European Fashion Challenges: 10 Pieces For 10 Days

So, my colleagues and I have set ourselves the challenge to only wear 10 pieces of fashion for the next 10 days.

Why? To demonstrate (to ourselves mainly) that we don't need to own the copious amounts of clothes that we do. If you can actively invest in your wardrobe, in theory, you should be able to continue to re-wear these pieces in different situations, seasons and styles. Could we?

What is the 10x10 fashion challenge?

The rules are simple, choose 10 pieces from your wardrobe, choose any 10 days and try to create 10 different outfits - that's really it! This challenge, originally started by Style Bee, was designed to make your closet work harder and to help you define your personal style. That meant you could be as strict or loose with these rules as you'd like; for this challenge, we included our coats and shoes but not warm accessories or gym wear. 

Why did you get involved?

Misha decided to get involved with the challenge in the aim to change her shopping habits. 'Although I've been interested in sustainable brands for a while, I am still a shopaholic.'  Misha expected that this would be a challenging experience as she's naturally a creative character. 

Filipa couldn't believe how quickly the fashion industry has had an impact on the environment by being one of the most polluting industries in the world. 'I'm not naive, but I believe that by challenging ourselves to wear and recycle what we have, rather than continue buying new clothes, we're contributing less.'

How we did approach it?

In my last update I touched on my distaste for packing but for those who know me well know that I could quite easily live in a pair of jeans and sneakers for 10 days (it would just be very difficult to choose which). So, I took on a different approach to the task ahead: could I remain 'fashionable' for 10 days?

I looked into my wardrobe and selected my #ontrend pieces: wide leg jeans, biker boots, corduroy dungarees, black-back floral shirt, etc. It was also important to include some staple basics which are why my trusty Docs and a classic pair of Levi skinny jeans were amongst the collection - in reflection when compared to my colleagues, I didn't exactly ooze high-fashion.

Now there's no real way to approach a challenge like this. I thought it might be more sensible to plan ahead and carefully thought about what I would wear for the next 10 days (long story short; it snowed, I wasn't prepared.)

Our Portuguese Editor had a different approach; when she turned up in an edgy pair of denim dungarees and a purple jumper, she quickly realized what she had committed herself to for the next 10 days.

Each day Filipa improvised with the pieces she had until she'd selected 10. Although she did have a basic formula to work towards: 3 bottoms, 3 warm top layers, 1 dress, 2 pairs of shoes. She knew that there were some key basics that needed to be included in her selection (eg: can't-live-without-gray-pants) and then picked pieces that she has always loved but never really wore very much or found difficult to combine.

Misha, the newest member to the Fashiola family after recently launching in the Czech Republic, had planned to take on a simple approach through choosing a neutral range of color which could be easily combined. Although, after turning up to work in a pair of electric red sock boots I think the challenge to remain neutral was the hardest part of all.

Being in a privileged position of being able to try this challenge we discovered that choosing to live in 10 pieces of fashion for 10 days was surprisingly not difficult - if you look past how bitterly cold it has been and that we didn’t have the necessary layers required to commute to work in the snow.

As you can see, our 10 choices took us through 10 different outfits. For each of us, we were drawn to choosing items which we already wore a lot. However, we also knew we'd like to make the most of this challenge through pushing ourselves to dig deep and find something we wouldn't ordinarily wear, and find a way to combine it.

Though truthfully, what did I learn? If you have so few things, you need to be more organized. Check out the final blog in the series for more about what we learned during the process.

Do you think you could do something similar? Why not show us what your 10 must-have pieces in your wardrobe are through making your own stylebook. Alternatively, you can flick through the 10x10 outfits we've created to show you a little more about what we were or check out what our editors think the top 100 pieces of the month are.