September 8, 2021
Bird Watching, of a Sort…
She started with this – it was an irresistible urge to own this scarf that got it all rolling…
The color palette was pretty obvious – she already had plenty of grey and navy with which to work…
Her only plans for her trip are to sit in a cafe, or a restaurant, or outside a museum, and watch the world go by. Bird watching – if you use the term “bird” to refer to young women!
She just wants to see youth, and individuality, and distinctive personal style as worn by the women of her favorite city. She’s happy to just look appropriate, and be warm and comfortable!
So she starts with her travel outfit:
Grey sweater-blazer – J.Crew; swallow earrings – Lee Renee; gingham shirt – J.Crew; navy pants – L.L.Bean; watch – Tissot; bracelet – Kendra Scott; loafers – ARA; backpack – Rains
She doesn’t really know how much she can get into her suitcase, so she decides that packing 1 thing at a time is the only way to make it all work.
First, she knows that she will definitely want a clean top!
After lots of navy, and her favorite grey cardigan, she’s ready for an accent color! A cashmere crewneck can be worn either as a 2nd layer over her gingham shirt, or on its own…
For garment number 6, another pair of pants! Warm, soft, comfortable…
Now, she’s ready for her 2nd accent color! Nothing elaborate or complicated, just a simple teal tee shirt…
She pauses… it’s going to be cool, but not terribly cold at her destination. Another cardigan seems like the logical next step – especially in her 2nd neutral!
She wasn’t sure about a skirt, but after she thought about it a few minutes, she realized that she will be just as comfortable in this skirt, with tights and flats, as she might be in pants!
And it opens the possibility to go for a more posh dinner than otherwise…
There’s STILL room in her bag — woo hoo! This is a perfect opportunity to pack a really fun sweater that she may not have considered earlier…
She takes another pause, and looks over everything in her bag. With the exception of her gingham shirt, everything is solid! Well, her teal sweater isn’t exactly solid, but it isn’t really a print either…
This is one BIG suitcase, she realizes. Does she want to shift to a smaller bag, or add in a couple more garments?
She’s already planned to check her bag, and to take a taxi to the hotel, so she sticks with her big-ish bag, and starts looking for something in her grey neutral that will be versatile.
A v-neck sweater? She can wear it over her button-front shirts, or by itself. Into the bag it goes!
There’s still room for 1 more thing! Maybe a dress? Or another skirt? But she looks at her teal tee shirt, and realizes that she really WANTS to wear teal with her new favorite scarf…
So the matching cardigan goes into the bag…
As she leans over to zip up her suitcase, she stops to think about the 10 pieces inside, and the 3 hanging on the back of the bathroom door to be worn tomorrow:
And she smiles! If someone else is also people-watching, they might spot her and admire…
love,
Janice
p.s. Six years ago we considered some possibilities for wearing floral garments with a core of black. It still works!
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I really like this new method of showing the styling alternatives precisely as each extra piece is added, Janice. It’s very helpful for thinking in terms of firm choices rather than vague possibilities. Although, sadly, too muted for me, this is a lovely autumnal colour scheme. And its great that you could actually walk in these clothes.
After being blown away by this scarf in pink and black wardrobes last year, I am so pleased that you’ve revisited this scarf in a different colourway.
Navy and grey are the backbone of my autumn/winter wardrobe. Teal and burgundy/wine are two of my accents which I plan to emphasise this year.
I’d love to see more accessories with this wardrobe. I have just bought a burgundy bag and I have a teal one too. The burgundy one has several useful zipped pockets so bits and pieces are organised. This will be my everyday bag replacing my well used but battered pewter grey bag. The great thing is that it is tall enough to be able to carry a bottle of water upright!
Adding one piece at a time and showing a few possibilities is a very helpful idea. When the heroine began to think in terms of a big suitcase, I wondered how much she was taking. Then realising that all those possibilities use just 10 items is mind-blowing and reassuring at the same time.
I’m all for floral and paisley prints (look back) which I tend to wear on my top half. Last year, I bought several floral tees and polonecks. One was a burgundy tee with a paisley pattern made up of tiny pink and teal flowers. This is a good piece to bridge the accents in this wardrobe.
I love this! I could pack these and be quite happy. In fact, I looked at this sweater a month or so ago, but ultimately decided not to add it to my wardrobe. And that scarf! I have always loved it since first introduced. I agree the format of showing alternative ways of wearing each garment as added is helpful. Thanks Janice.
These colours and that scarf are perfect! It never ceases to amaze me how so few well-chosen pieces can create so many outfits.
That’s why I don’t get bored with blogging – there are always so many ways to think about wardrobes…
hugs,
Janice
This color palette in this scarf is so appealing. By adding one or two gray sweaters and a berry tee, I believe I can pull together something very similar to this wardrobe and feel ready for fall and winter. Last winter, I lived almost entirely in flannel shirts, tees, and jeans. I need to change that up this year, even if I am mostly at home.
I appreciate your continuing to challenge us to think about how we can create a variety of pleasing looks with a limited number of pieces.
Hope you back is settling down.
I am going through this very exercise right now. Navy, dark denim and grey are my base neutrals and I’m adding shades of blue but have been struggling for another accent. We have a short trip coming up to attend a celebration of life for a dear friend. It has time also has a few days with family so I need some play with the grandkids clothing as well. My packing and my wardrobe are easier, more cohesive and less stressful since I found your blog. Thank you very much Janice.
I am a cardigan girl, an avid VF follower and this post is now a favourite for me. It’s so pretty and practical. We’ve all become familiar with this beautiful scarf and this post celebrates it.
I think I could actually get away with bringing just this one pair of shoes. Great on the plane, great for walking, just dressy enough with the patent leather to feel special going out to dinner.
When I pack a suitcase, cardigans take up a lot of room so it’s a juggling game whether or not to take more. I love that you have embraced all things cozy and packed in the sweaters. However, for me, I would switch out the cranberry and grey sweaters and put in cotton or merino wool, cranberry and grey, long sleeved t shirts, which could be worn under (or over) all the other pieces.
Thanks for all the cardigans today!
Thank you Janice! Exactly perfect and lots of this is already in my closet!
I absolutely LOVE the scarf, the color scheme, the method and the whole wardrobe!
Thank you for the perfect start of the season!
Love these colors! This is great food for thought as we plan a visit to New England in a couple of weeks. It does seem like sweaters would take up a lot of space in the suitcase, and living in Florida, I have very few sweaters anyway. Any thoughts on how to substitute?
Carol, as a transplanted New Englander I would recommend layers. Depending on how many weeks from now you travel, how easily you get cold, and how far north you are going, you might be fine with a button-up shirt (similar to the gingham and floral ones in this post) over either a short or long-sleeved t shirt. Michelle suggested a vest in a comment below, another layer that’s not a sweater. In the mountains, later in October, in the evenings, or just if the weather turns cold, a sweater or fleece (or down jacket–sporting goods stores sell packable ones) might really be your best bet. Check the weather forecasts close to your travel dates, wear a sweater on the plane (they’re often cold!), and consider buying any extras you might need at your destination if you really don’t want to pack a sweater.
Janice, I’ll be honest. I didn’t expect to like this ardrobe capsule. I couldn’t have been more rong!! I LOVE this capsule!! I only ear skirts so that ill change but no problem. All of those are in my closet already!! The red, teal and grey is gorgeous ith navy blue!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! Just gorgeous teal variated seater!!
Janice, Pleeesse add accessories!! Thank you!!
Janice, So disappointed! The pullover teal seater a LL. Bean isn’t in my size but the cardigan does and I love cardigans!
Another brilliant and inspiring post. I also really like the step by step expansion process. I tried it out with my own colors, and I think I’m finally getting the hang of what you’ve been teaching us. One thing I notice is that the finished thing aligns with the 4×4 grid, only with a few empty cells. But I sort of worked it down the columns, and found that considerably easier than going across the rows. This is the most versatile and minimal travel wardrobe I’ve ever put together. I don’t wear skirts or dresses, and always wear 3 layers, so I ended up with 3 bottoms (1 is jeans), 4 tops (2 solid, 1 stripe, 1 pattern), 2 tops that could be 3rd layers (a button shirt and a pullover), and 3, 3rd layers (1 cardi, 1 jacket and 1 drapey shawl). Only 12 items, including my travel outfit. I could add a top or two if I don’t want to do washing…or buy something new…that is, assuming travel ever gets safe enough for my trip!
Sadly the link to th dotted turtleneck doesn’t seem to be working. Lovely collection although if it was me I would add a dress. Going to the U.K next week so will keep you in mind when I pack.
Lovely wardrobe! Thank you for reminding us of the beauty of this scarf. I’m dreaming of adding the teal version to my closet and creating a wardrobe based on a palette of chocolate brown, ivory, teal, red, aqua, and russet/cognac. I also really like the one piece at a time format and was inspired to work through on paper the possibilities in my own wardrobe. It certainly helps me see that I have more outfit options than I realize.
This is a lovely wardrobe for a fall trip! The scarf has been increasingly calling my name, but in the pink colorway. As always, however, I find your ideas adaptable to individual preferences. That’s what makes your blog stand out from all others! Thank you for continuing to inspire us.
OH, I sympathize with the temptation of the pink scarf! I feel like we should both just grab it; they’re not going to carry it forever, I’m afraid…
hugs,
Janice
Loving this approach to demonstrating the thought process in adding items to the wardrobe. A great way to pack indeed. Thank you so much for making things so clear. This demonstration will be very useful to me as I build my totally lacking fall wardrobe. It is the most deficient season of my closet, probably because the traditional fall colors are not my best. You are a wonder!
Love this scarf, color palette, and individual choices here–very well done! I think this add-a-piece method would work very well for those situations in which you have a few items you know you want to bring but aren’t sure where to go from there.
Exactly!
I love this! These are my colours, although grey is a fairly recent addition as my hair gets a little greyer. Love this palette for fall and winter. I’m a cardigan girl too so these ones are tempting!
Oh jeez, I love this! I am planning an 8 day trip at the end of the month, which will be causal in nature, and this will help me pull together a similar wardrobe. Picture fall leaves, searching for the perfect apple pie, and a short road trip with sisters and sis-in-law.
One good addition for those not wanting to pack as many cardigans or sweaters is a mid weight vest. Eddie Bauer has a microtherm one in charcoal heather and peacock, which would work with this wardrobe. I have one in black, and use it as a single layer over a long sleeved T, or as an added extra layer under a thin jacket for extra warmth. Thanks again Janice.
This is my work color scheme, year round. I need to replace my teal and red pants. They’re hard colors to find and I wear them out when I do!
Hope you find some replacements. Perhaps buy multiple pairs if you’re confident in maintaining your shape.
Chadwicks of Boston has some pants in teal right now.
This scarf is so very tempting……..
Wanted ask if you could do a post on shoes? I’m entering a different phase in life as I injured me knee pretty badly past year. I’m having a hard time finding flat shoes that has a wide toe box and has good orthopedic support. Any suggestions?
If you are in the UK, I can recommend DB Shoes
https://www.widerfitshoes.co.uk/
The shoes have a deep toe box, removable insoles to get the fit right or put in orthopaedic insoles and provide good support.
They do ship abroad but you would have to enquire about costs.
Hi Janice (and other readers).
I notice that you often suggest wearing a sweater without a layer underneath. I have always been hesitant to do this because I have assumed that the neckline of the sweater would quickly get soiled from contact with my skin. I always wear a collared shirt underneath. A cotton shirt is much easier to wash than a cashmere sweater.
But perhaps I am wrong… would anyone care to reassure me that my sweaters won’t need to be washed after a few wears?
Love this. I would change the light teal for white or for a light denim blue for myself, but otherwise I would wear this as is!!
Sweaters will have to be laundered after a couple of wearing with nothing underneath, but I’ve always washed my cashmere sweaters in the washer. I figure if the fiber came from a goat that spent a lot of time outdoors, it can’t be THAT fragile.
For what it’s worth, I have at least 1 sweater that I bought in the 1990’s…
hugs,
Janice
Thanks for your reply. Good point about it being made to be a hard-wearing fibre! One difference between the hair on a goat/sheep and the fibre in a sweater could be that the living hair is having it’s natural oils continuously replenished. I could of course use the lanolin wash that I use occasionally for our wool socks.
Meg
Hi MegMoo,
Thinking about it I suppose you are right. If we look at historical outfits the shirt, chemise and petticoats were all about keeping the body and the body oils away from the very expensive and difficult to launder fabrics such as silks and fine wool. The more I look at vintage clothing I can see this persisted in every day wear probably until the sixties and seventies when nylon came along which was so easy to launder. Being a child of the 70’s I can just remember wearing a half slip/petticoat with skirts and dresses. You will keep your clothes better and longer with less launder required, personally I can’t get along with two layers of fabric that catch each other and then cling where I don’t want and buttons that you can see the shape of under your fine knit jumper/sweater that change the silhouette. I keep trying layering but one of the fabrics has to be super slippery, I can do shape wear underneath but not cotton.
Took me ages to finally give in, I have a few button up shirts, one in gingham brushed cotton, in my wardrobe that I’m desperately trying to figure out how to wear but so far it’s not working. The green silk one I can do. Lesson learned
Julie in Melbourne
Hi Julie.
Yes, I have seen this a lot in historical dress, and it makes a lot of sense. I even like to make sure that my shirt sleeves are longer than my jumper sleeves to protect the jumper, both from my skin and from everything else that my cuffs are exposed to during my day-to-day activities.
A half-slip is basically an under-skirt, isn’t it? Last winter I did wear double skirts a few times and it was much warmer and smoothed out a lot of the bumpy bits.
Have you tried putting a tight singlet on top of your shirt, and then the jumper on top? It works quite well to flatten the shirt, but does look odd if you get too hot and have to take the jumper off. Perhaps a snug vest would be better.
Meg
Hi MegMoo,
Great idea, I also have some spanx singlets I could put over a shirt to tame it. Jumper and Singlet/spanx can come off together if it gets that warm,
Thanks for the tip.
Julie in Melbourne
Hope it works for you :)
I recently bought a bodysuit that is made of t-shirt material but also has a collar made of a woven fabric. It has a few buttons at the top but otherwise very smooth. It was 2nd hand so I can’t link to it, but there is sure to be a website out there.
Meg
Megmoo I often wear a scarf on my neckline.
One of my favourite pullovers is a cream cotton fisherman knit that I don’t like to wash too often and makeup will stain the collar area which I hate. My scarves are usually a print and often a richer colour that doesn’t pick up makeup easily.
I wore it yesterday with a cranberry tone on tone silk chiffon scarf in the neck.
Regarding washing wool and cashmere I often use my shampoo in the sink, rinse and use my hair conditioner as a final step before rinsing that out. It makes the sweaters extra soft and silky plus it smells lovely. I figure hair is hair. I put them into my front load washer for that final rinse and spin with extra spin time to get the water out as much as possible- then dry flat.
I lay them on towels on our beds and put a fan on blowing across them to dry faster.
I don’t bother washing unless a stain happens (scarves also function as bibs in my world) so for wool and cashmere that’s at the season end. If I’m wearing a cotton T-shirt underneath it doesn’t pick up too much and wool airs out nicely between wearing. I don’t spray perfume on my sweaters either- that does create a stale perfume smell which I detest.
There you are- I’ve aired my dirty laundry secrets?
I wear camisoles 365 days of the year. Some are cotton, some are a slick nylon, neutral colors, some specific colors to my wardrobe, some scoop neck, some vee-neck. I own many but they get worn all the time. In cooler months I can wear more than once. I live in TX so for several months of the year they get changed daily! If I’m going out I do the smell test and may change . It definitely helps my clothes stay fresher.
The look back to the slot machine was a major ahah moment when I first saw it. So that was why I couldn’t put together an outfit. I had patterns in all the rows and not enough plains to make up the rest of an outfit. Over time I’ve realised I like pattern too much too keep it to just one row so I need the full range of plain clothes. That said if I was tall and willowy I would be tempted with the last column of florals, it would be very Etro style, they are the masters of pattern mixing. I recently found a pair of Etro silk pants in an Op shop/thrift store for $10 not my size but I couldn’t leave them behind….. maybe one day….clothing goals
Julie in Melbourne
Like many others, I too really like this way of showing options for each additions. I loved these colors and realized that they were darker options of my spring and summer grey with pink and blue. I’m packing for a trip to a wedding – I’m thinking this provided a pattern of packing that will work well for events except for the wedding itself. I’d really like to shop my closet for that but am stymied by the description of “fancy chill”. Janice can you, or anyone else, explain this to me? Would a black skirt and silk blouse work? Help!!
People who come up with phrases like ‘fancy chill’ should really explain themselves. I’d be asking the lady host what she will be wearing. Silk, satin or something with subtle sparkle would probably work but in a relaxed style. Perhaps you could even wear crepe or satin trousers.
Lace would work too if you want a bit of pattern. I recently wore a cream lace blouse dotted with crystals and pearls with a navy crepe skirt to a special anniversary party.
Thank you Beth, these are helpful suggestions. The lady host is the mother of the bride – She is wearing a long evening gown that I would not describe as chill so no help there!
This is fabulous! Love the ombré sweater – don’t see how you will be able to resist the colorblock version of this sweater and won’t be surprised to see it in a future post. ?
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/124046?page=womens-signature-cotton-funnelneck-sweater-colorblock&qs=3080290_J84DHJLQkR4-4LlWuLprywJzkD41dwVGvQ&cvosrc=Affiliate.linkshare.J84DHJLQkR4
I’m hoping you’re feeling all better after you had back aches.
This seems like such a nice method for packing, thank you for creating endless examples so we can learn. I recently took an improvised week long trip where I did everything wrong. It was the first trip after starting reading your blog, which by the way has been long enough, but I did not prepare well for it and ended up taking one pair of pants and a skirt. It was too cold for me to wear a skirt once we got there. I had also thought I could just buy bottoms there, since I’ve been low on bottoms and it’s a plan of mine to choose carefully what to buy. But I did not find anything that I especifically liked, and so I had to wear the same pants all trip! Never again…