I’ve broken my wrap-up into two pieces, because it was entirely too long. This is the part where I reflect on what I learned. There is another post with all the outfits and a list of all the things I wore.

My goals were: define my style, see if I'd wear certain items, build a wardrobe for warm fall weather, and save time in the mornings by choosing from preselected items.

What I’ve learned

These colors work for me. I pulled out all the berry colors I have for this, because I don’t have that many (look at what I originally thought I’d wear in the last few photos). I’m glad I did!

Brown is not Bad. At least, not always. I added in two rich brown pieces with lots of texture towards the end. Wearing them with rich colors, especially near my face, worked well.

I don’t have to be prissy in pink. I can balance out a fuzzy, soft, pink item with strong/dark colors, tough shoes, and other parts of my outfit.

Tonal matching is a thing. I like it and I want to do it more. One of these days I’ll get around to pattern matching (which I thought I’d do in this challenge).

Pieces I added in as “do or die” that I wound up doing a lot of are the floral shorts, striped dress, and black / white dress

I like dresses. They are easy to put on and off, easy to add jackets or sandals to according to weather, and easy to wear. They are so cooperative, they must like me too

I’m astounded that I didn’t wear a single skirt or skort, long or short.

Equally astounding is that I wore so many different shoes. I never would have thought I’d pull my cowboy boots out, but I was happy to do so.

I did not expect to wear a jacket at all. Adding them in, even very lightweight only in the mornings and evenings, probably helped with my transition to the idea that this is fall weather 100-1000x more than continuing with the temperature setpoints that have worked anyplace else I’ve lived would have. If you’re on the tundra, you wear your coat open when it’s 30 degrees, or you’ll get the outerwear equivalent of cabin fever. Here, pulling out fleece and boots in the 50s is equally psychologically healthy.

Making outfits every day takes energy. I expected to save time getting dressed by having choosing challenge clothes ahead of time. You’re probably snickering now, because you knew that wouldn’t happen.

I like repeating, if not exactly the same thing (rare), then the shirt from Day 1 on Day 2, and the bottoms from Day 2 on Day 3. Then probably the bottom from Day 1 and the top from Day 3 on Day 5, after taking a day for a dress. So micro-sized capsules. This equation, 2tops + 2bottoms + 1dress +xtoppers = 1 week is probably a good way for me to think about pulling together a work wardrobe.

Florida’s fall weather has a lot of variety. It’s not Manitoba cold or Cairns heat, but 40 to 90, and a bit of bouncing around in-between. That’s why the sweatshirt/jacket and shorts thing happens. After the monotony of the preceding six months, I can embrace this daily wildcard.

I need a better storage system for my jewelry. I liked wearing it this month and felt more finished with it. I didn’t always wear the piece I thought was best, because a different was easier to find.

The YLF forum has many helpful people, both cheerleaders and analysts. I appreciate all the help.