After I reported to you about how women were dressing in London (see here), I kept mulling over that idea of the four garments in the same color… There’s certainly no reason that they have to be black! I think we can agree than many of us don’t wear black, and that there’s a lot of other options available.So I replicated the same idea in brown:
Tee shirt – Helmut Lang; Tights – Hanes; Turtleneck – River Island; trousers – L.L.Bean
Something I saw only a few times in London,but that I wanted to share, is women wearing their matching turtleneck and tights with a dress over it. While this will only work with the rarest of dresses it’s worth remembering. A dress that’s too bare for cooler weather, too dressy for day, or just well-suited to layering will work here. And a denim shirtdress is made for this. Many people will find this too “school uniform-ish”, but some of us will get new mileage from an old favorite this way. (Imagine the possibilities when you travel between widely varying climates…)
Black dress – Noe Maxwell; denim shirtdress – Dorothy Perkins; Sequined dress – Vanessa Bruno Athe; tweed dress – Escada Sport
Another way that I saw the solid core being worn was with contrasting trousers. This is a great way to calm down a vivid pair of patterned pants, but it’s also a good chance to slightly dress up jeans or khakis…
Plaid pants – L.L.Bean; jeans – Etoile Isabel Marant; Tan canvas pants – Rag & Bone; floral – Giamba
One of the essential things to remember, if you’re going to layer tee shirts and turtlenecks under something as potentially constricting as a dress, is to look for pieces made for layering. These from Lands’ End are made with that in mind, and they come in a mountain of colors, both neutral and accent…
Tee shirt – Lands’ End; tights – Dorothy Perkins; Turtleneck – Lands’ End; trousers – Mother of Pearl
The most difficult part of doing this with an accent color is going to be finding items that match or are close enough to blend well. Tights are probably the weak link; be sure to take garments with you when you’re in search!
And while it’s a very uncommon situation, remember that if you’re wearing a valuable vintage piece (like the bone dress shown below), wearing something under it is one way to minimize the wear on the garment. Just be certain that your turtleneck has been laundered and won’t bleed color onto your antique treasure!
Wool dress – Alexander Wang; ivory shift – Chanel Vintage; Tweed dress – Oscar de la Renta; shirtdress – Soaked in Luxury
I think it’s worth considering this approach when you’re thinking about introducing a new color into your wardrobe – especially a new neutral. For example, if you wanted to migrate from black to grey, buying three grey garments and some tights would give you a lot of options for wearing your existing wardrobe in a new way, and to test-drive how much you like grey.
Jeans – Current/Elliott; tan pants – J.Crew; Chevron print– Issey Miyake; checked – Chloe
I double-dog dare someone to buy those chevron print pants…
love,
Janice
Janice, I love your blogs. Addicted. But chevron trousers just – ? Not my style…
Sorry, bit of a knee jerk reaction!
Dear Chris,
No apologies necessary – I wouldn't wear them either! But I like to include more outrageous garments from time to time because someone, somewhere, loves them… It keeps us all on our toes, and open to expanding our wardrobes horizons. Maybe!
hugs,
Janice
For someone trying to pare down a wardrobe, any memorable print, even if wildly flattering, seems to me to be a problem. But, maybe that print would just become a signature…
I think that prints are something that have to have "whappage" in order to make it into a wardrobe – if you absolutely love it and it sings in your heart, then you don't mind wearing it often enough to have ti become a signature. But you're right, it's counter-intuitive, and only works in exceptional cases.
Thanks for being so analytical – I'm delighted that you're giving these ideas so much thought!
I bought a pair of "distinctive" pants this year – not quite as distinctive at these, but with counter-intuitive horizontal stripes. I have gotten more compliments on them than on any other single item of clothing in the past 5 years!!
Now this is really cool! Though I love to dress in all Black, I guess that it’s time to break the monotony. The dress in emerald Green shade looks absolutely stunning!
I really like bold trousers/neutral top combinations, and am attempting to slowly steer my wardrobe towards this (have a legacy of dark pants/bright blazers to phase out). I especially like the chevron trouser fabric (although they look a bit 'skinny' for me).
Alice
Any colour would do…i pretty much have these Ts in sets of navy, pink and turquoise, and just wear things over the top. When you live in the uk with all the variations in weather (sometimes all 4 seasons in one day), you learn the art of layering up! X x
I recently bought a knit skirt with a pattern that included navy and a shade of soft blue-green. I got a sweater in that blue-green shade. The sales lady asked how I would wear the outfit and I said with navy tights and shoes. She suggested that the outfit might look better with black tights since navies are difficult to match, and most people are wearing black tights with everything. At 67 I’m not trying to follow all the latest trends, but neither do I want to look totally outdated. Any thoughts?
Navy is difficult to match, but I would still try to do it. Places like Nordstrom Rack can be surprisingly good sources of tights – maybe TJ Maxx too… Take your garments with you and see what you can find that blends well – it will "hang together" better than black would. Although black is always an acceptable option…
readers – any other suggestions for good sources for tights in a range of colors?
For those of us in Canada and close to our border, Simons carries an amazing range of colours in tights, they are in Quebec and just arrived in Vancouver.
I really like the chevron pants and would make them so the cost is ok. The link takes me to the J.Crew pants but I will look for them in Issy Miyake. I am really liking the hunter green tones this year.
Deb from Vancouver
Target usually has many different colors of tights in the winter months.
Oooh see if you can get the blue/green tights….would be lovely and bright on dull days. :)
I appreciate the different suggestions. Before the week is out, I will tour some of the suggested stores with skirt in bag, and see what I can find.
I do like the chevron pants but would have to try them on to see what they did to me. Tried the link also but got J Crew.
Love these colors!
Loving the chevron trousers but the link takes me to J. Crew too. Boo Hoo.
Vancouver Barbara
Google, ladies!
Here are those chevron trousers:
http://www.farfetch.com/shopping/women/Issey-Miyake-chevron-print-trousers-item-11178490.aspx?fsb=1
(but you will have to copy and paste, comments don't seem to accept links)
I am building my core in grey and I love these ideas! I am not sure I would do them all (definitely not the chevron pants) but I love the wide range of options. You should know that you have changed the way I look at shopping! I am looking for basics now instead of statement pieces that make me happy – because I am happier when it is so easy to get dressed with a wider selection of basics!
Oh my – I almost feel fashion forward. I purchased the plaid trousers at LLBean last month. They are very comfortable and are all cotton but have the appearance of wool. That's about as adventurous as I get. The chevron reminds me of the wild plaid trousers my son bought from Orvis for golf.
Well, I like the idea of the chevron trousers, though I would prefer a black and grey color scheme and on my apple-esque figure they would be terribly unflattering. I bought a pair of wild pants last year, but only wore them twice and they were a less than high quality stretchy knit so they were dragging by the end of the day due to the knit growing longer. So into the donation box it went for a new home with someone who wears high heels! I love all of your suggestions and the narratives are also wonderful–such great stories! Susan
The tweed dress is gorgeous- and just what I needed to find- I have a brown, light blue, dark blue, gold tweed fabric that I want to sew for my daughter and I was wondering what style to use. This is a great example and I even have a dress pattern like this one – imagine that- she too might look like she is wearing a thousand dollar dress…… maybe……. :~