no. 23: spring style sessions

what I wore in Q1 2024, your top recs for jeans that don't suck, and the color analysis results I could have predicted in my sleep.

Apr 19, 2024

“Don’t Forget Me” - Maggie Rogers. I always have and always will be a Maggie girl, shared name notwithstanding. Maggie has described the album as a “Sunday Driving Record”, perfectly designed for singing along to songs in the car with your best friends in the passenger seat. I’ve listened through 4+ times since release last Friday (with several partial listens courtesy of my toddler’s new ability to turn on the record player) and I’d say she nailed it. Sure to be a contender for the winner of my spotify wrapped this year!
Restaurant Dropout
by
Zoe Barrie
- My current roman empire. Zoe used to work in restaurants, and now she is the creator and writer helping you plan and prepare all your meals for the week like a prep chef. Rather than traditional meal prep (boring, repetitive, etc), RD provides options for how to do the majority of your prep on one day (think: chopping, mixing, dicing, making sauce, etc) so that when it comes time to cook during the week all that’s really left to do is the actual cooking / assembly. I gave it a trial run this week after obsessively saving all her videos on tiktok, and it was the game changer I’ve been looking for to make weeknight dinner prep shorter. Chef’s kiss.
3 Body Problem, Netflix. - It’s possible I’m a bit behind on this one, but finally managed to sit down to watch this scifi thriller. Based on the novel of the same name (winner of the 2014 Hugo Award for best science fiction or fantasy), the show charts multiple timelines, immersive virtual reality games, and devastating philosophical questions about the nature of humanity and cost of advancement. It’s a big more hard science fiction than I usually go for, but I was surprised and delighted by how much I liked it - on episode 6 of 8 now, and cannot wait to finish.

Something that’s hard for me to wrap my head around: it’s been about six months since I started earlybird!

Together we have deep dived on extremely specific gift recommendations for *literally everyone*, gotten extremely nerdy with my personal favorite “personal essay meets academic paper” like unpacking the perfectionism procrastination doom loop or exploring *scientifically proven* ways to become a morning person or set goals that stick. This community has felt like a safe enough space for me to talk candidly about my experiences of parenting and motherhood, like my frustration with “you’re going to miss this” culture, a personal essay about girlhood and the search for identity in matresence, or last thursday’s extremely personal newsletter about how I “knew” I was ready to have kids. We have talked big friendship, and just chatted over coffee.

Much to my delight, there are over 1250 of you letting me into your inboxes each week, and thanks to a truly incredible group of readers, we hit bestseller status in December – something I literally did not believe was possible. I am so unbelievably grateful for this outlet and the reader community: it has quickly become my favorite thing that I spend time on, and has brought me so much joy and purpose over the last couple of months.

This was a personal project I launched quietly last fall, hoping to take pressure off myself by just hitting publish. I am so proud of myself for consistently showing up and hitting publish week after week. It’s a creative discipline that no other platform has ever brought out in me, and knowing that you’re at the other end is a huge reason why — I literally go out of my way to get as few emails as possible, and y’all are out here opting in for 2000+ word dissertations once a week?!?! Incredible.

Mostly: thank you. You’re the best, and I’m deeply, deeply grateful.

In the spirit of giving myself a break from the vulnerability hangover that was sending last week's issue, today is a fun one: a follow up from one of my most popular issues this year where I tracked everything I wore for a month as part of a bit of a style refresh challenge. I loved it so much that I kept tracking (and probably will for the rest of the year) and am so excited to talk about the ways my style changed as the months went on! Keep reading for:

An overview of my style for the year so far
My top outfit combinations & items
Learnings & insights for Q2, including an upcoming closet sale & the number one things I’m excited about to dress for spring
The BEST recommendations from the earlybird community for jeans we don’t hate

Okay i think that’s it, love you!

A few caveats and pieces of context:

I mostly work from home and go into the office around two days a week. I also have a toddler who is very sticky. A big part of the impetus for this challenge for me was to break out of the wfh / toddler mom style rut I have been stuck in.
I traveled a lot more than I expected this quarter, including 3 personal trips (weekend skiing, a week at the beach, and a long weekend to see the eclipse) and one eight day work trip to Portugal. I was surprised at how much that impacted what I wore, and how many items I have that I only wore once or twice in three months as a result.
I track this with a big old spreadsheet and some pivot tables. I also recently downloaded the INDYX app, but have struggled to get my clothes photographed with enough daylight for it to be functional. perhaps a project for Q2!

for visibility: this next section of the post includes affiliate links. I’ve also included the full name of products (so you can search on your own if you’re so inclined). These are all products I have purchased and (quite obviously) love and wear in my everyday life.

**By the numbers:** I out put together **130** total outfits, **118** different outfit permutations, 10 tops, 6 pants and 7 shoes I wore more than 3 times each.

top five outfit combinations in Q1:

me and my jet lag after 15 hours of travel to portgual.

travel cozy:

this is my go-to travel and casual errand outing outfit, so I’m not shocked it hit number one. Especially considering I had two trips with multiple leg long haul flights, It was a priority to look somewhat pulled together but be EXTREMELY comfortable, which I think this achieves. Hoodie, Swift Wide Leg Trousers, Sezane Quilted Jacket & New Balance 327 Sneakers (12 wears)

classic & whimsical workwear:

Part of my impetus for this challenge the first go around was to spruce up my regular work wear to be a bit more elevated after nearly four years of work from home, pregnancy and postpartum, but still work for the aforementioned toddler. I am really happy with the purchases I pulled in for my work trip in March, and am delighted to see this outfit pull into the second place spot - it's an outfit combination that has just the right mix of polish and ~whimsy~ with the reversible floral jacket, some chunky loafers, and the monogrammed, oversized button down. I also had a few more dressed up combos with the same base + a nicer blouse and a blazer. Feels as close as I’ll get to a “cool mom uniform” right now. Monogrammed Max Shirt, Aritzia Effortless Pant, Quilted Jacket, Loafers or Reebok Club C85 Sneakers (9 wears)

big sweater energy:

I had two combos which were almost exactly the same except they swapped out the statement sweater (one an icy winter blue turtleneck, one a springy green chunky cardigan). I’ll be honest with you: this outfit is *the blueprint*. I wear it often, and I personally think I wear it well. It has kicked off a search for a new pair of jeans (more on that below) but Everlane Cloud Turtleneck OR Emile Cardigan, Monogrammed Conrad TShirt, New Balance Sneakers (sigh) - 11 wears

finally wearing the *good* active wear, even if it's just to a regular workout!

pilates mom:

I have been purging my activewear drawers (so many sports bras that don’t fit! So many sweatshirts, for what?!) and it has left me with a solid pilates mom uniform I reach for over and over. Almost exclusively I wore some version of a high neck cropped tank top or oversized / boxy crop and a sweatshirt. It works. High-neck Align tank, Wunder Train Leggings, Scuba Sweatshirt, Nike Metcon - 8 wears (probably closer to 20 that I forgot to write down)

Sezane Quilted (Reversible!) Jacket (32x)
Everlane Way High Jean (21x)
Sezane Conrad Monogrammed Tshirt (15x)
Lululemon Leggings in Black (27x) Lululemon Swift Wide Leg Pant in Navy (13x)
New Balance 237 Sneakers (29x) & Sezane Albane Loafers (10x)

takeaways & insights

It’s possible to change your style without buying a whole new wardrobe

One of the things I was most excited about in pulling this recap together is the change in the most worn outfit combinations from the check in a did in January – I moved away from an almost daily “leggings and sweater” combo (hazards of work from home in January, y’all) and intentionally worked to wear more of the “nicer” clothes in my closet, more often, and in different combinations. After years working in decidedly not-fashion forward industries, it’s taken a surprising amount of mental pep talks to confidently wear some combinations to work, which has been an interesting thing to consider.

But buying intentionally can* help.*

Since January, I’ve shared a few of the clothing purchases I’ve made, especially a pair of loafers and longer work trousers I had *obsessed* about for months and a blazer to replace the one I’ve had since 2012. These are purchases that I researched and obsessed over and quite honestly felt a lot of purchase regret about. With the wisdom and time and distance though, and in looking at the numbers for the time since I bought those items, I wore them a TON, in combination with many of my existing pieces. I picked items that fit, were comfortable, and complimented my current wardrobe’s style while extending it closer to the direction I’d like it to be in. Seeing those pieces creep up in the style tracker is also validating from a cost per wear perspective- win, win, win!

Let it go

You don’t have to wear clothes you hate, and you don’t have to keep things “just in case”. While working to wear more of the nicer outfits, I pushed myself to style pieces that I had hanging in my closet but didn’t wear often because I was “saving” it for the right occasion. Often, I was really happy I wore it, and ended up reaching for it more often after getting over the barrier of the first wear. A few times, I pulled things that had been in my closet for a while and are SO GREAT but just don’t fit me or the style I’m going for anymore. This time, rather than hang it back up in the hopes that next time it’ll click, I’ve pulled them out. In addition to clothes I love but don’t wear, I’m also taking a look at all the times I only wore once in Q1, or clothes that I wear ALL THE TIME but don’t actually like (see: my jeans right now are all giving me the ick).: As much as it kills me, I’m committed to list a good amount of these on Poshmark next month so they’ll find a home they deserve and I’ll get the mental and literal space back. I’ll hang on to some seasonal specific ones that made a debut during fake spring to see how they fare in Q2, but otherwise it’s time to make way (thoughtfully!).

your recommendations for jeans that don’t suck:

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I have been *desperately* looking for medium to high-ish waisted straight or wide leg jeans that aren’t cropped. (my Q1 #1 Jeans from Everlane are great, but I’m looking for something that fits my current body proportions a bit better / is a slightly different silhouette) Most important criteria is that they work for those of us with a slightly disproportionate thigh to hip to waist ratio. I asked, and y’all delivered. Your recs:

Levi’s Ribcage Wideleg - Amanda says they look incredible on all body types
Levi’s Baggy Dad Jean and J.Crew Factory Wide-Leg Crop jean- Ellen!
Paige Cindy and Banana Republic Slim Jeans - Kelly says trying out a “slim” (not “straight”) worked well for her!
Madewell Curvy Jeans -
Alex Steele
recommends, and I trust her recs so much!
Everlane’s Curvy Way High Jean - Jen says these are a great options for folks who struggle to get the thighs and waist fit quite right (the jeans I wear the most often and are made at right now are the regular Way High Jeans, so personally excited to see what the curvy ones do for me!)
any recs we missed?!
Leave a comment

something i’m excited about for spring:

I’m not above the influence, y’all. After watching approximately 700 color analysis videos in the last six months (and surreptitiously trying every color analysis filter that to middling results) I finally caved one day and used a website to color analyze myself. The apps really struggled to get my eye color - they are a very specific shade of green / hazel / grey that it’s oddly hard to photograph clearly, as they often take on other colors in reflections and glare - something that is apparently a CLASSIC a soft summer.

Soft summers apparently have cool, muted coloring and low to medium contrast. Color analysis is a bit hokey, but it was extremely interesting to look at the recommended color palettes, which are filled with blues, greys and greens (ding, ding, ding). I already primarily dress in these colors, but I’ve been enjoying looking at the recommended color and styling combinations (the time for my monochromatic dream wardrobe is now!)

Finally: A lot of y’all mentioned being interested in style me sessions through the newsletter, and I’d love to do a few in a bonus issue! Trying to dress for an extremely specific event or style? have a thing you can’t figure out and want ideas for? submit requests for how I can help style and support ya in the question box, and let me know how you’re approaching your own style right now in the comments!