January 21, 2022
Heirloom Fruits
She’s been trying for years to bring older species of citrus fruit trees back into production. They’re beautiful, taste wonderful, and she loves them… Her work as a horticulturist gives her the perfect opportunity to introduce growers to them…
She worked at this for years as a sort of side theme to her normal work. Just when she thought it wasn’t worth the effort, it became apparent that these trees are MUCH better suited to droughts and super-hot weather spells.
And now, she’s being recognized, at the annual National Horticulturists Convention!
Ivory cashmere turtleneck – Lands’ End; earrings – With Love Darling; Acanthus scarf – PJ Studio Accessories; corduroy pants – Lands’ End; black quilted jacket – J.Crew; bracelets – Fierce Lynx Designs; watch – Skagen; tote – Staud; waterproof boots – Naturalizer
Now that she’s FINALLY getting to pack and make a trip, she realizes that she has been dressing with accents of lime and orange (as well as lemon yellow!) for decades. It wasn’t a conscious choice…
vibrant red (?) cashmere sweater – J.Crew; green flower earrings – Milou Jewelry; bird brooch – The Met Store; carnelian earrings – Auree Jewellery; black v-neck cashmere tunic – Lands’ End; floral blouse – Sandro; Ivory tee shirt – Lands’ End; acid green skirt – Attic and Barn; black ponte knit pants – Eileen Fisher; ivory & black cardigan- Intermix; scarf – ImageDiary; ballet flats – Vince Camuto; bag – J.Renee; orange loafers – Massimo Matteo
What fun! She wonders if anyone will notice that she’s dressed in citrus colors?
She does hesitate for just a moment – is she really going to be able to get dressed with this somewhat unusual assortment of garments?
Not to worry!
She’s particularly smitten with the idea of wearing her black sweater and green skirt to the awards dinner; nobody will be expecting that shock of acid lime green when she walks up onto the platform to accept her award!
Surprising is good…
love,
Janice
p.s. Six years ago, we were packing black and white with hot pink and purple! Black and white can be the base for almost anything, in my world.
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Yess!!!! a little unusual, a little spicy and a little unexpected!
<3 <3 <3
It’s fun to see your inspirations and how they become a wardrobe and a story. Or, maybe I should say “a story and a wardrobe”.
Which comes first? (It’s like asking a songwriter, “What comes first: the lyrics or the melody?”)
This wardrobe is zazzy without being overly intense. My only hesitation is seeing her plan to wear the waterproof boots with the floaty skirt to the awards ceremony. But maybe that’s her thing.
Dress Janice, WHEN are you going to write a book about all these fabulius and inspiring heroines?
Once again, you have created a fabulous wardrobe! I love the color combo and for me, I would substitute the black with navy. HAPPY that Allison at Lynx is now creating bracelets with gold instead of silver. I have ordered at least 20 of her pieces because they are so beautiful, but ended up giving away them as gifts as I prefer the gold over silver.
Another WIN!
Thank you!
Susan
❤️ ❤️ ❤️!!! This is a genius solution to wardrobizing the LL Bean men’s flannel shirt I just bought – in these colors!! Yesssss!!!
Love the unexpected citrus colors with black and ivory! Love the story as well. You have such a crazy wonderful imagination. Your posts are always interesting and fun to read.
Happy Friday all!
Yum! Love these colors and love your clothing choices for this wardrobe.
I’m wondering if I can work this in my black Tree of Life scarf wardrobe…. certainly looks as though I can. I also do have some orange-red and green pieces that would work with it – though I was thinking of ditching all the orange-red in my closet…. decisions.. Have a great weekend everyone!
I love those colours! Not on me but on someone with a more autumnal glow. Clothes can tell stories and spark our imagination. I’ve become a Fierce Lynx devotee.
Beautiful wardrobe! I have these same colors in my home decor. We repainted the entire house a few years ago using lots of yellow, orange and green. When we were finished painting and I was admiring the effect my eye happened to fall on our pet parrot and I realized where the inspiration for my color choices had come from. Google “caique parrot” to see.
Haha, that parrot fits right into your home and this wardrobe!
I am not sure why you are so strongly pushing these Lynx bracelets. On your recommendation I ordered a couple and they were not of good quality and nothing like the colors in the photos and the sizing on a special order wasn’t right. The bracelet was something a school girl might wear. HOWEVER, they were fairly nice about returns. I was so disappointed.
Do you own this company?
A dear friend owns it; I’m very sorry that you weren’t happy with your bracelets. Many of us enjoy wearing them and seeing the amazing color combinations and ideas that she shares with us.
hugs,
Janice
One of my bracelets arrived with a cracked bead. I emailed Allison with a picture and asked her to send a replacement bead so I could restring it myself. Allison sent a new bracelet! Now that’s excellent customer service. You won’t find personal attention like that from employees at your big box stores. Thanks Janice for these posts. Keep them coming!
I really like the Fierce Lynx bracelets. I was not a fan of bracelets in general, but wanted to try something other than scarves for accents as I live in a hot climate. I am small boned so I like the fact that they fit well, don’t flop around, and are natural gemstones. Allison also made one of the bracelets in gold rather than silver for my sister as a get well gift and shipped it out in a day or so. I like supporting small businesses so along with the quality and customer service, this is a win for me.
I have to admit, I was rather disappointed in my first set. That being said, there are realities in how your monitor displays color, as well as enhanced lighting for photographs and the natural variations in stone which may mean that what you see might not be exactly what you get. That’s true in clothing and scarf colors as well. I’ve ordered several more Fierce Lynx bracelets since then and just love each and every one. I wear bracelets frequently to draw attention away from my old lady arms, and these have just been a wonderful find for me. I especially appreciate that they are the natural stones and have come to enjoy their individual variances.
I like this unusual color palette and the way the acid brights work with the black and white. But I feel some kind of tension between the graphic high-contrast and soft/muted prints somehow…specifically the black/white cardigan vs. the floral blouse + scarves that have such a different feel. The more I look, the more that cardigan looks out of place with the other pieces, though I can readily imagine a capsule with the cardigan also, just switching out the soft prints for more striking ones. The bracelets have a graphic feel but I think could work very well with more muted prints also. When I see a small capsule, I find myself wondering “who is this woman?” and one part of that is a sense of her appearance. The pieces/outfits in this one are challenging me there. Of course my won closet is absolute chaos so I’m no one to judge! But I do know that I would wear the floral blouse + green skirt outfit while the colorblock black and white outfit would wear me, for example. Maybe I have an unwarranted assumption that small capsule wardrobes will both be cohesive and suit their owner’s physicality. It makes me curious about how different people prioritize various aspects of capsule wardrobes when building/tweaking/maintaining them.
Sally in St. Paul,
A long time ago, I learned that bright or high contrast combinations overpower my personal coloring, so I modify examples shown here . For instance, if I were to choose a monochromatic outfit in a range of values of brown, the darkest value would be a medium dark one, not the very darkest of them. My lightest value would be a medium light , and I would always include a truly medium value to bridge the two . So what I am doing is moving away from the two extremes of light and dark .
Also, all of my accent colors have a muted quality about them . If I try on a bright color and you see the color instead of my face first, then that color is too bright for me. But I do use Janice’s posts for inspirations and then change them to what works best for me .
That makes a lot of sense, Shrebee. Perhaps it would help me wrap my mind around some of the combos I find odd if I think about the capsule providing a range in which people might choose what works for them and modifies other pieces as needed. Thanks for the response!
Shrebee, you’ve summed up my approach as well! I could never wear these colours and I don’t favour high contrast unless I have to. I always look at photos of me wearing high contrast and the clothes dominate.
So when a post comes along like this I mentally swap the colours that would suit me. In this case a light navy, salmon pink and light green. I have a floral blouse with those colours. I wear the blouse with navy trousers and either a light green or salmon pink cardigan. Then I would just add additional tops/tees/blouses, trousers/skirt and cardigans/jumpers to make a capsule. I even have a green satin skirt.
My accessories would be similar but in different colours. Instead of birds, my motif is butterflies.
Ditto! Can’t possibly add to this, you’v said it perfectly!
Good further thinking, Sally !
I agree about the cardigan Sally. It’s too geometric compared to the other items which contain curves and more muted tones. A plain cardigan I think would look better. Somehow the black stripes are too harsh and distracting.
I absolutely love and appreciate this combination. It reflects the main colors in my home and made me smile!
Interesting! When I saw the bracelet and “black red green” I thought of the pan-African unity colors. But your take on the shades of green and red – more muted olive & persimmon, inspired by your fruit tree story maybe- does not give the impression of the PAU colors – it is definitely it’s own unique look now.
Great! Way to take something known and make it different!
The skirt is lovely. It would be kind of fun to see it make another appearance in another capsule just to see more possible ways to style it. Can we take this through more than one season? Go from nice to really dressy in it? How hard can this item work in a wardrobe? Or maybe it’s an item that you wear repeatedly without much variation, but you get away with it because it’s just so beautiful.
Love it. It’s unusual and visually interesting from the muted citrus shades combined with black & beige. I really enjoy the Fierce Lynx bracelet inspired posts. I never know what to expect but they work.
Meeting a person who would choose a wardrobe like this would surely be interesting.
Quiet rebel. Stubbornly individualistic would be what I would think.
At first glance, I thought that green purse was a halter top! My first thought was – wow, Janice, you are really pushing the envelope this time! Once I realized it was a bag, I don’t know how I could have thought it was a top.
Hi Janice! Your heroine DOES deserve an award for rescuing heirloom produce ☺. Good on her to wear the ‘acid green’ skirt (plus boots). I think it might be a little too flashy for me so I might substitute a more subtle shade (sage? olive?).