30x30

I am SO excited to be debuting my latest project today. I am going to be linking up with some seriously cool lady bloggers for a HUGE fashion project: the 30x30 (hosted by Kelly of Mrs. In Training). If you don’t know what the 30x30 is, it is a challenge to select 30 items from your closet and mix and match them for the next 30 days. I have seen bloggers like Kendi Everyday and The Daybook Blog take on this project, but I always thought that I could never do it or create cool enough looks to be interesting. But after spending the last 2 weeks casually pondering obsessing about my 30 items, I am actually super pumped and ready for this challenge. I will post once a week and link up to my host (which in turn links me up to the aforementioned super cool lady bloggers), so stay tuned for each week’s looks.

So what are the rules, you ask? Well, they are pretty simple. Pick 30 items out of your closet (shirts, skirts, pants, dresses, shoes, sweaters, jackets, etc) and wear ONLY those 30 items for the next 30 days. The challenge started as a shopping ban, and you can do that too, but it isn’t required. But I WILL be participating in this shopping ban, unless it’s to buy some accessories-I am SERIOUSLY lacking in the necklace department! It actually is kind of freeing to have this selection of clothes to pick from, and I am excited to see what I have learned. Some people include their shoes in their 30 items. My original lists included them too. But if the real purpose of this challenge is to mix items in your closet in a new way, then I would rather incorporate clothing than shoes. I don’t have that many shoes, and I find myself gravitating to the same ones all the time. So I really don’t feel bad about it! If you want to find out more about the rules, check out my host here.

*Update: After seeing all my fellow challenge member’s posts, I realized that most of us feel the same way about this issue!

So what items did I pick? Check them out!

**Disclaimer-not all of these items are ironed. Deal with it.**

4 Jackets

*Mossimo (Target) teal blazer

*Old Navy denim jacket

*Lauren Conrad for Kohl’s cream boyfriend blazer

*Kenneth Cole black lace blazer

 For the jackets, I tried to pick basic pieces that I could mix with anything. I do work in an office, so I needed to have some options to keep things more conservative. I chose the 3 blazers so that I could dress up some looks and/or make them more work appropriate, and the denim jacket so…well, does that really need an explanation? It’s spring, and it’s a denim jacket. They just go together, right?

7 Skirts

*New York and Company khaki pencil skirt

*Forever 21 white skirt with blue embroidery

*Gap light pink A-line skirt

*Chico’s navy eyelet skirt

*Loft neon green linen skirt

*Loft floral pencil skirt

*APT 9 (Kohl’s) maxi skirt

For the skirts, I tried to choose a good mix of styles. I wanted pieces that I could wear to work, so that eliminated some of my earlier choices (more on that later).  I chose some pencil skirts, A-line skirts, and a maxi for good measure. I also wanted to include 2 of this spring’s biggest trends: neon and floral. I think I got some pieces that will allow me to mix and match in a fun way!

2 Dresses

*Chelsea & Violet (Dillard’s) white lace dress

*Gap navy and white striped tank dress

I could easily have picked a 30x30 set that was more than half dresses. But I picked just 2 that easily remixed with other items on the list. I think I am most excited to find new ways to wear my dresses.

8 Shirts

*New York and Company white ruffle collar sleeveless top

*Gap red t-shirt

*Loft black and white stripe cap-sleeve top

*Merona (Target) floral sleeveless top

*Gumption Gals black and white chevron racer back tank

*Loft navy and white stripe linen t-shirt

*Gap chambray button-up

*Gap blue plaid button-up

The shirts were probably the hardest things for me to narrow down. I have some great prints mixed in with some solids, and again, some spring trends of stripes and florals. I started off with mostly solid tops, but as I began to mix and match, I realized that I wanted to try some more prints to play with pattern/color/texture mixing.

2 Pants

*Old Navy skinny jeans

*Laundry (by way of TJ MAXX) khaki trousers

I am not a huge fan of pants, so I chose 2 staples: skinny jeans and a dress pant. The jeans are great for weekends/night time and the dress pant is perfect for work and church. They will be a great option, especially if I am having a brain block for an OOTD.

2 Shorts

*Loft denim roll-up shorts

*Loft floral linen shorts

Like the dresses, I wanted to do my list made up of shorts looks. But unfortunately, I cannot wear shorts to work, and since there are only 2 days in the weekend, I chose 2 pairs of shorts-a versatile denim and fun and colorful floral.

I can’t tell you how many times I have switched up my list over the last 2 weeks. I actually finalized my list this morning! But I think that this set of 30 is the best-I have so many great options of patterns to mix and colors to coordinate. I wrote earlier in the post about eliminating some earlier choices. I actually had 4 pairs of shorts and a denim skirt in my almost final list. But after trying to come up of a calendar of when I could wear specific posts (yeah, I am THAT girl), I realized that giving myself 6 pieces (including the denim jacket) that I couldn’t wear to work would severely limit my options. So I replaced 2 of the shorts and the denim skirt with other choices, and I think that my end result is perfect! I also decided to try and put the outfits together a little more organically. Instead of pre-planning what I will wear each day, I will keep track of how many times I wear each piece so that I will get good wear out of each and still have some originality to plan what I wear each day.

So what did I add you ask? Well, like I said before, I decided to take the shoes out of my 30 items. However, I had already taken pictures of my items at this point, so I am adding them here.

I now have 5 jackets, 8 skirts, and 11 shirts.

The new additions are:

*Croft and Barrow (Kohl’s) navy and white stripe blazer

*Ophelia for FC (Francesca’s Collection) royal blue tulip skirt

*Gap black one shoulder top

*Gap leopard ruffle tank

*Loft lace ¾ sleeve blouse

I hope you will come back and see my outfits each week, and even join in on the challenge-its not too late!

In addition to linking up for this specific challenge, I also will continue to link up to my weekly outfit posts linky parties. Check these out!

Tucker Up, The Pleated Poppy, Rolled Up Pretty,  Because Shanna Said So, and Get Your Pretty On.

And to check the other awesome ladies joining in on this challenge, click the links below!