Louise - How did you like it? Do you think you'll do it again next year? I loved seeing all the white, olive, and coral items you purchased earlier in the season, they looked so cute and summery on you! Would LOVE to see more of your WIW posts, I miss them! And I'd love to get a glimpse of your summer style

Joy - Hmmmm that's good to know about my hair (and thank you ^^)! I never really notice ANY color variation in it because, well, to me it just looks like "plain really really really dark brown" Interesting thought on feeling more "shaded" in black, I never really thought of that. I think since if I'm outside I'm usually in the sun black just feels very warm to me. Now, a black silk shirt, that's something I dearly want to try in the heat!

Vix - I'm glad you commented, Vix! The thought of doing this experiment initially made me a little nervous and clammy, too! Which is why I knew I had to do it I can appreciate black so much more as a color now! And you bring up an interesting thought about solid black; patterned black does seem to be considerably more summery than solid, even if the non-black part is very small. I will be keeping this tidbit in my mental file cabinet!

bj1111 - I hear you on not feeling fully comfortable in all color all the time. I think part of why this experiment worked so well for me (as a not-so-deep-down neutrals gal) was that I didn't just say "MOAR COLOR"; I simply replaced my black basics with gray/white basics, and incorporated smaller amounts of bright colors. You can see even in the small sampling above, the majority of my outfits are primarily/entirely neutral. Navy and ink blue are fab dark neutrals! I think they were around in higher numbers a couple years ago, but I don't expect to see a huge selection in those colors this year Please do steal the white+gray color combo! And feel free to share the photos, I'd love to see it

And just for fun, here are two spring outfits in similar color palettes: one that's predominantly black, and one that's predominantly white. I can't help but feel that the white one looks OODLES more spring/summer than the black!

EDIT: To be fair, the black outfit was a seasonal bridge outfit from early March and the white was in May. On the flip side, the temperatures were about the same

I have not tried to do this for a season but what a great idea! I know I wear far too much blue and could not go a season without it, but it's food for thought. I have to keep in mind not to purchase more and more and more blue. What a great example your outfits are, no black and yet your black hair looks lovely in the outfits despite not having any black to tie into your hair. Bookending is fun to do, but certainly not necessary as your outfits show. Or perhaps because you bookend the lighter colors in the entire outfit, it lets the hair stand alone. I do notice your hair more in the lighter outfits and it's a fabulous head of hair to showcase! In the darker outfits with more black, your hair blends and I notice it less. I wonder if this could be a trick on bag hair days? Hmm...

Lisa, YES you totally nailed it! This was the light bulb moment for me in how to get balance in no-black outfits: having my hair as the only black element is (almost) exactly like using a bright/dark pop of color. Hmmm I hadn't been using the bad hair day trick you mention, but I'm sure going to now I think you've been branching out of your blue a bit this season though, you had a lot of white and that pretty orchid color.

I think it's been slowly happening to my style over time. it's easy to dress darker in the winter and fall but i've been seeing it creep into my spring and summer wardrobe more and more. I fought it for awhile because it was hard for me to lose the mindset that spring and summer require different colors than fall and winter, but it's what's making me happy so i think i've come to accept it now. I've been in the slow process of giving my wardrobe a bit more focus than it ever has before. Kind of like when you and a couple others wrote those posts about your style likes and dislikes? Sorry i can't remember the exact name of what they're called.