July 11, 2018
Someone wanted another visit to this painting, someone wanted some navy and sky blue together, and someone wanted to see another French 5-Piece wardrobe. Here, I present ALL of that, and more. First, let’s enjoy this painting, and the idea of the shore…
Seascape near Les Saintes-Maries-de-la Mer
by Van Gogh
Warmth, salty breezes messing up your hair, reapplying sunscreen… The stuff of a million dreams!
And although this painting seems pretty monochromatic at first glance, when you look carefully at it for a while you find a whole BUNCH of different shades of blue and green, as well as dark brown, and warm orangish-tan. (I’m ignoring the red signature, except for lips and nails!)
I start a LOT of my blog posts with a core wardrobe of classic, neutral, timeless clothes. I still believe that having a little cluster of these things in your wardrobe is the best way to make getting dressed quick and easy:
tee – Lands’ End; tank top – Lands’ End; linen shirt – Uniqlo; white sleeveless shirt – Uniqlo; cardigan – Uniqlo; striped top – Nordstrom Signature; shorts – Lands’ End; pleated skirt – Lands’ End; pants – Lands’ End
This is a tiny little assortment of clothes, but for those among us who wear mostly uniforms, or who spend the bulk of their time wearing gym clothes, this might be all of the “real” clothes that you’d need for quite a while. With just this, there are a lot of possible combinations:
Say you’re really happy with your navy and white, but that you want a few more pieces, and an additional color. This core wardrobe could work with literally any other color (navy is amazing that way), but let’s say you stumbled into the world of Nick+Zoe and fell in love with their sky blue assortment for this summer. With some carefully planning and discipline, you might add these pieces to your wardrobe:
print cardigan – Nic+Zoe; tank top – Uniqlo; tunic – Nic+Zoe; tee shirt – Nic+Zoe; ruana – Echo
You certainly could have chosen to add a skirt, pants, dress or shorts… There are no rules for these “French 5-Piece Wardrobes”!
When you bring these all of these garments together, you have a very nifty little travel wardrobe:
It’s pretty clear that these pieces can be worn with everything in your existing “Common Wardrobe.” How many different combinations are possible? At least another 18…
For those of us who have a pretty good idea of what our wardrobe core is, and who are well-equipped in that area, this kind of focused shopping might be the smartest way to freshen-up our options for a season or two.
2 questions: do you want to see accessories for this wardrobe? and would you like different color combinations – both neutral and accent? Just let me know!
love,
Janice
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Hi, Janice – I’m transitioning the dark neutral in my core wardrobe from black to navy, so this is very timely. It’s a slow process, and I admit I’ve gone off the rails a couple of times, so you have that too. This is a terrific reminder to get back on course….. Thanks!
I’m doing the same thing “Chris from Indy” so this wardrobe – and a couple of more related ones – would be very timely. Perhaps with a bit of pink or mauve as an accent colour?
Second the request for a bit of light pink.
And me as well, transitioning to navy. With my now much lighter hair, black felt too harsh. “Susie from just west of Indy!”
Love this! Especially for summer. If you do an accessories version can you include some warm tan leather sandals and accessories? Just feels so summery. I’d like to toss this all in a big and hit the beach or a lake somewhere!
Janice,
yes to an accessories post!
What a great reminder that you really do not need much to create a fabulous wardrobe.
Karen
Yes, please, to an accessories post. I love the monochromatic-with-patterns idea.
Beautiful painting! I could wear these colors all year round and love your addition of a bit of gray. Yes to accessories and add in more light gray. I also see shades of teal and taupe – that would be nice too. Thank you, Janice, for bringing sunshine and beauty to this rainy cloudy Monday morning here. Janice Collins, Washington DC
I would love accessories and possibly also mileage pieces in natural or white, as a second neutral and and the aqua, turquoise and blue green of the sea. My core has been navy for a few years now (Which I still love), but I too got off track. I need to work on pieces for a long trip in Italy and Greece next year. Love this painting it might just be perfect in my bedroom!
Nancy
Yes for accessories, please! I’ve added navy as my neutral and these recent posts have been very helpful. I’d love to see some of the shades of green/teal with this core of navy.
Thank you for this! Although I do realize not everyone wants navy as their core I get pretty darned excited when your post is navy or grey ?
Accessory post would be nice.
Good morning Janice, Everything about this post is one point with my aesthetic. Van Gogh’s seascape makes my heart sing! Thank you so much!
Amy
Yes for accessories, please! Over the years following you, I also collected navy clothes, that I never had before, esp. navy linen. I find it difficult to find prints without black or white in it (!) but I’ve decided I’ll not settle with less.
For another accent color I would love salmon. It goes awesome with navy.
I love these elegant yet simple, timeless clothes!
xoxo
Hugs,
Would love to see a brighter color combination with navy, and how a jewel tone could brighten the outfit (maybe an accessory scarf?) or how navy could help professionalize or mute a bright jewel tone. Thoughts? I think of the beach and sea as being very bright but these colors as selected seem muted, like an overcast day.
Gorgeous collection! I love navy & white for spring/summer; took it to Washington DC & Boston trip along with coral, lime, aqua and light blue accents (I.e. tops). Never felt I was wearing anything too much. Can’t go wrong with a dark denim skirt.
Yes to this! The capsule for my current trip is based on navy and white, with a few aqua and coral accents. I have lots of options, but then again, I might have packed a few too many items of clothing! – nancyo
This is just perfect! Please, summer accessories in neutral as I find that always the hardest for some reason! I adore less contrast but it always looks boring and blah.
Yes and yes, please! I bought a scarf at the van Gogh museum years ago with this painting on it. It’s a real inspiration, but like others favouring this colour scheme I had lost the focus so this post is very timely. Greys, pearl and teals for me year-round, and cream and tan for summer. Blisssss.
Thank you Janice!
Hi Janice,
This is such a beautiful post and has added a bit of sunshine to my rainy, wintery Australian morning. Navy and beige are my go to colours with teal, cobalt and greens along the way. I love the idea of adding different tints with patterns to add the interest. I would love to see an accessories post for this collection. Thank You!
Thank you Janice, this is really inspiring! I’m in the process of reinventing my wardrobe to reflect my current lifestyle. I would love to see how another colour from the red/pink palette e.g coral, raspberry or watermelon red is introduced and tied in.
I would like to see the navy and white with some pink, and red accents. There you`ll have my yearround wardrobe. Love those colours
I love this post! The painting is beautiful. I’m building navy and ivory into my wardrobe, and this is so helpful. I would also love to see pale pink and/or deep red expansion pieces or accents. Thank you! Your blog is changing the way I dress.
I love navy and decided I’m going to use navy as my core for spring and summer instead of black. I love black too, but I love to see navy, especially with gray. I would love to see you pull out the teal blue or the green in this painting as an accent. I have a weakness for teal or turquoise!
I love the content and colours of this painting! Some of the hues I see in the painting are the same as my prescription eye-wear frames (a somewhat translucent teal and brown mix with turquoise green sidearms) and I’d enjoy seeing these colours brought out in accents.
Would love to see some of the green in the art piece brought into the capsule and accessories.
I like the way you combined the colors with the basic pieces of navy. This really makes sense to me. It would be fun to see the accessories too.
I’m adding a lot of Navy as basic pieces, but can’t give up the black yet – so I have way more basic items than I need but a lot of options as well – What has been easy for me to getting rid of accent colors that I never wore – that is progress in my house!
I love the Navy and White/Ivory core blended with a single French Five. I have a lot of Navy and my whites range from pure white to cream and winter white along with very pale taupe beige.
I just bought a few blues in these tones to experiment. I usually go aqua with my pastel blue but I was wanting a change to a cooler truer pale blue.
I first bought a striped chiffon scarf in navy white & this blue plus a pair of earrings with lapis colour stones.
Within a week I found a lovely linen blouse in this very shade plus a tank top. I might enjoy another piece or two because I am reaching for these a lot.