Real Life Style: January Closet

I post a daily picture on Instagram of what I wear. Well let me rephrase: what I wear when I actually put on an outfit that looks reasonable. If I’m home all day writing or watching Real Housewives of Anywhere in my yoga pants, I generally don’t bother with a snap shot. You’re welcome. 🙂

It seems a little vain to take pictures of your clothes — I get that, and to a certain extent it is —  but over the past year I found it fun and inspiring to have a log of what I wore. It’s helped me figure out where my style is at currently and it gives me a foundation from which to decide where I want to go. Understanding those things actually makes it easier (and more fun) to get dressed in the morning, and both are a total win – so vanity be damned!

When I did my summer survey last year there were a lot of requests for more Real Life Style posts. Many of you responded to the idea that everyday style vs aspirational style was helpful to see, and I love that! But I have struggled with a way to do that on this blog that isn’t just a roundup of pictures with captions of where all of it came from. It’s not that I don’t enjoy those types of posts (I do!) but personally, I find them a little bit tedious to write and not all that helpful unless I’ve just purchased something that I can link to. Unfortunately a lot of my outfits include Stuff I Bought At Target A Long Ass Time Ago. It’s my style-statement, I guess…but you gotta work with what ya got!

I thought a monthly roundup could be a happy medium — photos of what I wore (in case you don’t follow me on Instagram) but also bit of talk about HOW I got dressed. I mean, yes yes “One leg at a time” but more about:

*Items I’m Currently Loving (ie: Repeating)
*What Inspired Me While Getting Dressed
*Hits/Misses

So enough explanation…here’s how I got dressed in January:

(Click the links below the photos if you are interested in the specifics of an outfit. I listed each item (with links where applicable) but I warn you, I wear a lot of old stuff! :))

1. Hot Pink Accents, 2. Running Errands, 3. Channeling Hannah From Girls, 4. Favorite Outfit This Month, 5. Oldie But Goodie, 6. Comfy Basics, 7. Black Skinny Jeans I Love (FINALLY!), 8. Pattern Mix (Stripes and Spots), 9. Dress/Tights, 10. Polka dots/Mini Peplum/Puppy, 11. Biker Bitch (but a nice one!), 12. Stripe on Stripe on Stripe!, 13. Jeggins/Chambray Layers, 14. Semi Chic Hobo, 15. Black & White & Red All Over, 16. Unapologetic Stripes, 17. Layer w/ A Bit of Color, 18. Polka Dots!, 19. Plain Jane, 20. Bathing Suit Coverup! What?

What I’m Currently Loving

A visual grid makes it very clear I am loving scarves and stripes. I think I’m going to get over stripes here shortly. Obviously I love them, but I want to branch out with some other prints. Stripes tickle the geometric part of my brain, but there must be something else. I’ve got my eye out!

As for scarves, let me make a confession: this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. I LOVE SCARVES! (What? They are like purses and shoes! They always fit!) I was really into infinity scarves this month thanks to a clearance purchase at the Gap (the gray knit one) and a gift from Elizabeth (the turquoise one, which I LOVE!)

What Inspired Me While Getting Dressed

Honestly, this month it was all about functionality. I work in an office that is freezing one minute and burning up the next, so layers are kind of a must. Also, I wanted to wear dresses this month but it was also 40 degress on the regular. Best purchase so far this year: $8 leggings from Target.

In addition to functionality, I was really feeling like exercising my minimalist brain this month and I repeated quite a few things. My wardrobe isn’t that big actually. The rack that I stand in front of taking my pictures is basically ALL OF MY CLOTHING. So yeah, not much. But I was hoping to mix them up in a creative way so that it wasn’t glaringly obvious that I was wearing all the same stuff. I feel like that was pretty successful.

Hits

This was my favorite outfit of the month.

Also, I still have so much love for Gap Sexy Boyfriend Jeans. They were the only jeans I wore this month, actually. Every time I link to them I think “$80 is a lot of cash! DAMN!” But ya know what…they are TOTALLY WORTH IT. Really versatile, stylish and durable — For $80 I have completely gotten my money’s worth. I don’t have a large clothing budget (in fact I don’t even HAVE a clothing budget written in as a line item) so it’s nice to remind myself every once in a while that sometimes a higher quality item is worth paying for.

Misses

This was my least favorite. In fact, all day long I kept thinking I was channeling Hannah from Girls…who we all know is kind of a hot frumpy mess. I even read a fun article about how they tailor her clothes to be ill fitting. Not my best day!

*****

So that’s my closet this month! What do we think about this format? Helpful? Unhelpful? Holly, get your face outta my face? 🙂