July 12, 2017
It surprises me that this painting is from Renoir – I always think of him with pastels or clear and cool bright colors. But this is perfect for our current “neutral experiment”: it’s got navy and beige, and some great rust and green accents! It’s easy to think of these as autumn colors, but if you’ve ever traveled to (or lived in) a hot and arid summer climate, you know that things start to get rusty and deeply green by mid-summer:
So They Bought a Camper…
She never, in her life, would have imagined this. But when they sat down together and made a list of where the wanted to travel, now that they were retired, it looked like:
Fly to X, rent car, drive to Y
Fly to Z, rent car, drive to A…
OVER AND OVER…
And if finally began to dawn on them that maybe they should just drive to their destinations…
They were concerned about fuel costs, so they bought the smallest possible, smallest imaginable camper…
She had about a shoe-box sized area for clothing storage. Well, slightly more than that, but she realized that her wardrobe was going to have to be “carry-on” sized. So she started with a core of neutrals that she really liked:
She planned carefully, focusing on only 2 accent colors, and just a few really special accessories, including 1 really amazing necklace!
She didn’t need a lot of pieces, but each item had to really pull its weight:
In the hottest weather she wouldn’t wear jeans very often, but they planned to travel to some places that weren’t sweltering… Mountains… sigh…
She definitely was taking her navy cardigan, but another soft and snuggly jacket-y item could be really handy…
She doesn’t have a lot of clothes, and she really doesn’t have a lot of space, but she still wants to look pretty… scarves and jewelry don’t take up much room!
She’s pretty certain that there is no way to put these pieces together and make a mistake! Since she has very little room in which to get dressed, this is helpful…
When she looks over what she has packed, she feels pretty comfortable that she has something for just about any event she might encounter:
Now if she can just get a handle on that pesky car sickness…
love,
Janice
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What an unusual combination, but very pleasing!
I love your choice of earrings. I plan to have the business version of this as I will travel for 3 weeks in Europe (fortunately changing city every 2 days so noone will notice I wear the same stuff other than my colleague ;-) but I like the weather declination as weather in Europe is very versatile…
And i have another request which is that as a dark skinned lady i choose not to wear black, navy, brown or dark color near my face. Which colors would you recommend? (South east asian type rather deep summer than dark winter type;-)
These colours do look lovely together- I have decidedly mixed views about whether I would like to travel in a campervan or not for a long distance holiday- there are certainly some real advantages in having the same bed night after night!!
I love this combination. I could live on the these pieces for months.
These colors look lovely together and I like the casual pieces chosen. If I just substitute in my best colors, this is a capsule that fits my casual lifestyle very well. Great choices Janice!
This is my kind of wardrobe! Love it and I really want those olive pieces just give me shorts or capris instead of the skirt lol. :)
Janice,
As you might guess, I love this one — my colors ! I might sub out the olive tank for an off white tee, however to break up wearing the rust and green together . Just my preference . This grouping feels so comfortable, and as has already been remarked, I could wear this capsule for months and be totally happy ! Hope you're feeling much better !
Love the colors that you pulled out of this piece, especially the navy accent.
Great combination of colors, right up my alley. I wear navy, rust and moss green quite frequently. I would probably switch khaki for the cream. I appreciate your mentioning what color words you search on. I've found that moss or olive and rust can all be hard to find.
Yes, this is another winner ( actually, you never have losers). All my preferred colours! I don't think I could manage this lifestyle though. But, I have never tried it, so who knows. I love your surprise ending!!
My favourite from this series – of course, as it has all my favourite colours, and a good balance of neutrals livened up with the russet. It's really interesting the way the olive warms up the navy a touch, and then the russet pushes the whole wardrobe balance towards warm, with the light beige adding some freshness! Would love to see this used for other capsules, perhaps work wear.
Alice
These aren't my colors, but the wardrobe is so beautiful I wish they were! The only thing I'd change is maybe to add a simple but classic dress that could be worn with the sandals, cardigan, and a scarf or that beautiful necklace for the occasional nice supper out.
Love this combination for the colors and the ability to cover most weather possibilities. My daughter calls my wardrobe color scheme, "park ranger". That's OK, I love to be outside and our National parks. It's hard to find building blocks in brown, I will have to remember to look for russet more often.
Is it possible to make the white pants as an accessory and the green a basic colour? The white gets very dirty when you travel..
This truly is a surprising palette for a Renoir. It's moving into Cezanne territory! Nice capsule for your heroine. I am cheering her on – my husband and I have bantered about buying a camper and throwing our dogs in with us and just going (everywhere!) – nancyo
Love this color combination!! More, please!! :) The casual nature of the wardrobe makes it practical for most settings…maybe add a few items that transition more to a more dressy occasion, to make it complete for anything that might pop up!
This is pretty much our present lifestyle, but with a car and caravan (trailer to you). I can thoroughly recommend it! We spend a few weeks away, and then a few weeks at home to recover. When I'm away, I love wearing clothes like these, though with hiking boots and a waterproof coat (UK). When I get home, I love to wear all my more (slightly) dressy clothes for a change! That Fatface scarf looks like something I might find useful, just my colours, thank you! Linda M
This the perfect colour combination and we do keep talking about the camper van and this would be the perfect wardrobe.
Love this one!
I'd recommend trying ginger products for car sickness.
Tina in Germany
Thank you very much, Janice. This could almost be my own story: We bought a camper, too. And I often wondered what to take with me. I love these colors and combinations.
Regards and greetings from Germany
LOVE these colors and the clothes you chose!!! Also try Bonine for carsickness :-) xoxox
I’m very late to this party!! While I realize that most if not all of these items are no longer available, I didn’t see links to where they came from. I LOVE the little rust dress!
These are ALL of my favorite and appropriate colors! YAY!!!
Hugs