100 Day Challenge
Mid January I decided to do a challenge. Wool& company is a company based in selling wool products. And I do love my wool. Well, you buy one of their dresses and wear it 100 days straight and you get a coupon to apply to another purchase on their site. 100 days. Wearing the same dress. Hmmmm. Yes I work remotely so I wasn't worried about what anyone would say if they even noticed. But 100 days. in the same ANYTHING sounds a bit crazy. I kept thinking. I've cleaned out my closet due to losing a lot of weight. But I still had, what to me is a lot of clothes. Could I really wear the same dress that long? But I signed up. I picked an ocean teal v necked, 3/4 sleeve swing dress. It is made of 78% wool and 22% nylon. It felt like a cozy knit tshirt. Light yet warm. Very easy to wear. And off I went.
Each day part of the challenge is that you take a picture to record your journey. That became the hardest part of the challenge! Those 100 pictures are more pictures of me than in the last 8 years! I TAKE pictures, I'm not IN pictures. That is another story that needs changing. But I moved along. Pulling out cardigans, wearing silk scarves for the first time (and loving them), styling it in ways I would not have considered before. I wore tights most of the time and even here in MN I was warm and toasty through our long cold winter, in a DRESS.
People warned of feeling burned out around the 40 day mark. I never did. To me it felt no different than wearing a pair of blue jeans with a different top every day. It rekindled my love of dresses. Much more comfortable than pants. And I looked way more pulled together in my dress then in my more common lounge wear! Wool is amazing, stain resistant, odor resistant, no wrinkles, and have I mentioned I have a dog? A dog who sheds? Who sheds A LOT? Ya, the dog hair never stuck either. Because I was going to wear it all the time, I took good care of it. Out came the full aprons when I was cooking. (ok and when I was eating, I spill a lot too) Some people rarely washed it. I would hang it up in an extra room, under a slow moving ceiling fan to get plenty of ventilation all night. I washed my dress about every two weeks. Not because I noticed an issue, but because I thought I surely SHOULD be washing it! I got more compliments wearing "the" dress than I've gotten in a long time. 
The purpose is to remind ourselves we don't always need more. That spending money on a quality item is much better long term then buying 5 cheap things that wear out easily and get tossed in the landfills. I'm a knitter and spinner. I'm all about slow fashion. And I've moved from the how cheap can I get it box to I will save and buy a really good item that will last me for years. I may have to save to do it, but in the long run, I am really saving more than money. At the end of my 100 days, I sent away for my coupon and turned around and bought a dark coraly pink sleeveless dress for summer. It is a wonderful addition to my wardrobe. I continue to pair it down. I won't ever have a capsule wardrobe, but I will work towards getting rid of over 50% of what I currently have. And I don't think I will miss it. What about you? Can you do a 100 challenge? Let me know!
