Most Worn

Flipping through my Year One photoset, you’ll notice a lot of color. Upon closer look, though, you’ll see that I tend to anchor my outfits with the same basic neutrals, again and again. I looked through all of my workday outfits for the first year and counted the pants, skirt, dress(es), and blazers I wore the most.

Pants. No big surprise here. The pants I wore the most are a simple black pair from Kohl’s. They are the house brand (Apt 9) and cost maybe $20. They are an ideal anchor for my more creative ensembles. I actually wore dark brown pants twice more during the year than the black (12 vs 10), but the dark brown pants are two different pair (both from Victoria’s Secret). I had to replace my old pair last spring.

Skirt. I haven’t worn my bootie skirt in a while, as it is more of a fall/winter piece, but I’m ready to bring it back! While the cut and details are unusual, the colors are basic black and white. It is being sold again this year in the Victoria’s Secret catalog. The runners up are two ridiculously expensive skirts from Talbot’s (the green tweed skirt I wore yesterday and a rose-print linen skirt, both around $100), a khaki maxi skirt from the Casual Corner clearance rack, a brown tweedy skirt from Newport News ($15), my “curtain” skirtfrom Walmart ($15-ish), and a brown suede skirt from Target ($25). The suede skirt was a great deal, but I’ve never had it cleaned because it costs more to clean it than I paid for it! I just brush away surface stains and remove any grease with baby powder. With the exception of the green tweed skirt and the “curtain” skirt, my oft worn skirts are black, black and white, or shades of brown. (It was hard to calculate a “most worn” skirt because I have SO many that even the winner was only worn six times.)

Dress. I wore this strapless brown dress from Newport News at least eight times over the past twelve months. That’s a great cost-per-wear for a $15 dress. It looks terrible on its own, but it is a super layering piece. (I’m afraid I don’t have any photos of it without something layered on top.) My navy and white Merona wrap dress from Target is a very close second.

Blazer. I wear fewer blazers in the summer, but they are an absolute staple during the cooler months. My favorite blazer is a black, short-sleeved velvet version from Forever 21. In fact, all my well-worn blazers were inexpensive. I paid the most for a multi-colored tweed blazer from The Limited (around $100) and only wore it four times last year (but I wore it to death the year prior).

I ran out of energy to count wearings of camis, sweaters, shoes, etc, but you are free to do so yourself by viewing my What I Wore Today – Year One set on Flickr. You’ll see that while I have a few (okay, many) colorful, funky pieces, the basics are just as ordinary as anyone else’s.