June 16, 2020
She’s NOT Happy…
Business travel? NOW? Yes, she’s got to go. No, her employer won’t compromise. She very nearly quits… Especially when she learns that the weather where she’s going is decidedly cool…
But they’ve said that she can fly 1st Class, and eat room service, and have any laundry or other services that she needs for her comfort…
So she starts here:
Tree of Life scarf in Silver – PJ Studio Accessories; Raphael’S Angels – Neutral – PJ Studio Accessories
And then she pulls from her closet a tidy core for her travel wardrobe. A tidy, VERY “prone to need to be laundered frequently” core…
Ivory cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; ivory open sweater-blazer – J.Crew; sandbar chinos – L.L.Bean; off-white pleated skirt – Uniqlo; natural jeans – Lands’ End; gold ballet flats – FitFlop; penny loafers – Driver Club USA
She will probably only need to dress really “up” once, so she’s going to need a balance of casual and dressy. She pulls her scarves out of her dresser drawer and spreads them out on the bed, and then starts to assemble her 2 accent “families.”
tee shirt – J.Crew; Tree of Life scarf in Silver – PJ Studio Accessories; earrings – Kenneth Cole New York; blouse – Joie; bracelet – Talbots; necklaces – J.Crew; loafers – Driver Club USA
Her olive blouse will get her through the really dressy part of the trip…
tee shirt – J.Crew; Raphael’S Angels – Neutral – PJ Studio Accessories; earrings – J.Crew; brown linen shirt – Uniqlo; bracelet – J.Crew; necklace – Twine & Twig; ballet flats – Sam Edelman
Everything spread out on the bed look pretty great!
Before she starts stowing everything in her suitcase, she pauses for a few minutes to play paper dolls with her travel capsule wardrobe! She would like to be able to – at a minimum – wear each top a couple of different ways….
She fully plans to return from this trip with every STITCH of clothing freshly laundered – it’s the least they owe her!
love,
Janice
p.s. Are any of you having to travel for work yet? I’ve heard from a couple of people who are confronted with this, and I’m curious about how widespread it is. I can’t imagine getting on an airplane right now…
p.p.s. EIGHT years ago, someone wanted me to suggest some outfits to go with their favorite Hermes scarf. Rust, navy, grey, off-white…
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Love this!! Olive, ivory, and a warm deep tan is what my wardrobe aspires to! Yes, the ivory core is a little risky, but decidedly gorgeous. The scarves are really fantastic.
I’m sensing a big change in the way my wardrobe is composed. I expect to be wfh more not less – businesses won’t need so much leased office space and what I do (accounting) is easy to do from just about anywhere with the right technology. I’m a little shocked that business travel is firing back up in anything but the most urgent of situations.
The Tree of Life scarf is lovely – any scarf with birds and flowers always gets my vote.
I’m always impressed, and slightly envious, of women who can wear white or cream with confidence. I think you need to be tall or very petite to carry off a column of white/cream. The most I can do is an ivory jacket or cardigan. I once had a winter white coat but I looked like a dumpy snowman. Enough said….
Beth T,
With my light coloring, if I wear all beige for a column of color ( I have beige blond hair) I look like a beige blob ! So I always add an accent color or do 3 tonal values of a brown with light, medium, and darker values of one neutral or one color, all in the same outfit . And yes, I’m a sucker for scarves with birds and flowers too !
Beth T, you nailed it. I can wear a white/cream skirt (pants don’t seem to work at all) or a white/cream top and/or topper, but the column is a resounding no due to the mirror showing me a dumpy snowman instead of Cate Blanchett.
And I agree about the birds and flowers print…though my greatest weakness is this sort of print against a navy background.
Janice,
Lovely as always ! If I were to add anything it might be some silver earrings and a bracelet to echo the silver background of the Tree of Life scarf , which I adore ! Whenever I wear a predominantly warm garment color grouping, I like to balance it with cool accessories and vice versa when I wear predominantly cool colored garments.
Rant On. I’ve only been on a plane a few times in my life and disliked every minute of it. Airlines have made things terrible and the “first class” and “business class” charges for domestic flights for seats at the front of the plane that are the same as all other seats are ridiculous. If I can’t drive there and get out and enjoy myself, it’s not worth it. Rant Off.
That being said, I love the way you set this one up. A small core and then two color families. I’ve done a closet donation last week as many things are no longer me, leaving me with smaller families where I can level up my love for accessories and make a splash!
Hi Janice. I have a wardrobe dilemma! I love Navy AND black as a neutral equally which makes for a very dark look. I have tried to downsize with just pops of color in french five pieces of red, blues (my all time favorite colours) and pinks. But things always seem to get out of hand and before I know it there are stacks of clothes in my cupboard and coloured tops that dont seem to go. Please help!
Maybe try a Project 333 for the balance of the summer? That might help you focus on things that you definitely want to keep and build on, and similarly spot things that can be moved on to another home…
hugs,
Janice
One of my favorite posts!!! I’ll be borrowing this packing list almost exactly … in fact, I bought those exact two V-neck tees following one of your recent posts. I really don’t have that much trouble wearing white once I’m at my destination (unless a huge city); I would wear one of the accent colored bottoms enroute.
Borrowing the Rant idea from Renee-Anij (love that!) … Rant On. I had to fly last week and was actually a little happy to get back in the air and out of the house. Wrong! It was awful – plane was full (what?!?), there were very few open businesses in any of the three airports, and the airline wasn’t serving. So, not only did I worry about the health issues the whole time, I found it more like ‘a very expensive bus in the air’ than ever before. Ugh. Avoid if you can. Rant Off.
Thank you, Janice, for keeping us focused on artful fun.
Sherri, this is interesting; I would like to see Janice tackle your dilemma. Do you find that you end up with colored items that don’t go with your neutrals or that don’t go with each other? Like the red cardigan and pink top don’t go…or the red cardigan and red top don’t go? I know I struggle a good amount with getting colored items that work together, especially when items are bought piecemeal. I personally find that changing up the textures of solids or picking out marled items can help minimize the dis-harmony from shades that aren’t quite right. But I’m also a big print lover and find that patterned pieces are usually more forgiving in that regard.
I can see how loving navy and especially black could lead to too many clothes…so many items are available in those colors. It’s so much easier to add more black or navy than to get a good set of, say, red items that work well together (with your neutrals).
That’s a very nice core of ivory. I like how the variety of textures helps pieces in somewhat different shades work well together; it’s a more sophisticated look than 5 matching pieces would be, I think.
Overall this is a quite distinctive wardrobe. On day 2, everyone would recognize her a mile away in her ivory “suits” and brown/olive/gold tops.
Just in case you’re still looking, here’s a link to a better photo of the Hermès Plaisirs du Froid scarf!
https://exquisiteartichoke.com/products/hermes-scarf-plaisirs-du-froid-by-703771900
These white/Ivory/cream clothes look so fresh. And how easy they would be to add a variety of accents to. There’s something very luxurious about a cream wool jacket – or anything, really. As for travel, in my Australian state (Tasmania), we’ve been virus-free for a month now but not opening our borders for another six weeks. (It helps to be an island.) But of course we’ll have to face outbreaks again after that. So sad everywhere. Thank goodness we can get into parks again; though it’s not really dress-up territory it’s very good for the spirits!
I have been asked to travel, but I have been allowed to decline without losing my job–thank goodness!) For now, I’m staying home.
I love wearing white/ivory columns for travel! Especially during the summer vacations. If you have pieces that accentuate your body, you look quite elegant and sophisticated. I have found on numerous trips that the more vibrant and colorful the background, the better the column looks in photos. For instance, some of my most photogenic pictures from China last year and multiple trips with the family to Disney World are when I was wearing my white column. I would wear this capsule for travel in a heartbeat.