The $150 project - The wrap up by Sally

In this post Sally sums up her experience of the $150 project. 

After two very long weeks spent waiting for my parcel to arrive from asos.com, the $150 project is finally complete, and I can very safely say I’m 100% happy with the result. Sam bravely chose five things for me based on my brief which came in at a very reasonable $158 (with the lovely bonus of free postage – thanks asos!) and turned out to be a simple white T, black a-line midi skirt, a peach and black printed midi skirt, a blush midi dress and a bright green cropped jacket.

The 5 ASOS items

Sam came over on Saturday afternoon to ‘style’ me which was so much fun. Because Sam knows a lot of my clothes already I wasn’t sure how long she would spend hunting through my wardrobe, and I was really hoping she’d uncover some random clothes which I would never have considered, so I was really happy with how thorough she was. She attacked my wardrobe to find everything which she thought can and should be worn with her purchases. It took about 2 hours and was such a fun afternoon!

The mess whilst throwing things together

For the sake of getting to this point, here are the six things I learned from my very first personal shopping experience.

1 – It’s all about the brief! Even though Sam knows me well I didn’t let her go crazy, I had some ideas in my head about what I wear now and what I wanted to be wearing and I was pretty clear about them in my brief. I made sure I gave her a good idea about the colours, styles, and shapes I like and what I wanted to avoid (shorts!), and I was as specific as possible with sizes. Size is a tricky one because I never really know how my size converts to U.S. or UK sizes and I’m always nervous about it when I shop online (FYI Australian and UK sizes are the same. So if you’re a 10 in Australia you’re a 10 in the UK). Sam did a great job though and got my size spot on.  

2 – Shoes are crucial. I have a pair of heels in nude, black and red and I could wear at least one of these with all of the 17 outfits Sam came up with . We added a few here and there for fun, but I could have made do with these three pairs.

Bright pink Alex & Alex shoes!

3 – T-shirts and knits go with more than just jeans. It was really fun trying out a heap of my tops with the two skirts Sam bought me. There are tops in my wardrobe which Sam pulled out to try which I only ever wear to work (like the red cardi) or when I’m in a ‘can’t be bothered’ mood (the green baggy T) but we tucked these into the skirts, added a nice bag and some heels and usually a belt and it’s a whole new outfit. Magic!

4 – Belts, belts, belts! I have a few of them but not enough apparently. I’ve learnt I can add a belt to most outfits and it makes a massive difference. I’ve added these items to my shopping list – 1 x plain skinny black waist belt, 1 x skinny coloured waist belt, 1 x thick-ish brown waist belt. I think I’ll stay away from thick belts from now on, I don’t think they do me any favours. These are some cute belts by the way

Cute belts from Witchery

5 – I’m liking the ‘midi’ trend. I wasn’t sure about midi skirts and dresses (which come to mid calf) but I’m loving them now. I thought they might make me look short, but with heels they are great! I still love maxi’s but these are a great alternative if I don’t want to be showing a ton of leg (which I don’t...) but am in a skirt mood. They can be a bit formal I think but we dressed them down with a simpler t-shirt. Sam – feel free to correct me on this, but I’d say they need to be worn with heels only, no flats (unless you’re over 5”10?)

6 – Jackets are awesome! I have a few of them but they always seem to be expensive if you want quality, and uncomfortable to wear and move around in. But this green one has some stretch to it which makes it comfy. I wore it all night after taking these pics and was totally happy to stay in it. So I’m happy to see now that jackets can be almost as comfortable as a cardi (which I have a ton of) while looking a bit smarter.

Have I mentioned how much I love this jacket?

I love my new clothes so much they haven’t even made it to my wardrobe yet but are still hanging on the back of my bedroom door so I can admire them a little while longer.

In summary - mostly it was really nice to get a fresh perspective on what I wear and how I can wear clothes a little differently. I feel a bit braver now too and have more confidence to wear ‘outfits’ rather than just ‘clothes’. So thanks Sam, you did a great job and I’ll be putting you through all this again in about 6 months...

Xx Sally