Bottoms/dresses
1 Frame Le Garcon jeans | 2x (made in the US)
2 AG Stevie Ankle sateen in black | 1x (made in the US)
3 Helmut Lang leggings | 2x (made in the US)
4 Goldsign virtual high-rise jeans | 7x (made in the US)
5 James Perse canvas utility pants | 1x (made in the US – old style)
6 James Perse twill sweatpants | 1x (made in the US, sold out)
7 James Perse leggings | 5x (made in the US)
8 James Perse cowl-neck sweatshirt dress | 1x (made in the US, couple years old)
Sweaters/Cardigans/Jackets
9 Everlane chunky knit cardigan | 5x
10 Zara cardigan | 2x (mine is old)
11 Etoile Isabel Marant sweatshirt | 1x (very old)
12 Inhabit wool cardigan | 4x (sold out)
13 Splendid cashmere blend cardigan | 1x (old)
14 Inhabit cashmere turtleneck | 1x
15 Zady wool sweater | 3x (made in the US, gift from Zady to Review)
16 James Perse fleece bomber jacket | 1x (made in the US, birthday present from my dad & step-mom)
17 Inhabit cotton sweater | 1x (so old)
18 Everlane cashmere v-neck | 1x
Tops/Tees
19 T by Alexander Wang long sleeve tee | 6x
20 Splendid layers long sleeve long top | 1x (made in the US)
21 JP slub long sleeve tee | 1x (made in the US)
22 Everlane Ryan tank top | 3x (made in the US)
23 Splendid thermal top | 1x (made in the US)
24 Karen Kane black draped top | 2x (made in the US, mine is quite old, a gift from Karen Kane to review)
25 Splendid white crew-neck tee | 1x (made in the US, mine is an older version)
26 Madewell shirt | 4x
27 James Perse casual tee | 3x (made in the US)
28 Everlane white u-neck tee | 2x (made in the US)
Shoes/Accessories
29 Rag & Bone aston booties | 8x
30 Proenza Schouler PS1 in dark olive | 27x (purchased with credits I earn from Forzieri)
31 Jerome Dreyfuss backpack | 1x (purchased with credits I earn from Forzieri)
32 Everlane loafers | 2x (gift from Everlane to review)
33 Vince sneakers | 8x (use code GRECHEN20 for 20% off)
So. Here’s all I wore in February. I was surprised, sort of, by how many different items I really wore (33). I guess in my head it was a smaller number? Although maybe that number isn’t really so high? It’s a far cry from wearing only 10 items, but I’m not interested in doing that anyway. Please keep in mind that I don’t work outside the house, either, so I don’t have separate wardrobes for “work” and “weekend” or “home.”
Why did I do this?
To REALLY asses what I ACTUALLY wear. I had a goal in mind to wear as many things I could that I wouldn’t normally wear, to see if I should purge or keep them. Turns out I don’t wear things for a reason. Duh. And I’ve decided to get rid of several things I either didn’t wear and should have in February, or did wear and decided they don’t suit me anymore:
JP canvas utility pants
Inhabit cotton sweater
Inhabit cashmere turtleneck
I also wanted to keep track of how many times I wore certain things just to see which were my “favorites.” Of course, this was a little skewed this month because of my travel to Atlanta (I was “forced” to wear only what I brought), but I don’t think it would have been very different otherwise. The weather also has a lot to do with what I wear; it was really cold many days, and many were spent at home, inside as a result.
What I wore most & why:
Goldsign jeans | most comfortable jeans for everything, everyday
T by Alexander Wang top | ideal for layering
Everlane chunky knit cardigan | this was basically my coat
Vince Sneakers | easy to throw on
Rag & Bone booties | warm and comfortable
PS1
Some of my goals going forward:
- I’d like to make sure that 90% of more of the clothing I wear is made in the US. This month, approximately 66% of my clothing (18 out of 28 pieces) was made in the US. It’s harder to wear mostly made in the US during winter months because cashmere/wool generally isn’t made here, but it’s a start, and most of the other pieces I wore ARE made in the US. Going forward, I plan to try and ADD ONLY items to my closet that are made in the US.
- Get rid of 3-5 things per month and add fewer. Technically, I didn’t add anything in February, or January, so I’m ahead of the game right now (I made up for it the first week of March!!). I’m getting rid of three things I wore in February, and quite a few other things that I’ll note later, that I decided to part with after going through some of the spring things I have in a box in my closet.
- Change out my bag more often. I tend to carry the same bag constantly until I get tired of it and then don’t carry it at all for a while. I am going to try Marie Kondo’s method of removing everything from my bag every evening and then storing the bag itself back in it’s dustcover. This will force me to choose a different back every day, or not, depending on how I feel or what the weather’s like. I think that will be quite interesting, actually. And it’s a good habit to get into anyway, cleaning out your bag. I do keep everything organized into pouches generally, but I always have things floating around in the bottom at the end of the day, so it’ll be nice to start fresh everyday and not have to do a big bag cleanout once a month or something!
Ultimately, I’m glad I’m doing this and have learned quite a bit from this exercise. I’m normally not this organized or “numbers” oriented at ALL, but I was inspired to be more deliberate about my wardrobe this year by Debbie over at Recovering Shopaholic, and I’m glad I tried it. I will definitely stick with it for several more months to get a good handle on what I wear different seasons, and hopefully by next fall, I’ll have MY “perfectly” curated closet.
Have you ever tried tracking your outfits everyday? What did you learn from it? How long did you do it?
Lots of cozy practical items for layering! 33 doesn’t seem like much when you consider how essential layering is for February.
Dresses & Denim
Carly´s last blog post ..Black, White, & Braids
Needless to say, I loved this post! I’m happy to have inspired you to start keeping track of what you wear every month. I love your goals for the coming month. I need to start switching my bags out more often, too. I read Marie Kondo’s book and remember what she said about the bags, but I don’t know if I can commit to doing that. Maybe… At this point, I’m trying to at least switch out my bags every month, which is a lot more than what I had been doing. Usually, I carry a bag for 3-4 months before switching it out. I’m now on my third bag of the year and I’m enjoying rediscovering some of the bags I haven’t carried in a while. Maybe I’ll step up my game later in the year and aim to switch my bags every week. Now that’s really getting wild 🙂
Debbie Roes´s last blog post ..February “Love It, Wear It” Challenge Update
The goals you’ve set for yourself should really help keep your current wardrobe in check and to have you add new items that you feel add value to your closet.
I do keep track of my outfits with an app called Stylebook and it’s been years (back to my blogging days) so about 2-3 years that I’ve been using it and I love it. It has definitely helped me figure out what my work-horse pieces are and to be honest most of those are accessories, not clothing. But when I look at the statistics, I can figure out what needs to come out of hiding in my closet and truly put some of my clothing to use (or get rid of it). It has also helped me to see how much money I’ve wasted on some things so I’m trying to work on getting that under control.