The "Express Lane" Wardrobe Challenge

Last week, Duchesse linked in a post to the "Six Items or Less" website and several of us chimed in that we'd be interested in participating in a similar, though less restrictive challenge.  Duchesse kindly agreed to come up with some flexible guidelines, which she posted on Wednesday.

Once I began my list , it quickly became apparent that I'd need to go for 12 items instead of the 10 I'd originally intended, as I often have to layer due to variable office temperatures.   Here's what I've included in my capsule wardrobe:

1. Jeans (dark blue)
2. Black ponte slim pants
3. Black ponte pencil skirt
4. Black silk tank tunic
5. Taupe silk tank tunic
6. Black 3/4 sleeve top
7. Rouille Dark green linen jersey 3/4 sleeve top
8. Dark rust lightweight wool cardigan
9. Grey felted asymmetric sweater jacket
10. Taupe long wool crepe cardigan
11. Grey v-neck tunic sweater
12. Black 3/4 sleeve lightweight jacket

Bonus item:  Olive trench raincoat as outerwear for the occasional rainy day.   I'm not including this in my 12, as there's probably only a 5-10% chance I'll need it.  My list is predicated on normal weather for this time of year which ranges from 65-80F and only sees a few days with any precipitation.

Additional caveats: I'm not counting tights or leggings in as part of my 12, as I think of these as accessories and I'm lumping the occasional camisole into the Lingerie category as I generally wear underneath another top, mostly hidden, so not counting those either.  And I'm also not counting the housework/gardening/dog grooming or going-to-Disneyland clothes. 

Observations: 
--I edited this list quite a few times, both before and after I did my PotF*.  I realized that I would be totally comfortable with 15-18 items, but thought the exercise was better served by limiting myself to 12.
--The category I've gone heaviest on is top layers (cardis/jackets) but feel I need the variety where it shows ("tabletop dressing," à la Duchesse).
--I'm already twitchy.
--I didn't want to go totally with neutrals, but as soon as you introduce color into the mix, it complicates things, and colors have to be chosen carefully.  I ultimately chose two versions of a redwood/rust color. one dark rust and one dark olive green, both of which work with all of the neutrals and with each other.
--I also realized that sticking to one silhouette (long over lean) also helped make the selection easier.  There are a few items in my closet currently on heavy rotation, but I didn't include them here as they didn't adhere to the selected silhouette.
--Expect to see lots of scarves this month!  :-)

The Express Lane Challenge starts Sunday...this should be an interesting experiment!

Edited to add:  After one more run though, I've subbed out a dark olive green 3/4 sleeve top for the rouille.  It will work better with the black items, yet still plays nicely with the dark rust cardigan.

*Polyvore on the Floor.
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