What to Wear - It's All About the Accessories, Right?

When I selected my six September clothing items for the 6 Items or Less challenge last August (see yesterday's - What to Wear), I thought of all the possible combinations.  I did the math.  Because two tops could also be worn UNDER the dress AND with or without the white button down shirt, I determined there were about 20 possible options.  Here are photos of three:
 

Cute top OVER dress

3 items at once

White shirt OVER dress

Next up - the accessories!  I piled jewelry from various sources (read - tween) and selected color stories.  Then I organized them in bags for easy retrieval.

I also selected 6 options to "Get Really Sweaty" in.  These were clothes to use when cleaning house, completing yardwork, walking in forest preserves, or doing pilates. I chose to use them as pajamas too.

2 items with icing

Etc...etc...etc...

6 "Sweaty" options

In the end, however, I really only used 4 of the "Get Really Sweaty" options.  I just kept throwing the Life is Good t-shirt and the yoga pants in with other laundry.  They were comfortable and flattering and I got good use out of them.  

It was from my "Get Really Sweaty" options that I began to understand how to achieve success when wearing fewer clothes.  

It was NOT:

1. How the items looked in tandem on a bed.

2. How the pieces hung in two feet of space in the closet.

3. How chunky turquoise accessories accented the black.

4. How white floral accessories highlighted the floral print.

5. How creative it was to layer shirts OVER a dress to make it look like a skirt.

The way to achieve success was finding clothes that fit.  And only one of the six items was comfortable and flattering and made me feel good.  It took me nearly 30 days to figure this out.

Tomorrow...trying again.