30 for 30 Challenge, Take Two

Just over a year ago now, I completed six months of no shopping. It was hard but it did make a difference to my bank balance and made me "shop" my wardrobe for new looks a lot more than I do when I am picking up something new every few days weeks! I thought I'd learned to shop more responsibly but within months I had fallen back into my old ways. Last summer I attempted the 30 for 30 challenge but found myself unmotivated. This time I plan to make it work.

In a recent Friend Friday post I admitted that I regularly repeat outfits. So I have decided that during February I will undertake Kendi Everyday’s 30 for 30 challenge to see if I can go a month without repeating.

Since I spent much of January streamlining my wardrobe, this challenge will also provide the perfect opportunity for me to discover my newly edited closet and hopefully work out what is missing, so that when the 30 days are up, I can go shopping with purpose. In fact, Kendi has been doing her own series, Create A Working Closet, and her most recent and final part is filled with tips on remixing and shopping your own wardrobe.

Kendi's rules for the challenge are:

1. Pick 30 items or less from your closet. Shoes are included, but accessories and jewellery are not.

2. Remix the 30 items into 30 different outfits.


3. Don't shop for 30 days.


Choosing 30 items is - for me - the real challenge it would seem. I have spent days agonising over which 30 items to choose. So I decided to set some rules of my own:


1. At least five pieces in the challenge will be from those that were kept during my recent wardrobe detox but that I was unsure about. This way I can maybe make a better informed decision at the end of the month over whether it was the right decision for them to stay in my closet.


2. I will choose at least two colourful pieces. During the aforementioned wardrobe detox I discovered that I wear a lot of black, white, cream, navy and grey, so this challenge will provide an opportunity for me to introduce a little colour into my outfits.


Here are my 30 items for the challenge:

Top row (l-r): Primark long-sleeved tee; Dorothy Perkins blouse; Gap Breton tee; and Gap tee.
Bottom row (l-r): Asos vest; Asos tee; Dorothy Perkins shirt; and Gap tee.

Thrifted M&S blazer

Top row (l-r): Dorothy Perkins jumper; M&S jumper; and M&S roll neck.
Bottom row (l-r): Topshop jumper; M&S cardigan; and M&S cardigan.

Left to right: Topshop leggings; Topshop jeans; and Next jeans.

Left to right: River Island midi skirt; and New Look maxi skirt.

Left to right: Oasis boots; soon-to-arrive Next pumps; H&M wedges (to be replaced with Asos wedges - if they look all right when they arrive!); Spartoo heels; and Converse trainers.

Left to right: Asos dress; Dorothy Perkins tunic; Benetton LBD; and soon-to-arrive Next dress; and Asos dress.

What do you think of the selection?

Check back later today for the first outfit in the challenge.

Anyone else planning to take on the challenge? Would you consider it for next time? How would you go about choosing your 30 items?

ALL UK RESIDENTS: REMEMBER TO ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO LONDON FASHION WEEKEND!

UPDATE 03.03.2011:

After getting halfway through the challenge and realising that I have changed a few of my 30 items and thought I should clarify these:

Tops: remain unchanged

Blazer: same

Knitwear: Paris jumper -- changed to -- grey Marks and Spencer boyfriend cardigan

Trousers: Next jeans -- changed to -- Gap black skinny jeans

Skirts: remain unchanged

Shoes: Next pumps arrived and have been worn; H&M wedges -- changed to -- Marks and Spencer shoe boots (this fulfills my original target to include items I had kept during my wardrobe detox that I didn't wear before and need to "learn" to wear)

Dresses: Benetton LBD -- changed to -- H&M knit dress