out of the woods

(thrifted polka dot blouse & mini skirt, urban o tights, target socks, hand me down boots.)
It's been one month since I've been in London. 30 days of rotating the same seven shirts, two dresses, three skirts, three jeans, one pair of slacks, two sweaters, and miscellaneous hosiery. Every day I wrote my outfit down in my London journal. This helped me keep track of outfits I'd worn and helped keep my brain actively engaged in churning out new outfit ideas. I enjoyed this exercise immensely. I've sprinkled a few outfit posts in through-out my postings this month but here are a few extras.

(left: thrifted sweater and mini skirt, Cabrice boots from 6pm.com; right: Boyfriend's Manson shirt, thrifted belt and flare skirt, hand-me-down boots (worn folded))
Looking through my London posts I realize I never explained to you all why I decided to ban myself from shopping my first month in London. I've certainly had to explain it to all my new friends here. My primary reason was to challenge myself. I have a huge wardrobe at home and I have been using it as a crutch. With so many options there is no real reason to experiment. Secondly, I wanted to save some money. I'm here for four months and there will be plenty of time for thrifting and flea markets. I've managed to spend enough money on plane, train, and bus tickets to pretty much negate any money I might have saved from not shopping (I'm cool with that). A third reason, I only wanted to bring one suitcase.

(thrifted black lace blouse, sparkly vest, and black high-waist trousers, hand-me-down boots)
I've learned quite a bit during this month long shopping ban. I've learned to look at my clothing in a myriad of ways. I've taken my love of layering to a new level. I realized that, while I do not miss box-store shopping, I do miss thrift stores. To me, thrifting is more than just shopping. It's a hunt and a game and a whole lot of fun. I also realized something about myself. I'm not a practical person. When it came to writing my packing list I was very practical. Everything was in the same color scheme, mix and match-able, and all around sensible. I didn't bring any of my crazy clothing and those are the things I miss. I love kooky and different items of clothing and I'm sad that I let practicality win out over flair. (These are some things I'm really missing). Oh well, you live and learn. Overall the items I brought have served me well and since all are work appropriate (minus the mini-skirt) I will be able to wear them the rest of my time here.

Speaking of wearing the rest of the time here, I was so focused on 'one months of remixes' that it never really hit me that even after one month I'd still only have these same items. Talk about a big DUH. I guess I just forgot that my whole wardrobe wouldn't be returned to me at the end of the month. Haha. Luckily, I'm not sick of the items yet and I went thrifting today and bought a few new pieces to give life to the old.

I will be doing a more reflective 'one month' post this weekend. Probably not until Sunday because tomorrow I'm going to Cardiff, Wales with my roommate. I'm questing for Doctor Who sites :). And castles.