Friday 21 June 2013

Project 333 June

Project 333 june

My suspicion that Project 333 would be harder during the London summer has proven to be correct.  Whether that is because I believed it would be hard – and therefore didn’t commit to it as much is a subject that could be endlessly debated.  But one thing is true – its only the 21st of the month and I’ve already worn 39 different items – including 9 different pairs of shoes.
There are various justifications for this:
1)      I was on holiday for 2 weeks, and my normal city wardrobe was never going to cut it in Cornwall
2)      The temperature has ranged from freezing and wet to hot and sunny within the space of the last 20 days – that’s a London summer for you
3)      The summer last year was so appalling that my summer clothes hardly got worn, so the minute the sun came out this year I got over-excited trying to wear everything
4)      Shoes are more difficult in summer – no more getting away with 2 pairs of boots that go with more or less everything.  There is styling and coordination involved here.
5)      There was a wedding involved.  One which required a proper frock, and a hat and whatnot.  Not in the usual 33 item wardrobe numbers.
OK – I know, none of those were really reasons.  But you know, I’m absolutely fine with being at 39 items and counting, because I know that really the original reason I started project 333 has been a roaring success.
Since January I have removed nearly 60 items from my wardrobe, reducing the total number of clothes and shoes from 283 to 226.  I know it still sounds a lot – but I do love my clothes, and whilst I think there probably is still scope for further rationalisation, I’m starting to get to the point where I’m resisting getting rid of more things – and there have been a couple of occasions where I have regretted donating one or two things.  Particularly as I’ve lost about 10 pounds in weight recently, so a lot of my older clothes now fit again.
Interestingly, I have actually added 18 items in through very specific shopping, so in terms of taking things in the direction I want them to go – and to make it more ‘me’, I have done even better. 
I’m going to think long and hard about whether I continue with the experiment for the time being.  I must admit it has been truly lovely to have the run of my whole wardrobe, without self-imposed limits.  Maybe the process has run its course?  Or maybe I could carry on but give myself a bit more wiggle room.  What do you think?
So anyway – this is the core of my June wardrobe.  I couldn’t fit all 39 items on the page, but you get the gist don’t you?