April Style Sudoku

This year, I’m challenging myself to do a style sudoku in each season. I put together my winter version in January, and now I’m back with my spring version! Style sudokus are probably my favorite type of wardrobe remixes. They’re fun for me to put together (as I am 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!

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.

This sudoku kind of snuck up on me, so even though I had a few items in mind, it was mostly thrown together this past weekend. Let’s see how that goes! ;) My color palette is slightly lighter than it was in the winter. I kept navy and blue denim as my base, then added in camel and cognac as accents along with creamy whites. The pink, burgundy, and army green give it some more color for spring. I included two patterned tops this time (and both are striped—big surprise, haha!).

My full sudoku is shown below; do you notice any repeats from winter? I tried to select mostly items that I hadn’t worn in January, but I did end up choosing my dark wash skinny jeans again because they’re a staple. I also included my Hunter boots again because, well, it’s gonna rain. Again. I selected a few items I haven’t worn in a while (navy blazer, striped shirt, burgundy hat, green jacket), an item I struggle to style (camel sweater blazer), and a new item (cotton-linen sweater). I unintentionally chose a hat as one of my four “accessories” again. My other “accessories” are a sweater blazer, a regular blazer, and the light jacket.

As I did back in 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. And, like January, we have precipitation in the forecast… However, I included my boots in only three outfits this time, which may end up being a poor decision because it looks like we could get rain for quite a few days. Eep! I’m really hoping it all works out like it did in the winter. Fingers crossed!

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

Elizabeth & Clarke ‘The Laurent’ unstainable shirt / exact

Madewell high-rise skinny jeans: tulip hem edition / no longer available; similar by Madewell

Hunter original gloss chelsea boots / exact

J.Crew ‘Sophie’ open-front sweater blazer / exact

SECOND ROW

J.Crew ‘Schoolboy’ blazer / no longer available; similar from Nordstrom Rack

Madewell ‘Billie’ ankle boots / no longer available; similar by Madewell

Madewell high-rise skinny jeans / no longer available; similar by Madewell

Gap striped tee / no longer available; similar by Gap

THIRD ROW

Everlane kick crop jeans / exact (limited sizes) or similar by Banana Republic

Everlane cotton-linen crew sweater / exact (limited sizes) or similar by Everlane

Leith floppy hat / no longer available; similar from Macy’s

Charlotte Olympia ‘Kitty’ velvet flats / exact from SSENSE

FOURTH ROW

Earth ‘Bellwether’ flats / no longer available; similar by Frye

Madewell ‘Outbound’ jacket / no longer available; similar by Madewell

Everlane cashmere crew sweater / exact style

Everlane modern boyfriend jeans / exact (limited sizes) or similar by Everlane