For those who missed it the first time around, I’m challenging all comers to a black-free week of summer dressing! From Monday, June 7, to Monday, June 14, participants are forbidden to wear black clothes. No black pants, black skirts, black dresses, black shirts, black sweaters, nada. Here are the official rules of play:
- Black shoes, accessories, and jewelry are fine.
- Workout/gym duds get a pass.
- Black can be IN patterns but cannot be the BACKGROUND of a pattern.
If you want to take it to the next level, go ahead and omit those black shoes, accessories, jewelry, and patterns. I’m gonna try that myself and see how I do, especially since I feel like I’ve been coasting for the past couple of weeks. But play at whatever level you want. This should be fun and challenging, not stressful and difficult. And it shouldn’t prompt you to go out and buy tons of colorful clothing simply to complete the challenge!
Several of you have expressed total disbelief that anyone would shirk black for a period of time, and I can dig. Black clothing feels powerful, chic, classic, and clean. I’m sure participants will have their own reasons to take on SUMMER BLACK-OUT 2010, but here are a few I can think of off the top of my head:
- You are completely black-dependent, and want to mix it up.
- You are curious about combining non-neutrals, and want to challenge yourself.
- You’re not a big fan of black during the summer anyway.
- You want an excuse to raid your sister’s closet.
- You just want to see if you can do it. A la climbing Mount Everest.
Why am I going black-free for two-plus months, and asking folks to join me for a week? Because I think many of us rely on black as the ultimate neutral and ignore other neutrals. Because I think pairing color with color is something that takes experimentation, and I want to encourage that experimentation. Because I believe that black looks best with a small group of colors, not all colors, and I’m hoping to convince some creative dressers to consider other options once the challenge is fulfilled.
If you’re playing along and feel so inclined, grab this banner and link back to this post so folks can peruse the rules and decide if they’d like to participate.
E-mail your photos or send me links and I’ll do a big roundup the week after next. I can’t wait to see the fabulously black-free ensembles you folks will cook up!
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{ 60 comments… read them below or add one }
I definitely want to participate but I am ALMOST finished my dress project. As in I SHOULD be done next week.. so I may start the blackout in the middle of the week… I hope that's ok!
What a great challenge!
Beautifully timed post. I am having my last black blow-out and have linked through to your blog so everyone can join in. Good luck to all of us.
I'm in! I've been wearing less black recently, but I am looking forward to a week without wearing any – I could just use the break from it. And I always love a Mount Everest challenge!
I can do that easy! I have hardly any black packed for my upcoming trip to Barcelona, and i can make sure I wear it all pre-7th! Though I realise I am hardly the target audience for this challenge!
Ach, I don't blog my outfits, but I will be taking part!
We're in. Everest, here we come!
I'm in! I'm stoked to see everyone's outfits and ideas. I don't wear much black as it is, but I feel like I need to mix it up a bit when it comes to color and see if I can come up with new ideas. Good luck everyone!
This is awesome and if I had my full wardrobe at the ready I'd so join in. But, most of my clothes are all packed away in storage as I'm working on moving. Bummer. Have fun everyone who is joining in the fun. I look forward to seeing all the colorful outfits!
I am all for this challenge. I've posted and linked back to this page!
Loving The Reflection
Fun! I'm going to go totally black free – no shoes, accessories, nada.
I gravitate more towards browns and greys in the warmer months anyway, but it will still be challenging.
I don't blog or post my outfits, but I'll snap a pic or two and send them to you as proof!
I love black in the summer, but I never pair it with color. To me it's not summer without black and white, or black and off-white, or sometimes black and beige.
I am soooooooooooo in!! I'll have to take daily pictures of my non-black outfits. This will be a challenge since I have like 8 black dresses, but I can do it!!
Totally doing this- and I'll blog about it, too!
Oh my – this is so perfect! It completes the crusade against blackness that I've been having for the last year wonderfully.
A year ago, I would literally be incapable of doing this – because from I was about 15 until last year, when I turned 19, my wardrobe was pretty much all black. I had some red, some random other colors – but mostly, it was black all the way, due to my going through a major emo phase. It got so bad that I had to navigate through my closet by feel, because I couldn't tell the difference between my clothes by looking at them.
Then, at the beginning of last summer, I decided I'd had it with all the black. The decision actually came from inspiration from your blog, among others. That spring, I had taken an interest in sewing, which led me to blogs about sewing, which led me to blogs about style and clothes, which in turn showed me how fun, expressive and awesome clothes could be.
Soon, I found that the all-black palette that hung in my closet no longer fit with the style I had in my head. So that summer, I decided that I would not allow myself to buy any more black clothes, and that I would actively try to shop quite a lot so I'd have clothes in my closet that matched the style I wanted to have. This forced me to end my former habit of automatically gravitating toward the black stuff in clothing stores, and actually look at the other things.
I've pretty much been keeping up my decision not to buy black until now, though as my wardrobe became more colorful I relaxed the ban a little. I also found something amusing – just as I had started to make an effort with my clothes and wear colours, I started to get a lot of comments from friends and family about how much weight I'd lost and how slim I'd gotten, as well as how healthy and happy I looked. I know for a fact that after my eschewing black, I actually GAINED weight – the scales tell me as much. I wasn't about to tell the people praising my new slim figure that, though.
It's so fitting – pretty much exactly a year (a little less, probably – I started reading AP after your last ban on black, because I don't remember that) after I decided to revamp my closet, the blog that inspired me to do it has something like this.
It feels like I've come full circle.
And all of that's a long-winded way of saying YES, I will absolutely participate! I'm sorry this comment got so long – suddenly I found myself telling the story and I couldn't stop. xD
Totally in! Can't wait.
Oh, wow. I so need to do this, as I'm definitely black-dependent. Seriously, it's to the point where I feel messy and disheveled when I wear color. Recently, I started buying more of the safari/military colors (army green/olive, navy blue, khaki) so I just might be able to pull off a black-free week, even though I'll probably look like an "enlisted". I think I can, I think I can! Definitely going to link on my blog.
I rarely if ever wear black. Maybe I will take that week to try to incorporate it instead!
I've been blackouting for two weeks already. I even made a tumblr blog specifically for that: http://magpieshoard.tumblr.com/.
It's something that I'd been contemplating for a while because I realize that I keep falling back on blacks to match everything even though I have tons of non-black clothes. And then I found Already Pretty a couple of weeks ago et voila, instant support group
Now I'm contemplating reorganizing my closets into "permitted" and "forbidden" categories. Maybe I'll put all the black clothes in the guest closet upstairs until it gets cold again, and see if I survive.
I definitely want to participate. I have realized I wear way too much black. I just really, really love it. *sigh*
I will be joining next week! I am also thinking about doing the summer capsule challenge of only 5 items of clothing as well…eep!
i would so love to take part – however, my workuniform requires me to wear black and often i just don't bother to redress in the evening for just one or two hours on the sofa.. so, i might try and hang on for a few days in the weekends. it would be a good starting point to get back into blogging =)
YAAAAY!!!!!
Andie: But of course!
Emma Clark: Thanks a million, lady!
A.D.: You can always e-mail me a photo or two, if you like.
Iris: Oh my gosh, lady, I'm FLOORED. What an incredible story! Who knew that incorporating color into your wardrobe would totally transform you?
Cynthia: YAY! Now that is hardcore, doll.
Yay everyone! I know I sound like a rabid cheerleader, but I'm so psyched to hear you're all so psyched!!!
I'm in for a week but not for the summer. Don't know how many pictures I will get taken though.
Booo…I wish I could participate all week (retail job= all black all the time). This is a great idea, though, and I can't wait to see everyone's posts and live vicariously through everyone's outfits!
Perfect timing for me–I'm getting a blog off the ground. I'm also sick of wearing the same black pants to work every day. It's practically a uniform at this point! I've written an entry and linked back to this post.
Oooooh, I'm going to attempt this. I wear WAAAAAY too much black (as is evidenced by the fact that I'm wearing black jeans, a black-and-white t-shirt AND a black sweater at the moment. Whoops.
I'm sooooo in! I'm gonna try to do without black shoes and accessories too – I don't wear much black anyway, so I think I can do it for a week!
I look awful in black, so I ALWAYS live by your Black-Out guidelines.
If this is a big success (and it looks to be), will you try other 'abstinence experiments'? Denim-Free Week? Print-Free? I love creative deprivation.
I love the fact that you really know how to work your accessories, you come up with the most interestingly and cutest looks. Love your style game!
I'm so excited about this! I wear a bit too much black, so I can't wait to try out more colours
Okay, I posted about this on my blog!
So excited……should be a fun project…..
And would you be willing to host one week for bloggers that is all dresses? As in, wearing only skirts and dresses for one week- NO pants allowed? I think it would be a fun, feminine thing to blog about…..
I'm totally in! I have a penchant for themed weeks
Ooh, I'm so excited – I'm going to go full-on black-out, since I don't actually wear a ton of black anyway.
I'm doing a double challenge: Jane at "The Small Fabric of My Life" is also doing a challenge: 5 items for 5 days (unlimited shoes/accessories). Double the fun!
Iris' story is so awesome.
Ooh, fun! Count me in. I don't wear a LOT of black anyway… the cat gets fur all over my black clothes, and I'm super obsessive about having NO hair on my clothes. So I may try taking it to the next level, and omitting black shoes as well! We shall see!
Another next-level thing could be to omit shades of grey as well…
Oh, I'm all about the colors! I can totally do this! Count me in!
YAY I have this dress too ^_^
I totally cant do the no black rule though. I don't wear it all that often, but it works really well for work considering I get kick balls accidentally thrown at me, finger paint, food, sharpies, dry erase markers, and dirty children hands touching my clothes hahahaha =/
I'm in! Although I'm on the same wavelength as Franca – I hardly ever wear black; a challenge for me would be to incorporate black into my wardrobe for a week! I'm also doing Summer Capsule Wardrobe Challenge at the same time, courtesy of Jane from The Small Fabric Of My Life – five items of clothing and unlimited accessories for five days – yay!
I wear too much black as it is, so I'm in! Looking forward to the challenge, it seems like such a good way to embrace colour and summer
Sally, this makes me SO happy!
Black can be stylish but more often than not it's a color to hide in.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you and this challenge!
sounds like a fabulous challenge — im gonna try it out!
Im in. I'm excited to try some color mixing and to see what other people do.
Definitely down for it…. YAY COLOUR!!!!
I'm taking the challenge! I'm pretty excited.
http://goodcallbabydoll.blogspot.com/2010/06/summer-blackout-2010.html
Ooh, I'm in – with the caveat that, if I end up getting an interpreting job next week, I'll *try* for another dark solid color, but it may end up having to be black. (In this unlikely event, though, I'll extend the challenge by another day at the end to make up for it! *g*)
I'm in, Sal! Will send you links when I get them up. This challenge has a lot of potential for me to learn something new about my style and wardrobe. Very excited!
I think I'm going to say "in" for this one. I'm not sure I'll make it every single day. But I'm working on my planning-doodles already.
I'm questioning though – Dark grey? Is it a cop out? Or an acceptable black-alternative?
So far, so good Sal! I'm going to be doing a bit of shopping and I know I'll be drawn toward black. I'm going to keep the black-out mind as I peruse.
Okay. I'll give this a shot. I'll keep you posted.
Angela
I'm going to join even though I rarely ever wear black…because I love me some color mixing!
I spent last night thinking of outfits to wear next week!
I'm in! It will be the first challenge I've participated in, and I'm excited.
This will be a tough one–I've been a fan of the black since high school *cough late eighties cough* when I was involved with stage and costume crew. But I'm up for the challenge and have posted it on facebook!
I love this challenge, and I'm all in! With all the great color and print mixes going on out there this summer, I'm excited to jump in all the way (leaving out black entirely — no shoes, no jewels, no bags, etc!)
http://www.aprettypennyblog.com
This is going to be my first blog challenge! I'm pretty excited
I posted it with a link back to your page.
excavatingkscloset.blogspot.com
We're planning to participate and to post our write-ups later in the week!
Can't wait to see what all you ladies put together!
-Liz
sounds like an easy challenge to me!
I'm already doing a wardrobe capsule challenge this week, but i don't have any solid black pieces in it, so I guess i'm in!
Chic on the Cheap
Oh man, I wish I had known about this sooner. I live in NYC where black is pretty much the standard uniform. I'm even wearing all black as I type this. Maybe I'll try this one myself next week…
Kendra
http://closetconfections.com
LOVE this idea. I'm game!
Melanie@UnravelledThreads
I'm in!
(sorry for the influx of comments, I'm a few days behind!)
I just started reading your blog and was confused about the blackout. Once I read this post it clicked but it made me laugh. I'm from California and wear colors all the time. Black is not something you see on me often. Probably why I tend to get second glances in DC. This is great though for DC. I agree people need to add more color to their wardrobe.
To bad I missed this.=/ But I love colours so I wear a lot of non black clothes anyway.=)