The End

Lest you think I'm all talk and no action, I would like to inform anyone who might still be reading here that I managed to keep up the tumblr version of this blog until December 13, 2011. I recently wrote my closing post on that site (4.5 months late I might add) and thought I would leave a link here for anyone that might want to see it.

weareverythingonce.tumblr.com

And so the Wear Everything Once challenge is done for now.

(I'll never say never though.)

Day 14--August 21, 2011

This blog is two weeks old! And in honor of the anniversary, today's outfit is brought to you by Target.....

Not really. Wouldn't that be awesome though? But really, every single piece in today's outfit is from Target.

Shirtdress: Converse One Star (bought on the clearance rank for $7 this summer! It still had the tags on it this morning!)

Undershirt: Mossimo tank-top (Target)

Leggings: Assets (Target)—they are really footless tights, but I rolled them up some more because it is freaking hot in Texas 

Shoes: Merona (Target)

Even my purse, the black one with white polka dots is Merona, which is a Target brand.

Photo Credit: My friend Sally in the Wesley house’s dining hall.

2 things: This dress has a tie with it, but I took it out. I didn’t like it. Also, my mom bought me these shoes like freshman year of high school hoping I’d grow into them. Well I’ve stopped growing and they are still big. So I predict I’ll be wearing them for a LONG while.

Today I went to Howdy Week Chapel, then to lunch at the Wesley (the campus ministry I attend at school). I hung out at the Wesley house and played games (there were new freshmen there) until 4:30 pm. I came home and changed into the same outfit as yesterday since it’s repeat day. Tomorrow is school!

Also, now that I’m caught up with my Daily Outfits, I will be returning to the one picture post, one text post a day format. 

Day 13--August 20, 2011

So it begins. I’m going to be honest here, there probably will start being more self-taken mirror pictures on this blog. I have officially moved back to school so my parents aren’t around. I will try to get my roommate or a friend to take the pictures, but if I don’t succeed you’ll get this. Sorry.

Shirt: Bought in a gift shop on one of the piers of Seattle in March 2010.

Pants: Faded Glory

Shoes: Converse One Star (Target)

First off, I really love this shirt and I have no idea why. It’s so basic! My mom tried to get me to get a shirt with the Space Needle on it instead, but I stuck to this one. Prior to this challenge I wore this shirt ALOT.

Secondly, when my mom first bought me these pants I disliked them and never wore them. I took them on a mission trip hoping I’d get them so dirty I’d have to throw them away. I wore them the first day and realized that they were actually really nice pants. Thus I kept them despite the paint splatters on them! I think those add character. ; )

(P.S. You get a sneak peek of my bedroom at my apartment! Don’t get too excited though, you’ll probably be seeing it a lot. I spent most of my day moving into my new place. Excitement!) 

Day 12--August 19, 2011

Shirt: Present from my parents; they went to New Zealand for their 25th wedding anniversary

Shorts: Simply Basic; very, very old soccer shorts (from what I can tell Simply Basic is a Walmart brand).

Shoes: my SAS brown loafers

Photo Credit: My mom in our kitchen.

I changed out of my repeat outfit when we got home from Kansas about 12 noon on Friday into this. I spent the afternoon packing and climbing through the barn looking for stuff for my apartment. I got dir-ty! This shirt has a really high collar and I didn't want to wear it to school, so I wore it on my last day home!

Shirt: VBS 2009 Volunteer Shirt

Pants: No brand, but these are the gym shorts I got in middle school for Gymnastics (seriously!), so they are old.

Shoes: Converse One Star (Target)—I only took one pair of shoes on the trip.

Photo Credit: My mom while we were stopped at the airport in Hominy, Oklahoma to get some gas on Friday morning. It was about 9:30 am.

Confession; I wore this outfit Thursday and Friday! GASP! But I’m not counting it as a repeat because we got home about 12 noon Friday and I changed into another outfit. Besides, no one besides my parents saw me wear it twice! 

Day 10-- August 17, 2011

Shirt: Hot Topic (www.hottopic.com)

Pants: Atheletic Works (probable hand-me-down)

Shoes: Converse One Star (Target)

Photo Credit: My mom while we had a pit-stop in Enterprise, Kansas while riding the Abilene and Smoky Valley Railway.

My Ron shirt might possibly be my favorite item of clothing that I own. I got it on clearance after making a special trip to the local mall just to buy it earlier this summer. I wore it to the midnight premiere of Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Day 9--August 16, 2011

Shirt: Old Navy

Pants: Faded Glory (Walmart Brand)

Shoes: Dr. Scholl’s Flip-flops; borrowed from Mom

Photo Credit: My mom in our room at the Diamond Motel in Abilene, Kansas

I originally planned to wear a DRESS (I know right?) on Tuesday, but it turned out to be too small. I was sad because my parents bought it for me in Aruba and I never wore it. But small’s small right? So I guess I’m giving it away. I really like this outfit, but the shirt’s a Large and thus a bit big on me. Plus I know horizontal stripes are bad, but I love them too much!

Blogspot Bonus: For most of the day, I wore my Converse, but for dinner I switched into these. It really changed the look I must admit.

Is there a niche for college fashion?

And if so, where do I fit in?

While searching for tidbits of info and picture for Tuesday’s post, I came across this site:

www.collegefashion.net

(Screenshot of College Fashion’s front page taken by me)

Through that site I came to collegecandy.com, another site that focuses on style/fashion for college women among other topics.

(Screenshot of College Candy’s front page taken by me)

These 2 sites made me realize that I never really went searching for college-specific fashion sites. Oh, I read blogs like academichic.com, but those are run by grad students with families and houses and babies. Their fashion was way too upscale for me. 

(Screenshot of academichic’s category page taken by me. They recently quit posting, but their archives are awesome!)

Typing “college fashion” into Google gave me a HOST of options. Yeah there were some links to various college degrees in fashion, but these sites were there too:

fashionista.com

everycollegegirl.com

collegefashionista.com

thebudgetbabe.com

elle.com

college-style.com

I was done right? There is a ton of stuff about college fashion on the web. But as I scrolled through the sites I couldn’t help but think they weren’t talking to me. There were posts about trends, too much pink in their site design, references to “college girls” (I’m sorry, but I’m 21-year-old junior. I’m not a college girl anymore. I don’t think I ever was a college girl.), and many pictures of outfits that I would never ever wear.

Where’s my college fashion site? The ones for the college women who are not trendy, who spend more time reading than partying, who abhor pink, who know what they want in life, who are definitely not looking for a Mrs. degree, and who think that life after college is going to be so much better.

Where’s mine?

I’m not saying I don’t enjoy looking at those sites. I do, but they are not practical. I like practicality more than I like trendiness or flashiness. Maybe people who are practical don’t care about fashion. But I don’t really believe that—I think this is a fashionista in all of us to some extent.

Where are my fellow fashion-loving, practical college women? Let me hear from you!

(P.S. I’m flying home while you are reading this post! There may even be a daily outfit post tonight!)

Fashion Inspiration #1

When you read the words “The Parent Trap” what comes to mind? Lindsay Lohan before she was crazy right?

Well not for me. What comes to my mind is this…

The 1961 version of The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills! I love, love, love this version of the film. It’s so innocent and playful. It has a carefree and refreshing nature that the LiLo version doesn’t.

It’s not surprising that I also love the fashion in this film. I found a lovely inspiration board based on this version of the film on DesignSponge ages ago. I’m excited to share it with you all now.

Check out the loveliness…

It makes me want school even less. (5 more days! Goodness!)

So enjoy your last days of summer with this board and I’ll be back soon!

Check out the entire board at www.designsponge.com/2010/06/living-in-the-parent-trap.html

I'm in Kansas!

Sorry guys, there will be no Daily Outfit photos again until Friday. But don’t worry—I’ve put three posts in the queue (2 more after this one). They will all come out around 2 pm on their respective days. Don’t cry over me too much! : )

Kansas is where I was born, but I don’t really claim any allegiance to it. My family moved from Kansas to Missouri when I was a year old, then to Texas when I was seven. I consider myself a Texan now and have no intention of ever living anywhere else again.

But a tiny piece of my heart lives in Kansas so I’m always glad to return there.

In honor of my birth state, here’s some things that connect fashion and Kansas.

1) An amazing fashion blog that also does the Daily Outfits thing run by a Kansasan.

www.kansascouture.com

While her style is more trendy than mine, I love her risk-taking outfits!

(Source: kansascouture.com)

2) The state flower of Kansas is the sunflower. Here is a rocking sunflower dress:

(Source: www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-life-features/liverpool-style-city/2008/01/17/fashion-get-ready-for-the-sunshine-64375-20362966)

3) Apparently Amelia Earhart (from Atchinson, KS) had a major impact on modern fashion! See the following articles:

http://cinematicpassions.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/amelia-earhart-americas-first-fashion-designer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-hall/amelia-earharts-fashion-l_b_341283.html

http://www.fashionising.com/trends/b—Style-inspiration-aviation-Amelia-Earhart-2797.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4493699_dress-like-amelia-earhart.html

(Source: www.dieselpunks.org/profiles/blogs/amelia-earharts-final-resting)

4) The Lee Jeans Company is located in Merrian, KS. I’ve already worn one pair of Lee jeans in my Daily Outfit photos and I bet I’ll be wearing more eventually!

Here is the link to Lee’s newest line if you want to take a look:www.lee.com/store/LEE_STORE_US/en_US/category/women/new-arrivals.html

(Source: www.lee.com/store/LEE_STORE_US/en_US/category/women/jackets.html; cropped by me)

Have a lovely day!! I’ll see you soon, but for now you can bet I’m enjoying the cool Kansas weather. (Cool because 80 feels nice when you’re a Texan used to the 100s!)

Day 8--August 15, 2011

Shirt: Church Youth Group shirt for Summer 2009 (the youth pastor always makes a new shirt every summer to memorialize our summer "theme"); it's Spiderman-themed. That black smudge you see on the right of my shirt in the photo is actually a spider

Pants: Old Navy jean shorts; you can't see it well, but there are rainbow stripes on the front pockets

Shoes: the brown loafers I wear to work (Sorry I tried to get my mom to get them in the pic, but no dice).

Photo Credit: My mom in her work office (She works at our church).

I really like these shorts, but I'm pretty meh about the shirt.

Today I have been packing for school! I went to church at noon to have lunch with my mom, then came home and napped. There will be a post detailing my clothes for school coming shortly!

Blogspot Bonus: The first time I ever wore this shirt around my house, my mom starts FREAKING OUT when I came into the kitchen for breakfast. Turns out she thought the spider on my shirt was a real one....I now bring this story up every time I wear this shirt, including today. I'm such a good daughter. : ) 

Strategizing My Wardrobe

I'm developing a strategy to get through my closet. I have to have variety in my clothes if I'm going to get through this. I can't wear all of my jeans at the start and then have only skirts and khaki pants. I can't wear all of my t-shirts in a row and only have dressy shirts left. I might have to wear a dress on a non-Sunday (GASP!). I have to move between casual outfits and more dressed-up things like collared shirts on a daily basis. I have to save my black pants and shorts for that time of the month (I wore a pair of black shorts on Day 3 and then wished I hadn't. I might need those shorts later!). I have to have careful planning when I go to school (as I have previously stated).

And there might be days when I just NEED to wear a certain item (black shorts, sweatpants, a collared shirt, etc.) and what if I've run out? I can't let that happen!

So variety and planning are the catchphrases of this blog. Don't be surprised if you see me wearing a skirt to class!

Day 7--August 14, 2011

This blog is a week old! Yeah!

Today I went to church at 8 am and stayed until noon. I was wearing this lovely number:

( I really dislike this picture, but it is the only one I got. Definitely going to be more aggressive with my mom next time about blurriness, getting the WHOLE outfit and being outside, etc. At least you can see my dress!)

Dress: City Triangles (bought at Ross)--they don't have their own website
Shoes: black Merona wedges from Target
Photo Credit: My mom in our living room.

Don't worry, I wear these wedges to church fairly often, so I'll definitely get them in the picture next time I wear them!

After church my mom and I went out for lunch with our church group. I came home and changed into the top from Day 1 and the pants from Day 5 (Sunday is my repeating day remember?). I then napped and at 5, my mom and I went back to church for the camp meeting. Now I'm watching TV with my Dad while I type this.

Hope you all had a lovely Sunday!

Getting Ready for School

I'm going off to school in a week. Obviously I want to keep up the no repeats rule while at school, but that requires some planning. Here's what I am thinking:

I'm going to take 30 outfits at a time with me to school and then come home once a month to switch out the outfits. I live only an hour away from my school, so it's pretty easy to get home. I'll just pack all the clothes into my suitcase and drive home.

So that'll be 30 pairs of pants, 30 shirts, and then 4 church outfits. I'll take all my non-repeating things with me (shoes, socks, underwear/bras, undershirts, pajamas, etc).

I'm planning to pack up an extra 2 weeks of outfits before I leave, leave it in my room, and then when I come home for Labor Day Weekend, switch out my first 2 weeks of school outfits for the new ones.

Hopefully this idea will work for me! 

Day 6--August 13, 2011

This outfit is one of those that I didn't want to take to school, so I wore it today.

Shirt: It's my high school senior shirt; it has my graduation date and my high school's mascot on the back.

Pants: Old Navy; hemmed by my mom

Shoes: Converse bought at Target

Purse: Merona (a gift, but it's a Target brand)

Headband: Goody

Yeah...so I wouldn't be caught dead wearing a high school shirt on campus. I can't get rid of this shirt though...too many memories! 

Even though you can't see them, I really love the socks I'm wearing--they are black, white, and gray argyle!

I'm so proud of my Converse! I got them this summer and they are my first pair! I love them!

Blogspot Bonus: I really really like the fact that my shoes and purse match! Ha!

These jeans are slightly too big around the waist and I should wear a belt with them. I never do though, so I wanted to leave them at home. They used to be way too long for me as well, but my mom fixed them for me!

I woke up at 9 am, spent the morning reading, and then headed to lunch with my dad and brother. We were waiting at the restaurant when my brother snapped the picture with his iPhone. This afternoon, my brother spent a BUNCH of time showing me stuff on Google Maps. Once again, a chill day.

But from 3 pm-bedtime I'm wearing....

A decent picture of my work outfit at last! I know you all were DYING to see it right? ; )

Here's the info copied from Day 2.

Shirt— Liz Claiborne (www.lizclaiborne.com);probably passed down from my mom

Pants—Tyte Jeans-American Standard (www.tyte.com); no idea where/how I got these

Nametag—given to me by Target (haha!)

Shoes—brown loafers from San Antonio Shoes (www.sasshoes.com);I think they are style Twin; inherited from my mom

Purse--Merona (I'm the type of person who uses a purse continually until she gets tired of it. My purse prior to this one was from Paris and I used it nearly exclusively for two years!)

Taken by my coworker Lauren at 11:15 pm on Thursday in the Target Team Member area.

Today's my last day of work until Christmas, so no more red and khaki on this blog until then! I'll wear red and I'll wear khaki, but I will NOT wear the two together outside of work. Oh and this work outfit now counts as worn! I'll get a new set of red and khaki out at Christmas!

Keeping Track of All This!

Last night during my lunch break at work, I began brainstorming ideas for posts for this blog. In a perfect world I would like to have a picture post and a word post a day, but I know that probably won’t happen. I’m a college student after all! But I wrote down several ideas that I’m going to tackle one by one. First up…

I have yet another dilemma about managing this blog. How am I going to keep track of what I have already worn? At the present moment, the clothes that already been featured on this blog are in a pile in the corner of my room. That’s fine and dandy when there are only 5 outfits. But what will I do as I get farther into my wardrobe?

My first thought was post-its. Simply stick a post-it on each worn item with the date it was worn on it. But do you know how many post-it notes that would require? Also, it’s likely the post-it notes would fall off eventually, especially being shuffled through constantly. 

Then I figured a spreadsheet might work. I would simply describe each item and list the brand. Now for shirts this could be effective. But pants? How would I tell one pair of jeans from another? I’ve only got one pair with sparkles on the bottom. The rest are plain. Plus, once again, it might get to be too much of a hassle as the list got bigger.

My current solution is to rearrange my wardrobe where I put everything that has been worn on one side and the unworn to the other. That would require some work on my part, but it would be manageable. 

I might just stuff the worn clothes into a large trash bag until I get so many that I fill the bag up. That should take me 2 weeks or so. Enough time to get my closet ready.

Another fashion blog dilemma solved.

(I hope this wasn’t too wordy. I like words. alot. I’ll probably be too wordy in all of my word posts. Sorry in advance.)

Day 5--August 12, 2011

I have the day off, so no work outfit picture yet.

Shirt--got in a gift shop in Ketchikan, Alaska while on an Alaskan cruise in the summer of 2007 (It's black and says Alaska in pink script. In the tail at the bottom it says Ketchikan.)

Pants--No Boundaries (another Walmart brand)

Shoes--Same black Walmart flip-flops

Headband--Same pink Walmart one as yesterday

Photo Credit: My mom in our backyard


This shirt is getting a little tight for me, but I'll keep it longer than I should because of the memories of my Alaska trip. Also, I LOVE these capris. They are one of my most-often repeated pants. It'll be sad not wearing them again for awhile.

Today I didn't get up until 12 pm due to certain activities that took place last night. I'm going to see The Help and then have dinner with my parents this afternoon/evening. It's a pretty chill day.

Day 4--August 11, 2011

9 am-3:30 pm, I'm wearing this:

Shirt: Received at the 2011 TCU Wesley Women's Retreat in February; Brand-Hanes Comfort Soft; tie-dyed by me.
Shorts-McGregor (www.mcgregor-fashion.com); no idea where I got these.
Shoes--same black Walmart flip-flops
Headband--probably from Walmart


I'm really unhappy with this picture for a couple of reasons--1) my mom was seated in her armchair when taking this, so it looks up to me (adding more weight), 2) the patterns on the shirt add weight I think, 3) these pants are too wide for me. I don't know if I'll keep them, hmmmm.


I wear pink very rarely; I surprised myself when I chose this dye color.
You can barely see it, but down on the bottom of the shirt I hand-wrote The Wesley with black sharpie. On the back I wrote Peace, Love, Girl Power, Women Rock. It was definitely a pro-Women event!


Today was errand day. Ran around my hometown with my mom late morning/early afternoon. Thus the casual.


3:30-bedtime, I'm wearing my work outfit, as par with Day 2 and 3. I'll get a picture, I promise!




Blogspot Bonus: Some days I like this shirt, but others I really wish I had done a different color or design. On the good days, I think that splotch in the middle on the left looks like a heart. On the bad, I think it looks like an embryo and I sigh.

This is not a classy fashion blog...

I’d like to say it was a coincidence. But I don’t think it was.

This blog, Wear Everything Once, is a product of reading too many fashion blogs. I see those bloggers put together stunning outfits, seemingly effortlessly. And I wanted to do it too. Even the idea of no repeats came from a blog I follow.

Today, 2 days after I started my Daily Outfit blog, one of the fashion blogs that I follow posted a link to whatiwore.tumblr.com run by a woman named Jessica Quirk.

It’s a tumblr that posts a Daily Outfit. Just like me. Hers is much prettier than mine, more fashionable, more well-known. More everything.

I immediately felt like a copycat.

After all, how can my Target and Walmart clothes compare to THAT?

So here it is: I’m not a label whore, I’m not into expensive clothes. This blog is to challenge myself to think outside the box when it comes to my wardrobe. It’s not to gain fame (though I’d love if people followed me of course). It’s for me.

I wear clothes from Walmart and Target. I wear hand-me-downs. I wear things from thrift shops.

This is my real wardrobe.

I have no skills in photography, graphic design, or fashion. I’m an amateur in every sense of the word.

Hope you can accept that.

My System

Since I got no responses to my queries, I decided to make an executive decision.

I will count every outfit that I’m photographed in for this blog. That will help me get through my closet faster and it will make my decision-making easier. If I happen to run out of shirts before I run out of pants, I will start rewearing shirts that I only wore for a few hours or so. Or vice-versa if I run out of pants.

As for Sundays, I will only take a picture of my church outfit. Sunday afternoons I will repeat outfits. Sunday will be my “day of rest” from planning new outfits.