After months and months of having more days spent in my Girlfriend leggings than actual clothes than I’d like to admit, I am ready to get back to giving my wardrobe the love that it deserves. I also have some exciting partnerships this season with some of my favorite brands–Tradlands, Sotela, and Eileen Fisher–to sprinkle some new pieces throughout spring. Last year, I had so much fun participating in the May 2019 30×30 challenge that was hosted by my lovely friend, Sara from Petra Alexandra, that I thought it’d be fun to do it all over again. And so this year, we’re co-hosting the challenge together! Yay!
THE RULES
My rules from last year had me include shoes as part of my count, but not loungewear or knitwear. This year though, while working from home, there are no rules! Do what feels good for you! Loungewear and knitwear will count because they’re so necessary during this time. Let’s lean into cute and comfy dressing!
- Choose 30 items to wear for 30 days
- Include shoes, if you want! (I am!)
- Include loungewear, if you want! (I am!)
- Repeat outfits when you want (I know I did last year, and probably will this year!)
- Be flexible! Have fun! (I plan to!)
PLANNING
Fun Tip: Plan with a friend!
Sara and I hopped on a Zoom call on Saturday morning to plan out our 30 items together. I picked her brain as to how she goes about planning these types of challenges since she’s just so darn good at them. Her trick? She begins with the pieces that she just can’t live without, so that’s where we started. It was so interesting to see how different we were with our must haves: For Sara, she can’t live without her denim. For me, I couldn’t live without my sneakers or jumpsuits. It was also so much fun to talk about how different we are with our styles: I’m a sneaker girl through and through, while Sara loves a good pointed toe shoe. We then found some overlap in our styles because we love the same brands, and were therefore bound to include some of the same pieces from our wardrobe. Because we’ve been following each other for a while too, we know each other’s wardrobes fairly well. We were able to help each other choose pieces that we may have forgotten about.
If you have a friend to plan with, I highly recommend it! That’s ultimately why I love doing these challenges–for the sense of community that it brings about. I can’t wait to see everyone’s looks!
MY 30 ITEMS
Looking back at my recap of last year’s challenge, I remember bending the rules quite a bit. As a mood dresser, it’s so hard for me to pre-choose items for a whole month and so I had picked 20 pieces at the beginning of the challenge, leaving me with 10 wildcards to sprinkle throughout the month. I only ended up using 25 pieces total. This year though, now that I have more time to have fun with getting dressed while social distancing, I want to do the challenge with as much fidelity as I can.
It wouldn’t be me if there weren’t spaces for wildcards later on in the month so I left two spaces open to fill (or not to fill) later on in the month.
SHOES (5)
–Veja Esplar Sneakers (white)
—Nisolo Ama Mules (brown)*
–Nisolo Isla Slides (black)
—Eileen Fisher Platform Oxfords (black)
–Veja V10 Sneakers (white) or Veja SDU Hexa Sneakers (black)
TOPS (10) (9)
—Sotela Lyla Crop Linen Tank (avocado)
—Sotela Lyla Crop Linen Tank (black)
—Tradlands Jude Sweater (surf blue)*
–Madewell Barcelona Graphic Tee (white)
–Madewell Citron Graphic Tee (cream)
—Eileen Fisher Linen Delave Tank (khaki)*
–Eileen Fisher Linen Blend Striped Tee (white)
–Tradlands Varsity Sweatshirt (cream)
–Everlane Oversized Air Crew Tee (black)
—Free Label Jacquie Tee (white)
BOTTOMS (4)
—Free Label Sunday Pants (black)*
–Muji Cotton Wide Leg Pants (black)
–Madewell Demi Boot Jeans (black)
—Eileen Fisher Linen Delave Wide Leg Pants (khaki)*–Eileen Fisher Cotton Gauze Pants
ONE-PIECES: DRESSES & JUMPSUITS (5) (6)
––Tradlands Finn Jumpsuit (black)*
—Tradlands Nico Dress (black)*
—Mien Lakeside Jumpsuit (black)
—Sotela Avery Slip Dress (black)
–UO Floral Babydoll Dress
–Eileen Fisher Cotton Gauze Jumpsuit
OUTERWEAR (4) (3)
—Back Beat Co. Utility Jacket (denim blue)
—Mien Painter Jacket (saddle brown)
–Everlane Chore Jacket (black)*
–Old Denim Jacket
WILDCARDS / EMPTY SPACES (3)
*gifted (fully or partially) pieces
Be sure to check out Sara’s picks over on her blog!
Join in on May 01 with #May30x30 on Instagram!
THE PLEB LIFE 