I can’t believe it’s almost been a week since the summer 2019 Color My Closet wardrobe challenge ended. I’m still reeling from all the color!

This challenge was created by Chloe & Clothes in the dead of winter last year to inspire more color in a sea of neutrals. It’s a simple challenge--wear the color of the day and share your outfit on Instagram or Instagram Stories with the hashtag #colormycloset.

I have to say, before this challenge, I had no idea how limited in color my closet was. I knew that I had a lot of black clothes, but I thought I’d at least have one cute item in each color. This was unfortunately not the case, and in order to get by, the majority of my looks were borrowed from family members. 

Here’s what I came up with...

Day 1: Pink - Graphic pink tee with a striped black and white skirt.

I styled this shirt by tying it up in the center. I saw a video of October using this styling technique and it looked so cool that I had to try it for myself. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out so well with this particular shirt. Retrospectively, I should’ve found a shirt that was more form-fitting so that the shape would hold without any drooping. In the end, I got frustrated with fiddling with it and just wore the look with the shirt tucked in.

Pink Tee, Raided Mom’s Closet

Black and White Striped Skirt, Topshop from 2016

Day 2: Red - Red cardigan with white shorts and black booties.

This is a super simple look with a red cardigan worn as a top, white distressed denim shorts, and black booties. This look made me realize the power of red. Although it’s an easy outfit, because the color is so vibrant, the outfit still says a lot.

Red Cardigan, Raided Mom’s Closet⁣

Distressed White Shorts, Forever 21 from 2012 

Day 3: Orange - Orange polka dot blouse and an emerald green slit skirt.

I was so proud of this outfit! 🎉 Orange was really hard. Nobody in my household really owns orange so after much digging, I finally found this polka dot shirt. Again, I styled it by tying the center up and paired it with an emerald green dress for a peas and carrots-inspired look.

Orange Polka Dot Blouse, Raided Mom’s Closet

Emerald Green Slit Skirt, Forever 21 from 2016(?)

Day 4: Yellow - Yellow wrap dress, yellow turtleneck tee, and navy blue shorts.

You’ve seen all of these articles of clothing before but I really wanted to bring the color so I threw them all together! What do you think? Color overload?

Yellow Turtleneck Tee, Raided Mom’s Closet

Yellow Wrap Dress, H&M from early 2018 (before I quit fast fashion)

Navy Shorts, Forever 21 from 2016

Day 5: Green - Mint lace bodycon dress under emerald green slit skirt.

Green was the easiest color for me. I love green! I layered the same emerald green skirt from orange day over a mini mint green dress and called it a day. I’ve had both of these clothes for years and can’t believe that I’ve never paired them together like that!

Mint Green Lace Bodycon Dress, H&M from 2015

Emerald Green Slit Skirt, Forever 21 from 2016

Day 6: Blue - All denim outfit.

Strangely enough, it was really hard for me to find any blue that wasn’t denim so I went with a classic canadian tuxedo (denim on denim) for this day. Isn’t it funny how denim on denim was a complete faux pas until just a few years ago? This look turned out better than I expected it to (I actually really liked this look a lot).

Denim Button-Down, Borrowed From Sister

Denim Jeans, H&M from 2016

Day 7: Purple - Floral purple skirt styled as a midi dress.

Can you believe this purple? 😍 Once again, this was another challenging color to find. Weirdly enough, I only found two or three purple clothes in our combined closets. This outfit is actually a really long skirt that I wore as a midi-dress and paired with a floral scarf as a belt.

Floral Purple Skirt, Raided Mom’s Closet

Floral Scarf, Raided Mom’s Closet

Shoes, Steve Madden from 2018 (pre-slow fashion days)

Day 8: Brown - Coral crop top with brown polka dot skirt.

WORST. COLOR. EVER. 😭 Brown was so hard! I legitimately couldn’t find anything except belts, bags, and this skirt. It was looking a little drab so I had to brighten it up with coral!

Bright Orange Crop Top, Forever 21 from sometime between 2014-2016 (I think)

Brown Polka Dot Skirt, Raided Mom’s Closet

Day 9: Wildcard - Striped pink button-down, black bralette, and black flared skirt.

WE MADE IT! And so, we’ve come full circle with pink… Given that more than half of my closet is black, I couldn’t neglect adding it in on this last day.

Striped Pink Button-Down, Raided Mom’s Closet

Black Lace Skirt, Forever 21 from high school days (so like 2010?)

Takeaways:

BUY MORE COLOR AND DON’T BE AFRAID TO EXPERIMENT!

Honestly, it shocked me how much I enjoyed this challenge. I felt like adding color to my wardrobe brightened up my day and pushed me to have more energy as well. Blue day taught me that monochrome is insanely easy to pull off and it always looks put-together. Red and purple are the colors that I’d like to actively incorporate more and brown and orange remain neutral in my perspective (that is, I probably won’t be shopping them anytime soon).

Did you participate in this challenge? What did you learn?

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