And of course you remember this wardrobe from last week…
In and of itself, this is a pretty good assortment of clothes:
But for most of us, for the entire summer, we’re going to want more than 16 pieces… So let’s have our heroine start out her shopping by adding some hot pink, as well as a bit more black and white. For many of us, these shorts might be a big longer (like capri pant length!), or one could also find a skirt in this color…
cardigan – Lands’ End; print tee – Uniqlo; striped tee – H&M; shorts – Lands’ End; flip flops – Kate Spade
This is how her wardrobe now looks with the additional pieces. The hot pink definitely doesn’t blend in with everything else, but since it’s meant to be an accent color, it really doesn’t have to go with everything here.
The 4 new pieces of clothing give you at least 8 new outfits – I didn’t even try to see how far I could go with new combinations!
So our heroine pays off her credit card bill and decides that she wants to add 1 more cluster to her summer wardrobe, before the stores are suddenly full of cashmere and flannel! While it’s a definitely departure from everything that’s gone before, the bright green is clearly in her chosen color scheme, and thus will be extremely useful. And while we all know how much a white skirt is a target for every bit of dirt and schmutz in the world, we still buy them, and wear them…
cardigan – Ralph Lauren; green onyx earrings – Aparna; strip top – Jil Sander Navy; skirt – L.L.Bean; polo – J. Crew Factory
This is the final wardrobe – this definitely isn’t a “Whatever’s Clean” kind of a wardrobe, but it gives lots of variety in terms of both level of formality and the degree of neutral, soft, or bright that you feel like wearing:
In hot weather, the green is a nice change of pace, and the 2 white pieces will be real workhorses in this wardrobe. Again, I put together 8 new ensembles with the 4 new pieces of clothing, but I’m quite certain that there are a lot more…
Would you ever actually pack 24 pieces of clothing? In my building, there are a number of people who winter in the south and then come up to Chicago for the spring and summer – this would be an ideal wardrobe to have for 3 or 4 months in 1 place. And I suspect that you’d be able to get everything into a checked suitcase (26 inch?) and another large-ish carry-on bag.
I’ve never lived like that, but I wouldn’t mind trying! Except I’d be chasing the cold weather from place to place…
love,
Janice
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This is beautiful! Might be my favourite so far…
Maybe it's not a "whatever's clean wardrobe", but I feel I get bored easily, so the minimalism and pure simplicity of them doesn't really work for me. It's great that here there is a balance between simple pieces and explosions of color and pattern. I will try to make something similar for myself with black-grey-navy as a base and fuchsia, emerald, vanilla yellow and mint green as accents. I love color and interesting pieces, just have to find structure to be able to wear them as much as I would like.
Vivien
Janice,
Super variety here !
Remember the discussion from a couple of weeks ago about wearing shorts with warm tops and toppers like long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts ? Well, I thought of you as hubby and I recently walked around a chilly Cape May, New Jersey, and I observed a number of men dressed in that manner. I have also spied it here in the community where I live. Not so much with the older women, but on 40 -ish and college age women.
I meant to add — with regard to your clusters format , that is usually how I select a capsule, starting with pants, a matching topper, and two coordinating tops, and build with multiples of that pattern with two or three neutrals and two or three accent colors . This was an excellent example , thank you !
I like the change of pace that these two accent colours add to the overall look.
This is really brilliant. If she wears the pale pink and gray most of the time, the hot pink and green really offer a change of pace, a dash of variety, without going completely off track. We all want a kind of uniform (for sanity's sake) without it being a boring uniform. This is the answer.
Yes I agree with Taste of France. This is an answer to adding a bit of spice to a simple 2-3 color wardrobe. I love bright colors but must be very careful as they overwhelm me. A great solution inspired by one of your posts, is to have a bit of bright in a couple added print tops or in a scarf . Love this wardrobe ! Janice Collins. Washington DC
Winter in the south, you mean. But you have summer and a great summer wardrobe on your mind!
Of COURSE I did – thanks for catching that! When I go to Florida in the winter, it still feels like summer, and thus my brain went South without me…
hugs,
Janice
Love, love, love this color scheme! :)
As lovely as it looks on paper, I just cannot imagine the same woman looking equally good in pastel colors and bright colors. I look great in hot pink, but like death warmed up in blush…
The wardrobe reflects the art inspiration beautifully, and provides a wonderful amount of cohesion and variety. But the colors are a little tricky, or at least would be for me. The blush just could not exist in my life, although black, white, gray, and fuchsia are wardrobe staples (emerald is OK, but blues are better). There must be other women who can pull it off, though. Look at Vivien's comment above: gray, black, navy, with accents of emerald, fuchsia, mint and vanilla yellow. Pastel and brights together in a lovely wardrobe palette. – nancyo
I agree that there are too many pretty color palettes that won't work with our natural features. These exact shades in the post probably wouldn't work on me either, but the ones I mentioned do, because in the seasonal color types I'm a true summer – cool colors at all times, avoiding extremes in contrast and saturation. Black is an exception, but I only wear it as bottoms in the winter.
Vivien
Thanks, Vivien. Your wardrobe palette sounds perfect for your Summer coloring. I am a Winter, and deeply saturated cool clear dark/bright colors are my best. White is fine, but pastels are very iffy. – nancyo
You have been awarded the coveted 2 thumbs up award from KiKi. She was signing pink shirt, pink dress and pink shorts. Well done!
These bright colors add just enough excitement to all those pastels! Brilliant!
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