July 1, 2016
In the world of “fashion,” summer is pretty much over! It’s a good time to grab a couple of tee shirts (which you will of course continue to wear well into the colder weather), as well as another pair of shorts for your capsule wardrobes. A pair of sandals purchased now will definitely be a starter pair for NEXT summer, and a pretty pendant will be useful for years to come…Remember, these are our starting points for the 6 capsule wardrobes we’re building:
I just NOW noticed that I chose TWO scarves with “voyage” in the title. Do I think about travel ALL the time?
Leaf tee – Uniqlo; sandals – Aetrex; embellished tee – East; pendant – Wayan Asmana; shorts – L.L.Bean
Links to the pieces from earlier months are here: January, February, March, April, May, June. Please understand that a LOT of these pieces are no longer available, because women’s apparel “churns” like crazy… heaven forbid something be available for a few months at a time!
And I’ve taken the liberty of showing how the 3 pieces added to the wardrobe this month can be worn with other pieces already in the wardrobe. If you work with a consistent theme, each new garment adds WAY more than 1 new outfit!
Both of these tee shirts have a metallic element to them; I thought that this was well in keeping with the bold nature of the tiger!
Beige tee – Mint Velvet; sandals – Jack Rogers; foil tee – River Island; pendant – Marianela Vargas;shorts – L.L.Bean
This wardrobe is beginning to really reflect a love of intricate, feminine detail:
Light blue tee – Uniqlo; sandals – Dansko; off-white tee – Sandwich; pendant – Bhavesh; shorts –L.L.Bean
Since this scarf is fully of lines, I couldn’t resist the idea of a striped tee shirt!
Striped tee – Mint Velvet; sandals – OluKai; turquoise tee – L.L.Bean; pendant – Bhavesh; shorts – L.L.Bean
These shades of blue just get prettier…
Blue top – L.L.Bean; sandals – Steve Madden; striped top – Sandwich; pendant – Oscar Figueroa Escorcia; shorts – L.L.Bean
Striped tee – Mint Velvet; sandals – OluKai; turquoise tee – L.L.Bean; pendant – Bhavesh; shorts – L.L.Bean
blue top – L.L.Bean; sandals – Steve Madden; striped top – Sandwich; pendant – Oscar Figueroa Escorcia; shorts – L.L.Bean
Red shorts! Why not?
Blue tee – East; sandals – Vaneli; print tee – Lands’ End; pendant – Buana; shorts – J. Crew
When I’m back in town, after the 4th of July, I will get back to a somewhat more regular posting schedule, I promise!
love,
Janice
So glad to see you back! These are so inspirational. I have a clothing moratorium this summer. Time to sort out, wear out, toss out. I'm doing research on e-commerce and it just sickens me. Shoppers are expecting faster delivery, for free, sometimes in hours. They buy three or four versions of an item, keep the one that fits, and return the others, for free. The number of trips trucks must make to deliver and pick up is terrible for the environment. One shoe site has a 40% return rate. Doing my part to say no to the insanity.
I agree that buying vastly more than one needs is an environmental problem, but I'm not sure that the buy-and-return system is actually worse as far as driving than it is for me to drive to 10 different stores looking for a pair of pants that fits. With the amount of variation in people's bodies, I don't know what the solution is, but I can't shop online without the possibility of free returns – that's the trade-off for not getting to try it on beforehand.
– Kaci
I'm in complete agreement with your clothing moratorium and your e-commerce review. I rarely buy clothing online, and then only from a store that has a local branch that will take any returns. I'm mainly a thrift store shopper and a minimalist. If something isn't on my list as a "fill-in-a-gap" article, then I'm not looking for it. I visit a few blogs like this one to give me ideas on how to keep my wardrobe capsule versatile and focused.
Whoa! Beautiful wardrobes each with its own personality. 5 more months to come. Absolutely spoilt.
ToF, I have bought lots of clothes in the past but just recently am going for wear out as my system. I like the clothes that I have so not that hard to do. Buying on line figuratively scares me. I like to try things on. Carol S
Janice,
So good to " see" you again ! Hope you are enjoying your time to revitalize ! I'm having great trouble picking a favorite of these wardrobes. Well done !
I too, am taking a clothes shopping hiatus. I have way more than enough and probably should do some discarding, but I really am happy with it all for now, and I keep finding combinations that I hadn't considered. The only additions along the way that I might consider are patterns and/or prints that pull together one of my neutrals plus two accents — thus far, not an easy find. However, as you sagely advise, stay patient, and keep an eye out for possibilities. In the cooler months, I use scarves for that function, but I need the top itself to carry the interest load when it's hot .
Looking forward to your always informative, clever posts ! See ya' !
I love that floral top in the last set! I do wear other patterns, but I was just thinking this morning (in my leafy print top and wearing a flower bracelet) that if I had to pick just one print type for my clothes, it would be floral, even ahead of the versatility of stripes.
– Kaci
So interesting to me how people are attracted to different patterns. I wonder if it is linked to personality, cultural exposure or?? I am drawn to paisley type patterns, Janice to polka dots, other people to linear stripes, others to floral patterns.
Deb from Vancouver
Lovely outfits as always. I'm even drawn to the ones in colors that don't look good on me! I've done a bit of shopping this summer for shorts, t-shirts and the like as I didn't have a single pair of shorts that fit and needed to toss some well-worn t-shirts. I'm avoiding work attire as I'm hopefully moving to a new client in September and not sure what the dress code will be where I end up. Even then, it'll probably be adding a pair of pants and a few dressier blouses to my current fairly casual "business casual" wardrobe.
We miss you very much. It was hard to wait a full week without your posts.
Happy return, Maja
I love this series! Can't wait for your posts to return more frequently :)
Great to see this month's additions, and how exciting that you added the bonus of showing different outfit for each of the 6 wardrobes – it made for an extra-interesting post! – nancyo
What a delight it is to see your creativity in this post! Like Amy, I am even drawn to the colors that look awful on me. I have packed my "Janice" wardrobe (black, white, tan) for Provence (Friday departure), even taking out a few pieces. Shoes are still the most difficult to select. Hope you are refreshed; I am looking forward to your return, too.
Welcome back!
Some great choices! I like all the wardrobes too! The turquoise with olive is very unexpected but I like it! Enjoy the rest of your hiatus! Happy 4th too!
Brava, Janice! This series is a continuing delight and inspiration. Thank you for the extra outfits too. The way you show things together is very helpful for 'shopping my wardrobe' with ideas for pairing in new ways. I am currently in transition from being a bottle brunette, via light brown / blonde, to what looks like the whiter end of grey, and so later in the year I'll be rethinking my wardrobe. This series will be so useful for that!
I am interested in what other readers are saying about patterns. For me it's more about the level of contrast (I prefer low contrast) than whether it's polka dots, flowers, paisley or stripes. I'm ecumenical, I think.
Good wishes for the family visit and safe homecoming,
Robyn in Tasmania
You raise a fascinating point – pattern vs. level of contrast. I think that I am more of a high contrast person. As much as I admire monochrome or low-contrast outfits (and rooms too), I find I am drawn to higher contrast and several colors in my own clothing choices as well as my decor. – nancyo
Wow! The comments on pattern made me realize that I like the randomness of scatter dots and irregular instead of disliking the inverse; a more positive statement. I am also a medium to low contrast kind of gal.
irregular stripes
I am a medium to low contrast (towards light) and when my dark blonde hair greys, my grey blue eyes will be the most dark. I wonder if it has to do with percentage of lightness and darkness of the colours in the patterns. My universal summer occasions shift dress (wedding lunch, christening and funeral) has equal parts of black and white and not overwhelming me. Not my most favourite pattern but serviceable. Mainly bought for summer funeral but all black was just too much for me. So proportional lots of light colours in a pattern can lighten fabric and more darker colours can overall darken it. Carol S
Love all the sets, but personally favor the last. The color of blue in that tee shirt is perfect with the scarf! I love the strong colors and black of this grouping. Red and cobalt are so rich and lift my spirits. I am willing to go with mostly solid colors and have fewer and more classic patterns, but could never give up color for neutrals.I love working with color in yarns, in paints, in food presentation…
That said, I must admit I admire the other grouping of pale colors and various neutrals.It delights me to see what you put together.