September 9, 2019
Another Monday, and time to add something more interesting and exciting to your Weekly Timeless Wardrobe! Our heroine is adding a 2nd layer to her wardrobe… it could be printed or patterned, so long as it works beautifully with her core neutral garments.
cardigan – L.L.Bean
For example, if you’re working with a grey palette, with ivory as your light accent color, the above cardigan would be quite useful for you…
Your choice of 2nd layer can be as bold or as subtle as you like…
sweater – Tommy Hilfiger; white turtleneck – Lands’ End; scarf – Barbour; navy backpack – Longchamp; navy boots – Toni Pons; red jeans – Closed
A cardigan like this is richly subtle:
necklace – Kendra Scott; black tee – Lands’ End; coffee cardigan – L.L.Bean; bag – Patricia Nash; loafers – Sebago; khaki pants – Lands’ End
If you already have a dark neutral 2nd layer, looking at your lighter neutral is worth considering!
earrings- Akola; ivory tee – Lands’ End; cardigan – L.L.Bean; scarf – Faliero Sarti; boots – Sam Edelman; jeans – Lands’ End
Black and ivory always looks good…
earrings – Kendra Scott; scarf – Athleta; black cashmere turtleneck – Halogen; cardigan – Eileen Fisher; flats – Trotters; black cords – L.L.Bean
This sweater would be great with so many shades of grey…
silver earrings – Pablo Castellanos; ivory turtleneck – Lands’ End; sweater – Caslon; bracelet – Farra; loafers – Tod’s; pants – Banana Republic
If you love burgundy as an accent color, this sweater is calling your name…
garnet earrings – Peora; burgundy tee shirt – Lands’ End; cardigan – L.L.Bean; tote – Sole Society; loafers – Sebago; ivory corduroy pants – L.L.Bean
After 3 or 4 years, my favorite cardigan is grey with black stars… I’ve already got plans to put star-shaped patches on the elbows if they wear any more thin! What about you?
love,
Janice
p.s. 3 years ago our heroine was using a Diego Rivera painting to inspire her wardrobe
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Next years 12 months-12 outfits need to be based on Faliero Sarti scarves. I think I fall in love with every single one.
Anyone find similar scarves for less?
Bonus that the Eileen Fisher cardigan is on sale…and one of my birthday gifts was a Nordstrom’s gift card!
I wish you could make some choices that include warm tones; I could wear the cream combination but that’s it.
Thank you for all the time you devote to the Vivienne Files~
I really love this series, and find myself looking forward to Monday! It is especially nice that you make clear how “flexible” the parameters are. So far, I have had items that fell into the parameters for pretty nearly each item.
My favourite cardigan is an olive green cable knit, with large coconut buttons. It’s pure merino, the sleeves are only a little bit too long (I have short arms), and it goes with pretty much everything I’ve got. It’s so warm, cosy, practical and beautiful. I have decided not to buy any more knitwear which contains polyester, acrylic, or any other type of plastic, except maybe a little bit of elastane, although I realise that wool comes from animals and has it’s own problems. Will I stick to that decision? I hope so.
Wool is not inherently bad for the animals, if they are treated humanely and sheared with some respect and concern. Check out what Eileen Fisher does in working with shepherds…
hugs,
Janice
I’m with you Linda. Wool is so soft these days but easy to wash and hard-wearing. It’s worth the expense and I think, like you, better for the environment. We have friends who are sheep farmers and whose sheep have excellent care (and no mulesing). I like to think I’m getting a hug from them with each wear of a jumper or top.
Thanks for the support. I’m writing it down here to help me resist temptation! I just found myself scrolling through my favourite site, adding something to my basket, and that’s after being appalled yesterday, when swapping summer for autumn, at how much I have. I thought about my promise to myself on here, and cancelled it. I’d be so embarassed to have to admit I fell off the wagon. September to February, nothing except the three items I’m looking for, or an alternative if I don’t see them. Linda
I recently discovered your blog, just when I needed some guidance on revamping my entire wardrobe. Entering my 5th decade, I need to purge my closet from all the stuff that no longer fits, and replace with nice classics that fit well and will last. I love colors but I need more basics and a good backbone to build my wardrobe around. This series is spot-on. Thank you for all the work you do to bring us beautiful outfit ideas every week.
I had only one question: where did week 5 go? I can’t find it in your timeline.
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2019/07/the-weekly-timeless-wardrobe-week-4-jeans-or-a-denim-bottom.html/
I’m forgetful as HECK, but if I had missed an entire week, I suspect I would have had a million comments about it!
hugs,
Janice
that made me blink, too, until I realized that you have the week 5 URL listed as “..week-4-jeans…” i went to the main wardrobe page to figure that out.
Where is this heinous error? I must fix it!
hugs,
Janice
Bean has some beautiful cardigans. I second the notion that this series is very useful and looked forward to. The results are so impressive that I am doubling the quantities of most things and it will be my winter wardrobe in total. The best part is I am not faced with the usual frustration I usually have at the beginning of each season. And the total cost has been lower than most years.
I love the “richly subtle” cardigan! And I think the start patches are a great idea. I have a red tartan skirt that doesn’t suit me for many reasons, but I’m in love with the fabric and I’ve been playing with the idea of making it into a fake peter pan collar to wear with sweaters (weird, I know, but I love collars and hate how shirts under sweaters make me feel constricted) + elbow patches to liven up an old sweater.
Fake collars are cool! And matching elbow patches would be brilliant – do this!
I’m going to start seriously looking at all of my older clothes with an eye to either mending or patching them with other garments. We’ve all got to get serious about consuming less, and this could be a fun and creative way to accomplish a little bit of that…
hugs,
Janice
You are so right about consuming less, and I for one think it would be fine if you mentioned it more often. I’ve been reading TVF for several years now, but I’m only just getting on board with the idea. My excuse is that it’s taken me a while to get my wardrobe in order, but it’s done now, so no more excuses.
Thank you! I started wearing fake collars last year and I sometimes feel a bit weird, but they make me happier about getting dressed (I have a lot of sensory issues) and I find they really suit my newly found sense of style.
Letting go of garments that don’t really fit isn’t always easy, but re-purposing can help a lot!