Twenty Five Pennies

After looking over my Two Thirds Review, I realized that I have been wearing cardigans almost every day for the past few days. I wanted to try to branch out a bit, so instead I wore a long-sleeved shirt underneath my sweater to have the warmth without the layering look. It's not a huge step, but it's something. Next: Outfits without scarves!

What items do you wear out of habit?
Do you have any 'safety-blanket' items you feel undressed without?
What has been your most ridiculous favorite item that you wore all the time?









Sweater: Gap via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt underneath: Kiabi via France
Skirt: Preview Collection via Goodwill
Tights: Black Tights from Target layered over Underamour
Boots: Giusti via Goodwill
Scarf: Self-made

Two Thirds Review

A few days late, but who's counting? ;)

Items I have worn the most in this third of the 30 for 30:
Still my black Steve Madden boots. They earn their wardrobe workhorse title every day! I also have been going crazy for cardigans, sweaters and wraps, but that's not surprising considering the SNOW.

Items I have not worn yet: I have now worn every item of my 30 items! I traded out the pinstriped button down shirt for an Underarmour shirt and that, too, has been worn.



My favorite outfit was number 11 (I love that bright orchid color!) and my favorite photo was number 20. Not so surprisingly, this photo was taken on a semi-sunny day, when it was not raining, actually in the middle of the day. Crazy, right? Obviously a weekend day, haha. My least favorite outfit was probably number 18, only because it was so predictable for me--black boots, gray tights, black sweater dress with a scarf and coat? Ultimate laziness! Shame, Plummy! Number 20 wasn't really a memorable look, but I like my hair so much in that one that I am giving myself a free pass.

Lessons I have learned in the middle third of this 30 for 30 challenge:
1. I still feel like I have quite a few ideas for outfits and I don't feel bored of my clothing yet, which is both surprising and awesome.
2. The frantic desire to go shopping has died down, which was another nice surprise (even though I am still excited to go shopping after this challenge is over).
3. I am valuing my accessories more than ever and find my window-shopping turning more and more towards the accent pieces in an outfit.
4. Good photos will make me like the outfit more, because I am just that much of a sucker for pretty, distracting things.

Do you have any automatic free passes to a good outfit (such as good photo, great hair, etc)?

Twenty Four Hours of Light

...is certainly not here! I'm having problems getting proper lighting on my pictures, as I go to work before the sun comes up and come home after the sun goes down. Yesterday it was raining and was therefore too dark all day to take any photos at all. I will be retaking those photos at some unknown, later date, maybe when the sun will cooperate a bit more. Does anyone else have this problem? I feel like I see so many beautiful pictures in the blogosphere, but I don't know how people manage to get pictures with proper lighting in the winter, especially if they are working! Does anyone have any creative solutions?

What other weird blogging problems have you encountered?






Pants: The Merlot via Plato's Closet
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill
Long Sleeve Shirt: Kiabi via France
Short Sleeve Shirt: Language Los Angeles via Plato's Closet
Blazer: AE via Plato's Closet

Twenty Three Chromosomes

After my crazy amount of unexpected time off recently (snow, I love you) I felt invigorated and ready to start a new week. Of course, so did the kids at my school and it took most of my energy to wrangle them to the tasks at hand in class, but that's another story!



I decided to go for my typical teacher ensemble--pencil skirt, ballet flats, cardigan and scarf. In my attempts to actually use most of my wardrobe I decided to bring out these bright indigo tights that I rarely wear. They are another pair of tights that are surprisingly bright once you put them on, much like my bright teal Hue tights; I had bought them thinking they would be a subdued navy, but clearly I was mistaken! The scarf is an attempt to bring the tights into the realm of 'normal' for me, as this bright color is a bit out of my comfort zone. What do you think? Did I stay true to my fledgling style, or is this a bit too far out of my color palette?



Do you have any accessories that didn't wear how you thought they would? Do you have any tricks to bring an unusual accessory into your daily rotation?



Shoes: Naturalizer
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Skirt: Preview Collection via Goodwill
Shirt: J. Crew via Goodwill
Cardigan: Self-made
Scarf: Unknown via Goodwill
Necklace: Vintage via Goodwill Outlet

New Feature Poll Results

The results are in from last week's poll on which new feature I should do first on Developing Style. It looks like it's a tie between an interview with a fellow fashion blogger and a tutorial on mimicking SLR photography with photo-editing software! Keep a look-out for both of those features to be coming soon. If you voted for either the Gorilla-pod review or a layering for cold weather guide, I will still be doing these features, just a bit later. :)


A pretty leaf I saw during my run today.

Catch-Twenty Two

This is what I wore for Thanksgiving dinner (a backlogged outfit that I am finally posting). It's ok...but it's not great. I am still posting it, however, because it is a great example of why this is called DEVELOPING Style, and not Plummy: Life of Glamour and an Eternally Fantastic Wardrobe. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong with the outfit though. I think it's a bit top heavy? With no patterns and no single focal point of interest? Is it the lack of accessories? Readers, please help!


I still love my shoes though!

Sweater Dress: Rhapsody via Ross
Long-Sleeve Shirt: Kiabi via France
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill
Sweater: 22 via The Rack (oh, the irony! Wearing the brand 22 for outfit 22...hahaha...)

(I also can't help but think that these tights would fix everything...but that might just be a minor obsession talking...)

Twenty One Grams

How much time do you spend getting ready every day?

As much as I believe that it is the look of the person inside the clothing that really makes the outfit (NOTE: not the inside of the person. The look of the person herself. I believe in the goodness of people, but we're talking about the look of an outfit here), I can't quite bring myself to spend a lot of time every day making myself look faaaah-bulous. I think something inside me just rebels at the thought of wasting so much time on perfecting a look that will last less than 12 hours.

I love putting on makeup, perfecting my technique, but spending time on my hair is what I draw the line at. My hair is unruly, sort of curly and resistant to being styled--anything I do to it will fall out within a few hours. I've tried hairspray (it makes my hair oddly both stiff AND limp), hot irons (damage galore), bobby pins (slide out) and have resigned myself to never being a master of hairstyling. Enter my variety of ways to put my hair up! I love braids, but there are some days (read: today) when I just need it out of my way. Hence--ponytail.

How much time do you spend getting ready in the morning?

Do you see your makeup and hair as an integral part of your personal style, or separate?

What is your go-to hairstyle when you don't want to deal with your hair?

Skirt: H&M via Plato's Closet

Tights: Target

Shirt: Language Los Angeles via Plato's Closet

Cardigan: Unknown via Goodwill donation pile

Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill