July 10, 2020
Yesterday, our heroine was getting ready to head to the lake, with a packet of relatives, for the rest of the summer!
For her packing inspiration, she started with this painting:
She has her clothes all ready to go!
white cardigan – Eileen Fisher; striped Henley – Three Dots; striped tank top – Old Navy; floral top – Lucky Brand; navy cardigan – Banana Republic; gingham linen shirt – L.L.Bean; front-tie linen top – Calvin Klein; orange gauze top – L.L.Bean; navy daisy print top – Tommy Hilfiger; Scalloped-trim top – H&M; white eyelet-yolk tee – J.Crew; orange draped tank – Joan Vass; Tank tops – Lands’ End; poplin dress – L.L.Bean; heritage stone cropped pants – L.L.Bean; shorts – L.L.Bean; navy pants – L.L.Bean; paisley dress – Nanette Lepore
But she doesn’t have… well… shoes? earrings? a bag or two?
Let’s do this!
cardigan – Eileen Fisher; poplin dress – L.L.Bean; waterlily earrings – Lover’s Tempo; bag – Hiva Atelier; sandals – Sava
She really likes her square earrings because they’re called Lily Pad earrings! Although she’s never seen a square lily pad…
She knows that she needs rubber flip flops – her feet will be wet fairly often! And sunglasses – you ALWAYS need sunglasses…
striped tank top – Old Navy; shorts – L.L.Bean; gold knot earrings – Talbots; sunglasses – Rebecca Minkoff; dotted sandals – L.L.Bean
Next, she grabs her sunhat, and her Keds. Even if the Keds get wet, they’ll be fine within a day… And even though she’s not quite sure how it will work out, she grabs a lightweight scarf; maybe she’ll tie it around her hat!
cardigan – Eileen Fisher; tank top – Lands’ End; shorts – L.L.Bean; hat – Epoch Hats; scarf – Gerard Darel; shoes – Keds
Oh my! She knows that she will have to dress like an adult at least once, to go into town and take care of some banking and other “real” business:
navy cardigan – Banana Republic; navy daisy print top – Tommy Hilfiger; navy pants – L.L.Bean; hoop earrings – Talbots; bracelet – Talbots; ballet flats – Esprit
Now she starts to get nervous – she’s great for accessories as long as she’s wearing her usual navy-based outfits. But she’s not sure what to do with her newer addition, in warmer colors….
And then she remembers – GOLD! Metallic accessories are often the answer when you’re at a loss as to what to do. (the other good option is “your” nude – i.e. a color as close to your skin tone as you can find)
paisley dress – Nanette Lepore; earrings – Miriam Haskell; sunglasses – Gucci; sandals – Easy Spirit
She has a sunhat already, but as the evening wears on, she really only needs something to shade her eyes against the sunset. So she tosses her baseball cap into her bag too!
And she pulls on her watch; she’s NOT going to keep her phone with her at the lake, and she just might need to time something in the kitchen, or make certain that they don’t all linger outdoors until it’s absurdly past a normal dinner hour. Although that’s not all bad…
striped Henley – Three Dots; heritage stone cropped pants – L.L.Bean; cap – Madewell; water resistant watch – Festina; shoes – Keds
Tell me, when you look at this headband below, do you want to draw a face in the middle of the oval? To my eyes, the fabric looks like someone’s hair, and the elastic part outlines the bottom of her face… I’ve been indoors too long…
She realizes that her favorite bracelet matches her beige top! Excellent!
front-tie linen top – Calvin Klein; shorts – L.L.Bean; hair band – H&M; druzy quartz bangle bracelet – Humble Chic; sandals – Easy Spirit
She knows that there will be a couple of grocery runs into town; she’s going to be a good citizen and bring her own bag! (plus she can fill it with all of the food she wants to take with her on the outbound side of her trip…)
floral top – Lucky Brand; shorts – L.L.Bean; earrings – Kenneth Cole New York; grocery tote – L.L.Bean; sandals – Sava
It’s QUITE the pile of accessories! But they’re driving up, and so space isn’t quite the issue. By the time she adds in swimwear, towels, sheets, blankets, charging cords for everything… Sigh…
So many people from Chicago are out of town right now – Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, rural Illinois. I remain, in the bedroom, with a brand new air conditioner!
Such luxury, eh?
love,
Janice
p.s. Eight years ago, I was singing the praises of wearing multiples of accessories!
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Great accessories for this heroine! I’ve been wearing a baseball cap non-stop since Covid and need a more neutral one. I’ve searched relentlessly for one and now found it in the Madewell cap you featured. Ordered! Thanks, Janice.
Janice,
You were really on a roll with this one ! Super job ! I can travel vicariously with your heroines , so thank you for that !
I recently ordered some double sided compression cubes, for clean on one side, dirty on the other, or different outfits or garments on each side . Now I only need somewhere safe to go ! For now, it’s my back deck and bird watching in the wooded grove beyond the deck . I do miss eating out ! And I don’t mean eating out on my deck .
Awesome. I can’t even imagine the time and effort it must take to find all these items. Every day.
Have a great weekend.
LOL about that headband! I am pretty sure I would have seen it exactly the same way if you hadn’t said anything but now I DEFINITELY see it as hair! Thanks for the good laugh to start the day. And I love this wardrobe except for those shiny ballet flats — my feet are hot just looking at them!
Janice, did you shrink those sunglasses and pop them in the middle of that headband? I’ve been shielding the elderly in my family and have only ventured out once a week throughout the lockdown, so yes, I’m going a bit stir-crazy too!
Love all the accessories and I’m smitten with those gold sandals.
I might have… I do some pretty silly things when I’m here alone working!
hugs,
Janice
Well done – a fetching array of accessories for every eventuality. I love the dangly earrings with tiny beads with the paisley dress. Beads are always perfect with a busy pattern.
The link to the Druzy bangle doesn’t work for me and I’m banned from looking at the green earrings because the company doesn’t ship to the UK! I was only looking ☹
I saw a blouse tied over a dress in a charity shop window today – a floral blouse over a white strappy sundress. It was very effective – an idea to copy. I found a blue/pink/purple floral linen skirt which will go with numerous things in my wardrobe – a good £4 investment!
I was thinking that the beige tie-front top would be perfect over the paisley dress – that’s why I included it! And I often see earrings that are a hoop with a charm danging from the hoop – the charm can be removed to give you just a classic hoop earring. I will keep my eyes open!
And I will check the bracelet link – it would be a pity to miss that, because it’s quite affordable, and comes in a bucket of colors!
hugs,
Janice
I think the bracelet issue is them, and not us… I just tried to fix it and it’s just fine… I will send them a note to let them know that their links aren’t functioning!
hugs,
Janice
Thank you for trying – it is really very pretty.
Enjoyed this one very much and your multiples post made me wonder, have you come across modular earrings in your accessories searches? Like a pearl stud with a chandelier style attachment or a simple necklace and brooch that combine to make a statement necklace…occurs to me it could be rather neat for a capsule wardrobe… still searching for the perfect silver sandal…maybe an espadrille but not too high a heel. And thanks again for the neutrals/accent formula. I was so excited to see an actual sidewalk store the other day that I rashly purchased a print top and skirt but the background was navy, one of my neutrals, and the print has purple and grey and I have a plethora of possible outfits. Neutrals for the win!
Modular jewellery was very popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Search for inexpensive costume pieces in antique arcades, junk shops, flea markets, collectors and vintage fairs. The shops that have loads of stuff in, often have a lot of unsorted costume jewellery. Its amazing what you can find with a bit of rummaging and untangling.
Your top and skirt sound lovely – my colours too – and very versatile. I can tell how excited you are at creating different outfits with these.
I bought a skirt today in a charity shop – white linen with a dense floral pattern of blues and pinks – four shades of each from very light to very dark and a hint of purple as well. I could wear this skirt once a week until the end of summer and still not run out of different things to wear it with. Just need to find my sandals….
Perhaps Janice could use patterned garments, instead of scarves to build a weekly timeless wardrobe around?
Oh yeah!
hugs,
Janice
Just catching up with this wardrobe…I have a lot in the navy, white, coral, moss/olive for my summer wardrobe, so naturally, this one was a delight. As others have mentioned, I was seeing chambray/denim in the painting, so I might have gone that direction instead of beige (which isn’t a great color for me). But I did like seeing how beige…in clothing and in accessories…was added to a more crisp white core. The addition of soft moss, rust, and beige items to a crisp wardrobe could be challenging, but it looked good with these items. And of course I really enjoyed seeing the prints represented in the garments, which I always think makes a lot of sense for warm weather, and helps bring the wardrobe into cohesion even without scarves, etc., to act as bridge pieces. And the gold is just perfect. I was surprised by how much I liked the beige top/white shorts outfit when accessorized with gold. I swooned over the gold sunglasses, but since I wear prescription sunglasses, I can’t just buy any pair I fancy. And I have to admit that I admit I laughed (with glee) at the red-orange piping on the daisy top and the orange stitching on the blue scarf…such a classic Janice touch.
Your look-back on brooches brought to mind that back in the eighties, scarves were fastened with brooches or a scarf clip, even if you had also tied it. The brooch finished it off and kept it in place. These days we carelessly wrap scarves in a loose loop which then collapses. Time to bring back brooches and scarf clips.
I’m not sure that I’d carry off wearing multiple brooches but I often layer a pendant with a coordinating set of beads. I also wear multiple bracelets – is that layering? However I have small hands so I only ever wear two rings at most on different fingers.
I love your earring choices today! Nice wardrobe with a range of colors. Plus that lovely paisley dress — yum!
Very on topic for me. About to go road tripping for over a month. Will probably have to take more as laundry stops may be far apart. I am going with black, navy, teal, and pink for my colors.