Update on my tonal/ monochrome experiment

Hi, all! Well, it's no surprise -- but after my two month experiment with tonal and monochrome outfits, I have learned that I'm still a contrast dresser at heart. ;) 

Despite my low contrast personal colouring, it seems I like mixing things up. 

Or maybe I just like going to extremes?  Because here's the thing...if I do dress monochrome, I like white out. Or navy. Or red. In other words, a dark or a bright or a light. 

I can do tonal happily in greys (on the right day). I can also do it in lilacs to blue or red/s burgundies (16...though that may not seem like a truly tonal outfit, and I get that...), or variations of blue, or variations of white/ cream with a hint of grey, or berries/ reds and burgundies. 

In fact, I like all those options a lot if there is enough textural interest or shine (which, ahem, usually introduces at least an element of contrast) or if there is some tone on tone pattern. 

I strongly dislike myself in pastel lilac monochrome (1) or tonal with pink (11) . Ugh. If I'm going to go monochrome, it's dark or bright all the way. I am sure I could do a midtone blue as well, if I had the elements, but no pastels, please! 

I think my next little experiment will be with pattern mixing. I do this a lot but I missed it during my tonal experiment, because I was using more solids or faux solids. So it will be fun to switch things up.

Those of you who also tried this experiment, did you make discoveries about what works and does not work for you? Are some colours better for you than others? 

Thanks for inspiring this personal challenge, SarahDB, and thanks to all who joined in! 

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Cranberry wrap

I love burgundy but usually don't think of it as a statement, exactly. I'm not even sure it qualifies as such here. Even though my sweater is a bit brighter than burgundy, more of a cranberry colour. Anyway, this is my indoor version of Outfit #4 from today's post. I didn't have pants or a skirt with a dark red stripe, believe it or not, or even a top that could take that role, so I went with monochrome navy. 

This Pure Amici sweater is one of the oldest items in my wardrobe and it is still going strong after more wears than I can count. A fabulous NAS purchase, one I worried a bit about at the time (even on sale, it was not cheap) but wow, has it proved its worth. I love it -- it's been worn to fancy dinners and to lounge around in at home or on retreats. 

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By the numbers: more long-term closet reflections

Since this is my time of year to reflect on many aspects of my life and my wardrobe, I did a more granular (and accurate) count of on the weekend of my wardrobe retirements over a period of years. If the numbers bore you, feel free to ignore or jump to my conclusions at the bottom. Writing this down as information for those who have an interest in this topic. 

Excluding footwear, handbags, gear, basics, PJs, I have retired/ recycled/ donated/ disposed of 120 clothing items between 2019-2024, for an average of 20 a year. The actual number differed quite a lot, year to year. 

47 of those items (or about 40%) were worn out, by which I mean they had irreparable holes/ wear pattern on the fabric, irreparable stains/ marks, or they had lost their shape. These items were mostly denim, tops (especially summer tops), and certain knits -- some of which were simply poorly made to begin with, and some of which had seen such hard wear over a period of years that it was a wonder they were not complete rags. 

Looking at that figure, I'm awed by those who say they never wear out their clothes. I am blessed with quite a large wardrobe. I wash in cold water delicate cycle, air dry almost everything, mend, block knits, etc. In other words, I care for my clothes. But a significant portion do wear out. Not in one year, or two. But over a period ranging from 3-6 years. 

Many of these items were past donation, although I did donate a lot of the denim anyway, because it might be recyclable in some way, or someone might cut off the jeans for shorts. (I do that myself with some but not all of my denim because my need for denim shorts is minimal.) 

17 items left my closet due to fit issues. Most of these were jeans and some trousers that no longer fit after weight changes. But some were items that simply didn't fit as well after laundering or whose fit ended up bothering me in some way. These, I donated. 

I said goodbye to a further 18 moderately to heavily worn items that were not worn out, yet had lost their interest or value for me, personally. The least frequently worn of these would have had around 20 wears over four or five years; the most frequently worn would have had more than 100 wears. But they were still in usable conditions, and I'm pretty sure someone else would enjoy them. This includes mostly coats, blazers, and jackets. 

Finally, there were 20 items that I'd never worn a lot and I knew I wouldn't wear in the future. About a third of these were older occasion wear. The rest were what we'd call "experiments" or "shopping mistakes," depending on our attitude and frame of mind, i.e. they were items I tried, but didn't end up liking, and therefore didn't wear more than a few times. 

I also wore through a lot of footwear during this period. With the walking I do, I actually wear out most of my non-occasion wear footwear and need to replace/ upgrade frequently. This should almost be a healthcare cost for me! 

Conclusions: I feel quite encouraged by this analysis. To begin with, the worn out clothes were mostly older (had been in my closet between 3-10 years and/or were bought second hand to begin with). Fit issues are fit issues -- we can't entirely control for body changes and it's useless to hang on to uncomfortable clothing. The proportion of "fails" is not that high and I am fairly quick to weed those out -- letting them go while they are still current enough to have possible value to another wearer. 

Taking this long view, for me, has been quite informative and has emphasized the value of frequent and thorough closet evaluations and edits. 

I don't care for the word "churn." I think it implies a level of carelessness and thoughtlessness that doesn't apply to people in this community, most of whom try to buy carefully in whatever ways we can and aim to care for our clothes so they last.

So along with my other edits, I'm editing that term out of my fashion vocabulary, at least as far as my own closet management is concerned. I'm also letting go of any guilt about my purchasing or editing habits. I'm doing the best I can, balancing careful husbandry with spontaneity and fun. Which means no fashion resolutions for me this year. I'm joining Helena in the "year of no fashion goals." 

How about you? 

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Fit (and other) failures

I was so excited about Brooklyn's cotton-linen Grace Kelly tops that I did a search and ordered them (on sale!) to see if they might work for me. 

Alas, 'twas not to be. The green (which is gorgeous, by the way, and I think suits me -- though you can't really tell it is green in my photo, it's a lovely dark forest) is the correct size, but proportioned wrong for my short body. The neck part is much too tall (it might be hard to tell from the photo, but I assure you, it's true) so the back sort of sags, while the bust was snug, and the bottom part of the wrap was also snug because it was coming down too low over my shortish waist. 

Meanwhile, the white one had a defective zip, so I couldn't even try it on. :(   I am sad, because they could have been perfect for me. But such is life. 

I also tried a skirt -- a version of which I had in the 90s. I love the idea of this (cotton-linen, gored) and don't even mind the colour (though I might have dyed it) but the fabric was too thin and didn't feel like good quality. 

Finally, a pair of oyster white PJ style wide wale cords. Like the top, these are technically the right size (though a bit long) but I don't like the fit -- too snug in the thigh, just not comfy. So back they go. 

Onwards! But I do encourage others to try the tops if they are of interest -- on the right person, these would be fab, as we've already seen! I think if I were even an inch or two taller (or longer waisted) this would have worked great. 

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