November 9, 2020
Remember this lovely work, and our heroine who was so uncertain about including both red and pink accents in her Garde-Robe du Mois?
Her final wardrobe was this lovely, uncommon but very practical assortment:
heather natural open-front sweater-blazer – J.Crew; pink corduroy shirt – L.L.Bean; olive multi paisley shirt – J.Crew; natural Henley top – L.L.Bean; brown turtleneck – A New Day; pink cashmere crewneck – J.Crew; striped tee – Old Navy; cream long-sleeved tee – Universal Thread; rust crewneck sweater – Alex Mill; heather camel turtleneck – J.Crew; tan tee – American Eagle; brown lace shirt – J.Crew; mauve pink tee shirt – L.L.Bean; russet sweatshirt – American Eagle; ivory satin shirt – Express; crimson turtleneck – Everlane; twig corduroy jeans – L.L.Bean; tan canvas pants – L.L.Bean; brown ponte pants – NYDJ; boulder chino pants – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – Uniqlo
She’s going to whittle down her “visible” accessories for the month too – put a few pieces of jewelry into nice storage bags and give them a vacation. Fold some of her scarves into a storage box… Put some of her shoes away on a shelf… A bit of simplifying for 30 days or so!
So she takes 10 outfits, makes sure she has the perfect accessories for each of them, and then tucks away her other treasures for a different month and a changed Garde-Robe du Mois…
pink corduroy shirt – L.L.Bean; tee shirt – Universal Threads; boulder chino pants – L.L.Bean; pearl & crystal hoop earrings – Talbots; scarf – Allsaints; oatmeal nubuck loafers – Naturalizer
editorial comment: I would consider changing up my entire wardrobe to match these woven loafers…
heather natural open-front sweater-blazer – J.Crew; shirt – J.Crew; twig corduroy jeans – L.L.Bean; twisted hoop earrings – Electric Picks; brooch – Talbots; dark tan woven loafers – Sesto Meucci
A jaunty little bandanna and some pink ballet flats are going to bring a smile to her face some chilly, drizzly day:
pink corduroy shirt – L.L.Bean; mauve pink tee shirt – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – Uniqlo; rose quartz drop earrings – Dina Mackney; striped 21-inch scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; pink suede flats – Sketchers
She loves her boots – they’re just a little bit different from most boots one sees…
Sweater – J.Crew; brown lace shirt – J.Crew; brown ponte pants – NYDJ; circle of circles earrings – Sylvia Toledano; gold link bracelet – Talbots; floral patterned boots – L’Artiste
Her huge scarf is so soft and light… Not at all bulky or awkward!
Sweater – Alex Mill; ivory satin shirt – Express; tan canvas pants – L.L.Bean; carnelian stud earrings – Auree Jewellery; beige and red silk scarf – ImageDiary; coral stone driving loafers – Driver Club USA
Of course she will want her necklace with a million different shades of brown and beige…
heather natural open-front sweater-blazer – J.Crew; turtleneck – A New Day; boulder chino pants – L.L.Bean; twisted hoop earrings – Electric Picks; necklace – Chico’s; oatmeal nubuck loafers – Naturalizer
A simple outfit is suddenly amazing with a gorgeous scarf, perfect pearl earrings and THOSE loafers….
Tee shirt – Universal Thread; twig corduroy jeans – L.L.Bean; hoops with pearl and crystal drops earrings – Luv Aj; beige angels cashmere scarf – PJ Studio Accessories; dark tan woven loafers – Sesto Meucci
Carnelian jewelry and rust flats – and a cozy scarf:
sweater – Alex Mill; denim skirt – Uniqlo; carnelian and pearl earrings – Vintouch; Glebe orange scarf – Wallace Sewell; rust suede flats – Marc Fisher
Brown is beautiful…
russet sweatshirt – American Eagle; heather camel turtleneck – J.Crew; brown ponte pants – NYDJ; smoky quartz stud earrings – Latelita; bracelet – Riah Fashion; floral patterned boots – L’Artiste
And waterproof boots? Maybe she will have to go outside… Maybe…
Striped tee – Old Navy; tan canvas pants – L.L.Bean; infinite heart earrings – Kate Spade; camel checked scarf – Topshop; beige waterproof boots – Sorel
Eclectic but beautiful accessories that make her Garde-Robe du Mois perfect for her:
pearl & crystal hoop earrings – Talbots; smoky quartz stud earrings – Latelita; infinite heart earrings – Kate Spade; twisted hoop earrings – Electric Picks; rose quartz drop earrings – Dina Mackney; hoops with crystal & pearl drops – Luv Aj; carnelian stud earrings – Auree Jewellery; carnelian and pearl earrings – Vintouch; camel checked scarf – Topshop; circle of circles earrings – Sylvia Toledano; brooch – Talbots; gold link bracelet – Talbots; brown bead bracelets – Riah Fashion; brown bead necklace – Chico’s; mauve leaf print scarf – AllSaints; checked & textured scarf – Wallace Sewell; striped 21-inch scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; beige and red silk scarf – ImageDiary; beige angel scarf – PJ Studio Accessories; rust suede flats – Marc Fisher; beige waterproof boots – Sorel; pink suede ballet flats – Sketchers; oatmeal nubuck loafers – Naturalizer; dark tan woven loafers – Sesto Meucci; floral patterned boots – L’Artiste; coral stone driving loafers – Driver Club USA
Oh my goodness THAT was fun – I think I may have to accessorize our peaceful grey-based wardrobe too….
hugs,
Janice
p.s. Nine years ago, the request was for lady-like clothes for a grandmother who wants to be tasteful and discreet, but appropriate for doing things with her family.
p.p.s. You understand that – sitting here alone for days at a stretch, scrolling through literally tens of thousands of things (some beautiful, some appallingly ugly!), I occasionally might see something that appeals. Something that whaps me in the head with desire – what I call whappage… THIS happened…
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“I think I may have to accessorize our peaceful grey-based wardrobe too”
Yes, please please!
Thanks for the ImageDiary shout-out, dear! xoxox
O’Keefe’s paintings are wonderful as is the incredible landscape in New Mexico where she drew her inspiration. I giggled a little when you mentioned gazing at thousands of lovely and tempting items as well as some appallingly ugly ones. A group of ladies I know created a Facebook page showing off fashion atrocities foisted on an unsuspecting public. It’s called Tim Gunn Wept and it’s often pretty funny.
I thank you for showing us how to avoid the trap of cramming our closets full of disparate items that don’t work for our lifestyles and certainly don’t work together! Am I the only one who wonders if too many designers are in a cosplay mode? LOL.
Thank You for sharing that TGW site! I just spent a while giggling myself silly over it. ???
Oh, my goodness! I checked out Tim Gunn Wept. How did any of the models wear those with straight faces?
One can only admire the clothes manufacturers who re-fashion the weird and wonderful into clothes and trends that we can actually wear. Oh for the days when clothes were designed to be worn by real-shaped people. When the catwalks were filled with style and elegance.
Yes, I agree on the loafers! Loafers being a favorite of mine anyway. And I love the bracelet – perfect price point! I wear a bracelet almost every day. Bracelets, watch, and earrings… This wardrobe garnered a lot of discussion when you first introduced it – looking forward to more comments today! Thank you!
Love this idea of taking outfits and accessorizing them individually. It makes things clearer for me. Also glad to see some of the outfits did not include scarves. These are not my colors, but definitely follows my style and I could easy insert greens and blues in place of the pinks and reds.
This accessories are beautiful. I really can’t choose a favourite. Thanks Janice
Janice, your capsule wardrobes endure! I’m wearing my LL. Bean corduroy shirt (soft green/blue) that I bought 4 years ago for a trip to Ireland over my grey turtleneck and grey jeans. Although I’m going no further than the laundry room (with my mask) my Fierce Lynx bracelet makes me feel dressed. Since I’ve moved towards the pink/grey capsule, I might need?/want the pink shirt too.
Hugs
Oh that pink corduroy shirt has a loud voice, calling to us, doesn’t it? I’m tempted, especially this year when it’s perfect for my very “at home” days…
hugs,
Janice
This weekend I finally worked through my whole wardrobe and decided on the seasonal colour schemes rotating on a two to three month basis. As a Soft Summer choosing accents is nigh on impossible with so many lovely colours to choose from. So I decided to vary my wardrobe with seasonal shades and tones. My aim is to have a seasonal appropriate flow of colours/tones, fabrics and sleeve lengths throughout the year.
Roughly, I’m wearing my deepest and darkest colours till New Year. Then I’ll begin to introduce lighter and pastel colours in winter style tops and jumpers until Easter, though I’ll probably only wear velvet until February! We often have a heatwave in April in England, so that will mark a major wardrobe change to lighter fabrics and short-sleeved garments. Pastels and soft colours nwill feature but I also wear more navy and brighter colours as summer progresses. Come August, I will introduce some deeper tones again in a mix of fabrics and sleeve lengths to see out the summer and into Autumn. Another major wardrobe change at the end of October.
I also seasonally rationalised my scarf drawer, my overflowing sock drawers (note plural!), nightwear and underwear! Well there is no point in having pastel coloured socks and underwear in my drawers when I’m wearing my deepest and darkest colours until at least January!
However perhaps I should also do a thorough seasonal review of my costume jewellery to match. Your accessory posts have inspired me. If I only wore particular things during the year, I would then wear more of my jewellery in rotation. I would also identify the real gaps in my collection, duplicates, orphans and those things that are just ‘not me’. I’ll sort out the items I will wear for the next three months and put them in one jewellery box. The rest I shall put away until I change wardrobes.
My aim next year is not to buy anything unless it is essential. Though there are always ‘whappage’ items that come along to tempt us…
Beth T,
I think that you are the cool colored clothing version of my warm one, rather like yin and yang ! Yes, I am doing the one to two month seasonal rotations also. That pretty much stops rotating for January, February and March and then the rotation concept stops also for June and July, but picks up again by late August and September , continuing to rotate in October, November and December with color changes and sleeve lengths. March, April and May all vary due to the weather and my color moods !
Beth T, congratulations for making such headway with your wardrobe! My next project is making sense of my scarf collection…which is currently out of control, so it’s hard to find what I’m looking for.
Good luck, Sally. I tried that back in January. I spent several hours sorting my entire collection by predominant colour. Looking at the photos, the groups don’t make sense, though it was fun at the time. You could sort by pattern, material, shape etc.
This weekend, I went through and only kept scarves for this season, if they were a predominantly dark in colour, and/or made of velvet, wool, satin or soft jacquard shawls and faux fur collars. Also included were scarves with silver thread, sequins or other embellishments. I now have about 15-20 scarves for this season (I haven’t counted) and I can find things without rummaging. Delicate fabrics are less likely to get damaged.
Hi Janice! I really love the footwear and the non-earring accessories (I do not have pierced ears, one of the 5 remaining people on the planet). And there’s that nice white denim skirt again, which makes such a nice contrast with the rust colors.
I have tried a few corduroy shirts in my day, and they always seemed a little stiff for office wear…but would make a good second layer for around the house and casual errands.
It is Day 9 of the 21 piece wardrobe challenge and I snuck out a nearly sleeveless rust mock turtleneck accompanied by a resurrected autumn buffalo check jacket. (It is sort of a brushed corduroy).
I really like the idea of sorting jewelry, probably in my case into 4 seasonal options. I probably would wear them more often in a consistent rotation rather than just choosing the ones that just sort of float on top of by jewelry box. And people would think they were brand new!
Linda P, I am also finding the seasonal jewelry concept very interesting. I’ll be curious to hear what you and Beth T do with yours.
Hi Linda – I’m joining you at number 6 in the Unpierced Ears Club. I wear old fashioned screw-backs though some screw backs operate as a clip as well. However, I generally find clips too tight.
I find most of my earrings and jewellery at vintage and collectors fairs, and charity shops. I can often buy them for a few pounds because no-one else is interested!
I also tend to choose my jewellery from the items that “just sort of float” in the tray on my dressing table. I have lots of lovely things but I don’t spend enough time accessorising my outfits until I come to wear them. Then I just grab what’s handy.
Now that I’ve sorted out my winter season wardrobe of deep colours with velvet, satin, chunky knits, sparkles etc, I’m going to take care choosing ‘rich’ accessories. My inspiration may well come from the kinds of jewellery inspired by a Renaissance painting that Janice featured quite a while ago.
Look up Jannice’s posts on Starting with Art: Saints Genevieve and Appolonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder. She has done several and they each contain exquisite jewellery and accessories.
That’s the vibe I shall be going for – rich colours with silver and gold.
I very much liked the first and third pink outfits, but even with accessories, the others left me rather meh. This is actually something of a relief; what if I’d suddenly decided I was in love with shades of brown?? :)
Janice,
I love how your accents and tonal values can make a feeling of variety and different ensembles on a day to day basis, but still work within a given capsule !
I had an epiphany today, though I really think that I have known this all along — I shall never be a minimalist ! I crave variety and colors too much ! While I am being happy to work with far fewer, though still mix and match pieces, I still prefer to maintain a number of garments in the upper end of a range, when taking into consideration the various functions of my wardrobe. I actually break it down into several separate smaller capsules or modules by function , as well as by year round and seasonal colors. And this suits me just fine , though my recent paring down also feels good !
Shrebee, I’m with you. I have clothing arranged by color, so there certainly are “capsules” but I crave the variety and colors also.
Nice whappage! Did you put it on your Christmas list?
All the tops I had chosen to wear this fall failed me as the temperature went back up into the 80’s. I had to pull back out some summer tops. However, last week I enjoyed having pants, tees, and flannel shirts that worked together already hung together. I’ve even set aside a few coordinated selections for a stay with a friend when she has a planned surgery after Thanksgiving. Maybe I’d better add a couple of summer tops to that collection, just in case.
I have pros and cons for the corduroy shirt L. L. Bean is offering this year. Some people like the side pockets and some people hate them. I have two of their older style corduroy shirts which I love, but I really would like to have one of this year’s pinks. Years ago I had a light pink that I absolutely wore out. I’ve never had one of the rosy pinks, but that is a very tempting color. It would work much better for me than a rust, although I love the combinations you have featured.
We have fickle weather in the UK, where I’ve known it to be freezing cold one day and very warm the next. My mother’s mantra was ‘dress for the day’s weather, not the name of the month’.
I followed her solution and keep a few items of the opposite season in my drawers in appropriate colours. So this season, I have kept back short sleeve t-shirts in dark colours just in case we have a mild spell in December. When the weather is colder, I will wear them as a first ‘thermal’ layer.
Likewise in Spring/Summer, I keep back a few long-sleeved tees and polo necks in lighter colours with a couple of lighter coloured thick jumpers. Just in case there is a cold and wet period in the summer.
This set is stunning – love the huge variety within a limited palette.
I once read that you shouldn’t buy anything if it doesn’t match with at least three other things in your wardrobe. I wonder what “they” would say about jewelry. I feel like I’ve got pieces that I only wear with one outfit. I think I need to weed out some and figure out how to wear more. Does anyone have tips?
I’m so pleased that I’m not the only person who lives for variety and colour in their wardrobes. I totally agree with Shrebee and Sheila, I cannot see myself as a minimalist. I enjoy all my clothes and love putting together new and exciting outfits.