10 pieces, 10 different outfits

I am one of those girls who loves fashion! I love all kinds of styles and looks and my closet definitely reflects this! And along with loving fashion, I enjoy mixing and matching different items to come up with new looks! It keeps those older pieces a little more fresh and exciting! I probably have way too many pieces of clothing in my closet, but I have such a hard time letting go. Minimalist living seems so simplistic and nice, but I find it very challenging. I see people living this lifestyle and I think how are you able to live with such few things and such few items to wear?

A couple weeks ago, as I was scrolling through Instagram one afternoon, I read a post about a fashion challenge called spring10x10 and I was instantly interested and fascinated. So what is this so called spring 10×10 challenge, you may be asking??? This challenge was minimalistic challenge for the wardrobe- you choose 10 clothing items to create 10 different outfits to wear over 10 days!

I thought how hard could this be… I mix and match things all the time and make it look different… well it actually was a little bit more challenging than I had anticipated. Mixing and matching wasn’t necessarily the hardest thing or the issue, there were other factors that played a part! For one, the weather in Missouri has been a little bi-polar… well actually missouri is like this a lot- and I had already chosen my Easter dress, which would be my day 2- so that took up 1 piece of clothing. Not taking the weather into consideration, a couple of the items I had chosen were a little too “springy” for the weather and my Easter dress, while pretty, made it challenging to pair with much of anything else I had chosen.

So you know I chose my Easter dress as one of the pieces, are you ready to see what else I selected???

Here’s what I chose for the ten days:

Black leggings, my black jeans, my frayed blue jeans, a gray Carly (lularoe), a white button up shirt, my Easter dress, a black cropped sweater, my golden yellow cardigan, a denim long sleeve jacket/shirt, and a long gray sweatshirt!

What about the shoes???

I think the shoes were supposed to count as part of the ten, but that was WAY too hard! So I decided I would just add those in! I chose my gray tall boots, llbean black ankle boots, and my slip on black leather flats!

Day 1

Saturday! Denim on denim look! I absolutely love this denim wrangle jacket I bought at a flee market! Yep, you heard right! I bought it for $13! My denim frayed jeans were designed by yours truly! I wanted the frayed hem look with skinny jeans and a more distressed, open knee look, so I took to Pinterest to see what I could do! Looks pretty good, huh? My llbean boots completed the look!

Day 2

Sunday Easter dress! I absolutely love this fun floral dress! It is perfect for so many occasions! I love to wear it dressed up and down! Pair it with black leggings and heels, or jeans and flats! I paired this Easter look with my black leggings and my llbean boots! And I accessorized with some fun gold jewelry to pop the golds in the dress!

Day 3

Monday! It was a little bit of a chillier day, so I wore my golden cardigan to provide some warmth and bring me some happiness! Under the golden sweater from Charlotte Russe was my gray LulaRoe Carly, black leggings and my llbean boots!

Day 4

Tuesday! I went with my gray turtleneck, black jeans, and my gray tall boots! It was still chilly and I wanted to be comfy! I added my fun red lipstick for burst of color! Fun fact: I got a sinus infection again… and I lost my voice and could barely teach my classes. I have never lost my voice that badly before.

Day 5

Wednesday! I had meetings at school and wanted to remain comfy, so my denim jacket/ shirt is back! I added my black jeans and llbean boots to it, threw my hair back in a headband and added my gold earrings!

Day 6

Thursday! I had a photo shoot in the afternoon at my new church and really wanted to find something fun to wear within my 10 piece palate! I chose my gray Carly, my black leggings, and added my cropped black sweater on top! I threw on my gold earrings, added a fun feather/ charm necklace, and wore my llbean boots.

Day 7

Friday finally!!! I wanted to look more professional- I was taking my strolling strings to one of our feeder schools to perform and then taking my 7th graders to Incredible pizza to celebrate their performance at competition this last march. I wore my white collared sleeveless blouse, my black jeans, and llbean boots. Instead of my gold jewelry, I decided to add some silver! Love these silver earrings- they are the most amazing earrings ever and they are so light! I added some bathroom selfies at Incredible Pizza for the look book- 🙂

Day 8

Saturday! Solo/ ensemble contest day for my students! I had to be at the school prepared and ready to go at 7:30am and didn’t leave til 4:50. It was a long day! Notice the Easter dress??!! I just had to try and bring it back. To give it a little different of a look and feel, I paired the dress and leggings with my tall gray boots and my golden cardigan. It was also freezing and snowy weather. I decided to wear the silver earrings to help bring out the Silverman look of my gray boots!

Day 9

Sunday! I would have normally been more dressed up and headed to church, but the cold I had gotten at the beginning of the week, persisted. So off I went to the doctor. Wanting to be comfy and relaxed, I grabbed my long sweatshirt, black leggings, a hat for my messy bed-head and my easy slip on black leather flats.

Day 10

Monday! I made it! I chose to wear my Carly again, but without the leggings this time ( the weather was actually more like spring). I wore my sleeveless white collar shirt underneath and added my llbean boots. I actually really liked this look and may never have thought to mix the two- I was just running it of options!

So it’s done! What did I take away from the experience???

1. In doing a challenge like this, really think out your options and how you’ll mix and match! Do this before you decide on pieces. I tried to do this, but I think I should have processed a little more before selecting my pieces- it would have made it easier to mix and match.

2. Summer time would be more simple if you work at a place in which you can’t wear jeans. If I were doing the challenge during the summer, I could wear jeans every day if I wished- Being a teacher and only allowed to wear jeans on Friday’s, made it more challenging.

3. Think about your week and what the weather may be like- this could help a TON! There were a couple times I wanted to wear other things due to being cold, but I was already invested in the options I chose, and I didn’t want to change items.

4. While I like to mix and match clothing, I like having more options to mix and match. I enjoy having more selection! It did however make it a little easier knowing each day knowing I only had those few options to chose from. But due to me being somewhat “impulsive” in my choosing of the pieces, it was extremely difficult towards the end.

All in all- it was a really fun challenge and it taught me that I could be minimalistic if I wanted. I think I could do it on a little larger of a scale, but again, I would have to be willing to get rid of a TON of my clothes, and I’m not quite ready for that! I also loved following the hashtag and being inspired by others and seeing how they were mixing and matching their outfits to create different looks! Looking for fashion inspiration with normal clothing? Check out the hashtag and see how creative some people are- it is truly inspiring and so fun!

Hope ya’ll enjoyed following along with all the fun fashion mixing and matching, spring 10×10 posts!!! I had a blast!

Til nextime,

Stay fashionable, Erin Ruscel