May, May, May. You little heartbreaker of a month. I’ve had enough of you, so let’s talk about something else. Such as … what is going on with these monthly recaps. When I first started posting them, back in the fall of 2014, my goal was to do an honest-to-goodness monthly capsule for work, rotating pieces as my fancy struck. Basically, at the beginning of every month, I would pick 3-4 dresses, 2-3 skirts, a bunch of tops and pants, and plan a sort of 30×30 type of dealio.

Gradually, that began to lose its appeal, and sometime in the last year, I more or less gave up on it completely. I still plan my outfits ahead of time (I’m a type A, list-maker extraordinaire to the death), but I tend to just pick whatever I feel like wearing that month, without making any concerted efforts to remix a limited selection. Out of sheer laziness, I’ve continued to call these recaps “capsules”, but I realized recently that this might be misleading. I do hope that they tend to show how pieces can be mixed and matched (and new things added to build on existing ones), but anyone looking for a minimalist approach to dressing is bound to be disappointed with my approach.

But you guys already knew that, right? Minimalism, c’est pas moi. On to the clothes!

one, two, three
one, two, three
four, five, six
four, five, six
seven, eight, nine
seven, eight, nine
ten, eleven, twelve
ten, eleven, twelve
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

This is a good example of an anti-capsule month, because there wasn’t much repetition or any sort of cohesive theme. With that said, there was a decent representation of older pieces mixed in with some news ones. Some decent outfits, some forgettable ones, a few awesome ones (if I say so myself). It is always interesting to me to see which outfits photograph well (or not) versus feeling great on the body. Which ones felt the best to me? Numbers 1, 4, and 9 for sure, although others certainly didn’t look too shabby (11, 13-15).

Your turn: do you like these monthly (non-capsule) recaps? Do you enjoy seeing the everyday versus only the highlight reel?

18 Comments on What I Wore: May 2016 Workwear Review

  1. I love the monthly recaps! You always give me great ideas, even though I exclusively wear dress pants to work. I am in love with #13!

  2. I love both the daily looks and the monthly outfit recaps. You always look so effortlessly beautiful, classic and timeless in your outfits. You have amazing taste and the way you put your outfits together is killer. Cheers, Michele

  4. I enjoy seeing both the daily and monthly looks – so keep doing both! I really love #18! It’s quirky but still very professional and put together!

  5. I don’t normally comment here, but I love the monthly recaps (even though I’ve seen all the daily posts as well). I also really like when you tell us your favorite and least favorite looks, because it’s interesting to see how they compare to mine– sometimes your least favorite looks have been my favorites, and vice versa!

  7. I, too, love your capsules, although your favorites are usually different than my favorites! I love the skirt in #6 and #19, but I don’t remember seeing it..? What brand is it? Thanks!

  9. I think they’re fun! I like monthly recaps of all kinds, really. And on the topic of monthly recaps, I do miss those posts you used to write about what you added to your closet each month. Have you tired of writing those?

    • If you read my thrifting recaps, that’s basically 90%+ of my monthly shopping (the rest is a mix of consignment/eBay and rare retail purchases). It seems redundant to do both now.

      At the same time, the more I’ve thought about those types of posts, the more conflicted I got about them. On one hand, I think it’s super interesting to see what and why people buy, and I also think that the discussion around budgeting and finances (not on my blog so much, but on others) can be very helpful. But, as I tend to shop a LOT, I felt guilty about perpetuating the fast fashion cycle — I didn’t want to be seen as “normalizing” it in some way. I feel far less conflicted about doing thrifting recaps because I think it’s the sort of behaviour that has more positive than negative impacts (even if you’re a thrift collector like me), so if my recaps are seen to “promote” it, I’m OK with that.

      This is becoming a more and more complex and thought-provoking topic for me, and I can’t do it justice in a comment. I’ve been thinking about pulling all the different ideas together in a blog post, but it hasn’t quite come together yet.

  10. I like the recaps! It’s neat to see how your outfits differ throughout the month. Also, I loved 9 and 15 this month!

  11. The best part of these monthly recaps is hearing which were your favourites and least favourites – something you don’t get from individual posts.

  14. I really LOVE these monthly reviews!! and i think #3 deserves a nod & a repeat performance. And i really liked 2, 18, and 13 as well. This was a nice looking month!

  15. I love to see your monthly recaps! They are my favorite posts on your blog because they show a realistic wardrobe vs only the best outfits. It’s good to see that everyone has better and not so perfect days as well.
    My favorites this month are 8+9!