As I was scrolling through Facebook happily procrastinating for my upcoming midterms and papers, Buzzfeed posted an article that caught my attention. The headline read, “My Boyfriend Dressed Me for a Week and This Is What Happened.” Upon reading, I discovered that the article followed a woman being dressed by her boyfriend for a week, forcing her to dress outside of her insecurities, with the help of her boyfriend’s cute (and not-so-cute) fashion choices.
As I read the article, I wondered how my own boyfriend, Diego, would dress me. We have such polarizing styles, with him living in button ups and Timberlands and I living in workout clothes and sweatshirts, that I couldn’t even begin to imagine what I would look like. I was curious if my week would be filled with floral patterns and dresses or bold colors and combat boots.
Surprisingly, Diego also read the Buzzfeed article and suggested to me that we do the challenge. So for four days out of the week, my boyfriend of one year dressed me, and it was completely and utterly not what I expected, like at all. Here are the outfits that he selected.
Monday
I was genuinely surprised by Diego’s outfit choice. It was so different from what I would usually wear (especially on a school day), as you can usually find me in a sweatshirt, sneakers, jeans, and with my hair pulled into a ponytail. He chose a dark floral dress from Urban Outfitters, and he completed the outfit with an adorable pair of beige and black booties. For makeup, he decided on simple and thin eyeliner and a dark purple matte lipstick, creating a very bold look. This outfit is something that I would MAYBE wear out on a night out, and even then I would have some reservations about it because of the amount of upper arms and shoulders I would be displaying. However even with my own reservations about the outfit, it was a hit amongst all my friends, classmates, and strangers on campus! After every compliment, I began to feel more comfortable with this outfit (and my arms), ready to strut my stuff down the crowded hallways and for our one-year anniversary, which happened to land on the first day of the challenge (I know, it’s so cute its disgusting!)
Tuesday
This was by far one of my favorite outfits, and I could definitely see myself wearing this again. I wore a tight fitted t-shirt labeled “Sunday” that was worn on Tuesday, which made me feel like such a rebel; Diego then combined the shirt with some vintage Levi high waisted shorts I picked up in a London thrift store while abroad, combat boots, skull earrings, and, of course, a Drake inspired “woes” baseball hat. My makeup was minimal just some eyeliner, mascara, and nude matte lipstick. To combat this bold and brash outfit, Diego decided to have my hair loosely curled, as a way to give the outfit a touch of femininity. My confidence was through the roof. I felt like I could have stepped onto any music video and stole the show (even with my lack of dance moves); however, my confidence began to falter when a male friend of mine told me I looked like a “ratchet.” At that point, what was once confidence turned into self-doubt and insecurity. Questions began to flood my brain. Should I have been wearing this? Was I showing too much skin? Why would he call me a ratchet? But after a moment’s reflection, I realized I could care less what this friend thought of my outfit, and I began to work this outfit even more to spite him.
I mean look at the selfie I took that day, such a blank-faced beauty.
Wednesday
This was probably my least favorite outfit out of the school week, as you can probably see from the picture above. That morning Diego’s sighs of exacerbation filled my bedroom, he kept uttering, “You have too many clothes,” and from that I can only assume Diego had completely given up when he chose this outfit, overwhelmed by sheer size and mass of my closet. For this outfit, Diego picked out a Forever 21 black and white striped t-shirt dress paired with old-school high top Vans. From there, he instructed me to have my hair natural (which is a weird in-between state of straight and wavy) and in a high ponytail. At this point, I was given no chance but to defy him. I mean seriously? Did he want me to look like a toddler? While the dress had potential to be a really great outfit with the addition of jewelry and a different choice of shoes, the outfit (and the dress) fell flat and did not meet expectations. However, I know I shouldn’t give him such a hard time because, even with being raised a girl my whole life, I still find it excruciatingly difficult to dress myself, and more specifically to dress cute.
Thursday
For someone who knows absolutely nothing about women’s fashion, DAMN did Diego do amazing on the fourth day! What a great way to end his reign over my closet and to make up for Wednesday’s outfit. Diego put together a metallic green and gold paisley open-back crop top, burgundy-colored high waisted corduroy shorts, an asymmetrical black cardigan for when I got cold (which is, like, always), and my favorite go-to shoes, my white high top Converse. I would have never thought to pair such dramatically different fabrics and colors together, let alone imagined I could pull it off. Like seriously, Diego could apply to FIDM with this outfit. In addition to the ensemble, my hair was straightened and was parted in the middle (which would have totally worked if it weren’t for my stupid cowlick). I felt so cool and stylish wearing this on-campus, and I had even convinced myself that another Her Campus intern would take a Snapshot of my OOTD to post to our page.
There were many ups and downs to this week (Wednesday, I am talking about you), but honestly this was such a great learning experience for me. I actually enjoyed getting up and not putting on the same jeans and UCSB sweatshirt I wore the week before, even if it meant losing an hour or two of sleep. While I might not do this everyday because I really, really, REALLY love to sleep, I am definitely considering changing up my everyday style to incorporate bolder outfits, simple makeup, statement jewelry, and fun florals. Hopefully, there will be more post-worthy OOTDs because of this challenge.
Also, I want to give a big thank you to my boyfriend, Diego, for actually creating outfits that didn’t have jeans or yoga pants and for learning the difference between foundation and BB cream – you did good my friend.