February 28, 2022
Either you deserve a new sweater because you’ve made it this far into the winter without going crazy, or because your autumn is just beginning and you are ready to get in the mood!
But an accent 2nd layer – with or without a coordinating tee shirt or blouse – can bring a lot of new life to your cool weather wardrobe…
note: all of these pants are the same as I shared last week; you should be able to wear a good pair of pants a dozen different ways!
This might be a smart time to grab a cotton cardigan and lightweight tee shirt – these pieces would be useful WELL into the early summer:
Deep midnight cardigan – J.Crew; heart earrings – Short & Suite; deep midnight tee – J.Crew; natural chino pants – J.Crew; scarf – ImageDiary; loafers – Aerosoles
A pretty spring color can give you a little bit more mileage for your corduroy pants:
Pressed dahlia cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – Kendra Scott; pressed dahlia tee shirt – J.Crew; grey knit pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Paisley & Heart; loafers – Comfortiva
You don’t HAVE to wear matching sweaters and tops! This cardigan would go with almost anything…
Soft sage tee shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Auree Jewellery; frost grey cardigan – L.L.Bean; deep olive canvas pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Fable England; shoes – Naot
And your “cardigan” doesn’t have to actually be a sweater; I’m personally getting a lot of mileage out of shirts over tee shirts these days:
Lilac mist double-weave shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Madewell; corduroy tunic – L.L.Bean; navy knit cords – L.L.Bean; scarf – Nicoletta Rosi; loafers – Driver Club USA
Maybe you’re somewhere that is better suited for warmer, darker colors – or you’re taking advantage of finding these things now, and will have them ready to hand NEXT autumn…
Brown tee shirt – Mango; earrings – Kenneth Jay Lane; cardigan – Barbour; black coffee knit cords – L.L.Bean; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; shoes – The Office of Angela Scott
Maybe you’ll find a couple of garments that you can wear with your dark neutral now, and then wear with your lighter neutral when the weather warms up. This shade of periwinkle would be lovely with light grey, or navy, or white…
Periwinkle cardigan – Eileen Fisher; earrings – Talbots; periwinkle tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; black cotton pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Arshys; loafers – FitFlop
I’m already keeping my eye open for good linen tops – the really nice ones sell out fast!
love,
Janice
p.s. Nine years ago, I shared with you a travel wardrobe (based on 2 scarves) in beige, mint green and bright blue… I think it’s still pretty lovely!
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Absolutely swooning over that first outfit. Still not sure about white pants for myself, but I may give some a try this coming summer. Happy Monday everyone!
Me too, Sheila! The dark blue twin set with white pants and loafers looks very fresh, and though this high contrast look is not the best on me, I love it. But white pants/jeans never look right on me and never have.
Dahlia pink, orchid pink, lilac-pink – whatever it is called – this is my favourite pink. I wear it all year round. It looks good with grey, navy and purple. So does the periwinkle. However, I can’t wear iced lilac – it’s too pale and wishy-washy for me. Last summer, I experimented with dark blue tops and silver grey trousers. I love the leopard scarf, even though I can’t wear those colours. Such a striking pattern.
It’s interesting how contextual “accent color” is. I would have thought the taupe/beige and camel cardigans were more neutral than accent, but I suppose it depends on how the color functions in your wardrobe!
The twin set or inner column with bridge piece scarf is a classic outfit formula that I wear again and again, but the lilac outfit with the mix of textures on top (T-shirt knit, corduroy, linen) is very lovely. At first I thought the scarf was a solid in the same basic color as the lilac but it’s actually white with purple stripes…so there is a print, but not one that integrates the top and bottom halves. But it works very well. It would also be gorgeous with a grey bottom half.
These are lovely. I’m especially drawn to the periwinkle at the bottom. Eileen Fischer seems to use periwinkle more than other suppliers, it’s a hard one to find. And it’s really good on a lot of people.
Thank you again Janice for fresh ideas 😊
The light pants are lovely. For those who hesitate at white, maybe ecru or pale stone or ivory will feel more right? Personally love white denim because my mom had a weird laundry concotion using shout, dawn & white goop hand cleaner that worked miracles. I used it on a white nightgown that got liquid founation spilled over it and 3 washes later it was gone. As long as it was line dried, there was no fear of heat setting it. Anyay, my thought is that if you love a look, go for it in a way that makes it you.
I recognize the first scarf from the 2-5-2016 post! It’s beautiful and I’m considering buying it, along with a few other items in this post. I’ve been reading older posts for months and have 63 bookmarked so far :) My favorite part of The Vivienne Files is that clothes & accessories from 10+ years ago would still look great now.
I buy much of my clothing from L L Bean and Land’s End, so will now buy through the TVF links. Janice, not sure you’ll see this, but thank you very much for all the work you put into this blog. To have a mind that is both analytical and creative is truly a gift–thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome!
Janice