June 30, 2021
Yesterday was my birthday, and I had to go shopping…
Linen dress – J.Crew; garnet earrings – Samuel B.; brambleberry cardigan – L.L.Bean; navy boots – Spring Step; navy tights – Hue
I had my eye on a linen dress from Eileen Fisher…
When I got to the store at Water Tower Place, the lovely young woman who approached me was wearing the EXACT dress I was looking for, but she was wearing it with a much more “cool weather” feel that I would have imagined. The store was very cold, of course…
This is how she wore the dress:
Dress – Eileen Fisher; cardigan – Alpha Studio; boots – Camper; tights – Hue
Okay, you wouldn’t wear this out into a blizzard, but this outfit would be more than acceptable in the early autumn, or late spring…
It reminded me of the way that women in Paris wear their summer dresses with sweaters, tights and warm shoes or boots – long past the time of year when most of us would have stashed them in the back of our closets!
It won’t work with pastel flowers (probably…), but with darker colors, it’s worth considering.
How about these:
Earrings – Shinar Jewels; scarf – Image Diary; beech dress – Banana Republic; denim jacket – Lulus; boots – 27 Edit Naturalizer
seriously, those boots are going to transform any outfit!
Leather earrings – Francesca’s; dress – Chelsea28; sweater – Compañia Fantastica; scarf – Nordstrom; boots – Frye
If your sweater is scratchy, this last one won’t work, but a soft sweater would be lovely – your dress top is more like a camisole now!
After I left the store (with the dress in hand, of course!), I got to thinking more about linen, and I remembered something I wore on a trip years ago:
Why yes, my sweater matches the bedding! And I’m wearing my white linen shirt – the same one I still own! I have no idea how old it is…
So why do I think I need to have cotton shirts AND linen shirts?
Hmmm….
White linen shirt – J.Crew; onyx & pearl necklace – TJMaxx; star print cardigan – Twin-Set; corduroy pants – Lands’ End; oxfords – Linea Paolo
While the white shirt is an obvious substitution, a bright summer accent might be just as welcome in cold weather:
Haute pink shirt – Chico’s; scarf – Echo; navy sweatshirt – L.L.Bean; jeans – L.L.Bean; sneakers – Easy Spirit
And you might be able to find a color, pattern or print in linen that you CAN’T find in any other fabric:
Indigo linen tunic – Lands’ End; airplane brooch – Make Heads Turn; cashmere sweater – J.Crew; satin midi skirt – Rails; boots – Eileen Fisher
I’ve always packed linen shirts just in case the weather turns very warm on a trip, but I never translated that into wearing my shirts all year.
What do you think?
love,
Janice
p.s. A serious question from a reader: She must use an assistive device to walk, so she must wear a cross-body strap bag. For an upcoming special event, her bag has a chain strap, and her top is lace!
How can she avoid snagging?
p.p.s. Four years ago, we started with a bracelet and went recklessly, insanely wild building a wardrobe around it!
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Happy Birthday for yesterday. Hope you were thoroughly spoilt as well as you deserve.
Before cotton milling and manufacture took off at the end of the 18th century, linen was the natural choice for everyday fabric as it was hard wearing. It was worn as shirts by men, and shifts or petticoats by women, though softer muslin was used for ladies.
However, I find natural linen scratchy unless well worn but I wear linen blend trousers all summer. I’d never thought of wearing linen all year but as long as you can find long sleeves or put a long sleeve tee underneath, why not. I’m all for seasonal longevity.
Love the look back too. Soft accents with navy or dark grey for me.
And of course these shirts and petticoats were ironed smooth before wear, with a red hot iron and lots of sweat!
Happy Birthday, Janice! And thank you for all you do here.
Happy Birthday – and it’s lovely to see a photo of you.
This is such an interesting post. I love linen, wear it all the time in the summer and used to iron it meticulously before each wearing, but am getting less and less keen on ironing and am finding I really don’t need to do as much, slightly creased/crinkled is okay! I also used to put linen dresses away in September but this has got me thinking….
As to the lady with the cross body bag – wonder if it would be possible to somehow wind or plait a thin silk scarf round the chain….
The thin scarf idea for the chain sounds very promising!
If a scarf doesn’t work, how about a ribbon? But are we sure that there is a snag risk from this chain? Has she perhaps tested it against thin fabrics or worn it before? Many of my chain straps are very smooth, and I like chiffon & other gossamer fabrics so I understand her worries.
Happy birthday!
Regarding your reader’s question: boy chandelier cord covers available in beautiful fabrics like silk and many colors, relatively inexpensive and could look dressy. I hope she has a lovely time!
PS An afterthought, maybe silk ribbon instead of a scarf…
I was also thinking of ribbon. If the chain links are big enough, she could thread it through, like weaving, maybe even coming back the other way.
Happiest of Birthdays! Thank you for all that you do!
Happy Birthday Janice. Lovely to see you. Thank you for your fabulous blog.
Water Tower Place must have been freezing to inspire these thoughts. With all the heat warnings around the country, we are wearing linen to keep from falling out from the heat index. Darker color linens are great into the fall, especially when it’s still hot until November.
It was freezing – I’m talking low 60’s Fahrenheit!
Ridiculous waste of energy, and truly unnecessary…
hugs,
Janice
Happy Birthday Janice. Appreciate all your hard work pulling these together for us!
Happy birthday! Maybe suggest to your reader that she winds the chain in plastic wrap?
Happy birthday, Janice! And I agree with Julia (above) — nice to see a photo of you!
In the ensemble with the lovely rose (collared) linen shirt and the hoodie: How would you wear the scarf? Would it be worn inside or outside the shirt collar, and how would it be tied?
For the lady with the cross body bag, if she has time, go to a good tailor shop. Mine usually has great suggestions for modifications and may be able to come up with an idea like sewing a tube of dressy fabric (like silk, maybe a coordinating or contrasting color) around part of the strap (so she could slide it where it lies across her shoulder).
The scarf would depend on how cool it was – if I was sure it wasn’t going to be sweaty warm, I would wear it right next to my neck – wrapped and knotted up near my chin. If I was concerned about being too warm, I would wear it under my shirt collar – maybe hanging down a bit like a man’s tie…
hugs,
Janice
Happy Birthday!
Those boots … those gorgeous snakeskin boots!
I love the look of the linen dress with tights, but i hate wearing a half slip. Is it possible to wear tights with a dress and avoid the slip altogether? Honestly, I’ve not worn a dress in so long that I’ve forgotten how things work!
I generally feel that if my tights are opaque and nothing is showing through, I skip the slip! I do wear them with lighter dresses, and with anything that might be revealing…
Does anyone else remember the Princess Diana scandal – before she and Prince Charles were married – when she was photographed with the sun behind her and it was evident that she was NOT wearing a slip?
Now, she could be a former nude model and nobody would bat an eyelash…
hugs,
Janice
Jockey makes a product called ‘slip shorts’ that have long leg coverage. I wear them in place of a half slip and they provide a moisture barrier between hot legs in the summer. They are very lightweight and not constricting at all.
Here’s a link to these – they call them Skimmies! I swear by them…
https://shopstyle.it/l/bvTUr
hugs,
Janice
Janice,
I hope that your birthday was as wonderful as you ! Thanks for all that you provide ! You are the best !
Interesting to think about wearing summer dresses with sweaters. I like the idea but the ones I have would not necessarily work under sweaters. How would I buy differently so they would? Hmmm.
As for cotton and linen shirts — I really don’t like cotton shirts. I have some that work really well with my wardrobe but find I almost always choose something else. I just don’t like the feel of them. I wear my linen shirts well into fall but (due to my difficulty finding those that fit my petite, curvy, hourglass frame) they tend to be loose and large, worn like a sweater over a light tee, and don’t work under sweaters at all. I have three long-sleeved white ones, bought online on my quest to find a good fit, and I’ve thought about trying to alter one by narrowing the sleeves and adding front and back darts to fit my torso, with the goal of having a linen blouse I could wear under sweaters (not necessarily by itself) but have been a bit daunted by the idea. I may try it over the July 4 holiday — after all, I can sew, I have a machine, and I don’t need three LS white linen shirts. I don’t know how they would do under a sweater but would like to find out!
Such a fun experiment, and you’ll have a great fitting blouse at the end!
Happy birthday! I actually thought of you yesterday when I was on Facebook and had a “sponsored post” from Eileen Fisher. They had a lovely linen shirt dress and were asking readers how they would style it. (They had it over pants in a couple of photos)
As for the reader, if she sews or knows someone who does, or has a seamstress, I would recommend a tube of fabric sewn around the chain. Though I like the idea from above suggesting weaving or plaiting a scarf around it, too.
Happy birthday!
Thank you for each of your posts!
Happy Birthday! :)
Happy Birthday and thank you for all your inspirational posts! I have lots of linen but it has too much of a tropical feel to pair it with tights and boots, and I can’t even think about a heavy sweater in this heat. Maybe in September it will make more sense.
Happy Belated Birthday, Janice!?
I love the idea of taking linen beyond the summer months . . . I have a few linen pieces that I would definitely like to use more regularly. Must ponder how best to make this work.
Happy Birthday! I hope you had a perfect day. Wishing you all the best of everything in the coming year. Thanks for this post. It makes me very happy to think of the life of linen clothes being extended through creative dressing. Now I want a dress like that. I make most of my clothes, I will make one as I have a nice stash of linen.
Happy Birthday! I wear sweaters and sweatshirts over dresses all the time in the fall and winter. Since I rarely have to deal with extreme cold temps it’s often just enough. I do have to get the shape and length of the dress right. I keep a couple of slips available for preventing the Princess Di peek-a-boo look. But really try to get by with skivvies/biker shorts. I find them cooler as they prevent sweat from dripping down my legs when it’s unbearably hot! Learned this many years ago when only one bridesmaid at a summer wedding did not have a wet spot on the back of her dress. Also had no sweat running down her legs! Her mom clued us all in and I bought some unders the next week.
Happy birthday Janice! ? I hope you had a fabulous day! Thank you for the linen inspiration. I’ve been pondering the question of wearing linen in the cooler seasons for awhile, too. I really like the Parisienne idea of wearing summer dresses all year long with a change of accessories. You’ve given me so many great ideas to work with!
Happy birthday! My daughter bought a beautiful mauve rose silk bias cut dress to wear to her baby shower in the spring. She also wore it at Christmas with a black turtleneck and boots. She looked so sophisticated. I would love to copy that look.
I think if you are looking for linen to be multi-season then you need to look for a tighter weave. A lot of summer linen clothing is woven very loosely to allow air flow. If you hold the fabric up to the light you will get an idea of how tight the weave is. I have a jean-jacket style in a tightly woven olive linen, and I find it is multi seasonal. For more loosely woven fabrics, wear a camisole or t-shirt underneath for an extra layer.
Happy Birthday Janice, I hope you were able to celebrate a bit more publicly than last year! Dinner out perhaps? We are opening up a bit more here now.
I hope that you had an awesome birthday yesterday.
Re the crossbody bag. I always buy Baggalini. If they really want that current bag, perhaps consider having a matching strap made and change it out. I don’t think I would ever trust chain not to snag.
Happy Birthday Janice! I’m on the fence about the linen off season but I could not resist the black and white twinset. It is coming my way from Italy!
We booked a river cruise for October/November. If things work out, I will have my birthday in Paris and will wear my twinset and think of you!
Thank you for all you do!
Janice you Genius!!
First of all, your birthday is the same day as my BFF, so I will never forget it. Secondly, I have found gorgeous linen matching my planned wardrobes, but didn’t know the “rules” about seasons of wearing. You saved the day!
Many many happy returns of your day (so you can guide us into new seasons of life with wit and style). So glad to be following your blog.
I don’t wear linen because it requires too much maintenance (dislike wrinkled clothes), and for me, is scratchy. But I would never use anything other than a 100% linen tea towel to dry dishes. Absorbent, dry soooo fast.
Happy birthday!
Vetta Capsule just released a new all-linen capsule wardrobe, so it seems you are not alone in “rethinking” it.
Hi All-
The lady with the chain strap bag and lace top: I would check the chain for unclosed links. Then I would use clear or matching nail polish to closed the gaps and smooth any other rough areas.
This would probably only need to be worked once. Everything else worn with the bag would be safe. AND, she could enjoy the chain strap rather than hide it.
Happy belated birthday!
Versatile clothing that we can get maximum wear from makes sense. Linen wrinkles too easily for me and I look like a mess in it though. I favor jersey knit dresses for their low maintenance (as in they are machine wash, more wrinkle resistant) and for the very same reason you mention here- they can span seasons.
SShaw, I agree with you – I favor no-iron slightly heavier jersey dresses and wear them pretty much any season. My cardigans are generally longer so I can wear them with dresses and leggings. I love to fold laundry a la Marie Kondo, but am not a fan of ironing.
Fall in New England can be very warm, so I’ve packed up some Uniqlo linen shirts in fall colors. They can be worn until the holiday wardrobe kicks in.
“Picked” up, that was. But they get packed up too!
Happy Birthday Janice!
My favourite blog for sure.
Irene, Sydney
Happy belated birthday, Janice!
The only shirts I own are linen, and I do occasionally use them under sweaters! I find them much more comfortable than cotton ones, probably because they tend to be less restrictive and they help avoid overheating.
I also have a couple sundress I often wear in colder months: they’re both printed (one with pink flowers and one with… dinosaurs), but they have a dark background so they still work well over tights and under a soft sweater, and make my fall/winter wardrobe a bit more cheerful :)
Hope you had a wonderful birthday, dear Janice! Thanks for all you do.
Happy (un)birthday, Janice! I think linen shirt or a dark linen dress could be stretched into late spring or early fall easily.
Happy belated birthday, Janice! Thanks for all you do – it has really helped me make sense of my wardrobe. Your style of writing is so entertaining as well as informative. I look forward to reading your blog first thing with my coffee.
I love the chic sightings posts! I see a chic girl sitting on a bed in this post?
Happy birthday week!
Perhaps the purse chain could be encased with strips of tulle (fine netting). They would be easy to just braid over the chain.
Since I live in Florida, I have embraced linen and linen blends, as long as the other fiber isn’t polyester. Linen and rayon are fine. Living in Florida makes you unconcerned about wrinkles. For me, linen works year round. I was somewhat surprised to discover that my all linen pants were appropriate even in our occasional chilly weather. I guess it is like silk, adaptable.
A sleeveless shirt, linen or not, works under jackets and sweaters. That is the only time I wear sleeveless.
Happy birthday!
This is a great idea for the handbag chain… I’m so glad you shared this!
hugs,
Janice
Super late to this discussion, but I do love linen. I’m planning to make my own tank from linen, and eventually do a button-up that actually fits over my bust. I find linen to be much more hard-wearing than cotton, and a fabric that actually gets better with age. Fabrics-Store.com has linen in several weights and colors at reasonable prices (with loads of sales if you sign up for the mailing list): https://fabrics-store.com
If you’re interested in learning about linen, fabulous YouTuber sewing historian Nicole Rudolph has a terrific deep dive into types of linen and which to choose for different projects: https://youtu.be/SUTA7L_LNFw. (She currently also has similar videos on silk and cotton; I learned a lot!)