little brown dress

A while back I came across an article on the internet entitled Brown Dress Project. (The picture on the left is from her website.) It's the story/journal of a woman from Seattle, who designed, sewed and wore the same dress every single day for a solid year. She paired the dress up with different tights and sweaters, etc., and over the course of the year only one person noticed she was wearing the same thing over and over. Her purpose? To challenge her thinking about over-consumption. It was a fascinating read and I have to admit, something that might be interesting to try someday.

Two summers ago I found myself with half a dozen weddings to attend in the time span of about three months. I had nothing in my closet to wear (that fit!), so I hit the mall and came out with my "wedding outfit": a brown linen, button-up-the-front skirt and white, stretchy, sleeveless top that criss-crossed in the front, both from Eddie Bauer.

I wore that outfit every weekend or two, throughout the summer, to one wedding after another. For an afternoon, outdoor wedding, in the blazing mid-summer sun, I paired it with a pair of brown flip flops and a gold ankle bracelet. For another evening wedding, it went nicely with a white lace shawl and brown dressy sandals. For yet another church wedding, it was a nice pair of gold earrings, a gold bracelet and a lightweight sweater. If anyone ever noticed I was repeating the same outfit to wedding after wedding, they never said a word.

It was a relief to always know what I was going to wear, and not to have to search in my closet for something every time a wedding came up. Simplicity at it's finest!