WIW: September tracking challenge, weeks 1-2

I don’t have any photos, sorry — life right now does not facilitate daily outfit snaps. But I wanted to jot down a bit of data and a few thoughts on this exercise so far. To those of you who can push through the lack of visuals (I realize not everyone can), thanks for reading.

Items worn:

Week 1: bottoms, 4; tops, 2; toppers, 4; shoes, 4; total, 14

Week 2: bottoms, 5; tops, 3; toppers, 4; shoes, 1; total, 13

Total across both weeks: bottoms, 8; tops, 5; toppers, 7; shoes, 5; total, 25

Patterns:

These two weeks have been very repetitive. I have worn my raw-hem cropped jeans 5 times, a pink/coral striped 3/4-sleeve pullover 3 times; 2 additional bottoms and 4 toppers twice each; and one pair of shoes for 7 days straight!

The shoes were sort of deliberate — a pair of flat silver tassel slide sandals that I’d been stalking all summer, so when I finally found them at a price I was willing to pay I wanted to wear the heck out of them before the weather turned. I am very happy with this purchase!

I’m less happy with the level of repetition of my other items, but my capsule of “transitional” clothing is very thin, and not very deliberately built so the mix-and-match factor is not where I would like it to be.

Happiness factors for outfits have been fairly low. Only 1 outfit scored a “1” (love it and can’t wait to wear it again). 6 got a “2” (like it and would wear again but don’t super-heart it). 6 got a “3” (would not wear again without tweaks). Speaks to my being on the steep end of the learning curve when it comes to transitional dressing.

Insights:

1. One of my goals from this challenge was to work out what I wanted my formulas for transitional dressing to be. I have succeeded in this, even though it has been hard to put it into action. I am aiming for outfits that are seasonally split (outfits with an element from summer and an element of fall) but NOT seasonally confused (where the difference is too great to work). The formulas I have come up with are:

-cropped or full-length skinny jeans, tank, cardi, with sandals, clogs, canvas tennies, or ballet flats. (This can work across a range of temperature conditions.)

-midi-length sundress, textured cardi, with clogs, canvas tennies, or ballet flats

(Requires a midi length sundress though I think, and most of mine are knee length.)

-midi skirt, tank, cardi, with sandals, clogs, canvas tennies, or ballet flats.

-cropped jeans or midi skirt, 3/4 sleeve pullover sweater, sandals

2. That leads to the following shopping list:

-tanks (would be useful for high summer too)

-midi-length sundresses (ditto — it’s just that in high summer I’d wear them with a 3/4 sleeve cropped cardi and sandals)

-3/4 sleeve pullover sweaters (would mainly be worn in transitional weather so think carefully about colors that will work in both spring and fall)

3. I hate layering over 3/4 sleeves. They have to be a deliberate outer layer, which DOES work for me under certain weather conditions. For 3/4 sleeve pullover sweaters, days with a high of about 70 F and keep the bottom half more covered up (cropped jeans or midi skirt). For 3/4 sleeve blouses, that’s a high summer look. Need sleeveless tops to layer over in transitional weather!

4. Simply tracking what I wear is not enough to up my style quotient and yield outfits that I’m happy wearing. I need to take the time to do outfit creation sessions, and also plan ahead what I’m going to wear — on a weekly basis works well for me.

Onwards!

7 years ago

Anonymous

Great insights. Especially needing outfit creating sessions. I need to remember to do this, especially keeping changing seasons in mind. I used to do this automatically when I had a new wardrobe item, but have been lax.
The 3/4 sleeve comments are interesting. Maybe the layers you are trying to layer over them have too narrow a sleeve.

Sal

Veteran

Interesting insights and I do agree a small amount of time in creating a few fall back looks is well spent. For me in particular shoe/clothing combinations.

I wear transitional weight clothing half of the year (Sept-Nov) and (March-May) and frequently during the summer and winter months too. So for me this is the bulk of my closet with only three months of summer and three months of true winter...

I think wearing something new frequently while you can weatherwise is smart..... go for it!!

Jenn

(website)

It’s really interesting to me that you repeat more tops than bottoms. I’m the exact opposite.

It sounds like, even though you envision your autumn outfits combining warm- and cold-weather pieces, your actual warm- and cold-weather pieces don’t work together? Or don’t work for this formula?

Angie

Fashion Stylist

SarahD8, nice insights.

YUP. Outfit creation sessions are a good thing.

For layering 3/4 sleeves, it's all about the sleeve width and lack of friction of the topper. It can work very well with a roomier sleeve and slippery lining.

So much insight!!!!!!!!! Just fascinating to read.

You aimed high, really HIGH, in your goals. But you achieved those goals in mere two weeks of data gathering. You developed a shopping list to meet your needs. I'm impressed.

Jenn's comment was interesting to me. I assumed that you had not YET achieved your goal of mixing summer and fall items into transitional ensembles. But that you were identifying formulas and shopping lists that would make everything work in the future. Do I have that right?

Transitional dressing thoroughly throws me for a loop. I should know how to do it in theory. It is just so hard to accomplish in practice. You are well ahead of the game. YAY YOU.

I might need to explore outfit creation. How would that work exactly?

SarahD8

Thanks all of you for commenting! I can see there is agreement that an outfit creation session would be a good idea. I will put it on my calendar. Sterling, what I think that means is blocking out some time and trying on different combinations with a particular item of clothing -- or in this case, perhaps with a specific outfit formula in mind. That way I could figure out what works ahead of time, rather than consigning myself to wearing a "3" outfit all day.

Thanks Joy and Angie for the commiseration and thoughts about 3/4 sleeves. Sleeve width could be a factor, but I bet the lack of slippery lining makes a difference too. I bat for Team Cardigan and do not own any woven toppers (aside from outerwear of course). SO MANY pretty garments come with 3/4 sleeves! I am constantly tempted to rationalize: well I can just put a long john shirt under it and layer a cardi over. NO! Too fussy for me. The good news is that I am realizing when 3/4 sleeves DO work in my wardrobe.

Sal, interesting that you have so much "transitional" weather. Your comment prompted me to realize that our transitional season is longer at the beginning of the summer than at the end -- very useful to know in terms of planning colors/patterns for my transitional garments. Thank you!

Jenn, I think I am repeating bottoms as much as tops, it's just that I have worn those cropped jeans SO MUCH that they crowd out the opportunity to repeat other bottoms!

Jenn and Sterling, hmm, let me see if I can break down what I mean about difficulties mixing summer and fall items. I think I know HOW I want to mix summer and fall elements. But I do not own enough examples of some of those types of garments to be able to do so in more than a very limited way. Example: midi-length sundress + textured cardi. I have a million textured (cable knit etc.) cardis. But only a couple of midi-length sundresses. Most of my sundresses are knee length, and that combo crosses the line to "seasonally confused" for me. So, I know that when I expand my stable of sundresses (which I want to do anyway), I should especially look out for midi-length ones -- I like the look, I just want to be able to do more examples of it.

And Sterling I have to say once again that your positive comments help me more than you can know! Thank you!!!

Category