Gretchen Jones has been in the Portland fashion news cycle a lot this year with her return from New York and the unfolding picture of her new role at Pendleton. But in her own time Jones has been running a self-imposed experiment called Neutral Territory, in which she is systematically depriving herself of color in her wardrobe as a way to think about color theory and "what constraints can mean for fashion, beyond the inherent limitations of our bodies and budgets."

She's nerding out pretty hard, and it's developing into a pretty fascinating read. There are Monday-Friday #ootds*, sure, but it's more intellectually advanced than your average fashion blogger's vanity project, and her frequent posts meditating on each neutral—one of which will be eliminated each month throughout 2014—carry all the serious insight of the professional she is, also broken up by interviews with a cast of mostly industry professionals who she surveyed to determine what a neutral is in a sartorial context, and some slightly jealous posts devoted to the colors she can't have. (The categories of neutrals that resulted from this process, in the "Rules of Engagement" section of the website, may be up for contention, but it's hard to argue that denim or herringbone don't count.) It's worth checking out even if you're not ordinarily the fashion blog type, an insight into some of the thought processes that go into garment design and styling with the same seriousness as the thought with which any artist contemplates the materials and limitations of their chosen craft.

Day 49s #ootd
  • Neutral Territory
  • Day 49's #ootd

*Outfit of the day. It's a thing.