Fin

And so I've come to the end of my month - or as so many people have kindly put it, I won't be smelly any more. I've had a fantastic time wearing my dress - it's been great fun planning outfits and thinking up new ways to wear my clothes. It's been slightly less fun doing several late night handwashes, and psoing for daily photos - as a typical Scot, I'm not great at promoting myself, so that's been a bit bizarre. (Unless I get to wear a fun costume or do a ridiculous pose, in which case I'm in my element - looking like an idiot is my forte).

Anyway, here's my 31st and final outfit - although to be honest, I'd be quite happy to wear the dress for another couple of weeks. It's going to be strange having to make more effort when getting dressed in the morning, although as someone who spent about two years of my mid-teens never wearing skirts, I do miss my jeans.

If you haven't sponsored me yet, I would very very much appreciate it if you could spare a couple of pounds - you can sponsor me online at www.justgiving.com/onedress. Comic Relief do lots of excellent work supporting abused women and children, people with mental health issues, and carers, amongst others, in the UK, and they help provide fresh water, mosquito nets and other essentials, and help children go to school and avoid getting involved with gangs in Africa. You can find out more information here.

And before I leave you to live your lives in peace, here are a few more photos from today:

Working hard...

Everyone at work today (minus Margaret and Nigel, who weren't in) decided to wear little black dresses(except Wendy, who doesn't own a black dress - yet) in honour of my month!

Thank you very much to everyone who's been following my blog, and to everyone who has sponsored me. As of today, I've raised £250, and another £60 in Gift Aid, all of which will help Comic Relief help vulnerable people in the UK and Africa. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Day 30

Today has been quite exciting - keep an eye on the Scottish press this weekend. It's also been fairly strange, as I realise I have only one more day and one more outfit left. But before I get ahead of myself, here's Day 30:

And just to prove I am still wearing the dress:

I'm going to enjoy my last late-night wash tonight!

Day 29

It's bizarre to think I only have two more days of wearing Ol' Faithful - getting dressed in the mornings is going to take a lot more effort after Thursday! Remembering the date will be likewise much more difficult - I don;t know how the rest of the world has managed for all these centuries!

Day 28

I'm onto the final stretch now, and I've borrowed a couple of belts from my Mum to accessorise with this week. So far I've made £240, plus almost £60 in Gift Aid, which is fantastic - thank you to everyone who's sponsored me so far, and if you haven't but would like to you can do so here.

Here's Day 28:

Days 25, 26 and 27

Day 25 was my wee brother (or Old Mag, as he shall now be known)'s 21st birthday, and according to him this makes him over the hill. This date is also notable as the 21st anniversary of my first ever train set, an event which made a big impact on me. To celebrate, I drove to Glasgow to see Old Mag:

After a night out and a quick spin cycle, me and The Dress were raring to go for day 2 of our Glasgow adventure (also known as Day 26):

And then it was back to Edinburgh for Sunday, aka Day 27:

(In this picture I'm spoorting the rather fetching QM Freshers' Week 06 t-shirt - QM 'til I die!)

Day 24

Tomorrow I'm taking The Dress on a road trip to Glasgow for the weekend - it promises all kinds of excitement! And potential smelliness. We shall see. Anyway, here's today's outfit - enjoy it, as I suspect after this weekend I'll be reduced to wearing re-runs of previous outfits but with differently coloured tights.

Day 23

I only have 7 days left after today! I am slightly beginning to run out of outfits though... Suggestions are welcome!

Day 22

Just a quick update today:

Day 21

It seems strange that it's been three weeks already! I'm quite used to getting up and putting on my dress now - and all the late night washing and hyper-accessorising that goes along with it! It's been a busy month of birthdays and gigs and flatwarmings, and it has been a bit strange listening to my friends discussing their outfits, while I'll just be wearing the same thing I've been wearing all day - I sometimes feel like I'm not making an effort! On the plus side, the dress has been very versatile - I've never felt over-dressed, and my supply of coloured cardigans and tights has held out pretty well.

Anyway, on to day 21:

If you fancy sponsoring me, here's the magic link: www.justgiving.com/onedress. Thanks!

Days 19 and 20

Yesterday was Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards... I don't want this weekend to end (this post has been sponsored by Rebecca Black).

Day 19

And on day 20, I made the mistake of giving my wee bro official photographer duties:

(Here's my actual, not-quite-as-staged photo)

(I'm making my ring fly). For anyone who's interested, the giraffe is called Horace.

Red Nose Day (Day 18)

Happy Red Nose Day! We had some red nose-related shenanigans at work today - in no way are these photos posed...

Yeah, we stand around reading in the middle of the office all the time! (Books: Fragments of Your Ancient Name by Joyce Rupp and Confessions by St Augustine, if anyone's interested..../shameless plug).

(Me, Katie, Elaine and Wendy)

On a serious note, today is Red Nose Day, but Comic Relief does good work all year round, helping people in the UK and Africa. So far, I've raised £206.20, which is fantastic - and thank you very much to everyone who's sponsored me! If you haven't, I would very much appreciate it if you could spare a couple of quid - you can give me money in person, or donate it online here.

£30 can pay for three people caring for loved ones with dementia to attend a support group to help them feel less alone
£50 could provide 40 children with severe malaria drugs to help them survive until they reach hospital and can be treated
£150 can pay for a child to have an operation to remove the cataracts from both eyes, enabling them to see again.

Thank you for all your help.

Day 17

Happy St Patrick's Day!

And in a complete separate and unrelated event, today marked the official publication of our Royal Wedding Bible!

Much as I'm ambivalent about the Royal Family themselves, I think some of the merchandise for the wedding excellent - check out Knit Your Own Royal Wedding and this excellent mug.

Day 16

I've been suffering a bit from man flu today - however, I made it into work this morning to get a photo of The Dress for you. It was yet another school uniform-like effort:

I'm now (just) over half way through! And I've also just passed my fundraising target of £200 - thank you very much to everyone who's sponsored me so far - and if you haven't yet, don't let that put you off! You can sponsor me here. £200 can pay for a street child from Tanzania to go to school for the whole year, and provide help for people with mental health problems to find work. Thank you.

Days 14 and 15

Yesterday, I went to see one of my favourite bands, Gogol Bordello. If you're not familiar with them, one of their most famous songs is called Start Wearing Purple.

When I grow up, I want to be in Gogol Bordello.

And here's my (hastily dried with hair dryer this morning) outfit from Day 15:

Tomorrow I'll be over half-way through the month! I'm beginning to think February would have been a better month to do this in.

Day 13

Today Scotland nearly won the Calcutta Cup, and in the hope that we wouldn't get completely annihilated I wore my wee brother's hand-me-down strip. Needless to say, we were humped.

Also, to prove that I haven't just taken lots of photos of myself in different outfits in the house, here are some action shots from the world:

 

(Displaying the trademarked Wilson closed-eye pose at Craigmiller Castle)

(Menacing a tiny Lizzy at Camera Obscura)

I'm slightly worried that at some point over the month I will turn into a hipster - with the amount of scarfs and general accessorising going on, fake glasses are surely only a desperate grasp away... I'm not sure if the uber-geekery of my Sex Bob-omb top is a help or a hindrance in this battle.

Day 12

A lightning speed update here, because I'm on my way out for a friend's birthday. (The outfit below was my day outfit - evening outfit may appear here tomorrow!)

Day 11

Today's outfit has apparently been inspired by my love of pirates:

Hope everyone has a marvellous weekend!

Days 9 and 10

Apparently I'm a bit rubbish at updating this - I'm never really home much, and when I am I've got dresses to wash. It's a hard knock life. Here's Day 9 (another of my favourite outfits so far):

Day 10 was slightly tougher - it was one of those days when nothing is quite so appealing as bed, and getting up is not remotely high on the priority list. And then to have to actually think about what to wear was just about beyond my mental capacity. I ended up wearing something which looked a bit like my primary school uniform, and I'm not sure it worked:

And since I haven't yet found a satisfactory way to end my blogs, here's one of my favourite (clean) jokes: What do you call an old man in a cupboard?










The 1965 world hide and seek champion!

Days 7 and 8

I've now been wearing The Dress for a full week, and it's been great fun so far! I've somehow managed not to damage or shrink it - and I've raised over £100 so far for a great charity.

Today is International Women's Day, yet women across the world are still subjected to violence, treated as second-class citizens, judged on their appearance and gender and persecuted for their desire to have equal rights, their religious beliefs and their choices of clothing. Help stand up for equality here. Also, if you sponsor me you'll be helping Comic Relief help women in the UK and Africa - you can find out about some of their projects here.

Anyway, on: to the dresses! Here's Day 7:

I think this has been my favourite outfit so far - but it was also the most problematic day. I went  to an Oxfam event organised by my friend Greg after work, and didn't get home until 11.45pm. I washed my dress and left it on the radiator, but it was still quite damp the next morning!
However, a blast of my hairdryer later, and we had outfit number 8:

Happy Pancake Day, everyone! Best holiday since Hallowe'en. And one last thought - have a read of Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy, or read this article about it.

Days 5 and 6

It's been a busy weekend of friends visiting, flatwarmings, and magazine editing, so it's been quite fun dressing for all occasions (and a bit of a logistical adventure making sure my dress was clean - I spent a large portion of today in mt dressing gown while washing and drying the dress).

Here's Day 5 (Saturday):

And Sunday (please ignore general hungover demeanour):

In other news, I've almost reached £100 in sponsorship! Thanks to everyone who's sponsored me so far, and if you haven't and would like you, you can do it online here. Thanks in advance!

Day 4

Day 4 marked an exciting time - my first almost weekend dressing up day!

I also learned some very useful information - it's very hard to handwash a dress while drunk.

Day 3

Day 3 dawns, and I've discovered that only wearing one dress saves a lot of time in the mornings.

Happy World Book Day - hope you appreciate the books artfully placed in the background!

Day 2

2 days in, and so far I've still managed to come up with a unique look for each day - win. (Although I did spend almost an hour last night trying various different outfits - I'm looking forward to the non-work days!)


Anyway, here is today's outfit:

Day 1

Hello everyone! In another ill thought-out plan, I've been inspired by Glasgow University SRC's event to wear one dress every day for the whole of March to raise money for Comic Relief. Here's The Dress:

(If you're interested, it's from New Look and only costs 2999 pennies, or £29.99 in layman's speak. The skirt is satisfyingly flicky-outty. yes, that is a technical fashion term).

I'll be wearing a variety of jumpers, tights and other accessories to be a bit creative with my outfit, but under it all will be the same dress. (I'll be washing the dress overnight, so hopefully it won't be too smelly - but I have only got one dress, with no duplicates!) In this blog I'll post photos of each day's outfits, for those of you who won't get to see this catastrophe of fashion unfold before your eyes.

For more information about Comic Relief and the excellent work they do, check out their website.

And if you'd like to sponsor me (for which I will be very very grateful), you can do so here.

Thank you, and goodnight!

P.S. Here's Day 1, with a guest appearance from my office: