June 2, 2017
I hope that this was worth the extra day’s wait!
First off, all of the scarves are sold out at Hermes. If you’re really madly eager to have one of them, let me know and I’ll see if I can help you to find it in the secondary market.
In this month’s wardrobe building, everybody’s shopping for a dress (not necessarily something really “dressy”) and the necessary accessories…
First up, I’m mad tempted by this simple black dress! I can see myself wandering around downtown in this… sigh…
And kindly notice the linear quality of the sandals, echoed by the striped tote! My days are made when such discoveries fall into place…
Scarf – Hèrmes Carré en Boucles; earrings – Ruben & Gilda Perez; dress – Lands’ End; leather bracelet – Passaramon; tote – Lands’ End; sandals – Grey City
Halfway through the year, this is our heroine’s wardrobe:
And just to demonstrate how versatile these pieces are, I’m showing 2 additional ways to accessorize our new dress, drawn from the accessories already in the wardrobe. Even though we’re just nudging our way into warmer weather (in the Northern Hemisphere, of course!), our wardrobe already has some suitable footwear and lots of great jewelry!
earrings – Gemma Collection; bracelet – Withaya Cheunjit; bag – Esin Akan; silver shoes – VanEli; necklace – Putu Putri; earrings – Mujus; sandals – OluKai
I made a big break here, and included some silver jewelry. This is a scarf that lends itself to working both directions, if that’s your preference. I just couldn’t resist these pink pearls with silver – affordable, simple and timeless.
Scarf – Hermes Flanerie à Versailles; earrings – Khun Boom; bracelet – Khun Boom; tote – Calvin Klein; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Clarks
This wardrobe just gets prettier and prettier each month…
And this dress is really versatile!
necklace – INT; earrings – Argento Vivo; striped scarf– Brooks Brothers; sandals – Bernie Mev. scarf – Nordstrom; necklace – Theodora Warre; pink shoes – Clark
This dress would be really flattering on someone long-waisted, who wanted to give the illusion of a bit more of a waist, while distracting from their… front lower torso. I couldn’t wear it well at all, but I admire the simplicity and flattery of the cut!
(and yes, the square tote bag, squared structure sandals, and square earrings make me very happy…)
Scarf – Hèrmes Au Bout du Monde; earrings – Lalana; bracelet – Liz Claiborne; tote – Lodis; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Summit
This wardrobe’s pretty nice, eh?
I really like the navy with the bright blue accents – it’s uncommon without being freaky or outrageous…
earrings – Salome; lapis necklace – Ritu; bag – Anne Bonny; sandals – Marc Fisher Ltd. earrings – Simon Sebbag; bracelet – Aoy; necklace – Talbots; shoes – Shoes of Prey
I wanted some accessory or another with delicateness and a lacy quality, to echo the details in the scarf; the earrings were just what I had in mind:
Scarf – Hèrmes Collections Impériales; earrings – Chico’s; bracelet – Tiraphan Hasub; tote – DSW; dress – Gap; sandals – Miz Mooz
This wardrobe continues to surprise me with how much it appeals, and how many options it offers!
I could imagine wearing this dress every week through the middle of September:
necklace– Ananda; earrings – Maro; bag – Matt & Nat; shoes – Alegria; earrings – Gorjana; scarf– Golden Goose; sandals – Adam Tucker
I’m smitten with these pleats – I have a hunch that this dress would hide a multitude of personal … issues. And it might be wearable without the belt?
Scarf – Hèrmes Etude pour un Iris Arc-en-ciel; earrings – Wadarat Supasirisuk; bracelet – Anthropologie; tote – Rebecca Minkoff; dress – Uniqlo; sandals – Clarks
What gorgeous colors!
This is a dress that could be really dressy, or relatively casual; it all depends on how you accessorize it…
bracelet – Nyoman Rena; earrings – Jiya Jewelry; orchid scarf – Nordstrom; sandals – Seychelles; earrings– Bhavesh; pumps – Stuart Weitzman; necklace – Nadia Minkoff; blue scarf – Mosaique
I debated and DEBATED about including this dress, because it’s not quite 100% the perfect shade of beige. But then I realized that the dilemmas that I face when I look for clothes are the same ones that YOU face, and I thought I’d pull it in here. Since it’s pretty much a “stand-alone” garment, the perfection of color isn’t as big an issue. If you wanted to layer with this – either over it with a cardigan, or under it with a jacket – you would choose an accent color. Thus, the imperfect beige works out just fine….
Yes, I tell you all everything…
Scarf – Hèrmes Chemins de Corail; earrings – Trina Turk; bracelet – Chico’s; tote – Talbots; dress – Uniqlo; sandals – Børn
The brown cardigan would be fine with this dress… and there will almost certainly be a long-sleeved tee shirt here before the end of the year that would turn this into a great jumper (as we call them in the US).
If you have a good accessory “wardrobe,” almost anything new will have a lot of different possibilities…
earrings – Melanie Auld; bag – JNB; scarf – Polo Ralph Lauren; shoes – Naturalizer; necklace – Vera Bradley; bracelet – Isabel Marant; earrings – Isabel Lennse; gold shoes – Keds
So I’m pretty happy with these wardrobes, so far. Are you? Were there any colors that you wanted to see more of? Less of? Comments highly desired…
love,
Janice
For more in the 2017 “Build a Capsule Wardrobe – 12 months, 12 outfits” series, check out the following articles:
- January
- February
- March
- April
- May
- June
- July
- August
- September
- October
- November
- December
- Evaluating our 2017 wardrobes…
Looking for more ideas? Follow along as we build a new capsule wardrobe in 2018.
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These are all looking beautiful. I was curious to notice that in four of these capsules the second dress is the same colour as the earlier more wintry dress. How intentional is that? Is this because their role is to be a solid work horse or was it also influenced strongly by what was available?
Both reasons; I would cheerfully include an accent-colored dress if I found one that was reasonably priced and a nice classic style. But alas, if I find something like that, it's like to cost $1,000! And that's a little silly, to me. I'm learning that it makes sense for me to make the same kinds of shopping "accommodations" that everyone else has to make – we're all constrained by what's being offered. (unless we can sew, which is a whole new batch of opportunities…)
hugs,
Janice
I keep changing my mind as to which wardrobe I like best! My only personal additions would be a few more tops up front – just for a bit more mileage. I think I would drop the shorts for another top – and then drop one dress for a dressy pant & top set. It makes it so easy once you see everything laid out – and what a difference the accessories make!
I think that the way I build these – one outfit at a time – keeps the wardrobes from having as many tops as might be optimal. If one of these were mine, I'd toss in a couple of white tee shirts, and a black one or two… But you're right, seeing things laid out and visible makes it all much clearer!
hugs,
Janice
I have trouble wearing necklaces with button down tops or anything with ruffles or drawstrings (like the first dress) or anything else close to the neck/chest, but I notice you have necklaces with several of the button down or drawstring dress combinations. How do you make it work? I always feel like the necklace won't sit right or look right over the buttons/will seem cluttered with the drawstrings/will get lost in the embellishments.
– Kaci
That's a good question – for the first dress, I was seeing the chain necklace hanging down underneath the dangling ties. Some people can wear things like that really easily, and others never feel comfortable. It's certainly worth an experiment, but if you find that you're not at ease doing this, just put on a bracelet instead! (I'm having a real bracelet period, in my life…)
hugs,
Janice
I'm very glad that I'm not building a new wardrobe based on this series. I would never be able to choose which one I like best!! With every scroll, I think "Yes, that's my favorite!" Truly lovely. Didn't we talk about patterned shorted a couple of weeks ago? Maybe throw in a pair of those?
I would love to find the first scarf (black, brown, and gray). I waited too long to order it! PLEASE HELP!!!
I don't see it online, but let me check with my friends at the Boutique to see if they can help. Have you called Hermes and asked them to check for availability? You can call any boutique and they can see online if anybody still has one in stock.
Crossing our fingers for some luck!
hugs,
Janice
I love the imperfect beige dress…that shade does not flatter my skin tone but I love the design.
Hermes must not make very many scarves in the same patterns if they are already sold out…
I suppose that supply and demand is working for them.
Also o ne of my favorite series. LOVE the dresses! Wish I could wear dresses. My husband is urging me to wear them so I may take the plunge. That rayon ruffle sleeve olive dress would be perfect; also that beige one comes in navy. As I'm petite (5'2") they may cover my knees. I'm glad dresses are being made a bit longer than two inches or more above the knee!! Most of us over 5O just can't wear such dresses . YoU can lucky you :) this whole list is so great!! Thank you! Janice Collins, Washington DC
I love all these wardrobes, but for me it would have to be the olive. I like the red, but the scarf doesn't offer enough variety of colours. I also like the pink, but those are not my colours. The lesson for me is to find something with lots of my colours in it, and stick to it.
I have pretty much done this with my floral bag – one of my light bulb moments from this blog.
I have also been collecting a wardrobe of accessories, to go with my bag of course, and I now have a breton top, scarf, shoes, sandals, and necklace in coral/blush, which I am finding incredibly useful. Still to come, a long line cami which will peep out at the neck and hem of other tops. Thank you so much for all the hints and tips Janice, I hope you enjoy writing your blog as much as I enjoy reading it. Linda M
This is one of my favourite series and I will study the outfits in detail in a little while. But I did want to jump in and tell you that I am always glad when the Hermes scarf features is sold out on their website. I have zero patience for hunting down anyone particular item of clothing, so all tempations are snuffed out. Have a lovely weekend.
I smiled when I saw the variations for the black dress in the first wardrobe – I am away for the weekend and packed my versatile black dress (long sleeves that roll up with a tab)(from Target a few seasons ago!) which I am planning to wear to dinner with silver metallic sandals.
These capsules are all coming along so well! In a few of them I am eager to see if you include more items in the secondary neutral (white or gray in the black capsule, gray in the navy capsule, denim blue in the olive and the gray capsules). Also, a bright cardigan and a few neutral Ts in that brown capsule would add a lot of options. And I think more green pieces (if they exist) in the beige wardrobe would be fun.
Overall, I would love to see a few printed pieces in each wardrobe. I have come to realize just how much I rely on (and love) prints in my wardrobe to add color, interest, and cohesion.
(Can you tell that I am sitting in the hotel room waiting for our dinner plans? Too much time on my hands, lol!) – nancyo
All the wardrobes are really developing again this year. None of them are exactly what I am looking for but I am having fun matching each of them to one of my friends that it would best suit.
By the way, it is very easy these days to dye garments ( easier to dye the fabric first if you are a sewist). So, the not quite right beige dress which has a lovely silhouette can be dyed to a colour you prefer.
This is one of my favourite series and I will study the outfits in detail in a little while.
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The purple and turquoise are lovely together. Turquoise and yellow would also be pretty.
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