Caught In a Trap

I'm not proud to say it, but TWICE this week I didn't comb my hair, brush my teeth (until bed time), or wash my face. And nope, it's not because I was in an emotional funk. Or because I was sad or depressed or angry.

I got dressed in my favorite jeans and hot pink J.Crew sweater (yes, I wore the same thing two days in a row), but I STILL didn't have the energy or desire to pull my head (hair, teeth, face) together. This confused me. It was SO unlike me to wear a tried and true power outfit, and still not have the oomph to even brush my teeth!!

Since it's my job to figure out this kind of style-conundrum, I quickly treated this experience as a very highly classified investigative psychological case study. And here's what I came up with.

I was "CAUGHT IN A TRAP".

Because as it turns out, those favorite jeans, stripy button down shirt and hot pink cardi have turned into a... UNIFORM.

I mean look, I have FIVE HOT PINK CARDIGANS, and I wear them with the same ruffle-shirts and jeans, every-single-time!

It was an outfit I could put on without much thought, knowing it had proven itself to be a winner. I figured that if it made me feel good last year, then it would make me feel good this year too. To my surprise, quite the OPPOSITE happened.

I felt uncreative, boring, and flat.

Using my investigative analytical powers of deduction, I realized that the outfit had reached its expiry date! Big time. It became a default, has-been, closet-combo. The newness had worn off. The creativity and fire and spark - GONE.

SO HERE'S THE DEAL. I NEED TO MIX THINGS UP!

The daily uniform has to go.

I could go on a shopping spree and buy a new thrifted wardrobe for under $100, but I know that I've got good pieces to work with, so I just need to GET CREATIVE!

So here's what WE are going to do TOGETHER:

(NOTE - this is old, from when I had my Thrift Me Pretty blog, but the concept here is a good one!)

Yep, we're going to do a Thrift Me Pretty USE-WHAT-YOU-GOT 14-Day Style Challenge.

You see all those songs up there, we're going to use THOSE as our outfit inspiration each day. I figured since I was "caught in a trap" (Elvis Presley, Suspicious Minds, BEST SONG EVER) that a little lyrical inspiration was in order.

And I figure what's good for the goose is good for the gander... because I KNOW I'm not the only one feeling stuck.

Style challenges are not revolutionary... you've likely seen them floating around on social media. But, there’s a reason they’re popular. It’s because THEY WORK!

HOW A STYLE CHALLENGE WORKS:

1. Take a screen shot of this graphic and save it on your desktop or your phone for easy 14-day reference. 2. Use your very own interpretation of the daily lyrical style cue to inspire your outfit-of-the-day. Think era, artist, title, lyrics. Whatever moves you!
3. BE CREATIVE!! Wicked, wicked creative.

Feeling self conscious? Grab a co-worker and do it together.
Don’t like my song choices? Create our own play-list.
Worried you need MORE than a Style Challenge to find your groove? Sign up for Style School!

We do Style Challenges like this EVERY.SINGLE.DAY in Style School, and let me tell you, they are FUN when done in community!

LOVE, Stasia