Outfit of the day (#OOTD) is something I’ve been doing for a while. It’s been a really fun way of getting creative with what I wear. For a full rundown on the why and how of how I do OOTD then check out my post from last year in which I break down (with graphs) a year’s worth of outfits.
In 2018 I was a bit more relaxed about documenting my outfits, sometimes taking days off (I find if I’m having a bad day/week that I have much less interest in doing #OOTD photos and kind of just want to hide), sometimes repeating an outfit if I really like it. In April I started asking my workmate, Brendon, to take a full length photo and that’s really made a difference in properly capturing the whole “look”, and also we have good chats before and after (and I’ve gradually got less shy/apologetic about it).
For this post, because I am lazy, I could not be bothered doing another statistical analysis of my clobber from 2018, but I did do a review to pick out some themes and favourites from the year just gone.
Cover girl
There were several times this year when I inadvertantly found my outfit matching the cover of the book I was reading. Book covers often use very eye-catching colour combinations so it’s not a bad place to get inspiration from, especially when you’re a librarian.
Another era
I love taking the opportunity to get a little retro with my dress and evoke the style of bygone eras. It’s never a “faithful” reproduction of what people of that time would have worn – but I love the challenge of taking my mostly modern clothes and, by using colour, silhouette, textures and accessories, recreating the feel of vintage/retro fashion.
Everyday cosplay
Popular culture is a constant source of inspiration for me when it comes to making wardrobe choices – every time I see a dark green dress on a rack or online my immediate thought is “gender-flipped Loki cosplay!” (note to self: Buy a dark green dress sometime). I’m not sure if this is how other people approach fashion, but it works for me. And yes, it is mostly Star Wars related (though Batgirl and Janet from The Good Place also got a look in).
Event dressing
I am someone who loves to dress to a theme. As evidenced by the below (in order: Waitangi Day, Earthquake anniversary, Pink Shirt Day, Māori Language Day, Suffrage Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Christmas).
Favourite combos
Some favourite outfits from 2018. I’m finding I’m really enjoying bright, bold colour and unexpected combinations. And though there’s still a lot of black, I find I’m substituting in grey or navy as a neutral, “safe” option more often.
Miscellaneous awesomesauce
There was the time I forgot to bring my phone with me so decided I’d do an MS Paint mock-up of what my OOTD pic would look like…
…and then my fiance brought my phone to me so I could do a photo after all.
And the time my 4 year old wanted to get in on the action with his “bewdiful ammimals” outfit. SOOO CUUUUUTE.
