Harper looked at the nine hangers hooked over my closet door on a Sunday night in September and said, "That's not enough clothes for three weeks." Then she ranked them. The rust sweater came in first, the gray trousers came in last, and she went back to her book. She's 10. She was wrong, but I appreciated the review.
The idea was simple. Fall here doesn't arrive all at once. Early October mornings in Decatur can be 58 degrees with afternoons at 82, and our conference rooms are cold all year. I wanted three weeks of office outfits, nine office days in all, without standing in front of the full closet every morning. So I pulled nine pieces and told myself I'd use only those.
The nine pieces
- Navy blazer, Banana Republic Factory, $72, sleeves shortened this spring
- Cream fine-gauge sweater, Uniqlo, $40
- Rust crewneck sweater, J.Crew Factory, $35, the only new piece
- Black ankle pants, LOFT, $45
- Gray trousers, Ann Taylor, $39 plus a $14 hem
- White knit tee and black knit tee, Uniqlo, about $15 each
- Chambray shirt, Old Navy, $25
- A rust-and-navy print scarf I've had since the hospital years
Shoes were the loafers and the block heels. The gray cardigan stayed in my desk drawer like always and doesn't count.
Three base outfits, nine days
I started with three outfits and then swapped one piece at a time.
- Blazer day: navy blazer, white tee, gray trousers. This is my Tuesday outfit, because Tuesday is when the client status meetings land.
- Sweater and collar day: rust sweater over the chambray shirt with the collar out, black pants.
- Soft day: cream sweater, gray trousers, the scarf.
| Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Blazer, white tee, gray trousers | Rust sweater, chambray, black pants | Cream sweater, scarf, gray trousers |
| Week 2 | Blazer, black tee, black pants | Cream sweater, chambray, black pants | Rust sweater, white tee, gray trousers |
| Week 3 | Blazer, chambray, black pants | Cream sweater, black tee, black pants | Rust sweater, scarf, gray trousers |
The first week was warm, so the tees and the chambray did more of the work and the sweaters rode over my shoulders for the walk in from the lot. By the third week the mornings had cooled off and the sweaters came into their own.
From the HR side: nobody noticed. I wore the navy blazer every Tuesday for three weeks and the black pants five times, and not one person said a word, because nobody keeps track of their coworkers' sweaters. I'm the only person I know with a spreadsheet for everything, and even I don't have a tab for that.
What I learned
The blazer carries the most. Three wears in three weeks, and it made each outfit look like it came from a different closet. I brush it off after each wear, and it goes to the dry cleaner twice a year.
Sweaters need rest days. I wore each one three times. I hand-wash in the sink and dry them flat on a towel on top of the dryer, which takes about ten minutes on a Sunday. After three weeks the rust sweater is starting to pill a little under the arms. For $35 I'm not shocked, and a $3 fabric shaver handles it.
Tees are the cheap insurance. They went through the wash after every wear, and they're what made four of the nine days work.
Mornings got faster. I picked each outfit the evening before an office day in about a minute, because there were only so many combinations, and on office mornings I was out the door five or ten minutes earlier than usual. I missed the rest of my closet less than I expected.
The only money I spent was $35 on the rust sweater. The other eight pieces were already mine, and between them, alterations included, they cost about $300 when I bought them. I'll keep the nine on the door through Halloween and then let the rest of the closet back in. Harper has requested a new ranking at that time.
