So, for the past week I’ve been wearing outfits chosen by Craig, and I’ve chosen his outfits for him too… how did it go? well the good news is that we’re still happily married and I did not get sent out in just underwear and nothing else, haha! in spite of what a few thought could happen, lol
The “diary”…
Day 1:
Craig said he just wanted me to be warm and comfortable for a day working at home and with Clara. He spent quite some time holding different tops up against different skirts and such, trying to find things to co-ordinate… to be honest, I think he’s a little overwhelmed with my wardrobe, hehe, and is still coming to grips with everything I’ve got!!
I chose Craig’s outfit firstly because I think he looks great in blue, and these shoes are my favourite. I really like how the caramel brown looks with his blue jeans.
I made; my chocolate cardigan, my scarf, skirt and socks, and Craig’s hoodie
Day 2:
I’m meeting Cassie for a morning of fabric shopping and morning tea-ing… and Craig just wanted me to be warm. I was a little surprised by navy tights with a grey and red outfit, but Craig thought they all looked really good together.
I chose his outfit because I also think he looks great in charcoal!… he bought this super warm Icelandic hoodie during our holiday there and I absolutely love it on him. Same shoes as yesterday, because, yep, they’re still my favourites!
I made everything I’m wearing; my sweater, hoodie, coat, skirt and my navy blue tights, and I knitted Craig’s red beanie
Day 3:
Craig reckons I suit an earthy “textured” look so today dressed me accordingly… and it’s funny; at first in this challenge Craig was saying I have SO many clothes, and this morning he had decided my wardrobe was definitely lacking and gave me a little list of things I need to “round out” the items I have! ooooh, what is this.. permission to sew more things for myself?? mmmm, I think so!!
For him I got out this awesome, distressed leather jacket that we bought in Melbourne yeeeears ago, it’s deeply cool in an edgy sort of a way and it’s been a long time since he wore it… I dug it right out of the back of the wardrobe. Paired with chocolate brown jeans and a duck-egg blue sweater that I also think he could wear more often… 
I made my jumper, matching dress, leggings and scarf
Day 4:
Apparently this mustard dress is one of Craig’s favourites… who knew? Not me!! I was on the verge of throwing it out, hehe. Maybe I should hang onto it for a little longer I was glad though that he picked out this trench coat, because I LOVE it! and feel quite super sleuth and sorta glamorously chic whenever I have it on.
His outfit: well, he only wears it for a portion of the day because he’ll be in scrubs for most of it…! but I get to choose his outfit for some of the day, at least! He’s had this jumper for about 20 years, it’s such wonderful quality and suits him so well… plus cocoa brown chinos and his Burberry scarf that we bought together in Milan during one of our holidays there. Plus adorable puppy accessory, of course.
I made; my dress and my trench coat
Day 5:
I really love this dress, so I’m happy that Craig likes it too! He’s been dressing me in warm toasty colours a lot, I’ve got lots of colours in my wardrobe but these are the colours I’m “supposed” to be wearing… so I’m pleased that he actually likes me in them, I was wondering if he would pick out for me the colours that HE looks good in, you can’t help but be influenced by that at least a little bit! but he hasn’t really been affected by his own personal colour preferences. He also got out my moto jacket because it was cold in the morning but the day warmed up beautifully so I shed that pretty early 
I, on the other hand, picked out Craig’s orange jumper so it may well be argued that I was unfairly influenced by my own personal colour palette! Craig actually does wear it a lot, in fact all the pieces I selected for him today pretty frequently, but very rarely together. However I love this orange/blue combo on him, particularly with his blue shirt collar peeking out to “protect” him from the orange, so to speak.
It’s funny that our outfits have sorta kinda matched a lot… I’ve been selecting Craig’s outfits early and laying them out on his chair, and he’s been choosing my outfits later on… and I think he’s subconsciously, or even consciously? picking out similar colours for me… gonna have to hide my selection tomorrow and see if it makes a difference
I made my dress and moto jacket, and also Craig’s blue linen shirt
Day 6:
It must be the rather delightfully warm and springy wind in the air today; we independently chosen florals for each other! Haha, whenever I hear of that association I get a mental image of Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada uttering “florals for spring…. groundbreaking…” in that DELICIOUSLY cold-bucket-of-water-over-the-head way… laugh!
Love that Craig chose this dress for me today… and my reaaaaaally old apricot cardigan to go with it, which does go rather nicely and also my cream cotton hand knit for if I felt cold… I didn’t. Apparently I also need black shoes desperately, which is pretty hilarious since I feel like I have a million pairs of black shoes! but none of them are “right”
For him; I chose the floral shirt that I’d made for him last Christmas, and his edgiest blue jeans to toughen it up, a favourite combo of mine. Of course, Craig and “edgy”… well that’s a pretty subjective thing! The interesting thing is that I didn’t set out for us to “learn” anything, but we really have learnt things nonetheless! Will touch on those things in a summary after the week has finished One day to go!
I made my dress and Craig’s shirt
Day 7:
So, for today Craig chose a dress that I’ve just barely finished, hot off the sewing machine and haven’t even blogged about yet, haha. I think he’s disenchanted with my entire wardrobe and thinks I need some new blood in there! Well, alrighty then!! It’s still a little crisp in the mornings, thus my trusty navy blue cardigan, which matches those contrasting strips, and my reeeeally old caramel sandals which are a bit high for day-to-day use but they sort go with everything and are not terribly offensive, so meh.
For him, he’d warned me that today he needed to be dressed up in a smart suit, so I abandoned my previous plan of dressing him in a clown suit…. hehe, just kidding. He has a few nice suits; I chose my favourite light grey one, a crisp white shirt, his tie with whales and dolphins on it, and his pony-hide shoes that we bought in Iceland during our holiday. Sharp!
I made my dress (not yet blogged) and my cardigan.
Summary:
well, this week has been a lot of fun! though to be honest I was pretty sure it would be!
I’m so pleased that a few ladies joined me in this challenge; Sue (@suestoney), Megan, (@meggipeg) Julie, (@sewchicasewww) Raquel (@rseydewitz_sewtospeak) and Caroline (@caroline.jg)… thank you so much ladies for being a part of the fun! xxx
Now for the lowdown… so, one thing I hadn’t taken into account was that I, being the one in charge of laundry in the house, was a LOT more familiar with both our wardrobes; I know pretty much exactly what Craig has in his wardrobe and am pretty up with the combinations he tends to put together regularly. And obviously I’m very familiar with my own wardrobe too, because… well, it’s mine!
On the other hand, Craig is not at all familiar with what’s in my wardrobe. He doesn’t do the laundry very often, and furthermore my wardrobe is a lot bigger than his… and furthermore! women’s outfits are a lot more complicated than men’s clothing. Men wear either jean or shorts, with a top or two. Women wear dresses, skirts and tops, jeans and tops, and sometimes leggings and tights with those skirts and dresses, and we usually have a wide variety of shoe types each of which are specifically designed to go with certain outfits/occasions. Even mens’ shoes are a far simpler affair; Craig has a few pairs of desert boots, lace up shoes, slip ons, his hiking boots and athletic shoes, and that’s pretty much it. I’m not even going to confess here how many pairs of shoes that I have!
So what did this mean? well, in a nutshell, Craig had a far more challenging week than I did! He spent a lot of time, and I mean a LOT, going through my clothes and putting together outfits, searching through skirts, tops, cardigans and scarves, tights etc, sometimes putting together some quite bizarre combinations that had us in fits of laughter when I modelled them! It was really hard to bite my tongue sometimes and avoid from making “little suggestions” as to how I’d normally do things, because it wasn’t supposed to be about that… and also Craig did not want help!
It’s also quite refreshing to see my clothes through another’s eyes… Craig pointed out a few things he really didn’t like, and there were a some items that I’d thought of fondly as my favourites which I had to acknowledge were embarrassingly shabby.
As far as personal tastes go, I’ve discovered my husband prefers coloured tights over black, and he likes mini skirts and jeans on me. I know he didn’t actually dress me in jeans during the week, but they were definitely part of ensembles that eventually evolved into other outfits that didn’t happen to have them in anymore! And from the point of view of ME choosing HIS outfits… well, it was for all the reasons above a much easier week for me! I know all his clothes so well and simply picked out my favourites. I loved seeing him in all the things I liked the best
For both of us, we’ve identified things that need throwing out and things that need replacing. For that alone it has been worth it. As well as the fact that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
Finally; will we have another “their choice”? Yes, I think we will! Maybe next year
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