You really can’t go wrong wearing florals in May. I mean April showers do bring May flowers, right? So when the weather gets warm but not too hot and we still get showers here in Portland most of the time, I live in floral dresses! Well, I only own a couple, but I wear them a lot!
You may remember back toward the beginning of April when I teamed up with some awesome bloggers for a No-Buy Style challenge. Each month one of us will provide a photo for “inspiration” and the others will all create a corresponding outfit out of pieces we already own.
This month, Liz shared the above photo in her beautiful green spring floral shift dress.
As I sort-of mentioned last month, my style tends to lean more toward jewel tones. Even in spring. I don’t have a ton of pastels and I don’t even have a ton of bright colors like Liz’s dress. I have a couple maxi dresses that are on the brighter side but neither of them are floral printed. So I decided to go with my favorite LuLaRoe Nicole dress that I still wear all the time! I even wore it to my brother’s wedding a couple years ago!
Like I said, this dress is from LuLaRoe. I was so happy that I snagged it back when LuLaRoe was all the rage. I think it was like 2016. As soon as I saw this print, I knew I needed it in a dress. Is it just me or do those roses remind you of Disney? So when my friend got this dress in her inventory, I jumped on it! It was my size AND the perfect color combination for me!
These shoes were a fantastic find at Rack Room Shoes in 2015. You will almost never see me in heels but these wedges are actually super comfortable!
The necklace and earrings are both from Premier jewelry back in 2014. I curled my hair with a curling iron I’ve had since at least college. Maybe high school. I got my glasses from Glasses USA almost 3 years ago. And I’m slowly switching over to more sustainable makeup options.
And once again I have no links for you because everything I’m wearing is pretty old and either from an MLM or discount store. Are you starting to see a pattern with my clothing? I hardly ever buy new clothes. And when I do, I try to find pieces that I love, that fit me well, and that will (hopefully) stay in style for years to come.
But that hasn’t always been my philosophy on clothing. I mean, I’ve always thought that was a good philosophy and I’ve always tried to follow it. But I’ve only really been successful with it in the last couple years.
In fact, back when I bought this dress I obsessed over LuLaRoe a lot. I am pretty sure I owned more than 15 pairs of LLR leggings. Actually maybe it was more like 20+. And I had at least 5 dresses and 10-15 tops. I kid you not. When I paired down my closet to a capsule wardrobe, I got rid of most of that. But I kept this and two other dresses as well as 5 tops and a couple pairs of solid color leggings.
Keeping a smaller wardrobe, limiting my clothing shopping, and being intentional about what I do buy are important to me for many reasons. One, it saves money. Two, it’s more sustainable for the environment. Three, less clutter means less anxiety around getting dressed every day.
Be sure to click over to the style challenge posts from these other lovely ladies! Check out how they each interpreted this month’s look with items from their own closet.
So do you keep certain pieces in your closet for years? Or do you shop for new clothes each season? Or maybe a little of both?
Join us in this challenge! Post an outfit you created with only items you already have in your closet and use the hashtag #NoBuyStyleChallenge!
Thanks for reading!
You look so cute! I was going to ask about your hair, and then I kept reading. I’m pretty low-maintenance (i.e. lazy) with my hair, but I’ve almost convinced Dan to learn how to French braid so I can do something different with my hair.
The Nicole is SUCH a good style from LuLaRoe. I have two of them, a midnight blue velvet dress and a light blue/dark blue patterned dress. I bought the latter to wear to sorority events. Once I started volunteering 3 years ago, I realized I didn’t have very much blue among my nice clothes! Luckily I now have enough business casual blue to wear to volunteer training and other events.
I do need to pare down my LuLaRoe collection too, although I’ll probably keep all of my leggings. I basically live in leggings and dresses in the early spring, and leggings and long tops in the winter!
I’ve had intentions in the past of being selective about the clothing I bought, but I have yet to get through an entire year without a regretful impulse buy. (Not counting the years when my budget restrained my shopping! I love everything I bought when living in France, when I had very little extra money to spend). Since my Low Buy Challenge is this year, I think this will be the first successful year! And COVID-19 is only a small part of that, since so much of my clothing shopping is online.
Thank you so much, Brita! I actually curl my hair with my curling iron a lot now that I live in Oregon. I am blown away by how well my hair does in this style here. Even though it rains a lot, the humidity is super low (especially in the summer and fall). So when I curl my hair it stays curled all day. And then I don’t have to style it for like 3 more days because as the curls inevitably fall out, it continues to look good in the softer curls and wavy stages. I hope that made sense. lol When I lived in the south, and really even Ohio, my curled hair would fall out and be a stringy mess after a couple hours! Anyway, all this to say, when I curl my hair it’s actually pretty “low maintenance” because it doesn’t take too long to do and then I basically don’t touch it for several days. And I love how it looks. lol
Yes I LOVE the Nicole. I still own 2 Nicoles and 1 Amelia from LuLaRoe. I’m not really sure why but I just sort of stopped loving the leggings look. They’re still the most comfortable things ever but I was just reaching for jeans way more than leggings. So I got rid of all of my loud patterned ones at least. I had way too many. haha
How pretty! I am all about florals. You look so pretty. I am digging the colors of your dress.
I could never easily pull off florals. You look radiant in it however.
I love that Lilly dress 🙂 So pretty!! Floral dresses are always so classic and classy
I love going back to favorites I already have in my closet. This dress is a great style, cut and fit on you! I can see why it would be a keeper in your closet.
Oh, yes……flowers for the win! Floral patterns are clothes had so much to a piece. Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Love the floral theme perfect for spring and this challenge is a great idea.
You look so great and that floral dress is so stunning,love the floral design so much.
So cute! You suits this nicely. I also loved to try this floral theme
You look beautiful in your floral dress.
I’m impressed that you were able to pare down your wardrobe so well. I have way too much in my closet, including a lot of Lularoe. I haven’t bought any since it was all the craze though, and I do wear most of the items to work at school. I like the fact that they are comfortable and have held up well.
I love the floral theme, it’s so pretty! I really need to stop spending, it’s getting out of control.
I love your dress! I have tried to go through my closet and think of new ways to wear things so it feels like I have something new. Thank you for sharing this with everyone and I too love florals! I’m going to peek in the closet and see what I can come up with.
Very inspirational. I love florals and there’s a floral (smaller print, larger print, different colors) for everyone, I agree.
That floral dress looks beautiful on you. On me it would look like a curtain! For whatever reason I am very limited in what I can wear for patterns.
this floral outfit looks so comfortable and gorgeous…..You looks awesome in the outfit….
Your floral dress is so cute. I’m with you on shopping at discount stores and buying pieces that you love.
The dress is very pretty and definitely my color as well. I love the rose pattern. It’s an elegant dress that can be worn at a special ocastion or just to go on a night out, I love that.
I love floral print!
I love both but the green one is out of this world, looks soooooooooo beautiful wow…
I love me some jewel tones! Cute outfit!
Love me some jewel tones! Cute outfits !
These are such cute looks. My favorite is the first one with the green and pink!
Great dress. I love floral patterns I have them everywhere, even around the house 🙂
You look so lovely in florals. Come to think of it, I don’t have one floral dress!
You look so pretty! I love a fun floral print. And the wedges are the perfect touch.
I feel that more people need to try to use what they have rather than always going out and buying new. Great challenge! And florals look great on you 😊
I’m loving this challenge! My friend was talking about doing it in January. Helps save on expenses.
I tend to wear very simple pattern, or none at all. But your green floral dress is gorgeous and nudging me to try bolder patterns!