Thanks for the great examples of the fun and success of playing in one's wardrobe. Jaime on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351470 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 01:42:11 +0000 Jaime 2351470@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ I appreciate your open minded and relaxed approach to this challenge, and I think you drew some excellent conclusions. I am also enjoying the push to change things up, because I tend to unintentionally re-wear things quite a bit until I move on.  Suz on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351461 Fri, 02 Feb 2024 01:15:18 +0000 Suz 2351461@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ This was such a great idea and the results were well worth it! Your reflections are so interesting. I'm so happy that you were able to do this in the spirit of curiosity, banishing the "shoulds." I'm sure that allowed you to enjoy the process itself and also to take more away from it. The idea of adding more mid tones is excellent, for example, and I'm fully on board with the idea of pairing light things on top with the cream boots. That is pretty much how I wear my cream and white boots. I also have the silver hair to bookend, but I still prefer to have a bit of "light" up top to do a full balance. Either that, or white / cream pants.  Outfit #1 is gorgeous -- such a beautiful colour mix and the textures are also lovely. I agree that navy keeps the lavender from feeling overly sweet. I really like #5 as well.  Inspired by your item count, I just went and did my own -- I wore 56 items if you count scarves but not belts or coats/ hats, etc. (Just the indoor stuff). I did count my outdoor shoes as part of the outfit though.  My most worn item was my white boots (outdoor) at 10 wears. (In fact, I probably wore them more but forgot to record it.) My most worn clothing item was my red velvet crops (at 5 or 6 wears, depending on whether you count my daytime and separate evening events as separate wears), which is affirmation for your "wildcard workhorse" story of the rose jqcquard top. I bought these with more or less the same thoughts as yours about that. piece. "Well, I probably won't wear them all that much but I will really enjoy having them, so it's worth it." I guess it is!  I think I could manage with fewer clothes as well, but I do enjoy the variety and apparently I am wearing what I have...so while I don't want to add more without and equal amount of subtration, I'm happy with the wardrobe size I have.  Brava for a great month of learning and thanks for the inspiration! Angie on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351448 Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:34:20 +0000 Angie 2351448@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ *collecting my gold star*  ;)  *applause* Fab findings! And since you like to analyze things SarahD8, I KNOW you had fun doing this part, probably best of all!!! Well done! I love the idea of adding to your jewellery capsule. Small things make us very happy! I like the addition of the mid-tone workhorse, and how that set the tone for further palette exploration. Pun intended Wooohoooo! Fresh and fun. The outfit in #4 is super cute on you! I like your hair down too. YES to adding bits of off-white up top to balance out the lightness on the boots.  Good strategy!  Best of all, I like your more relaxed approach going forward. Our wardrobe is always there for us - and not the other way round.  Good stuff!  rachylou on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351431 Thu, 01 Feb 2024 20:46:09 +0000 rachylou 2351431@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Deep! I do think it’s true that if you want to shop your closet - have it be a resource when you’re feeling creative and want to do something different, you have to have enough in there to provide a change. Helena on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351425 Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:17:26 +0000 Helena 2351425@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ Fantastic learnings! Applause for escaping that blasted Pareto lol ... love it so much. I think your more relaxed approach going forward makes a lot of sense ... you've proved the concept you wanted to and garnered some helpful insights ... so it makes sense to re-engage with a more intuitive approach for a while, new information in tow. Well done! SarahD8 on "January Recap (long!)" https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/january-recap-long#post-2351422 Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:25:37 +0000 SarahD8 2351422@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ January is over! Here are my final 3 outfits: 1-3: Navy velvet straight legs, lavender pintuck tunic, ivory/pastel fair isle cardi. Inspired by Suz’s lavender/ink combo. I loved this!! I felt like the navy/ink blue kept the pastels from being too “sweet.” I was so taken with the combination that I was moved to get out my blue coat and a lavender scarf, even though the weather didn’t at all warrant the latter. 4: gray raw-hem cropped jeans, rose jacquard top, ivory cardi. This is almost cheating (I wore almost the same outfit before but just switched out the cardi — but I really wanted to try this with my ivory boots. Still getting my eye used to them! I think what I really want to do is use them as a strong contrast to *dark* bottoms in outfits where there is a little bit of light/white in the top half. Very specific, I know! 5: mid-wash skinnies, sapphire/ink popover top, burgundy cardi. Reposting my favorite outfits from past weeks in photos 6-9. (My favorite from this week was the lavender/ink blue combo). Some number crunching (all of the below refers to AT HOME clothing only since that was my focus this month): <ul> <li>Items worn: 42</li> <li>Most worn items: <ul> <li>Mid-wash cropped skinnies (5 wears)</li> <li>Rose Asian jacquard vest, Black/blue/white Nordic pullover, Burgundy midi cardi (4 wears) </li> <li>Navy velvet straight legs, Black ponte leggings, Teal velvet skinnies, Black skirt leggings, Lavender velvet skinnies, Black corduroy skinnies, Polar bear long-sleeve tee, Light blue pintuck tunic, Plum cowl neck tunic sweater, Lavender pintuck popover tunic, Gray cowl neck tunic sweater (if you count the old one and its new replacement as 1 item), Ivory/pastel cropped fair isle cardi (3 wears)</li> </ul> </li> <li>This challenge helped my wear my clothes more evenly, which is something I always aspire to. By my rough estimate I wore about 50% of my clothes* 80% of the time. Hooray, I have escaped the Pareto Principle!</li> <li>*what do I mean by “my clothes”? I have been dressing from a subset of my cold-weather items that I think of as my “deep winter” capsule — basically everything that seems like the right colors and weight/warmth. Since our cool/cold season is so long and gray here in Seattle I like to switch things up a little bit throughout and vary my color palette. </li> <li>I still have the impulse to reduce/minimize and ask myself, do I really *need* all the items I only wore once or twice? Could I make 30 outfits with only my most worn clothes? I think I could, but I’d face more laundry bottlenecks and wardrobe Tetris especially if I wanted to avoid item repeats within the week. Having a larger wardrobe creates a bit more ease, but I think it’s useful to look at those most worn pieces as the “core” of my capsule and think about why they are so important to its function.</li> <li>I also have this theory that if you want to dress creatively by shopping your wardrobe, your closet has to have some slack. There has to be some piece that you haven’t been wearing much or making full use of so that you can discover new combinations without shopping. The rose jacquard top was a great example of that here. I remember when I bought it thinking “well this will never be a workhorse, but not everything needs to be and I’ll enjoy wearing it from time to time.” Lo and behold, it turned out to be one of the heroes of the month!</li> <li>I did not make any effort to make sure I wore all of the clothes in the capsule and at the end of the month there are a few pieces that remained unworn — worth thinking about why that is.</li> </ul> Overall thoughts: <ul> <li>I set out saying that I wanted to approach this challenge “with a spirit of curiosity, not self-improvement” and I think I really did that. I’m really pleased about that, it is a real shift for me. I’m noticing what works for me/what I like and then asking how to build habits or take actions that support that — rather than being driven by some notion of what I “should” do.</li> <li>My deep winter wardrobe is working well overall. I’ve identified a few pieces to weed out and as mentioned above a few pieces went unworn. I think I’ve succeeded in shifting my deep winter wardrobe towards more colors and lighter tones, which is something I had been trying/wanting to do for a while (dark neutrals are just so prevalent for winter clothes — it can be hard to avoid over-accumulating them!)</li> <li>Going forward, I could add more neutral patterns (esp. Nordic/fair isle knits) and mid-tones (most of my colorful items are either dark like burgundy/teal or very light icy pastels. I think one reason that rose top got so much play is that it is one of my few mid-tone colorful pieces in this capsule.)</li> <li>Also, since I learned that I love my signature jewelry but I don’t like wearing the exact same pieces/combinations every day, I am going to put some of my budget for February towards a couple pieces of jewelry so I can switch things up a bit more.</li> </ul> What I'm planning next: <ul> <li>I have two trips coming up this month: one to a warm desert suburb and one to a cool rainy island. So, it’s not a great month for an organized month-long challenge, but perhaps I’ll make an effort to wear and evaluate those un-worn deep winter items between now and the first trip.</li> <li>I do think that a month-long no-repeats challenge is a great way to evaluate wardrobe function, so I may do another one starting mid-March when I switch to my cold spring capsule. If I have the bandwidth!</li> <li>For now, I am going to continue to aim to dress with intention, keeping up the habit of planning outfits a day before. This is working for me and I’d like to really cement the habit!</li> <li>I will also continue to track what I’m wearing. I’ve been wanting to return to tracking wears for a while, and January’s challenge helped me find a routine that works for me and regain the habit. I’m going to keep gathering the data as long as I feel like I’m learning from it.</li> <li>I am not committing to taking daily outfit photos. To be honest, I don’t really enjoy it and I’m not great at it. I realize outfit photos are useful for discussions here so I will take them sometimes when there is something I want to share, but I am not obligating myself to doing it daily.</li> <li>I am relaxing the no-repeating-outfits rule. Which outfits, if any, will I choose to repeat exactly? That will be instructive/a good data point to find out.</li> <li>I am also relaxing the rule to avoid repeating items within the same week. The reason I made this rule is that I generally prefer to dress this way — it gives me the feeling of enough-ness and variety that I crave — and I wanted to see if my wardrobe could support that. Now that I know it can, I will continue to pander to this preference, but not be strict about it. Another thing that often happens is that wearing an item and interacting with it throughout the day will give me other ideas about how to wear that item. So, if I am really excited about one of those ideas and want to try it right away, I can.</li> </ul> Thank you to everyone who commented and cheered me on throughout this challenge! Give yourself a gold star if you read this far!