Spring 10×10 Outfit 10

Hi, friends! Guess what today is?! It’s DAY 10 of the Spring 10×10 Challenge!! Woohoo! We made it! Can you believe it? Yes!

Day 10 definitely wasn’t without its hurdles (keep reading below), but styling this dotted dress as a top was the perfect way to end my very first 10×10 challenge.

On today’s agenda, I started the day writing at Wonder and then moved onto campus for another full day of work (one more final project to go!). So today’s look needed to be comfortable and functional for a lot of work. After two days of wearing jeans, I was ready to switch things up with this skirt. And with the weather being sunny and in the mid-70’s, I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to style something a little more summery in nature.

I knew when I included this dress in my 10×10 picks that I wanted to find ways to show its versatility in a wardrobe (much like in my Floral Dress 4 Ways Challenge). On the very first day of the challenge, I styled the dress traditionally. The following Friday, I styled it as a skirt by layering a light weight sweater over top. And today I’m finally getting around to styling it as a top by layering a skirt around my waist. Three completely different stylings of this dress and I couldn’t be happier with how each look turned out!

I love how bright today’s look turned out in particular. The crisp white of the denim skirt matched perfectly with the fresh white dots of the dress in a way that was even more perfect than I could have imagined. It really brought a vibrancy to the look that I was quite taken by.

For styling, I added a classic black belt (last seen here) around the waist to give the look a more polished feel for work. A belt also hides any stretching or creasing along the waist that happens naturally throughout the day as a product of sitting. As for the opaqueness of the skirt, I was initially worried about the bright teal print of the dress showing through the white fabric. Luckily this skirt is made of a nice thick denim material that isn’t too sheer and the pairing worked magically.

I also opted to leave the top clasp of the dresses’ neckline undone to give it a cute v-neck shape. Another simple detail that I feel really elevated the entire look.

A quick little (funny) story of my actual implementation of this look… I started off the day wearing this exact outfit only to realize once I was at Wonder that I had cut my finger earlier that morning (unknown to me). This normally wouldn’t have been a big issue, but unfortunately I had touched a lot of things between cutting it at home and riding the bus to Pearl Street. This meant that my bright white skirt was covered in little red blood marks all along my left side. Needless to say, I finished up what I was working on and then headed home for stain control duty over lunch. I immediately put Oxiclean Stain Remover on the blood spots and soaked it for 20-30 minutes, applying another round to the major spots after that time. I then put it in the wash on cold and luckily the stains came right out! Whew! I hung it up to dry (instead of using the dryer, since it has frayed edges) and it was good as new!

Instead of forcing the outfit, I just decided to go to work in my dress with my beige cardigan. Couldn’t get much easier than that! Just slipped the skirt off to wash and I was already in a perfectly wonderful outfit! I love that!

I could’ve very easily added a belt around my waist to give the dress a little more shape (for a different variation), but I was actually quite into the idea of having an easy, breezy, flowy dress on all day. Is there anything better on a hot summer-esq day?! Plus, I think it was kind of perfect to end the Spring 10×10 Challenge in the exact look I started it in. 😉 P.S. – This scene from Harry Potter is now playing over and over in my head and I can’t stop laughing.

And that wraps up the last look in my Spring 10×10 Challenge! Yes! Can’t believe how much fun I had styling 10 pieces 10 different ways in just 10 quick days. And you know what? I actually have 4 bonus looks that I didn’t get around to styling. I’m toying with the fact of sharing them in their own individual posts next week, along with an overall recap of the Spring 10×10 Challenge. What would you think about that? Let me know in the comments below!

I hope you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did! Thanks so much for following along while I shared a daily outfit diary of sorts with you! Caroline and Lee are planning their next Summer 10×10 Challenge for sometime in late July, so if you liked the format of this challenge, I’m planning on doing it again in a few months! And I’d love to have you join me too! (It’s way more fun with more people!)

What about you? Which of the 3 dress looks was your favorite?

You might also like…Styling A Floral Dress As A Top and A Gingham Dress for Any Season.

Photos by Allen Ream

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Get the Look…

Dress: 1. State (similar here, here) | Skirt: J. Crew | Shoes: Old Navy (similar here, here) | Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters | Bracelet: J. Crew Factory