February 7, 2022
Ah, this garment is right on schedule, since I’m sitting here in a black tee shirt, black velvet jeans, and a black and white plaid flannel shirt. I only own 2, and they’re both black and white plaid – sort of perfect for my wardrobe. But there are all KINDS of possibilities…
Like COLOR-BLOCKED? Who would have thought of this? (apparently, it was Lands’ End…)
Another thing that I wanted to show today is the merits of owning a solid-colored scarf or 2. It might seem that they would be sort of blah, but they can be just the right touch sometimes!
Flannel shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Talbots; ivory tee shirt – Lands’ End; cashmere scarf – Johnstons Of Elgin; black coffee knit cords – L.L.Bean; clogs – Dansko
If you’re going to wear you flannel shirt over another shirt, and leave it untucked, why not just cut to the chase and get a flannel tunic?
flannel tunic – L.L.Bean; earrings – Numbering; raven blue tee shirt – L.L.Bean; thyme knit pants – L.L.Bean; cashmere scarf – Saachi Style; sage leather oxfords – Softwalk
If your neutrals are navy and burgundy, you can inject some real brightness into your winter wardrobe with just a flannel shirt and a tee shirt; I think this shirt is SO lovely…
and the scarf is marked WAAAAAY down…
flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Max + Stone; capri blue tee shirt – L.L.Bean; navy pants – J.Crew; cashmere scarf – Forte Cashmere; penny loafers – G.H.Bass
Maybe you don’t feel comfortable wearing masculine styled garments; that doesn’t mean that you can’t find a pretty solid-color flannel shirt that will be perfect with pink!
blue flannel shirt – J.Crew; earrings – Kate Spade; pale blossom tee shirt – J.Crew; grey cords – L.L.Bean; pink shore heather cashmere scarf – Nordstrom; loafers – Tod’s
Classic neutrals of navy and camel can be easily accented with red; just right for dark winter days!
Flannel shirt – Levi’s; laser-printed grid pattern earrings – Lavani Jewels; rich red tee shirt – Lands’ End; burnt caramel chino pants – J.Crew; navy cashmere scarf – Harrods; loafers – J.Crew
For those of us who live in black, a little bit of red during the short days and long nights is always a good idea:
Rob Roy flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; onyx earrings – Missoma; black tee shirt – Lands’ End; black cotton pants – L.L.Bean; red Chinoise cashmere scarf – Nordstrom; loafers – Sam Edelman
I may treat myself to a 3rd flannel shirt before the end of winter… if I can choose which I like the most!
love,
Janice
p.s. Seven years ago, I considered the appeal/annoyance of being inundated with heart-shaped stuff this time of year… Still something we deal with every February!
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I laughed out loud about the hearts. Yep. Too cutesy.
The bright red scarf, though. It’s a needed mid-winter pop of heat/color.
I had to go look at the Softwalk derby shoes and love the range of color there, especially the red.
I’ve never owned a flannel shirt nor plaid, but the color blocked shirt is something I could pull off. As far as hearts go, I don’t own anything except a small diamond heart necklace that my grandmother gave me. My granddaughter will be getting it as soon as she’s old enough to take care of it.
For those of us who don’t do plaid (especially not bright plaid) – LlBean men’s charcoal houndstooth flannel shirt is the totally awesome answer. I don’t understand why they don’t hang a few in the women’s section – I bet they’d sell out in seconds. (They have colors in the houndstooth, too, if you do want color but prefer a more subtle pattern.) Yes, mine gets worn a LOT… so comfy!
Hi! I have a wonderfully warm solid light grey flannel shirt from Lands End. I hope this helps.
Extraordinary timing: I spent yesterday organizing my husband’s wardrobe, at his request of course. If it was a blog post, it would be titled “Start with a Flannel Shirt”. Each flannel shirt has t shirts to wear under them in all the colors in the shirt, pullover sweaters to substitute for the flannel when something less casual is wanted, jeans and pants for each cluster, and so forth. I put everything I’ve learned from the Vivienne Files into one afternoon haha, including the difference between warm and cool olive greens, accent colors don’t have to go with each other, just the neutrals in the cluster, etc. I think you would have been proud of me ;) and I can’t thank you enough for the knowledge and skill you share in every post. DH and I are very grateful!
Sarah, I hope that hubby appreciates your efforts and doesn’t say “Where’s such and such or or I can’t find anything!”
So far he thinks it’s “magnificent” and “awesome”! It’s the first time all of his clothes and shoes have been in one place and he can see what he has. Seven gray pullover sweaters!! Haha!
You’re welcome – reading this made my day!
love,
Janice
Oh Sarah, this brought back a great memory for me that when I was in college, I bought my dad several outfits with coordinating shirts and pants that could be hung together as outfits and my mom and I organized his closet so things that went together were placed together.
His color vision wasn’t very good so he couldn’t tell black from navy or whether colors went together, etc. As a 6th grade middle school teacher, if he ever wore something that didn’t go together, at least some of his students would notice and mention it to him.
My husband has his own closet organization system that he really, really doesn’t want me to touch! He has an in-office capsule and a WFH/weekend capsule that are of limited color palettes and are each basically a “whatever’s clean” wardrobe. He hangs up his clothes in such a way that he can just rotate through them, grabbing the next items that come up. It’s a system that works for him so I keep my hands off!
AHH be still my heart, I LOVE plaid flannel shirts. Most of my berry colored shirts are currently on hiatus as I just got tired of them. The only one currently in rotation is a navy/sable/white plaid. I generally wear them open over something else. I love all the winter clothing – flannel shirts, sweaters, corduroys. Thanks Janice!
Dear Janice: Ah, flannel shirts…they remind me of my Dad as he wore them all the time. In my lifetime, they have (r)evolved through many fashion cycles. First, they were strictly menswear, then a working class emblem/staple, then an essential for ‘grunge’ fashion (c. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, etc), and now featured in the women’s section of the online catalog. At least that was my experience growing up. I can’t even picture my Mom or aunts wearing flannel shirts. Perhaps everyone here has their own flannel shirt chronicle. Thanks for reading.
I went shopping with a friend last week and everything was hearts. Can’t wait for February to pass. Hearts are not my thing.
I have already looked at one of the plaid shirts (the burgundy, white, blue one) and those moss green oxfords online. You put together such beautiful and wearable outfits. Thank you!
Good Morning,
I love flannel and all things soft and cozy. If you like flannel but don’t like the masculine style with a collar and full buttons – Lands End does make some in a popover style with a banded collar. I have two of them and wear them a lot over a long sleeved shirt or turtleneck.
I’m not a fan of hearts on my clothing but Lands End does have a shirt this year that is navy with white hearts that caught my eye. Maybe because it’s navy vs red or pink – it looks more modern.
Wishing everyone a good week!
I do love a flannel shirt but find the size of many plaids are overpowering on my frame. I think the J Crew denim blue flannel shirt with pearl buttons will be perfect. Just ordered it :) Thanks for the inspiration!
For some reason I am not a flannel shirt person, perhaps it mirrors too closely my husband’s red or plaid flannel or chamois shirt with a tee and Carhartt work pant “uniform”. I lean towards wool sweaters, polar fleece pullovers and a blue button down with long underwear as a base layer.. That said,the J Crew flannel is lovely. When searching for the “perfect” chambray, J Crew often has just the right color, shape and chest pocket placement and this flannel carries the trend forward.
I love the weight of Lands’ End flannel shirts and I, too, wear them open with a tee underneath but I can’t find that color-blocked Lands End shirt. I’m now seriously considering the tunic from L.L. Bean but gonna wait for it to drop in price and hope my size is still available. When I go into my local Lands’ End store, I keep looking/looking at their tunic. One of these days I will make the purchase. I’m happy to read so many readers like flannel shirts; they’re great in cooler weather.
Oops…the Lands’ End color-blocked flannel shirt just popped up…..sorry :(
This year I’ve been in severe pain!! To the point it’s overwhelming to even make a cup of hot tea. I’m unable to stand for 5 minutes!! This is with medication!! As a result I just want to feel comfortable when home!! So, I bought a flannel shirt. A beautiful one with pintucks all across the top!! I loved it so much that I ended up buying six of them!! I live in these at home!! So very comfortable and warm!! I’ve never been so casual!! But, I’m warm and comfortable!!
I am so glad that you find comfort and feel good despite the chronic pain. I hope there is some resolution of your distress Take care
My husband wears flannel shirts frequently in the winter, but in my teens I started buying oversized flannel shirts at the thrift store to wear in place of a robe so I have not gotten into wearing them as normal clothing. Between the robe associations and grunge-era associations, they don’t appeal to me to wear. But that’s an idiosyncratic quirk of mine…I think they look great in these outfits.
I do have a ruby heart pendant that was a gift from my parents for my master’s degree graduation that I treasure and will wear any day of the year.
That sounds both lovely and precious. I would wear it too!
hugs,
Janice
I have one flannel shirt – just like your red and black one here, but with blue instead of red – and I LOOOVE it. It’s relaxed but not too much, and so soft, and it’s perfect for lay-low days. I wear it buttoned and untucked over indigo skinny jeans/jeggings (it’s tunic-length, almost) and add my moccasins and it is so cozy, while still feeling put-together.
You are covering MY signature style (finally)!!! I love flannel in winter. I live in flannel shirts, wool sweaters and lined pants in January and February ( the absolute coldest months in my area).
You left off the required [polypropylene] “fleece” vests. LOL
I adore solid-toned scarves. They work in more outfits than patterned ones, imo. I think I would enjoy owning a solid colour of a flannel shirt – the plaid ones just seem too far from my comfort zone. I’d buy a paisley flannel shirt in a heartbeat!
Paisley flannel shirts! Now that is something I can live in
I have three flannel shirts – teal/grey/black, navy/light blue/white/lilac, and newly acquired grey/plum/blush pink. I wear them with cords or cotton trousers with a complimentary jumper and sometimes a scarf. I might put a co-ordinating tee-shirt underneath for extra warmth or if I just want to wear the shirt as a second layer.
The second outfit is pretty much how I would wear it. But I would have a coordinating jumper as well.I have very few properly plain scarves. My preference would be a self-coloured floral paisley or a pattern or print that coordinates with the colours in the shirt.
The blue shirt/pink top and grey trousers outfit has given me ideas of how I could wear my ‘formal’ cotton shirts in a casual way, now that I’m not working. I used to wear cotton shirts a lot both for work and with casual trousers. Perhaps I need to shop my wardrobe on that front.
The look-back is spot on for February, though it’s hard to escape Valentine’s Day, even if you try. Everywhere you look, red is the colour of advertisements. I particularly like the pink jewellery proving that you don’t have to wear red on Valentine’s Day. I have one heart shaped plum glass pendant necklace that my husband bought me. I wear with a particular tee-shirt in the summer. I’m now minded to wear it on 14 Feb but I’ll have to consider what to wear it with – plum velvet, perhaps. We’ll just have dinner at home but it’s nice to dress up a bit for the occasion.
This is so funny because I just ordered a flannel shirt in my capsule colors right before I popped over to your site! It’s serendipitous!
I’m not a flannel shirt girl, but I am all over the sold color scarves. As a soft summer, I tend to dress tonally; I have long scarves in my three or four favorite colors. Easy to throw on over a similarly colored sweater, and especially good for layering during colder weather!
I have two flannels and a chambray shirt. The first, a red, green, and white flannel, was a gift from my parents to my husband back when we were dating–the early 90’s. He could never wear it because his shoulders are too wide. I started wearing it during the grunge years and it still comes out on the weekends albeit without the combat boots and holey jeans.
Count me as another fan of solid colored scarves! I like to wear a solid scarf that matches a color in a print, or as a pop of color, or in the same/similar color to my top or topper piece for a subtle look. That last one isn’t one I have really heard about before so when I wrote about it recently on my blog, I couldn’t figure out what to call the color formula of a top or topper + scarf in similar colors. But Amy in Indy just mentioned it here, and I think Beth T has mentioned it before, in the context of dressing “tonally,” so I think I’m not alone in liking this color formula after all! (I am also a huge fan of ombre scarves for that tonal look.)
Sigh, hearts. Motifs popular on a seven year old’s backpack are hard for grown women to wear. There are exceptions and I wouldn’t refuse a Victorian gold heart locket one with a bright little ruby! Flannel is too guys-around-the-campfire on me though I’ve liked it on others, and find the J. Crew cut and colour less blocky-jocky. Love a flannel nightgown!
I have always loved plaid flannel shirts whether they are in style or not. I now mostly wear them over leggings with a tee underneath so more like a lightweight 2nd layer. I have had good luck with the oversized boyfriend tunic ones from Old Navy in the past couple of years – they are a nice weight, 100% cotton, and long enough to cover. They don’t seem to shrink too much, but I do hang them to dry. They also come in Tall which my daughter appreciates, but those tend to sell out pretty fast.