Staple Dresses

Please make note of the fact that I did give you a break from wardrobe talk for a few days. :) But I had a request to share some specifics about what I've been doing in wardrobe-land, so I thought I would start that project today!

Last week, when I talked about some of the lessons I learned from the class I took online, I shared that I made some inspiration boards to help me plan for what I want to fill my wardrobe with going forward. I made lists of what kinds of clothing I'd need in different areas of my life. And while I'm aware that one of my first orders of business should be to remove things that need to go, I started by buying a couple of new things just to get me excited about what I'm doing.

My hope is to pull as much from the world of hand-me-downs and thrifted clothing as I can, but I know there will be times when I need to get something that is new to me, both for the joy of having something new and to be careful to get what actually fits me best, both literally and figuratively.

A new dress was a staple item on my wish list. I wanted something dressy enough to wear to church, when speaking to a group, or to work, but I also wanted something casual enough for a simple date or friend meet-up. I wanted it to be comfortable and versatile enough to be mixed and matched with sweaters, scarves, leggings, belts...you name it. 

I found this dress on my Pinterest search:

Source

I really liked everything about it. I liked the length, the sleeves, the defined waist, the scooped neck...all of it. And I could easily see it being styled different ways so many outfits could come from this one piece. 

(Here are some ideas of what I mean. And here are a few more.)

So I set out in search of a dress similar to the one above, and I found it! Here it was in my try-on. What...do you not model outfits in your garage?

I love it that the dress feels like pajamas and has a defined waist (that is AT the waist, so it doesn't look like a maternity dress on me). It has POCKETS, which was high on my wish list, is lighter weight fabric, and can easily be part of a different ensemble.

I wore it for the first time at the Collingsworth Family concert, and that may have been the most comfortable I've ever felt at a concert!

I have a similar dress that is all black that I bought right around the time Ryan and I were married. I still wear it ALL THE TIME, almost a decade later. (I also plan to keep it in my going-forward clothing life.) My hope is for this new striped one to have as much life left in it as the plain one does. The older one, unfortunately, does not have pockets, but otherwise, it's every bit as comfortable and delightful as this one. (I guess Ryan wears the same shirt all the time. Ha!)

I spent so much time learning about colors for my clothing, and ironically, black is not one of the colors recommended for me, but I do love some classic black clothing, so I'm keeping it as one of my neutrals. 

So this was the first official new purchase of the wardrobe project. I love it, and I am excited to start mixing up the styles to see what I can pair with it!