Month One...

As my first month of wardrobe restructure comes to a close I have learnt two things.

Purposefully changing the way you dress is much harder than I previously thought. I gave little contemplation to the process of getting changed in the morning. Simply approach the wardrobe, pick out something you feel fits the weather, looks good, and is clean! Off I would trot to work without a second glance at the rack of clothes from which I had to make my decision.
I confess, the first week or two I cheated once or twice. I settled for a pair of grey trousers or a navy shirt. Seeing that block of black staring back at you in the mirror is an odd sight, with no colour to break things up I had to readjust to seeing a different fashion covered body attached to my head.
So I packed away my colour and my pattern, everything that didn't fit the strict rules went away and out of sight. With a set of only plain black t-shirts, plain white t-shirts, and a couple of plain white shirts (for when work requires me to be a little more formal) restricting my ability to choose anything else was set to be the only way to stay on track.

My time spent in the shadow of the wardrobe shortened until all that was needed was a hand for my black jeans and the other for a top. And off I would trot. I spent next to no time thinking about how I looked, I barely needed to look in the mirror for how I looked was exactly the same as the day before, and the day before that.
To say I began to feel my creative urges weaken at the lack of changing style would be ridiculous, but not entirely wrong. I love clothes and the way I dress does fuel creativity, but taking that away didn't remove part of my personality, more likely just made me think that way. A week went by when I had fully embraced the project but felt like my individuality had been sucked away, I appeared as boring as my plain black T.

The second thing I learned was much of an inspiration. Wearing just black made me take much more notice of the texture of the fabrics I had on. I had bulked out my wardrobe with cheap black T-shirts, the fabric of which was pretty poor. Next to my jeans I noticed how the nylon in the fabric gave a strange shine. Or how the thickness of a flannel shirt will really stand out next to such thinner, cheaper layers.