December 22, 2021
THESE are so lovely:
And these bracelets have given our heroine the perfect inspiration for her upcoming travel:
Probably Gone for Months…
They tell her. She’s going to visit at least a dozen cities, and depending on who wants to meet with her, she could stay for almost a week in each city! Oh my…
Tee shirt – Lands’ End; anemone crystal earrings – Magda Butrym; pants – L.L.Bean; cashmere cardigan – L.L.Bean; blue medusa silk scarf – RE:SIN; gold watch – Olivia Burton; tote bag – Thacker; loafers – G.H.Bass
And she really won’t have time, nor inclination, to think about getting dressed! Further, she’s hopeful that the publicity photographs from this tour will reflect an image of her as consistent, serious, but not grumpy…
So she built herself a uniform! A navy column, five sweaters, and she’s ready to go!
Tank top – Lands’ End; tee shirts – Lands’ End; long-sleeved tee shirt – Lands’ End; turtlenecks – Lands’ End; rubellite and cloudy blue heather cashmere cardigans – Lands’ End; grey and pink cashmere v-neck sweaters – Nordstrom; jeans – J.Crew; navy pleated skirt – Come On; navy knit cord pants – L.L.Bean
The tank tops, tee shirts, and turtlenecks will all pack into 1 packing “sleeve.” They go with all 4 of her bottoms. They can be worn with all 5 of her sweaters!
Now, for the bare minimum of accessories – she wants to look a bit interesting, but she doesn’t want anyone to spend too much time wondering about her scarves or earrings…
Floral and plaid silk square – Jessica Russell Flint; blue crystal earrings- Swarovski; bright pink flower earrings – Milou Jewelry; grey pearl earrings – Chan Luu; pale pink flower earrings – Bounkit; pink floral scarf – Rebecca Minkoff; gold tiny hoop earrings – Sterling Forever; green & blue wool shawl – Saz Mifsud; navy ballet flats – Ara; gold & pearl necklace – Charter Club; boots – Spring Step
She has to leave early in the morning; before she starts to carefully fold and tuck it all into her bag, she steps back for a second to evaluate her choices…
She knows that when she’s on the road, she will have time to shop. If she needs sandals, or… What does she need? Right now, nothing!
She feels pretty confident that she will be able to get dressed and then forget about clothes until she has to take them off at the end of the day!
Shopping? I would buy myself a scarf, after about a month…
love,
Janice
p.s. Remember, Christmas Eve is when I’m going to introduce the new scarves for 2022… I hope you love them!
p.p.s. Five years ago, I shared the 2nd of 3 wardrobes that I created, based upon a Marc Chagall painting. (the first one is here, the 3rd one is here)
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Merry Christmas, Janice and all your readers! Your efforts are always appreciated and your column is the first thing I look for in the moorings. So much nicer than starting with the news.
This wardrobe is just what I pack. Except for scarves. I’ve never learned to be comfortable wearing scarves. I feel like I’m playing dress up. So to relieve the monotony of solids I bring a couple of drape neck print tops that go with the sweater colors as well as the bottoms.
Me when I saw those anemone earrings: Please, please, please, let them be cheap! Alas, it was not to be. LOL! I particularly love the first set with the navy and seafoam. Maybe, just maybe, I can get the scarf. Love a navy column with the seafoam!
Merry Christmas!
Well, this wardrobe certainly coordinates with the lovely bracelet! I’m not quite sure I like the minty green cardigan with the dark column, but that’s just a personal thing. The Saz Mifsud scarf is just gorgeous, wish it weren’t so pricey! I loved it the first time you used it in a previous post. So looking forward to Christmas Eve and the big reveal. Have a good day everyone!
A column of color works well for me, not only when I was fortunate enough to travel but in my everyday closet as well. As I age and grey, I’m transitioning my navy column to grey. I’ve become more selective about sweaters: choosing colors that work with my features , interest with a textured knit, a buttoned cardigan and a pullover. I prefer dresses, so I’d give up one of the tees and skirt for a dress . Ever conservative, I’d prefer the dark wash classics jeans from the j.crew site. These scenarios are so helpful in keeping my own pared down wardrobe, I appreciate the exercise, especially when I think about adding a new piece or evaluating why I go for the same few pieces.Thank you
Have we met this photographer heroine before?
Thank you Janice, for a stunningly beautiful collection. So easy to wear and beautifully coordinated. I have everything in my wardrobe to hand.
Although I do wonder whether our heroine might tire of a completely navy core? I might include an ivory tee and an ivory polo-neck or even an alternative light grey core, just to add variety. The scarves and jewellery are gorgeous but I might also add a couple of other necklaces and a bracelet other than the Resourceful bracelets. I can never travel light!
Love the look backs too. Having 3 or 4 posts for the same painting help to develop a wardrobe over 3 or four seasons.
I can’t wait for Christmas Eve and the Big Scarf Reveal. I hope that you have made life easy for yourself and dont include scarves with clashing colours.
I always love the wardrobes Janice creates for my bracelets but I absolutely adore this one and would wear every single piece, except possibly the pale pink sweater as it would likely wash out my pale face. I love, love, love the navy core and I wish I had owned that entire travel outfit when I was hopping on flights every week 7 years ago. Absolutely brilliant Janice!
Hi Alison
This lovely bracelet is on it’s way to me! I have several of your bracelets (started collecting when you did the very first one for the Vivienne Files) and each one is prettier than the last. I love wearing them and mixing and matching. Thank you so much for sharing your art. Have a wonderful holiday.
Aw, thank you so much! I still have to pinch myself that my “little side business” has become such an important part of my life over the past 3 years. A huge part of that has been thanks to Janice and her fabulous group of readers. I look forward to seeing the wardrobes Janice comes up with every month and I CAN’T WAIT to see the next batch of scarves! Have a wonderful holiday season!
I love this collection! In my life – I might swap 1 set of the navy tops for a set of Ivory and add a clutch purse for dinner but that is it! I love sweaters and tend to purchase them in accent colors vs neutrals. The accessories are beautiful. Really well done Janice. Bravo!
Just perfect, I‘m on my way….
Love this!! Precisely what I need for travel this summer (please, please, let it be possible). Would you consider doing this in lighter fabrics?
Have a very blessed Christ-mas Janice and all the ladies!! I LOVE the navy in this wardrobe but otherwise the colors are simply too cool for me!! I would want double the bottoms or an additional straight navy skirt!! I wouldn’t wear the beat up denim but a dark denim would be nice!! Otherwise it was very pretty and practical!!
This is a terrific wardrobe. Here in my cold climate, it’s the second layer that shows. I may as well wear all my navy underneath, and I do! Wonderful travel wardrobe. Thanks, Janice.
What a brilliant wardrobe. I love the colors and completely forgot about the navy core…. This is such a great reminder and visual treat. Thank you!!
Love this wardrobe, but it needs some lighter tops to layer. Since you have 8 dark tees/tanks I would swap out one of each for a lighter color. I would use pink, ivory, white and gray. You can’t go wrong with the tops from Landsend, I’ve been a very satisfied customer since the 80’s. If I ever get to travel again I’ll try this out. Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a Happy new year.
Everything is lovely! The only switch for me would be the green cardigan and those turtlenecks ( I loath mint green/sea foam and cotton turtlenecks but that’s a personal choice) So my next thought is…gone for twelve weeks ok…how is that cashmere going to hold up? I am sure it won’t disintegrate but what if she spills something on it or it just gets funky..they will have to be dry cleaned unless the heroine is ok to do some heavy sweater maintenance in her hotel room. I refuse to dry clean anything anymore especially clothing I wear next to my skin. Is cashmere ( and so much of it) really practical for such a long trip? I went away for three days took two cashmere sweaters and was fine but was heading home. I am a ‘hottie’ so wear only my bra underneath my sweaters can’t do tee shirts etc. I own a lot of cashmere so rotate and air to ensure they are not washed too much also they are not my quotidian garments. This is a fabulous wardrobe for work but I would rethink so much cashmere for extended travel.
On to other topics, I hope Omicron has not found Chicago as it has found us here in Canada! Due for a possible lock down over the next few days, the devil is doubling daily forcing us back to limited holiday contacts:( regardless, we are bred to be resilient so Merry Christmas and thank you for your wonderful blog and the work you do to get it going! My New Years decision is to reduce my blog reading to three or four…your’s made the cut!! So much practical advice and dedication to your work!!
I am a fan of the classic “neutral column + accent color topper + print scarf” outfit formula, and I enjoyed seeing it play out with such a lovely color palette of navy + cool tones with that gorgeous bracelet! Like some other commenters, I have ideas about how I might tweak this for myself…especially with regard to having an alternative to the navy column by making some strategic substitutions for the second navy top in each style.
I like that 5 sweaters means she can wear a different one each work day when she is staying somewhere for a week (though I don’t know whether photographers follow a 5 day work week, that’s the mental model I’d be using for myself). I know that I would tire of the formula after not very long, but for a heroine who wants to look put together with very little day to day effort, it’s a good formula!
I am definitely going to take this approach and work through it with my own wardrobe using a navy column! I’m also going to think about it with alternative color palettes because it’s an idea that could easily translate across palettes.
I am very excited about the new scarves for a New Year!
I love this! One of my favorites so far. The streamlined simplicity and yet completeness for a travel wardrobe is perfection.
Happiest of holidays to Janice and TVF family. Through these posts and your comments, we’ve leaned and shared and weathered a pretty strange two years.
Janice, your superpower is putting together beautiful, yet practical, capsules. And your extra-superpower is finding accessories. I’m kind of dazzled by all you selected today. I’m a scarf fan (still wearing some from 30 years ago) but those flower earrings are sublime!?
The navy column base is just my style. Love that blue medusa scarf! Wishing you and yours a most Merry and Blessed Christmas, Janice.
The blue Medusa scarf is gorgeous!!!
Can’t wait to see what scarves you have in store for us for next year!
This is my favorite wardrobe yet!
This wardrobe is brilliant, but I am especially excited about the upcoming scarf post because I intend to follow along with TVF and build a new wardrobe in 2020 that reflects some lifestyle changes.
A simple yet lovely capsule! I’m guessing the tanks, turtlenecks and long sleeve tees are navy and black.
Actually, they’re all navy, to match the navy “bottoms.” My goal was to give our heroine enough options to spend a couple of days somewhere warmish, or anything cooler down to something short of a blizzard! Since she’s going to be inside, being interviewed, she will always be in a heated or air-conditioned environment, but she’s still going to want to have a variety of layers to wear with her sweaters.
This year, I’m all about solid columns with an accent 2nd layer! My wardrobe is a shrine to the black tee shirt…
hugs,
Janice
Happy holidays to Janice and all readers! May you all have an enjoyable time with your loved ones.
I would love this with some some soft grey column, all skirts and perhaps a nice dress.
Both the inspiration and the resulting wardrobe are so lovely! I am hopelessly in love with that medusa scarf, even though I don’t wear navy. The design is just delightful!
The only things I would change would be to make the jewelry silver instead of gold, trade the jeans for a knee-length skirt, and replace the booties with knee high boots.