75 Hard Style Challenge 2.0
the guidelines, best practices, and lessons learned to get the most out of your closet in 2025
Happy New Years everyone! Last year on January 2nd I launched the #75hardstylechallenge on IG and Tiktok— a style reset intended to help you get reacquainted with your style, strengthen your relationship to your closet, stop mindlessly scrolling for outfit inspiration and save some money. Never in a million years did I expect over 70,000 participants around the world to take part in the challenge in its first year or generating press from Elle, R29, Marie Claire, Vogue Business and more. Seeing your ideas improve so many peoples lives is genuinely the best feeling and highest form of success a content creator can hope to achieve, I’m so very proud of #75hardstylechallenge, and all the participants. This is part 1 of 2, I’ll be covering the basics here and diving into questions and specifics in part 2. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments or message me on IG.
Coming up on its 1 year anniversary I want to relaunch and refresh the challenge after hearing so much useful feedback. Big thanks to Youtubers Lindsey and Laini for their super in depth reviews of the challenge. I have learned so much from the feedback and also my own experience completing the challenge last year. About halfway through last years challenge I traveled to Milan and Paris for fashion month and after returning got really sick. I spent the next few months in and out of various doctors offices seeking a diagnosis and treatment, sharing the challenge on social media ended up taking a backseat so I completed it privately just me and my camera roll. I’m doing really well now and have a lot of ideas for modifications so no matter what you’re dealing with, you can participate.
The two biggest things I want people to remember before we jump into the rules and modifications is one, it’s evergreen, meaning you can start ANYTIME. There’s no pressure to start on January 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Start when you’re ready but also… just start. Two, it’s supposed to be fun and helpful. Don’t break your neck trying to stick 100% to each and every guideline. If you slip up you’re not a failure, just keep going the next day. I wish I called this out last year, because after hearing lots of feedback it seems like being intimidated by the rules is what ended up holding a lot of people back from even trying. There are no more rules this year, just guidelines.
Challenge Guidelines:
get dressed everyday for 75 days
document your daily outfits
don’t buy anything new
set your own challenge goals/intentions
get creative and rely on your own brain for inspiration
organize and clean out your closet
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Challenge Intentions:
get to know your own closet
test your creativity with what you already have
collect data on what you ACTUALLY wear
find what is important to you about getting dressed — comfort? expression? ease? standing out?
enjoy your clothes in new ways
save money!
slow down your consumption
discover wardrobe gaps
heal from your shopping addiction
get in touch with your personal style and what you naturally gravitate towards
Everyone participating will have their own intentions, each one is valid and important but these are just a few that will benefit everyone who is planning on (mostly) sticking to the guidelines.
Challenge Modifications:
I think most of us who post content online (and many who don’t) find themselves stuck in this cycle of perfection. If you can’t do something 100% perfectly every single day, the internet considers you a failure. I reject this outlook, and I’m committing to being imperfect before the challenge begins to set myself up for a realistic outcome. It’s probably uncommon to encourage your readers and challenge participants to commit to being imperfect, but I’m giving you permission right now. It’s better to keep trying than give up because you skipped a day or bought something on vacation. Here are some modifications for the perfectly imperfect.
You can certainly think of #75hardstylechallenge as a no buy challenge but if that feels too constraining just set shopping limits for yourself. Not buying anything during the challenge wasn’t realistic for me personally; even thought I’m very choosy with PR and gifting, I’m an online fashion creator and commentator, sometimes receiving new clothes is part of the gig and I won’t punish myself for doing my job. Likewise for when I’m traveling. My no-buy intentions are really aimed at mindlessly scrolling on TRR or Poshmark or eBay and buying just because, THOSE are the habits I want to change during the challenge.
Mandy’s modification: receiving things for work and buying mindfully while I’m traveling is okay. No mindless scrolling or buying.
The 75 days don’t have to be consecutive. If you’re sick, or super busy for a few days and need a break from documenting your outfits or simply from getting dressed do it! Pick it back up when you can. If you prefer completing the challenge consecutively but are worried about committing to 2.5 months, try aiming for 30 days, or 60 days first.
Mandy’s modification: allow myself short breaks if I need it, skipping a day or two does not make me a failure.
Bedsides getting dressed, documenting your outfits is the most important part of the challenge because it’s the most valuable. I cannot stress this enough: you don’t have to share your daily outfits on social media!! It’s not a requirement at all. The photos don’t have to be good or high quality or aesthetic or beautiful in any way. They are FOR YOU and should be realistic and represent what you’re really wearing on a day to day basis. I highly encourage downloading the Whering app to track your closet. It’s a bit of a time commitment to input all your pieces in the app but once you do it’s so easy to create and document outfits. The data is also really fabulous to have all in one app.
Mandy’s modification: take as many pictures of myself in my outfits as possible but when it’s not possible, document in Whering because the data is what’s important. Commit to weekly updates on substack/ig and occasional tiktok videos and reels.
Cleaning out your closet doesn’t mean purging or throwing everything away. Get organized! Make a pile of things that need to be mended or altered and actually take them to the tailor/cobbler. Pro tip- cleaning out your closet it’s the perfect time to upload your items to Whering.
Mandy’s modification: reorganize entire closet and lockers, find better storage solution for tights and socks
Use Pinterest/IG/Tiktok sparingly for inspiration. Lynn Yaeger said it best, “if you’re interested in fashion learn about everything except fashion. Politics, art, painting, anything except fashion.”
Whering app snapshots
That’s all for now! Please subscribe so you don’t miss part 2 and drop any questions you want answered in the comments. I’ll have to look into the chat feature here on substack but think it will be a nice community tool so we can update each other and you guys can find other folks doing the challenge. Will have an update on that in part 2!
<3 Mandy
Excited to participate! One component I like from the original not-style-75-hard is the reading component. I think I want to build an index of non-fashion inspiration and really push myself to build fresh references to curate my style. Less TikTok and eBay browsing, more movies, exploring the city, and being curious, I think.
Doing this last year was SO FUN!! It might be fun to do this again in warmer weather too so we can have data for winter + warmer months!