As I write this post, we are in the second month of Lockdown in England. The schools are closed, so like many mums I am enjoying the delights of home schooling, whilst try to keep my wild 3 year old occupied and stop her from trying to ‘ride’ our 6 month old puppy, and stop said puppy from chewing every shoe, toy and dirty sock he can find, and it is tough!
I am not a school teacher, and it is hard work to try and engage a 6 year old to write a sentence with a ‘contraction’ and an ‘adjective’ when he can hear is sister watching ‘Blippi’ for the 999th time. My youngest is spending far too much time on the iPad or watching TV, and I am just about keeping on top of the household chores, getting the dog and the children out for their daily exercise and my brood fed; this is a task in its self, as every 20 minutes I get asked if it’s snack time yet!
However tough it might be, I know that it is required to get us through this pandemic, however I consider myself one of the lucky ones.I have been furloughed from main job which means that I actually do have time to spend ‘trying’ to educate my son. My husband is working from home, so can help out now and then, so I can go to the supermarket alone, fit in at least 2 runs a week and cook our evening meal at least once or twice. But that doesn’t stop me from feeling a bit bored, a bit fed up and a little bit down.
I miss my friends and family. I miss actually having that 1 to 1 conversation, I miss working with my colleagues at the Swan Centre, Eastleigh, I miss meeting up with my clients, and I miss having a reason to choose an outfit in the morning.
Although this lockdown only started on the 5th January, I haven’t actually been in the office since November, so have basically been wearing joggers and a top for nearly 3 months. I haven’t really bothered putting make up on either, as what the the point eh? And the result? I don’t really feel like me anymore. I feel like a washer woman, housekeeper and nanny.
That’s why I thought it was high time I pulled myself together and did something about it. I can’t change the situation that we are in, but I can try and do something to pull myself out of this funk. That’s why I have put together the Lockdown Style Challenge.

The Lockdown Style Challenge is intended to be a fun, mood enhancing challenge that gives us all a theme to create our outfits around. The idea is that if we all have a ‘reason’ to get dressed, then we will spend some time thinking about what to choose, how to put things together and actually spend sometime thinking about ourselves for once, rather “should I wash the darks or the whites today”, “can I give the kids fishfingers again this week” or “what on earth at we going to have for dinner tonight?”.
The challenge is intended to run across 7 days, starting on Monday 8th February, and each day has an easy theme for you to shape your outfit around. The idea is that the challenge just provides little tweaks to our existing ‘lockdown wardrobe’ and that it works in real life and is achievable by everyone, whether you are a working mum, juggling zoom calls, childcare and schooling, a mum with a feeding baby, a toddler and a 8 year old or even a mum who’s kids have flown the nest. You decide how you want to interpret the theme, you tweak it to your lifestyle, taste and wardrobe.
So what are the themes for the week? Well we kick off with an easy one, Colour Pop. The idea with this is that you think about introducing colour to your outfit in some way. It can be by colour clashing your outfit, introducing a print, adding a scarf or a pair of earring or even just sticking on a bit of lippy. Whatever you feel comfortable with, it is your challenge. The reason for kicking off with focusing on colour is because of the proven mood enhancing and brighten effect that colour can have on us, especially when work near our faces. The right colour can not only make us feel happier, but younger and more rested. As we go through the week, we explore colour further with ‘Tonal Style’, learn how to create and style an outfit with Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays themes, and how to make more of the clothes that we have in our wardrobes on Saturday and Sunday. By the end of the week, I hope that you will feel more confident, and positive about how you look and feel.

One of the things that I have noticed most from talking to clients, friends and family is how the lack of social interaction is effecting everyone, especially women. That’s why I would love it if we could all share this challenge together and join in by posting your outfit pic in my private Facebook community The Busy Mums Style Tribe. This way we can all support each other and give each other a bit of help and advice. It will also give you access to advice from me directly.
I will post a reminder of the theme at 8pm the night before on my Facebook page and on the Busy Mums Style Tribe group, along with some inspiration (you can get a sneak peak on my Pinterest page) and tips. I strongly recommend thinking about what you are going to wear the evening before, as we are all more creative at this time, so you are more likely to be more adventurous and inspired by the theme. It also saves time in the morning and ensures that you don’t ‘duck’ out for the day, as it is easy to resort to you normal ‘lockdown uniform’.
I am excited about next week, and can’t wait to see how you all interpret the themes.
Watch my Facebook Live video here.