In Reflection: Style 75 Hard
What did I learn from taking photos of my outfits and not shopping? Quite a bit.
I've always loved clothes and fashion. My mom often jokes that when I was learning to spell, "Chanel" was one of the first words I learned. In second grade, my birthday party theme was Pucci. Needless to say, fashion and personal style have always been important to me.
That being said, personal style hasn’t always come easily. I remember starting high school when every girl was wearing a bandage skirt. Over the first long weekend, I went to Forever21 to buy one even though I didn’t like how they looked on me. Figuring out what I don’t like is as important as figuring out what I do like in developing my own taste and personal style.
Living in New York, there's unique taste everywhere, but I find it fascinating how much everyone dresses the same. Certain items become “the item” everyone must own every few months. Ideally, this trend would stop with items, allowing people to interpret looks in their own way. Instead, people end up wearing outfits that could be carbon copies of each other—like the current trend of low-rise jeans with a suit vest and Sambas, a look I thankfully can't pull off.
When I used Rent the Runway, I gravitated towards trendier items because I didn’t have to commit to them. I could test-drive them and then send them back. I loved Rent the Runway. I was addicted to the newness and always having something different to wear. But I realized I was barely wearing the clothes I owned, favoring something new and exciting instead.
By pausing Rent the Runway, I aimed to wear the clothes and accessories I owned and think of new ways to interpret them. However, I started shopping more to fill that void, leading to some poor purchases that I later resold. My closet was filled with pieces I treasured and others that frustrated me because I never found a way to wear them.
When I heard about the Style 75 Hard Challenge on Instagram, I was excited but apprehensive. I knew it would be hard, especially since January is a notorious sale season. However, I was ready to get to know my closet again and understand what pieces I loved and which I could give to a better home. The two main tenets of Style 75 are:
Take a picture of what you wear every day.
Don’t buy anything.
I did an okay job taking pictures every day and almost made it through without buying anything. I did break to buy a pair of secondhand pristine Chanel ballet flats, but I feel no guilt about it. (Some justification: I waited to wear them until the challenge was over.) So what did I learn from not shopping and taking outfit photos?
Looking back at the photos, certain shapes, colors, and patterns stand out. I love small prints (Liberty and Laura Ashley are my dreams), blazers, and layers galore. The pieces I wore the most were often spur-of-the-moment purchases I felt an immediate attraction to. Some items I wore once or twice during the challenge never felt right or comfortable, signaling to me to donate them. Overall, I’d wear every outfit again. I'm excited for winter to break these clothes out and think of new ways to style them. One hidden joy was seeing pieces I’d bought over 10 years ago that I still wear today.
No shopping was a daunting prospect, but it appealed to me because I thought it would force me to evaluate more seriously what I purchased and why. A few years ago, I realized the items I liked to buy most weren’t necessarily practical or things I used often (like party dresses and vacation wear). Online shopping had become a hobby, mindlessly scrolling through ShopBop or The RealReal, hoping something would catch my eye. I rarely shopped to fill a wardrobe void but rather to find something exciting. During the challenge, I deleted every email from stores to avoid temptation. If I was going to do this, I was going cold turkey.
As the challenge wore on, I worried I’d go wild with shopping once it ended. But my first shopping experience post-challenge was at an incredible independent brand in Palm Beach, Coniglio. While I did buy a few things, I considered how much I’d wear each piece, how many ways I could wear them, and where I could wear them. This is now my default before buying anything. I keep a running list of items I want and things I’ve bought to ensure I only purchase things that make getting dressed more fun and easier.
During the challenge, I noticed clothes I never attempted to wear, indicating it was time to pass them along. I used to hold onto clothes for that one occasion or until they fit properly again, but they just collected dust in my closet. Over three months, I stacked a pile of clothes to get rid of, only pulling one dress out.
At the start of the challenge, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when it ended. Would it be a relief, or would I throw in the towel? While it didn’t fundamentally change how I get dressed, it did change how I buy clothes and think about shopping. I know fashion and shopping are unsustainable, so I'm now trying to be more thoughtful in my fashion consumption. My goal is to have a closet I love and cherish without harming the planet.