April 6, 2020
I’m going to take a break for a couple of weeks from the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe “1 garment per week,” in order to let the lagging clothing markets catch up to the season!
But I do want to look back at some of the wardrobes from Spring that sort of evolved over the last 13 weeks, and see how they turned out…
I just opened ALL of the files of each post from the last 13 weeks, and accumulated the “example” garments I showed into 6 wardrobes. THIS was a laptop-killer…
First up – almost perfect…
white tee shirt – Lands’ End; black and cardinal red tee shirts – Lands’ End; print tee – Marks and Spencer; striped tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; black ¾ sleeve shirt – Lands’ End; pink top – J.Crew; black linen cardigan – Halogen; white cardigan – Eileen Fisher; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; black cotton no-wrinkle pants – L.L.Bean; white denim skirt – J.Crew; cropped pants – L.L.Bean
You saw me do this last week in the last wardrobe – the one that sort of mirrors my own wardrobe. That red tee shirt is fine – you don’t have to wear it with the pink top, or with the awesome madras dress. But the accessories that you have for your pink garments probably will look dreadful with red, so…
white tee shirt – Lands’ End; black and cardinal red tee shirts – Lands’ End; print tee – Marks and Spencer; striped tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; black ¾ sleeve shirt – Lands’ End; pink top – J.Crew; black linen cardigan – Halogen; white cardigan – Eileen Fisher; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; black cotton no-wrinkle pants – L.L.Bean; white denim skirt – J.Crew; cropped pants – L.L.Bean
This looks much better, to me:
white tee shirt – Lands’ End; black tee shirt – Lands’ End; pink top – Dorothy Perkins; print tee – Marks and Spencer; striped tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; black ¾ sleeve shirt – Lands’ End; pink top – J.Crew; black linen cardigan – Halogen; white cardigan – Eileen Fisher; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; black cotton no-wrinkle pants – L.L.Bean; white denim skirt – J.Crew; cropped pants – L.L.Bean
The next wardrobe is mostly fine – you could certain leave it this way and live in these clothes for a long time:
beige striped tee – Liverpool; gold tee shirt – Only; floral tee shirt – Ted Baker; green striped sweater – Eleventy; dress – Banana Republic; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; forest moss cardigan – Lands’ End; cotton cardigan – Banana Republic; olive cropped pants – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; golden sun tee shirt – Lands’ End; olive no-wrinkle cotton pants – L.L.Bean; no-wrinkle cotton skirt – Banana Republic
But in the interest of having things feel just a bit more… planned? I’m going to replace a couple of tops. I debated about swapping out the navy floral top, but decided instead that the yellow should go. And that white tee shirt would be fine, but I have better ideas!
beige striped tee – Liverpool; gold tee shirt – Only; floral tee shirt – Ted Baker; green striped sweater – Eleventy; dress – Banana Republic; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; forest moss cardigan – Lands’ End; cotton cardigan – Banana Republic; olive cropped pants – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; golden sun tee shirt – Lands’ End; olive no-wrinkle cotton pants – L.L.Bean; no-wrinkle cotton skirt – Banana Republic
I like this soft terra cotta color with both neutrals, and I like having the cardigan not be a one-off garment…
beige striped tee – Liverpool; gold tee shirt – Only; floral tee shirt – Ted Baker; green striped sweater – Eleventy; dress – Banana Republic; print blouse – Uniqlo; forest moss cardigan – Lands’ End; cotton cardigan – Banana Republic; olive cropped pants – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; light rust camp shirt – Banana Republic; olive no-wrinkle cotton pants – L.L.Bean; no-wrinkle cotton skirt – Banana Republic
This next wardrobe feels mostly right, but the white tee shirt seems like it could be something more fun, and the peach tee shirt… hmm….
ponte checked top – Marks & Spencer; grey short-sleeve sweater – Lands’ End; tie dyed tee shirt – Mother; striped tee shirt – Banana Republic; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; grey silk & linen cardigan – Eileen Fisher; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; bone cardigan – Eileen Fisher; charcoal heather crop pants – Lands’ End; gray heather tee – L.L.Bean; tropical peach tee shirt – Lands’ End; cream skirt – Marks and Spencer; granite canvas pants – L.L.Bean
To me, this wardrobe already looks a little bit better with those 2 pieces blocked out? Your mileage may vary…
ponte checked top – Marks & Spencer; grey short-sleeve sweater – Lands’ End; tie dyed tee shirt – Mother; striped tee shirt – Banana Republic; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; grey silk & linen cardigan – Eileen Fisher; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; bone cardigan – Eileen Fisher; charcoal heather crop pants – Lands’ End; gray heather tee – L.L.Bean; tropical peach tee shirt – Lands’ End; cream skirt – Marks and Spencer; granite canvas pants – L.L.Bean
I love having a beige top, that gives a nice monochromatic outfit with the tan cardigan and skirt. And a cool-hued tee shirt feels more comfortable here than the warm peach. Neither change is critical, but they do give a more coherent feeling to this little wardrobe:
ponte checked top – Marks & Spencer; grey short-sleeve sweater – Lands’ End; tie dyed tee shirt – Mother; striped tee shirt – Banana Republic; dress – Polo Ralph Lauren; grey silk & linen cardigan – Eileen Fisher; flax linen tee shirt – Lands’ End; bone cardigan – Eileen Fisher; charcoal heather crop pants – Lands’ End; gray heather tee – L.L.Bean; mint tee – J.Crew; cream skirt – Marks and Spencer; granite canvas pants – L.L.Bean
This next wardrobe is exactly the kind of chaos I expect when trying to work with brown! A lilac tee shirt? TWO white tee shirts? Holy handbags…
floral tee – Uniqlo; ivory sweater – J.Crew; floral tee shirt – Lands’ End; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; denim dress – J.Crew; ivory cardigan – Marks & Spencer; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; rust cardigan – Silvian Heach; white cropped pants – Lands’ End; taupe tee shirt – Bottega Veneta; whispering lilac Donegal tee shirt – Lands’ End; pants – Karen Kane; skirt – Monique Singh
Ideally, I’d be tempted to replace ALL the white with beige, and find a brown dress. But I’m trying not to reinvent the entire wardrobe, so I’m limiting myself to replace the 2 most egregious garment outliers….
floral tee – Uniqlo; ivory sweater – J.Crew; floral tee shirt – Lands’ End; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; denim dress – J.Crew; ivory cardigan – Marks & Spencer; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; rust cardigan – Silvian Heach; white cropped pants – Lands’ End; taupe tee shirt – Bottega Veneta; whispering lilac Donegal tee shirt – Lands’ End; pants – Karen Kane; skirt – Monique Singh
Ah, these two warmly colored tee shirts help a lot, don’t they?
floral tee – Uniqlo; ivory sweater – J.Crew; floral tee shirt – Lands’ End; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; denim dress – J.Crew; ivory cardigan – Marks & Spencer; amber tee – Uniqlo; rust cardigan – Silvian Heach; white cropped pants – Lands’ End; taupe tee shirt – Bottega Veneta; tterracotta tee – Banana Republic; pants – Karen Kane; skirt – Monique Singh
I wouldn’t change a THING here. Nothing. I’m just going to walk away from this one with happiness…
striped tee – Splendid; striped sweater – Banana Republic; blue floral tee shirt – Lands’ End; navy floral tee – Lord & Taylor; dress – J.Crew; navy linen cardigan – Halogen; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; white cardigan – L.L.Bean; navy cropped pants – L.L.Bean; navy tee – J.Crew; blue solitude tee shirt – Lands’ End; pleated skirt – Marks & Spencer; wrinkle-free cotton pants – L.L.Bean
Any issues with this wardrobe can be left at my doorstep (where I will spray them with disinfectant and let them set for 3 hours…). I shifted back and forth between beige and black for this last wardrobe, and at various times tossed in some really inexplicable garments:
ivory floral tee – Dorothy Perkins; lace-trimmed top – Banana Republic; black floral tee shirt – Harve Benard; seafoam tee – Lands’ End; dress – Banana Republic; tan linen cardigan – Halogen; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; ribbed cardigan – L.L.Bean; black cropped pants – L.L.Bean; black tee – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; skirt – Marks & Spencer; black pants – L.L.Bean
That striped dress is delicious but it really clashes with this! And as much as I personally love the black floral tee, it isn’t going to be useful with beige garments, so it should be… adjusted…
ivory floral tee – Dorothy Perkins; lace-trimmed top – Banana Republic; black floral tee shirt – Harve Benard; seafoam tee – Lands’ End; dress – Banana Republic; tan linen cardigan – Halogen; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; ribbed cardigan – L.L.Bean; black cropped pants – L.L.Bean; black tee – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; skirt – Marks & Spencer; black pants – L.L.Bean
The changes I made leave us with a more neutral, but vastly more versatile, wardrobe. The mint tee shirt is still kind of out in right field, but it is lovely with beige so it stays for a while…
ivory floral tee – Dorothy Perkins; lace-trimmed top – Banana Republic; olive tank – Lands’ End; seafoam tee – Lands’ End; black dress – Lands’ End; tan linen cardigan – Halogen; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; ribbed cardigan – L.L.Bean; black cropped pants – L.L.Bean; black tee – L.L.Bean; olive fatigue tee – Lands’ End; skirt – Marks & Spencer; black pants – L.L.Bean
In my endless time at home, I’m gradually packing away cold-weather clothes (since I’m not likely to be outdoors again in cold weather until autumn!), and arranging my Spring wardrobe. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to wear it, but it pleases me to have my closet looking gorgeous!
And I’m finding the motivation to donate things that I can finally accept aren’t going to be worn enough to be worth keeping.
How are you doing?
love,
Janice
p.s. 8 years ago, I saw a lovely “chic sighting” at the bakery counter where I was working! EIGHT YEARS – oh my….
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I adore the navy and white wardrobe with the floral dress – and I agree that it did not need to be changed at all. I could happily live in those clothes for a long time, and it will also be a perfect carry-on-luggage only travel wardrobe for a spring vacation – such as the one that to Italy in May which I had to cancel. But next year for sure…
Thank you Janice for this overview. I’m glad your computer didn’t crash in the process. It really helps to see the WTW in action.
I noticed that there isn’t link to the gorgeous pink tee (replacing the red) in the first wardrobe.
My favourite wardrobe is the fourth one, even though I don’t wear those specific colours. It’s good to see a coherent wardrobe created with lots of different floral patterns but in coordinating colours. My summer wardrobe has lots of patterned tops, skirts and dresses. Even my plain tops often have self-coloured embellishments, patterns or textures.
Beth – thanks for the mention of the pink top – I’ve got the link there now! When I’m on my laptop, LITERALLY working on my lap, I’m going to overlook some things. I’m still getting used to my relatively small screen…
hugs,
Janice
Now I’m being tempted by the prettiness of Dorothy Perkins clothes ?♀️
I have a dilemma – is it ethically and/or morally wrong to order non-essential items, like clothes online, when all physical clothes shops and others deemed non-essential have been closed all over the UK. If we take the lockdown seriously, then surely online warehouses should also close so that their staff aren’t put at risk? There are also the delivery drivers who have to deliver mountains of packages (more than usual or even at Christmas) only to go back a few days later to pick them up.
The recipients just use the ‘try before you buy’ to have some fun but with no real intention of buying anything. As this horrible bug remains on surfaces for hours, surely it is risky to staff and customers.
Tempting though it is to buy another pink tee-shirt, I do have several pink shirts and blouses that I could wear instead.
If you would like to start a pile of comments on the last wardrobe to ‘disinfect’ at your leisure….
I agree with your decision to remove the stripey dress. However, now that you’ve also removed the black floral tee, it feels like two separate wardrobes in one.
Firstly, the garments in mint, white and black which is a lovely combination on their own (similar to your look back to the stunning yellow, black and white). However, these colours and/or similar items already appear in wardrobes 1 and 3, apart from the replacement black dress which is great as a standalone garment, instead of the plaid dress, for going out to dinner (wouldn’t that be nice).
Secondly, the garments in olive, tan and the lovely ivory floral tee I feel would all fit into/expand/provide alternative garments in wardrobes 2 or 4. In particular, I would put swap darker Ted Baker floral tee in wardrobe 2 with the Dorothy Petkins ivory floral tee.
It is frustrating when you have a group of items which don’t really go together but also seem to duplicate other garments in your wardrobe.
I do find that I need to change my top several times a day in high summer and also do more washing because we have high humidity in the UK. So having extra tops which go with the bottoms is useful, so that I don’t have to change a complete outfit.
This dilemma over which I shall leave you to ponder….
It was, indeed, probably at least 2 different color schemes over the 13 weeks. I try to show a range of color palettes (you wouldn’t want to see constant black, white and pink!) and I know that last wardrobe went through some… adjustment!
I shared this because I know that some of us have wardrobe that look like this; in the short term, operating with 2 somewhat separate color schemes, and then moving toward merging them, is my thought…
hugs,
Janice
Ah, i see that now. It’s part of an evolution. In my twenties, I used to have the same predicament with separate clothes I wore for work, clothes I wore for ‘going out’ or casual clothes I wore ‘at home’ etc etc. There was little relationship between them. Once I realised that I could wear dresses or separates to work, I was able to split the suits to wear with other things. My wardrobe became more cohesive. It didnt help that I rarely wore trousers unless they were rugby style cords for country walks. Then I had my kids, stopped work for three years, lived in comfy practical clothes, the horrible cord trousers in various colours and had a wardrobe of stuff I rarely wore. By the time I went back to work, my smarter clothes didn’t fit and I hadn’t got a clue what “smart-casual” meant or what suited me. It took me twenty years of trial and error to find my style again, have confidence in my outfit choices and eventually discovered that loose wide leg trousers suited me best. I now rarely wear skirts and dresses though I think that I would like to do that more now that I have found stylish court shoes for my wide feet! Time to rejuvenate my style again….
I really enjoyed this post. So interesting to see your creative thinking at work. Thanks Janice!
First time commenting for long time reader. I just re-read the ENTIRE blog before starting my wardrobe edit. I used this research to find the best system for me to use going forward.
l love your blog and the methods employed to create cohesive wardrobe for each season.
I plan on taking my time during this current situation to do this right.
First off, Fall & Winter get edited & to woolen storage then unpack Spring/Summer to edit.
Thanks for the inspiration and step by step instructions on how to create a wardrobe from the morass that is my current wardrobe.
Since thrift & consignment stores will not be taking anything in the foreseeable future. The edit items will provide fabric and a basic start for the next project to practice sewing and repurposing items. So thanks for that also!
I enjoyed this post, too. I always like seeing what I would do and comparing it to what you did. This exercise showed me today that I really need a version of pink or red in my wardrobe for each season. I wear a lot of blue and grey, but some days I just reach for that red (or light pink or mauve or burgundy) top. At least once a week. Today I’m wearing a pink hoodie over my blue jeans and grey t-shirt. The wardrobes of all cool colors look to me like they are missing something, though I know many women would feel quite comfortable in them!
I have a lot of blue and gray too but added a red mini capsule for a holiday wardrobe in November. I haven’t worn red in probably 20 yrs and I forgot how much I like it. I followed up with a pink capsule for spring/summer and I can’t wait for the weather to warm up enough to wear it!
I enjoyed this post VERY much. I especially liked your commentary and the reasoning for changes. I took a post from about four years ago to build an updated work wardrobe. Now, I am only working one day a week. Could you take a ‘work’ wardrobe and walk us through changes you might make for someone in my position? Alas, the work things I do currently wear seem a little outdated. New accessories? Tops? I am not sure how to tackle this!
Hmmm… take a basically office wardrobe and translate it into work from home? I can do that!
Maybe I’ll start with an existing, older wardrobe and then swap out a piece at a time to make the change gradual, and affordable!
hugs,
Janice
It is such a learning experience to see how changing out 2 items makes such a difference in some of the wardrobes. Thank you for continuing to teach us.
Janice, the last 3 or so blogs, I have been unable to click on a link to see what you were doing in the past. Is it something I am missing?
Your blog is a cheery spot in this trying time we are going through. Carole
Thank you so much for this posting. It really brought everything together – you are amazing! It is really helping me declutter my closet!! Thank you too for the extra posts you do. It truly is appreciated.
Janice, thank you so much for this post! I enjoy all of your posts, but my very favorites are the ones where you tweak an existing wardrobe to bring it together even more beautifully. Those have helped me see problems in my own wardrobe. Thank you! You bring color and joy and new ideas always, but during these strange days, your work is especially appreciated.