“Fun” and “beige” don’t really belong in the same sentence – unless the sentence is “look how much fun we’re having without beige around” – but my point is: this is not a horribly boring outfit, yes? There is stuff going on here, even if it does involve a fair bit of beige. I mean, look at that print:

I think J. Crew called this print “feather paisley”, but it looks like a mass of Halloweenish, thorny vines to me. See? Not boring. Not-boring beige. Half way to fun already. Throw in a bright red bag, some sparkly crap on my collar, and … BAM. Party time.

Fun!

I first heard about Boden from the lovely Lou of What Lou Wore 365, whose oh-so-adorable Pimlico dress I simply had to have. So it was only fitting that I would get another fantastic Boden dress thanks to Lou: only, this time, directly. It happened like this.

Last year, I bought a pretty floral (naturally) Boden skirt off eBay, thinking it would be perfect for the office. And it was … for someone a size smaller. I hung on to it for ages, hoping that the baby weight would eventually – finally – drop off. It never did. And I had a cute Boden skirt I couldn’t wear, but also couldn’t bear to part with. So I had a bright idea. Knowing that Lou is a Boden devotee, I asked her if she would be interested in a swap. She was, and here we are.

I have a lovely new addition to my dress wardrobe, and Lou … should have a cute new skirt any day now (c’mon cross-Atlantic mail service!). I hope you love it as much as I love my new dress, girl!

It’s such a perfect fit (a minor miracle in a shirt dress), and perfectly work appropriate. I am swap happy!

So, did you notice? For my first month back at work, I decided to tweak the 30 x 30 idea, and create my own version of a work wear mini-capsule. Well, perhaps not so “mini”; I ended up using 26 pieces, not including outerwear, shoes, or other accessories. Considering how excited I’ve been about finally getting to wear all of my work clothes again (of which, be assured, there are far more than 26 pieces), I think this demonstrated admirable restraint on my part. Minimalism, c’est moi.

Hah!

The French would put it perfectly: plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same. So it is with your minimalism-averse blogger. Even when I try, I still want all the things. But, hey, I tried.

Here’s a look back at all 22 outfits, for no reason other than so you can appreciate my remixing efforts in all their collective glory. Pats on the back highly encouraged.

(I actually wore my Yoana Baraschi jacket again, but it was a do-over of my very first outfit, so I didn’t include it here. Yep, I wore the Exact. Same. Outfit. Twice. I should hand in my blogger badge right now.)

And here is my favourite #ootd photo-taking moment of the month: getting photobombed by a complete (dapper!) stranger. Here’s how it went down, as capture in blurry (what other kind is there?) iPhone pics:

And now tell me: would you like to see a wrap-up post like this every month? Not all my outfits make it to Instagram, and not all of the ones that do make it on the blog. So there would be some novelty involved. Plus, mini capsules! Take it away in the comments.