Or; One Gray T-Shirt Dress A Bunch Of Ways.
I have had this little gray dress for I forget how many years. It was a Walmart impulse buy, however many years ago that was, costing me $10. It is 100% cotton and has held its shape reasonably well through much wear and some weight fluctuations. I haven't tried it on in the last (checks notes) 72 days, but I think I can reasonably expect it still to fit me.
Obviously this dress works as a simple summer dress, but the fabric is heavy enough for year-round wear. It's very soft and comfortable –- there's a reason why I've hung onto it all this time, even though it was such a cheap piece to begin with. Again, the best thing to do with an impulse buy, aside from not making that purchase in the first place, is to keep it and wear it until it falls apart, which this dress has not even begun to do.
How to make colder-weather outfits with it?
Add layers, that's how. Here's the relatively light jacket I wore to Mass today, which was still lying out on the bed. If I need to warm this dress up just a little, because it's not quite short-sleeves weather, I can make a nice monotonal layered look by adding a jacket like this.
Depending on the weather, I could wear some sandals with this ensemble. I could wear my Birk Madeiras. I could wear my tan boots, also seen at Mass today.
But let's say I want a more polished look, still staying with the monochrome-layered idea. I could finish things off with a scarf, like this thrifted slate-colored pashmina:
Lightweight still, but it dresses things up more. Now, to make things more interesting, let's say it's getting chilly, and I want something on my legs. This is a fairly short dress, especially for me, so unless it's high summer, I probably do want something on my legs. Staying with the monochrome idea, but wanting some added texture, I've chosen these marled-gray Snag Rainy Day tights (which gets funny, because the imaginary me here has such tiny little legs):
Here I can add, for example, my gray-green Doc Martens, which extend the muted layered effect without exactly matching anything else (sorry, the light is not great, but they are a kind of grayed olive color):
Or, more visibly, my tan boots:
I like this a lot. Monochrome subtlty, but some contrast in my legs.
I tried a variety of my mostly-thrifted scarves with this same base:
Slightly more contrast, with some red in the scarf pattern. I love this scarf, incidentally, which I found in the thrift store last year and wore a lot.
Or staying muted, but with a grayed purply pink scarf:
OR this teal-blue silk velour scarf, which I found in a T.J. Maxx about fifteen years ago and still love:
Trying some other jacket/scarf/tights combinations with the same dress:
Moss-green corduroy blazer I bought on ThredUp last year, with Snag Silver Lining merino tights.
With a couple of scarf options:
A black-and-silver pashmina my husband gave me for Christmas.
Repeat of the red-and-gray scarf. I like this –– it could be Christmasy.
But what if I changed jackets? Trying my thrifted jean jacket:
Changing the tights for something more high-contrast:
And another scarf:
I didn't have time to try burgundy or navy tights, or anything like all my scarves. But as with all these experiments, it's pretty illuminating to begin to see what I can do with one extremely basic core piece of clothing. It's also nice to be able to see beyond the end of my Wool& 100-day challenge, to remind myself of other fun things that live in my closet –– before I go persuading myself that I need many more dresses.