Hah! You thought you had seen your fill of Alt Summit posts, huh! Not quite yet… This post is getting up a little later than I planned, and I almost didn’t post it because of that. But, but, I wanted to show you what I wore to Alt Summit because Alt was something I completely obsessed about and over-spent on mainly because I was nervous that I really wouldn’t fit in.

Before I even heard about the clothes people would be wearing I thought, “I’m in over my head. What am I thinking going?! Who do I think I am!” And then, I heard about the Alt Summit outfits, seriously, it’s a “thing”. Once I heard how everyone would be dressed amazingly it made me think about everything I owned and I felt that much more inadequate. So guess what I did? I started to look at online shops obsessively. I wanted to be good enough. I wanted to fit in. I wanted everyone to believe I belonged even if I wasn’t totally sure I did.

There was a Clue party (where everyone picked a character from the game and dressed as that character’s color) planned for Thursday night and you’ll never believe this – okay, maybe you might – I went through 4 different outfit options. The first option I found online for sale and when it arrived it fit wacky, the 2nd and 3rd just didn’t feel right or look “right”, and I ended up going with the 4th which was a $20 black dress I already owned and just added cheap yellow accessories so I could be Colonel Mustard.

I’d say that 85% of the stuff I wore I already owned but I wasted so much time looking online and in shops and completely over-analyzing everything, and since I over-bought I then had to spend time returning all the crap that didn’t work, d’oh. I hate when I do that over-spending, guilt, then return cycle; such a waste of time.

Turns out, I completely over-thought the entire Alt Summit outfit thing and it was really about jazzing up what you might normally wear; just take your normal outfits to the next level and that just means: if in doubt just wear a crap-ton of stripes and/or polka dots.

I wanted to share this experience with you because I was judging my insides (which I had deemed grossly inadequate) to everyone else’s outsides (which I had deemed amazingly amazing), and all along I was just fine with what I already had and already was.

Morale of the story: Trust that it’ll work out just fine, and don’t look at online shops if you’re stressed.

What I Wore To Alt Summit…

Wednesday Night travel/arriving: Super old hat that I got on sale and switched the original pom-pom out with a pom-pom from another hat /Gap, hooded cardigan /clothing swap,  awesome grey military-style pea coat coat I’ve worn for the past 4 years that I got for $20 from Forever21 (it was a size too big so I just moved the buttons over!), dark skinny jeans /Urban Outfitters, tan fringe boots /Target, striped socks /Target(?)
Wednesday Night Hello Social event and Sponsor Dinner: Beautiful cropped black fur jacket borrowed from Wishlist Vintage, printed baseball-style t-shirt /Forever21, bright red skinny jeans (on sale!) /Gap, black heels /Aldo
Thursday panels: Red mod dress/Etsy, cotton candy pink tights /H&M, tan booties /Rocket Dogs
Thursday night Clue party: Poof sleeve $20 dress and yellow belt /Forever 21, mustard tights /WeLoveTights.com, yellow heels (that I already had from my sister’s wedding) /Urban Outfitters, rope headband /Ban.do
Friday panels: Black and white striped scarf /Scout Dry Goods and Trade, brown lace dress/jacket /Modcloth, black and white polka dot tights /H&M, tan fringe boots /Target
Friday night Mini-Parties: Star headband /Giant Dwarf, navy and polka dot dress /borrowed from a friend, same black heels from Wednesday night
Saturday workshops/travel: same hat from Wednesday travel, sweater /Victoria’s Secret, same dark jeans, fringe boots, and striped socks from previous days
Bonus! ;) My super creepy hotel room door with the room number penciled in. It was funny to go to the majorly luxe Grand American hotel during the day for the Alt Summit events and then go to my rickety hotel room at the end of the day. The comparison was very stark! While that hotel room was a little sketchy I would do it again it meant I could afford to go to Alt again. Hey, save where you can do you can spend where you want, right? ;) xo. anna