Well, it’s Day 30 for me! Time to do a mid-challenge summary.

I chose to do this challenge for 60 days, but divided into two groups - work and casual. I was most interested in the work capsule, which I called “deep winter”. Deep Winter is when: Its cold. It’s when I wear chunkier, cozier sweaters, when these pieces look right, and not too heavy and out of place (which they may in March April). The roads and sidewalks may be snow covered and messy, so my pants tend to be skinny so they can be tucked into high boots. My goals were not so much about the numbers, but to use the idea of a defined number of items to see:

• What, and how many, items do I wear items only in this “deep winter” period?

• How often am I happy to repeat?

• How much variety do I need? Esp in colour. At this time of year I am very happy to cozy up in my black and navy clothes more than at other times of the year, and my “deep winter” clothes reflect that, but how much is to much or for too long?

• What, and how many, “essentials” do I need to support this capsule. For example, I know I have an excessive number of black long sleeved tees. Do they all earn a place in my current closet?

• Wear what I love, and what supports my style, as much as I want, and don’t worry about orphaning anything in the process. With a large wardrobe, it’s easy to force myself to wear things, and as a result my favourites don’t get worn as much as they might, which is just plain silly. Use this information to do some culling.

Observations so far:

• I don’t like to repeat something the following week. I reached for a top one day then checked stylebook and realized I’d worn it the week before, and back it went into the closet. Am I okay with every second week? I don’t feel the same way about bottoms… at least not plain ones.

• I still have several pieces that I categorized as “deep winter only” that have not been worn. Two black heavy cardigans/sweaters will be donated, not sure yet about the rest.

• It’s still a bit early to make any decisions about the crazy number of long sleeved black tees that I have, but I decided that most of the “work” ones can stay, as they have varying necklines and hemlines, that work with different toppers. I’ve donated one, which had a similar neckline to another one, and I reached for the other one almost exclusively. Because I’m focusing on wearing my “deep winter” clothes, not all of them have been worn this month, but they were in the fall, and I’m sure will be in March/April. Will have to make a note to pay attention to that.

• My favourite colour is blue, yet I have chosen NO blue (other than navy) so far. This is just weird, and I’ll add that to my list of things to think about. I suspect it’s just because most of my heavy items are black and navy.

• Red seems to be the colour I’ve worn this month, when I’ve worn colour.

My work capsule numbers as of January 31:

16 outfits, 29 pieces of clothing. Four of these pieces were worn to a conference (day of meetings plus a dinner) so I’m not sure if I’m going to count them. Sure, I needed them, but they are not things I generally wear on a day to day basis, and I’m not going to learn anything by counting them… they are definitely items that are staying in my wardrobe. I think I’ll count them if I wear them again. So I’m going with 25 so far. I have two items that are definitely going to get worked in next month (black cashmere turtleneck and navy skirt) so I have two discretionary items, if I’m going to meet the goal of 30. I also have 9 outfits already in mind for the month, using items already included. A lot of things have only been worn once, so I think I'm fine.

Sweaters

1. Navy Joie asymmetrical (2)

2. Tomato red asymmetrical (2)

3. Grey asymmetrical (1)

4. Navy EF cashmere asymmetrical(2)

5. Red turtleneck (1)

Cardigans

6. Black Danier leather sleeved (1)

7. Navy/Black heathered Lululemon (2)

8. Black/white BR (2)

9. Navy BR (1)

Layering tops

10. Navy/black Zara (1)

11. Black BR scoop neck (1)

12. Black EF (3)

13. Navy BR (2)

14. Silver linen J.Crew (1)

15. White linen J. Crew (1) (didn’t enjoy wearing this, but I think it may be how I wore it. It needs another try, as I love the idea of it)

Bottoms

16. Black Halogen crops (1) (Not a fav, I struggle with footwear, going to see if I wear these more now I have my cool Sorel boots)

17. Black/white BR Sloans (1)

18. Navy 5 pocket Sloan leggings (1)

19. Black/white plaid wool J Crew trousers (1)

20. Burgundy Halogen slim ponte pants (2)

21. Navy/white BR Sloans (2)

22. NYDJ black ponte leggings (3)

23. Black Danier leather leggings (1)

24. Black Dalia ponte black leggings (1)

Dresses

25. COS navy boiled wool dress (1)

Special events: Not going to count these unless I wear them more than once.

26. Black BR trousers (1)

27. Pink leather jacket (1)

28. Black BR moto jacket (1)

29. Black EF dress (1)

Picture below shows my outfits so far.

I’ll come back with my casual musings after this weekend.

For any of you crazy enough to read all that, thank you! You don't need to comment, this was really done for me, and to force some accountability. But I’ll welcome any additional observations or comments you might like to offer.