So! Here it is: My big 20×30 outfit plan for October (aka Slow Fashion October). Except I picked out my twenty pieces (above, not counting the shoes), started playing closet rummy and quickly made thirty-five outfits without exhausting all the possibilities. Which is a good thing, because this is October and any plan is going to have to have some wiggle room in it. We’re still in the lower-mid 80s right now (and loving it, honestly — the humidity finally broke) but with any luck we’ll be down into the 70s or upper 60s by the end of the month, but there’s really no predicting it. I’m being necessarily flex about the shoes, too: the black huaraches will give way to black ankle boots; the tan sandals will become tan flats. And somewhere in there I’ll need to make a separate packing list for Rhinebeck, where it will be colder than this.
An increasingly crystalline truth is that I can get by in any situation with this combination of shoes: one black, one tan, and a wildcard or two.
There are a few issues here, mind you. Ten of these outfits are based on a natural version of my “toddler pants” (I’ve told you this is what I call my olive pants and their descendents, yes?) which aren’t done. I, uh, had a little mishap. So that’s why they look funny in the photos: They’re wrong and not done. Also, some of those outfits are sleeveless. Will the pants be fixed before the temperature drops? We shall see. Likewise, the dark jeans pictured are my Willies because my me-made jeans don’t have a hem yet, but in reality I could be wearing either pair. And the striped sweater needs one of its raglan seams redone before it gets cool enough to wear it. Hopefully it will get cool enough to wear the sweaters I’ve included — at least once! But I’ll be winging it if not.
So I’m not being a slave to this, BUT (weather permitting) I can get dressed all month from the following without giving it another moment’s thought … unless of course I want to.
I’ll be attempting to document my outfits every day for #slowfashionoctober either in my main @karentempler feed or my Story (those are my Monday and Tuesday outfits up top), and will post a wrap-up at the end of the month — but I can tell you right now this is my favorite array of outfits I’ve put together yet.
For details on all of the garments pictured, see my Fall Closet Inventory + Refashioned army jacket + toddler pants post coming as soon as the natural ones are fixed, but they’re all basically the same as the olive pair (with assorted variations).
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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Pre-fall Outfits!
Egad, this is impressive! BTW–I would buy that grey wool short sleeved top in your current fundraiser in a heartbeat! It’s so great!
You’d leave me without several outfits!
Slow fashion genius of another generation: http://www.advanced.style/2017/10/debra-rapoport-east-81st-street.html
I love those ladies, but that is one of the best EVER. Thank you for linking it.
I envy how easy it will be for you to get dressed in October! Sometimes I scroll my own instagram feed to come up with an outfit, but this takes it to a whole new level. Love this formula for dressing.
I was reading your WLP post last night and could have written every word of it myself! I’m a lifelong WLP devotee and it’s always been torture when they go out of stores (they’re never out of style, in my opinion). And being able to make my own so that is never a problem again is the most life-altering bridge I’ve crossed in this whole process. All of which is in my draft post for when the natural pair is done, so it was so fun to read you saying the same thing. Soul mates!
I’m going to jump on the WLP bandwagon! Wore my Emerson and Flint pairs a lot in Portugal…. They are an effortlessly cool garment that elevates anything you wear with them. AND they’re so comfortable. I never got the tight jeans thing, even when I had the body to wear them.
I love your tic-tac-toe boards! I recently retired and don’t feel like I should be buying as much since I don’t need much. So I am using will power to keep shoes at a minimum and sew or knit for the joy and then actually having a finished garment. Most of mine are colored and few go with each other-that will be my next plan.
If only someone would come over and just do this for me…
It’s so fun! Taking the photos the first day when you’re going from zero might take a half an hour or something. But from then on when you just have a new purchase or FO (which you’re photographing anyway!) it takes a second to snap that pic. And then once you have the images, it’s nothing but fun to play a round of rummy.
I’m with DWJ — I am so itching to do this (it’s just the sort of thing I love), but the from-zero startup is daunting.
I don’t think I have a well-lit, neutral wall with a big enough blank space. And I don’t store my clothes on hangers. So with needing to move furniture and hang a backdrop and set up a camera (and get partner’s buy in to put holes in the wall), do the hang-photo-refold routine, then put everything back… sounds like a half-day undertaking to me.
I’m not happy to say this, but given the long list of house projects that have stalled while I’ve been baby-wrangling, “photographing my clothes so I can play with outfits” sounds awfully self-indulgent to me these days. :-(
But, to be clear, that’s why it’s extra fun to watch you do it!
Almost did a double-take just now browsing/admiring Michaela Greg’s sweaters – this outfit would fit in just perfectly to your lineup! https://www.micaelagreg.com/collections/sweaters/products/cream-honeycomb-cable-sweater
Love the 20×30 and tracking how versatile all these great pieces are.
Oh wow, those are my toddler jeans! And hilariously, I’m having my silver flats like that made in tan as we speak. I’m a huge fan of theirs and met them once briefly while I was still in the Bay Area. But that is really funny.
Sandals in October. I wish! Oh well, we get to wear our sweaters longer. Those are great outfits, and I love your remade shirt/jacket. This sort of layering is exactly how I love to dress.
P.S. I looked up the smocks because I love those too, but they’re all sold out. Hope more show up sometime…
It’s not really normal and I don’t expect to wear them all month — but I’ve never had closed shoes that color and realized how key it is in summer, so I have a pair on order. So basically the sandal pic is a stand-in for the tan flats I don’t have yet! They’ll show up in my daily outfit pics once they arrive.
Re the smocks, sign up for her newsletter and that way you’ll know each time a batch goes live.
love the concept! I mash around business clothes for professional meets bohemian meets classic. My play clothes don’t get the same workout as they are worn infrequently. Problem area for me is I love my shoe and boot varieties, so I have quite a few of those…anyways, love your blog and you are an inspiration!
Yay for Slotober! I was in a department store yesterday–a nice one–and really noticed that everything was fake. If it looked like cotton flannel, it was rayon. If it looked like wool or corduroy, it was a synthetic blend. The robe that looked like terrycloth was a fleece that managed to be both slimy and sticky, and cost well over $100. I felt like I was walking through a store and a landfill at the same time. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for this awesome post! I can’t wait to see your Instagram photos each day of your outfits!
The crop job you did on the olive top turned out really well!!!!! I don’t think I am quite up to a 20 x 30 challenge, but Wardrobe Wednesday posts I can manage. My first one is up and right here: https://voiedevie.blogspot.com/2017/10/wardrobe-wednesday-slow-fashion-edition.html
I will want to see what you pack for Rhinebeck. :)
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