You wouldn’t know this if you caught me on an average day – say, picking up my kids from school, running an errand, hanging out with Baby or plunking away on this keyboard – but I really do appreciate a well-put together outfit. I’m actually a closet fashionista. When I watched more than one T.V. show (I’m strictly a The Young & The Restless consumer now), I loved catching episodes of TLC’s What Not to Wear. Learning tid-bits about what works and doesn’t work was fun and I always thought, Next time I go shopping, I’ll keep that in mind.
Well, my ‘next times going shopping’ were never with a $5000 pre-paid VISA, solo, in the streets of New York. When this mama shops there is at least one child, and often three. There’s a time limit, a budget and no patience in the mix. It’s simply not fun and I just don’t do it. However, over the years I have collected clothing items from various shopping trips and different stages in my life: before and after 3 pregnancies.
Last February, something in the blogosphere caught my eye: a closet remix challenge called #Moms30for30 that some of my fellow bloggers were participating in. After 3 am feeds, during the awkward time of just having snacked and not quite ready to lie back down yet, I would turn on my phone and check out posts by Salma and others, documenting an entire month of wearing the same 30 clothing items in different ways, or with different accessories. I was happy to observe while wearing pyjamas or sweats the majority of my waking hours, but now I am 10 months post-partum and ready to take a look at what’s hanging out in my closet.
I have chosen these clothes to make up my wardrobe for November.
Selecting the clothes was easy (I could only choose ones that fit!) and tough (I could only choose ones that fit!) The awesome thing that came out of this exercise was I am amazed at how much I actually could wear and I am totally ok getting rid of the ones that don’t.
Top row: 2 long sleeve shirts, 4 T-shirts, and a hoodie.
Second row: 6 sweaters, a turtleneck and 4 cardigans.
Third row: 4 tank tops, 2 pairs of jeans, a jean skirt, 4 leggings and sweatpants.
Starting November 1, I’ll be getting creative with these items plus accessories (even just changing up accessories can make the outfit completely different! I know – Stacy and Clinton told me!) and taking pics. You can follow me on Twitter @taslimjaffer to see my daily pics, or watch for the weekly digest here on Fridays.
The reason I am doing this is to HAVE FUN. I also want to really take care in dressing myself because even though I’m a work-at-home mom, I like feeling put together.
And here are my lovely co-hosts for this round of #Moms30for30. Get to know them – I’m glad I have! Follow along with their posts, but also, DO JOIN US! The more the merrier. If you want to leave a comment with your social media links so we know where to follow you, please go ahead. We’ll all be sure to share each other’s posts as well.
From Left to Right:
Margarita from www.westcoastmama.net.
Follow her on Twitter @west_coastmama
Instagram @west_coastmama
Facebook www.facebook.com/westcoastmama
Raj from www.pinkchailiving
Follow her on Twitter @pinkchai
Instagram @pinkchai
Facebook www.facebook.com/pinkchai
Salma from www.thewritebalance.ca
Follow her on Twitter @salmadinani
Instagram @salmadinani
Facebook www.facebook.com/TheWriteBalance
Shawna from www.dovetailblog.com
Follow her on Twitter @shawnadovetail
Instagram @shawnadovetail
Facebook www.facebook.com/dovetailblog
Love this idea of taking clothes you already have and turning them into a creative outlet and way to express yourself. Look forward to the upcoming posts!
Thanks, Kamana! I’m on Day 3 right now and I can say, it’s REALLY easy to choose what to wear in the mornings, because all of the clothes I’m choosing from FIT me! I’m not rummaging through other items that I don’t like but for some reason am holding on to! Adding accessories has been fun 🙂
I’m looking forward to your weekly posts and possibly be inspired! I need to get back to dressing up a bit. My daily mommy uniform is either t-shirt and jeans or t-shirt with leggings and hoodies under a down vest. And of course, for work, it’s t-shirts with hospital scrubs.
So, I’m actually working toward your mommy uniform then, Janice lol My 30 items consists of leggings and jeans which is a step up from my yoga pants (although, if you notice, I did manage to throw in a pair haha). I think for me, it’ll be the little things that jazz up an outfit, too. Like today I’m wearing bangles! Although, to be honest, they are resting beside my keyboard at this moment. The clanging was too much.
Can’t wait to see your inner fashionista being inspired this month 🙂
Thanks, Salma – this is really fun! I love that I’m thinking about accessories. I have so many scarves and never wear them. Perfect month to bring them out! Brrr…
I’m one of those mamas who does dress up… not too much, lots of leggings and jeans— but I like wearing nice tops— they’re comfy but with some style… I find i feel so much better about myself!
It is nice to be prepared for whatever the day will bring! Even when working from home – you never know when the bell’s going to ring! It’s really good to feel confident!
What a fun challenge! If I wasn’t travelling so much over the next month, I would definitely take part in it. I could use the help! While I don’t think I’m totally clueless when it comes to fashion, I’m most certainly creative! Good luck!! S+ C would be proud! 🙂
Ah, I think S+C would have loved my scarf yesterday 🙂 This is really fun. It’s awkward posing for the pics, though! Hopefully next time you’ll be able to join in. I know they had done one last February. Perhaps there’ll be another early next year?