Great post. I am like you and like variety. I don't really want to repeat any combination more than once a month. I am however trying hard to let go of the more mediocre stuff and by doing that feel I won't mind wearing certain combinations a bit more often.

I think I would prefer 15 outfits repeated 6 times, or 30 outfits repeated 3 times, rather than 10 outfits repeated 9 times. I just know I prefer variety, and accept that. Even small changes somehow make a difference.

I also agree with rabbit that WIMW or how do I style this or that threads might be more useful than WIW. And you get much more honest feedback in a WIMW or K/R thread.

I also think it's ok to not achieve a killer outfit all the time. It's like my favorite quote from Baron Rothschild. He was once asked if, as a wine grower, he drank his best wines every day. After all, he could afford it too, coming from one of the oldest and wealthiest European families. He said no, he drank ordinary table wines often and saved the best just for special occasions. He said a wine would no longer feel that special if he drank it every day.

Having said all of this I do think I am feeling inspired to create more go-to fab outfits that I can fall back on when I need to. With the help of the forum.

I love your analytical ways, Mo. Good luck with this and please keep us posted. I'd love to see your best of the best selection and background process.

Fun exercise!

For me I use the term spontaneity rather than variety. Since in theory a lot of my tops ought to go with bottoms and vice versa, I always took a broad mix and match approach. This was easier back in the day when I tucked in tops for a lot of my skirts and pants. Lower rises and skirts without true waistbands changed that, as did increasing nuances of fits and proportions.

So I've been having to work on accepting that a top might " go" with 8 bottoms but look fab with 3, and vice versa. My shoe thread was alluding to same thing--a pair of shoes might" go" with a 2 dozen thing but really do best with a few certain pant hems or even a small variation in skirt length.

Therefore I'm trying to focus more on the 2-3 best tops for each bottom and vice versa.

The bigger challenge is, if adding a top or bottom, does it make outfits that are even better than the best of those, or does it just compete for time and space without improving?

I was actually thinking about this post during our drive home from the lake today! I always think that I like having variety, and I like to mix up my outfits. I need to get over that, because in the summer when I don't work, who sees me in this great variety of outfits? Cosmo Edward? The only thing he cares about is if I'm dressed to go for a walk! Really, DH, Cosmo and I are away almost every weekend (3 day weekends), on vacay for two solid weeks, and even when we're home I'm not - I go down to Long Island or to NJ to visit friends and family. My point is that I really only need about 5 outfits - or 10 to do wash less often and always have a suitcase packed - and just keep repeating those. A summer capsule like that would certainly take the stress out of packing for all those trips.

Again, I'd rather have 5 to 10 fantastic outfits than 30 so-so outfits.

Glad everyone is getting their own 'thing' out of the idea. I do think that my initial draw mentally was that, 'hey, I could distill 10 awesome outfits for each season!' Now, the repeat factor, etc remains quite variable for all of us and our circumstances. But I found it just freeing I guess to think that I could completely rock roughly a dozen looks and just rinse and repeat each season. And that would be enough.

Ooh - terrific idea! And as I'm running pretty short on summer clothes, I think I want to join you on this experiment. Surely I can come up with nine or ten outfits, right? I'm trying to challenge myself not to fill "holes" immediately, but see what I can live without...

Whenever I do this type of exercise, I am utterly overwhelmed. I have tried Project 33 and failed miserably...twice. I have tried so many different things and then it hit me : I DON"T WANT TO DO IT !!!! ROFL . I like my clothes and it became very forced. Now I am more cold-hearted about it and just honest and, dare I say, organic ? I did my seasonal swap today and it was blissfully small. I have about 30 "core items". So I didn't count tank tops.

Once it gets really hot, in July, I am going to hang up 7 dresses and a couple of skirts and I am going to see how I do. The truth is that I don't need much and I don't mind repeating. But I also have a TON of accessories.

The following post from the Vivienne Files on a "common wardrobe " really appeals to me and might suit me simply because I love accessories. . I have decided to give it a try in Sept.

ETA : the link !!

http://theviviennefiles.blogsp.....drobe.html