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One of the most interesting things about my choice of dress for this month’s challenge is that it almost necessitates pattern mixing. (Unless I only want to pair it with solids for the whole month, and that seems kind of boring.) For today’s outfit, I opted to layer a checked shirt, which, when combined with the striped dress, makes for a decidedly springy picnic vibe!
I bought this skirt towards the end of the January one dress challenge, but couldn’t quite make it work with that dress. (Though I have worn it a few times since then and always get tons of compliments on it.) But I really love it layered over this month’s challenge dress!
Admittedly, this is a lot more color than I normally wear, but that’s part of the goal of the challenge – to be more creative with my wardrobe. Plus, I love that I can show that even though my Contra Collection is mostly black white and grey, it works well even if your wardrobe extends beyond that neutral color palette!
After all the fun I had with the one dress challenge back in January, I decided to tackle it again for spring! So today I’ll be kicking the challenge off by introducing a new dress and a new set of rules.
In the first round of the challenge, I really didn’t love the dress, so I didn’t even count the dress by itself as an outfit. But for this challenge, I’ve chosen a dress that I really love, so I’m counting it as a look by itself. (With a statement necklace, of course! More on that in a second.)
Because first I want to talk about this dress. Even though I love it more than the dress I chose in January, it’s going to be an interesting choice this time around because it’s definitely not as versatile. There are no buttons, zippers, or wraps, meaning I can literally only wear the dress one way. So this month’s challenge will be all about creative layering.
I bought this dress a few weeks ago because it ticks a lot of my boxes – it has a high waistline (that actually hits my natural waist), it’s midi length, it has pocket, and it’s a bold floral pattern.
After wearing it to a craft show in Atlanta (and getting lots of compliments) I figured I’d come home and style it with a few different necklaces from my Contra Collection.
When it comes to picking a necklace for your neckline, you can go one of two routes – you can choose a necklace that echoes the shape of your neckline, or you can chose one that contrasts it.
I don’t think that one option is better than the other. Instead, it depends on the particular outfit and your mood. Somedays, I like to emphasize the lines that are already in a top, and other days, I like to play against them to create some visual interest.
The calendar may say it’s spring, but this past week we got a pretty hefty snowstorm. So even though I’m jonesing for warmer weather, I couldn’t resist heading out for one last snowy photoshoot. (Especially since I just got this new Nickichicki hat and Lululemon cardigan.)
While I love dressing up (hence my one dress, thirty ways challenge), I’m also equally at home in comfy casual clothes. Which is why I design my jewelry to work with both. Because I don’t think jewelry should be reserved for special occasions!
Sometimes, you just want to wear a statement necklace with your t-shirt and cozy cardigan to distract from the fact that you’re squinting thanks to the sun bouncing off the snow and the wind is whipping your hair into your lipstick. (Not that I know from experience or anything.) Bonus points if that statement necklace perfectly matches your new hat!
As I mentioned when I first launched my one dress, thirty ways challenge, I’m not one for minimalism or capsule wardrobes. I love clothes, I love to shop, and I don’t have any intention of pairing down my fairly extensive wardrobe anytime soon.
But what I do love is creativity within constraints.
I love experimenting with the pieces in my closet to come up with different ways to wear them. And I love taking a single piece (or pieces) and seeing how many different ways I can wear it.
Take this outfit that I wore on the final day of January’s one dress, thirty ways challenge. On that day, I opted to wear ALL THE LAYERS. But as I was putting that outfit together, I realized there were lots of other possibilities for the four pieces in that look.
So I challenged myself to come up with as many different outfits as possible out of those four pieces! The result is 15 different looks (once you count the outfits I wore that included those pieces during the one dress, thirty ways challenge.)
While I love some looks more than others, there’s no doubt that 15 outfits out of just four pieces is a lot of options! Which I hope should be inspiring to you whether you have an extensive closet like mine, are trying to pack lightly for a trip, or want to get more creative with your capsule wardrobe.
I’ve been reflecting a lot on my personal style since the one dress, thirty ways challenge, and if I could sum it up in two words, it would definitely be bold and comfortable. I want my style to be creative and interesting, but I want to be relaxed and cozy at the same time. And nothing in my description fits that bill more than this grey and black oversized striped dress. (Which actually made an appearance on Day 7 of the one dress challenge.)
I was reminded of just how much I love this dress when I wore it on the final day of a craft show I was at last weekend. Not only did I get a ton of compliments, but I was super comfy all day, even packing up the show and driving home. (Especially because I opted to wear it with a cute pair of sneakers.)
And while this dress is pretty fantastic on it’s own (it even has pockets), I think it’s even better when paired with the right necklace. And since I know it can be challenging to figure out what necklace to wear with a dress this bold, I thought I’d share three different options.
For the final day of my one dress, thirty ways challenge, I decided to wear ALL the layers. I really liked the way the stone in the bold Contra necklace looked with the chambray tunic I wore yesterday, so I knew I wanted to give it one more go for the challenge. I decided to pair it with the navy and white pleated skirt that has definitely become a favorite since this challenge started.
I originally planned to just wear the wrap dress as duster over the shirt and skirt and call it a day, but that somehow didn’t feel like enough for the final day of the challenge. So I opted to add the navy shirt dress I wore on Day 26 for one more layer. The result is that this outfit makes me feel like a total creative badass! (Which seems like the perfect way to end the challenge!)
Ever since I wore the plaid shirt over the wrap dress, I’ve been wanting to make a wrap skirt with the same cut as the dress. But since I’ve still got two more days in the challenge where I have to wear the dress (and haven’t had the time to sew a skirt anyway), I decided just to see if I could fold the dress in on itself and wear it as a skirt. (Without it looking too lumpy!)
The result is that I was able to wear it as a skirt with this chambray tunic. (Which would have never fit over the bulky sleeves of the wrap dress.) It’s exciting to think that, even 29 days into this challenge, I’m still coming up with new ways to wear this dress!
It’s sort of hard to believe I made it 28 days into this challenge before wearing a pair of jeans! I love jeans, and practically live in them, but I really wanted to force myself to do something different with this challenge. Still, I knew at some point I was going to want to style the dress as duster with a pair of jeans. (And to keep in the spirit of the challenge I opted to wear them with the green shirtdress I wore on Day 14. And I opted for the smaller Contra necklace, because it works so well in the neckline of that dress!)