30 x 30 (and heinous pictures)

I was blogwalking the other day (it's the cool new phrase for surfing blogs, doncha know) and came across Kendi Lea's blog where she was talking about a challenge that she had entered a couple of times before, known as the 30 for 30 challenge.

Now, I'm a bit late to the party, but it turns out that this challenge is about picking 30 items of clothing and shoes, excluding accessories, camisoles and overcoat and wearing only those 30 pieces by remixing them for 30 days!  Sounds quite difficult, doesn't it?  So of course, I immediately decided to jump on the bandwagon (just rife with cliches today, aren't we!)

Here are the rules, according to Kendi:

1. Pick 30 items or less from your closet. Shoes are included, but accessories and jewelry are not.

2. Remix the 30 items into 30 different outfits.

3. Don't shop for 30 days.  (This is to help you realise more what you need than what you want, which you'll have presumably figured out after wearing the same clothes for 30 days!)


Every blog I've read that's doing this challenge has bemoaned rule number three.  For me, this is actually the easiest rule to follow.  I don't think I've bought any clothes in the last thirty days, and I don't think I'll be buying clothes in the thirty days to come!  Being a student on a really tight budget, even accessories are a splurge for me, a splurge I enjoy quite often!  So I don't really care because being stuck on a campus in the middle of nowhere, I'm not really missing the opportunity to buy anything.

What is troublesome though, is cutting down my already limited wardrobe to 30 pieces.  I've already left most of my clothes at home - I wake up sometimes thinking oh god!  My chequered pants!  And realise they're not here - and so I'm curious to see if I can sustain the challenge, particularly the laundry bit.

(The second challenge for me will actually be taking pictures of myself literally every single day.  Expect to see some white walls!)

SO!  To the clothes!  I realise I unconsciously picked lots of dark colours and neutrals with occasional pops of colour, so we'll see how it goes!  I apologise for the heinous pictures, I was huffing back and forth from the cupboard and having to get up on a chair to take this in the most horrendous lighting, but really these are just so you can see I don't cheat.

Shoes:  1)  New Look black flats, 2) Oxford heels, 3) Dr Marten boots, 4) Red shoes from Shu Time, 5)  Black Debenhams lace-ups.

Skirts: 6)  Marks and Spencer's pencil skirt, 7) Maxi skirt from Next, 8) Red skirt from Primark.

Tops: 9) Black Dorothy Perkins top, 10) Spotted Primark button down, 11) Purple Primark top, 12) Rugby striped Primark top, 13) Black and white striped Primark top, 14) M and S knit top.

 Tops: 15) Black turtleneck from France, 16) Gold top from Primark, 17) Striped Dorothy Perkins blouse, 18) Kimono top from Marine Parade (Woot!  Represent, Marine Parade!)

Dresses:  18)  Purple Esprit dress, 19) Black Station dress, 20) Primark bow dress.

Outer layers (damn you winter!): 21) Tang's Studio blaze,  22)  Black Dorothy Perkins cardigan, 23) Batwing cardigan, 24) Tesco knit cardigan.

Bottoms: 25) DIY cutoffs, 26) Houndstooth leggings, 27) Navy zara pants, 28) New Look jeans, 29) Black leggings from Cotton On.

Good grief!  Have you ever seen such a motley lot of clothing in your life?

My 30 x 30 starts tomorrow, so apologies in advance for having to see the same clothes for 30 days!  Or... why not join me?