July Style Sudoku

After taking a break from style challenges for a year, I’m back at it again and have challenged myself to do a style sudoku in each season this year. I put together my winter version in January, my spring version in April, and now I’m back with my summer version! Style sudokus are my favorite type of wardrobe remixes. They’re fun for me to put together (I’m a huge sudoku nerd) and also fun to wear. I usually end up with a new favorite outfit combination…and I also usually discover a combination that I don’t like so much, but it’s all part of the fun of it. The goal is to play around with what’s already in my closet (and try to curb unnecessary spending).

A style (or wardrobe) sudoku is exactly what it sounds like if you’re familiar with sudoku the puzzle. Basically, you choose four tops, four bottoms, four pairs of shoes, and four other items (accessories, jewelry, outerwear, etc.) and arrange them in a 4x4 grid so each row, column, and corner makes a complete outfit. (You can also make outfits out of the diagonals and the inner “squares” of the two middle rows if you’re so inclined!) In my past style sudoku challenges, I shared the diagonal outfits, too, even though diagonals aren’t technically included in a real sudoku. This gives me 14 outfits total.

To the surprise of no one, this sudoku is heavy on the lighter colors, since it’s summer and all. ;) I did keep navy around as a base in addition to tan/beige and added in accents of white, light wash denim, and surplus green. Most of the items are solid colors but I did include two striped items—a blouse and a skirt. I included two items from my spring sudoku; can you tell which ones they are?

Because I will be working for 10 of the 14 days, I specifically picked bottoms that I could wear to work: a striped midi skirt, straight leg crop pants, and boyfriend jeans. I’ll save the shorts outfits for the hot weekend days. I tried to pick the lightest fabrics I could—lots of linen and cotton—and I also selected three pairs of sandals. When picking specific items, I asked myself what I would typically reach for, so mostly everything is something I wear over and over again (though there are a few new items). It was most difficult deciding what “accessories” to select since layering is not something I enjoy doing in the summer, but luckily my office is cool enough that a blazer and light cardigan will get use. I try not to select jewelry because it feels like the easy way out, but I let myself do it here because it’s summer and I don’t really feel like accessorizing most days!

As I did back in April and January, I’ll be breaking down what I wear into three different blog posts over the next two weeks and detail what I did on each day, how the outfit worked for those activities, and the weather. As of right now, we don’t have precipitation in the forecast. Yippee! However, I will be traveling for work for the second half of my sudoku, so hopefully everything I picked will work out for that trip (and hopefully we won’t see crazy weather!).

Below the sudoku, you can find the details of all 16 items. I’ll be sharing a daily photo of my outfit over on Instagram stories (check out my “Style Sudoku” highlight) and then posting them here after a few days have passed.

FIRST ROW

Everlane linen scoopneck tee / exact style or similar by Treasure & Bond

ModCloth high-rise button fly denim shorts / exact

Earthies ‘Morolo’ wedge sandals / no longer available; similar by Earth

ABLE hammered circle earrings / exact

SECOND ROW

Old Navy floppy straw sun hat / exact

Everlane day crossover sandals / exact

Everlane modern boyfriend jeans / no longer available; similar by Old Navy

Everlane air ruched blouse / exact

THIRD ROW

J.Crew Factory striped cotton-linen midi skirt / exact

Grana pima cotton v-neck tee / exact style or similar by Target

J.Crew Factory linen blazer / no longer available; similar by J.Crew

Earth ‘Bellwether’ flats / exact style (limited sizes) or similar by Frye

FOURTH ROW

Salt Water sandals / exact from Zappos

American Eagle knit open front cardigan / no longer available; similar by Express

Madewell sleeveless chambray shirt / no longer available; similar by Velvet Heart

Everlane straight leg crops / exact