May 10, 2021
I still believe that the weather will warm up. I believe…
floral huggie earrings – Sterling Forever; mask – Hickey Freeman; seersucker shirt – L.L.Bean; sandals – Olukai; linen pants – J.Crew
Alert to everyone who follows along with this series – I’ve made a change to the garment list! A small one: I took the word “neutral” out of the description of this week’s top. So long as the top looks really GOOD with your neutrals, it can be any mix of colors that you want!
I don’t know why I ever thought thought that it needed to be a neutral. Maybe back when absolutely everything revolved around work wardrobes?
This is the top that I’ve chosen to be the “representative” of this week’s garments. The poster child? The spokesperson?
I’m not quite sure what to call it, but it looks really great with a navy skirt!
Earrings – Oscar de la Renta; print top – L.L.Bean; skirt – J.Crew; sandals – 27 Edit; tote – J.Crew
I own this next skirt – I recommend it highly!
And I could have found a black and white tote bag AND black and white earrings, but I thought that would be extreme to the point of looking like a costume!
So instead, I contented myself with squares – lots of squares!
Earrings –Anthropologie; cotton checked top – Marks & Spencer; black linen skirt – J.Crew; sandals – Kate Spade New York; tote – Calvin Klein
Yes, we saw this shirt before… But the jewelry from Talbots won me over to another look at it!
Silk campshirt – J.Crew; earrings – Talbots; bracelet – Talbots; denim shorts – L.L.Bean; sandals – Walking Cradles
In the same vein, these are the same shorts that we saw last week, but this heroine’s outfit is just a little bit more dressy. Just a little bit…
Sunglasses – Ray-Ban; striped shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Madewell; sandals – Olukai; shorts – L.L.Bean
And finally, soft summer green!
Striped top – L.L.Bean; earrings – Sterling Forever; bracelet – Fierce Lynx Designs; sandals – Sam Edelman; linen blend pants – Caslon
For me, a printed summer top means a striped tee shirt! I have a stack of them…
What’s your preferred print for warm weather?
love,
Janice
p.s. Five years ago, we built a business wardrobe that started with an arty printed jacket…
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Stripes!
Stripes and tiny polka dots.
Flowers!!
Stripes and Florals
Janice,
Medium scale and medium to low value and color contrast prints in stripes, stylized florals as well as real florals, and curved geometrics . I also like solid colors with neckline embellishments or interesting construction details . For short sleeved tops, I am careful about the sleeve lengths —I prefer something approaching elbow length because of the nasty “ grandma bat wing under arm stuff” !
Talbots has a nice almost elbow length T, good quality, in several colors. Their Ts maintain their good looks for several years.
AK, thank you !
I’m hoping for warmer weather too.
Love the seersucker shirt – takes me back to my childhood. Gingham is something I love/hate. It reminds me too much of tablecloths (which I love for a picnic) and school uniform summer dresses (which I hated).
My favoured prints are small to medium scale florals, ditsy prints, butterflies/dragonflies, paisley, polka-dots, stripes and small checks. I also like embellisments such as embroidery, beadwork, sequins, broderie anglais, open work, lace and textured plain fabrics. My favourite sleeve length is three-quarter length or roll-up sleeves with button-tab fastening. It makes tops versatile when the weather is changeable.
I would like to find a plain blue (not navy) or light grey cotton or linen midaxi skirt for summer.
Stripes and checks! I am wearing a white tee with pink stripes as I read this. I also do some graphic tees for interest. What I always love is how you repeat shapes/designs. (Your gingham was fabulous.) I really pay attention to that detail now.
A print or pattern t shirt is #1 for my travel days. If I get too hot on the plane, train or car, I can strip down to the t shirt. If I spill something on it, the print won’t show the spot so much, as I’m stuck wearing that top until I get to my destination. Print wearers unite! I like abstract nature prints. Just not a stripes girl.
The first shirt, the mint check popover, is my favorite of the group, but the “spokes-shirt” has me thinking about how it would look in a navy/warm camel capsule for the right heroine.
Favorite summer prints: stripes, polka dots, florals, checks/gingham, and what I am going to call “zoological” or “fauna” prints (not traditional “animal print” that looks like an animal’s pelt/skin, but a print with entire animals in it). Today I’m wearing a shirt with tropical birds against a navy background!
Shrebee and Beth T’s attention to the details of the prints is impressive! I should spend more time considering scale and contrast than I do. I have recently been able to observe my love of prints with a black background without acting on it (especially in a top, and especially with high value contrast, such a print does me no favors, and I am slowly eliminating black, especially in warm weather, by wardrobe attrition). Prints on a lighter colored background, still low-to-medium contrast, works best for me. But my love of high contrast navy-and-white stripes or checks is unbounded, and I am crazy about prints on a navy background…and I accept that it’s not the most flattering possible look. It just flat makes me too happy to give it up.
I do wish I could find more tops with low-to-medium contrast prints on a grey background! Right now I have precisely two: (1) a graphic short-sleeved T in heather grey with a parrot image in aqua, yellow, and pink, and (2) black, olive, and camel zebras on a grey background. If I could find even one long-sleeved and one short-sleeved top in a print with both navy and grey, that would go a LONG way to shoring up the navy + grey travel capsule I am working on. (Add olive/sage/aloe to that print and mwah!) Navy and grey are such an obvious combination and yet I struggle to find prints that contain both, even in scarves. Navy with white is very common, and navy with beige/camel seems quite common. But navy and grey is difficult…at least for me.
The point about embellishments is a good one, especially for heroines in warm climates where even a necklace feels too hot to wear. One of the down sides of plus size fashion (though it is improving!) is that somehow designers think that because my body is a particular size, I want to wear crazy (and often garish and cheap-looking) clothing covered with all the embellishments at once so I can look like a clown fortune teller!
Sally in St Paul,
Thank you for the kudos ! It has taken me a looong time to give myself permission to evaluate what really works for me and what I like and is enhancing or detracting . I used to accept “ following the crowd” and “ experts” , who had no idea of what works for me. The “ one size fits all” of color advice or style or “ must have garments” no longer resonates with me either. I have learned so much from Janice over the years as well as from Imogen Lamport ! While not all of the colored wardrobes that Janice presents here work for me, I still learn much about the general selection of garments in style or type of color combinations . It feels good to accept what I know is best for me and like the most, but it does restrict what I can find to purchase . Oh well, money saved ! Patience is the key word in my purchases now ! Janice has advised this as well . I don’t want to “ settle” anymore — life is too short and I deserve to feel good in what I wear, as do we all !
I practically want to rant about the flood of giant prints currently in stores. Worse, a significant percentage are tropical prints. Large- scale prints have their place: on tall people, they can look wonderful. But most of us are under 5’8” and large prints can make us look dumpy, even in a $500 dress. And how many of us have bought a tropical print (in any size) for that tropical vacation only to have it languish in the closet because it just doesn’t feel right in Cleveland or Denver, or Manhattan or Salt Lake City or Rochester? I’d probably buy a few if I lived in a tropical city! As for my preference: I love stripes, small to medium abstracts, florals (small to medium)- and especially in colors one would actually find in nature.
AK,
Yes the gi- normous loud prints in recent years in the marketplace have been a real turn off for me !
I purchased the navy floral tee in the v-neck style last summer because of the rusty colored flowers. It’s a great pattern for someone with muted autumn coloring like me who is washed out by pastels and bright colors that dominate stores in the spring and summer.
Jackie Katz,
That is my coloring too , so thanks for the tip !
That Seersucker shirt is so pretty and the soft striped one too.
I love small floral/ditsy prints, paisley,stripes and Aztec type prints. Broderie anglaise is a favourite, which I don’t wear enough.
LOVE the pink flower earring and bracelet set.
I tend to pick a stylised floral or animal pattern. I have a plan to wear lots of pink this year including a new (well I got it in the sale last year but have only just started wearing it) pretty pink dress with white humming birds that I intend to wear all summer!
https://www.johnlewis.com/people-tree-emma-dress-pink/p4007431
I had earrings like that once – in white mother of pearl – that were stolen in the big jewelry heist! I’ve never found them again…
And I love your dress!
hugs,
Janice
Janice, I love small vertical stripes in lo to medium contrast and florals medium in size, sometimes a atercoloring is best for me and ith a lo to medium in contrast. Some years they abound and others not one in sight! I only buy hat looks good on me and in my Spring colors!