Spotlight on Two Other 365 Day Challenges

I've been enjoying two "sustainable clothing" blogs with a 365 day theme and an opposing tension.   One's about having less stuff, the other is about having a lot of variety.   Both are about styling by creating with materials that are already available.

The Uniform Project is a creative effort to avoid purchasing new clothes by basing a wardrobe on a single "little black dress."   Compounding the fun goodness, they engage with readers by raising money for causes they love.

Here's The Uniform Project's Sheena Matheiken from her year of experimenting with that little black dress...she raised over $100,000 for her charity project.   (And I snagged that set of photos from her website.   They had a darling animation showing all 365 days, which I had hoped to embed here.   They probably had to take it down because they used a Beatles song as background.   Too bad!  You can review the whole year of outfits here.)

This year, they're hosting women who will wear their own Little Black Dress for one month.   Love it. 

The other project, New Dress A Day, is a young woman who vowed to repurpose 365 thrift store dresses in 365 days.   Her budget?  $365.    Marisa Lynch is funny, goofy, and smart.   (She totally endeared herself to me by referring to her "chestal area," a phrase I thought I owned.   But I digress.)

Her starting point?   The.  Most.  Hideous.  Dresses.  Ever.

(I mean it.)

Then she sews, tapes, rubber-bands and safety pins them into clothes that look adorable on her.   Her focus is more on her vision than on technical details.   The photos, below, are from her blog post on Day 284.  

(And where she finds these dresses for a buck?  That's not her focus on the blog, though she opens the curtain on that from time to time.   Though she's LA based, she recently documented a visit to a Goodwill outpost in Queens where they sell clothes by the pound.   That's a little more adventure than I'm up for!)

Implementing either of these approaches require that you know what works for you, fashion-wise.  These women look great wearing things I could never "rock"!  (But I can rock both of their concepts, though I'm personally more inclined to the Little Black Dress approach.)
    
I salute both Sheena and Marisa for having mastered the art of self-promotion, something that's difficult for many of us.   Yet so important. 

Both of these efforts are testaments to creativity, and the possibility inherent in the boundaries of a challenge.   Kindness, good energy and a sense of humor trump all.   I love checking both of these blogs.  (Though this month, conversation on the UP has included some not-nice negative anonymous commenters.   It looks like they've been moderating a bit more closely of late.   Or the haters moved on.   Either way, good.)

You go, ladies!

Update, October 6:  Whoa, the lovely ladies of The Uniform Project both tweeted and FB'd a link to our site!   Thank you so much!   And if you're visiting us for the first time, welcome.   And thank you for your attention and time. 

You can find out more about our challenge here, here, and here.  If you want to join in, feel free to join our flickr group.