Today marks my 56 day of the 100 Day Dress Challenge. It’s been going well despite the Texas heat.
I have missed three (3) days of photos to date, you are allowed to miss up to five (5). I forgot the first time, I had a migraine attack the second (migraines wipe me out for the whole day and sometimes 2 days), and the third I had to wash my dress the morning-off because the spot treatment the night before on the armpit area didn’t work to my satisfaction. My dress-tolerant deodorant saga continues, I’ve talked about this on social media more, but basically you are encouraged to have a baking soda-free deodorant to not affect the wool fabric and I continue to have odor issues but this is an issue I’ve been working on for years. My daily photos are on our Instagram and Facebook accounts. I’m a bit behind since my phone died but I’ll catch up as soon as I can.
No one but my mother has noticed the same dress (reminder that I do not work in an office) and I’m on what “Woolies” call #teambasic so it’s me and the dress. I don’t even change my jewelry as much as I did the first 30 days or so. You basically can tell if it’s a new day by how my hair changed!
I love how versatile the dress is. I feel dressed up enough for church and Zoom calls, and casual enough to move furniture and go to the playground.
The common question I get when I talk to someone about the challenge is, “Can you wash the dress?” Yes! You can wash the dress and it washes well on delicate and I air dry it. I lay my dress across two hangers, one near the top and the other near the bottom of the dress. I did accidentally gentle-cycle dry it one night when I did laundry at like 10:00pm. The neck, armpit and knee length tightened up a bit, that was all, and I was actually really excited once I saw the result, this was of course after I freaked out and ran frantically to the dryer.
One of my fashionista friends asked me, “I don’t get this, why are you doing this?” There are several reasons, and I’ll list Wool&’s below, but my instinctual automatic response is, “It’s nice not to have to think about what I wear.” I don’t have a lot of clothes but I know this looks good, it fits, and it doesn’t press on my stomach which is the thing that drives me nuts about most clothes after having a child. I don’t express myself through fashion. I wear pretty much the same jewelry all the time and it’s for the occasion, visual reminders to myself, and honor (I don’t have tattoos so I use jewelry). I change my sweater/bracelet colors for occasions, holidays and events.
Wool&’s reasons to try the dress challenge are below. I’ve commented on each one.:
- Spend less time and money doing laundry and dry cleaning (duh!).
- Agreed. I wash my dress once or twice a week.
- Learn how to get more wears out of a garment (e.g. when you spill on your dress, you’ll immediately take action to clean it since you’re wearing it again tomorrow!).
- Yes and I am enjoying the black since I tend to stain clothes easily.
- Recognize what you need and don’t need in your wardrobe.
- I did donate a few more items when I first started the challenge. I ordered a pink bracelet and am looking for a couple of colors of cardigans but that beats overall purchasing several new outfits.
- Realize that your clothing isn’t what defines you (have you heard of the spotlight effect? It’s a phenomenon in which people tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are.)
- So true. Worrying about my appearance, perception by others, panty lines, etc. is gone and I just do my thing since I’m comfortable and confident.
- Have more money to spend on experiences with the people that make you the happiest.
- I’m not the biggest spender on clothes but this is probably true.
- My husband is completely fine with my monotonous wardrobe and actually really likes my dress. He’s a minimalist/Spartan at heart so that helps.
- Reduce your impact on the planet when you realize you don’t need a closet packed full of clothing.
- Yep, as mentioned above I donated a few more things at the start of the challenge and will probably move along a few more things by the end.
- The wool fabric holds up so well. I look at my poly-blend and even my cotton clothes and sigh. I wear clothes to death and then recycle them and polyester and poly-blend don’t last more than a few months on that stress level.
- If you complete the challenge, we’ll [Wool&] gift you $100 toward your next wool& dress.
- This dress is so comfortable and is holding up so well that I definitely am looking forward to a second dress.
A friend last weekend asked me if the dress had to be from Wool& to do a dress challenge. No, the concept still works as a general challenge and experience for you. Obviously if you don’t wear a Wool& dress you won’t get the Wool& gift card, but if sustainability, minimalization, zero waste, reducing decision fatigue, working on body image, etc. are of interest to you I recommend you shop your closet for a dress you own you think will hold up for 100 days or check with your friends, family or local Buy Nothing Group on Facebook, or go shopping at your local secondhand store.
I will say that I have shared a bit more than I expected when I post photos. My allergy shots, deodorant, and sweater experiences turned into much longer and in-depth posts than I expected. I hope they help people out.
I’ll include a few pictures here for reference. Again, all the pictures that I take are on the social media sites due to space and ease of uploading. If you are more fashion-forward or creative I encourage you to check out the Facebook group to see the fun ways ladies style their dresses.
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