FASHION FRIDAY // SEVEN

Let me introduce you to my friend Hilary! When she started the ‘7 challenge’ a couple months ago I was intrigued and inspired.

From Hilary:

The idea behind “7” comes from Jen Hatmaker’s book and is described as “a personal mutiny against excess.” The concept is to “fast” an item of excess each month: food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, stress. For clothes month, I chose 7 clothing items to wear exclusively for the month. No jewelry or accessories. I did add outerwear (hello Minnesota) but wore the same coat and pair of shoes during this time.

In some ways it made life simple and I kind of really loved it. (Plus it came after food month, and anything after food month is bound to feel like a breeze). Getting ready for the day didn’t take much time or thought. It also caused me realize how much I had in my closet. At the end of this month, I was able to eliminate over 100 items, easily. That’s a problem. Now the challenge is not to refill those empty spaces, and certainly to not do so under the banner of “need”. I should be much more intentional and selective with my clothing purchases, and remember how much I have in contrast with how much is truly necessary and even functional.

I am learning from this mutiny, but I feel like I’m just scratching the surface. Maybe someday I will be able to say that I fully uprooted the roots of materialism and excess. I’m going to be honest, I’m totally not there yet. But, I want to be…at least most days (those would be the non-Gap sale days.)

I wanted to do this post because I was inspired by how Hilary could still look polished and stylish by only wearing 7 items for the entire month. She showed me it’s possible to have a limited wardrobe but achieve so many different looks. I love the idea of splurging on a few staples and then accessorizing with non-expensive trendy items. Most of us are living in excess so it was so refreshing to me to see her tackle this challenge!

Her 7 items were:

1) Stripped Long-Sleeve Shirt
2) Black Shift Dress
3) Chambray Shirt
4) White Cardigan
5) Black Leggings
6) Chunky Knit Sweater
7) Black Dress Pants