June 24, 2022
Yes, you saw this painting a long time ago! That heroine was also traveling for a family celebration…
Let’s take a close-up look at a bunch of these lovely ladies, and enjoy the color palette…
Our heroine is off for a quick weekend trip to a family wedding! She’s taking Friday off of work, so that she will arrive early in the afternoon – certainly early enough for lunch with relatives, and possibly early enough for a quick nap:
Gold hoop earrings – Talbots; striped shirt – Caslon; pants – L.L.Bean; blue sweater – L.L.Bean; wrap – M.Woolf; bracelet – Olivia Welles; weekender bag – Urban Expressions; backpack – Matt & Nat; socks – Nordstrom; shoes – Softwalk
Because the partying starts tonight, with the rehearsal and the following dinner, and then of course the wedding on Saturday! By Sunday, she just needs to drag herself to brunch before they run out of coffee, and then sleep on the train on the way home!
Dress – Nordstrom Signature; porcelain rose earrings – Poporcelain; London weather earrings – Ninemoo; rose bracelet – Poporcelain; deep midnight linen top – J.Crew; handbag – Cult Gaia; scarf – Radical Chic; striped shirt – J.Crew; pleated skirt – Samsøe Samsøe; taupe cardigan – Nordstrom; deep midnight pants – J.Crew; gold sandals – Naturalizer; ballet flats – Margaux
She wants to look dressy and nice for both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding, but not TOO over the top – she is not the star of the show! And she doesn’t want to have to deal with a ton of luggage; with so many relatives coming and going, she will probably get to handle things on her own.
At least she had the good sense to get a hotel room; some people are bunking in with the bride’s family! Oh dear goodness, that seems like it could be… interesting…
She has her outfits all sorted; she could easily re-wear her first travel outfit, or re-combine pieces, if she’s delayed…
I haven’t been to a wedding since before the pandemic, and I don’t have any in sight. Kind of too bad; an excuse to dress up is always welcome!
love,
Janice
p.s. Four years ago, I was cleaning out a stuffed closet; I started by sorting things by color! Still a very useful approach…
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I love your weekend getaway posts. I admire the tidy, compactness of them; the Totebag Travels posts (overnight trips) are even more so.
I’m currently on an “away weekend” and, honestly, I was shaking my head as I packed. My head was in the clouds, I wasn’t sure of my mood or the weather or the dressiness factor of the events involved so I packed as if I hadn’t ever heard of the VF! Thankfully, this is a car trip so there’s loads of wiggle room. If this was an air trip I would have had to knuckle down – brain fog be hanged – and figure things out.
Today’s wardrobe is so summery and I love the idea of a summer wedding weekend. One question for the gang: the flowery purse the heroine will carry to the wedding appears to be totally see-through. Does anyone know the trick to using it so that the few things you carry in it aren’t visible? It’s a pricey item so you’d think there would be a way for the design to shine without the distraction of its contents.
Happy weekend, all!
Hello Wendy, I had a see-through purse a few years ago, and I made a very simple drawstring bag from a silky fabric to hold my things. I chose a contrasting color so the detail on the purse would show. Like you, I preferred not to have everyone see my ‘bits and bobs’, and this solution worked very well.
Great idea! Thanks for sharing it.
The drawstring and hobo scarf ideas are great.
I also saw a friend use a large square scarf tied like a “hobo’s” bag and put inside.
The scarf method Amanda shared is the one I have seen used also. It’s such a gorgeous (and pricey) handbag that it is too bad they didn’t take care of that on their end.
Love this! I actually have a summer wedding coming up – aside from dressing up a tad, it will be so great to see some people I haven’t seen in what, 3 years now????? 2? Time flies. My favorite is the travel outfit, as that’s something I would wear on a daily basis… I think you’ve had the London Weather earrings before? Could also apply to Seattle :) Also love the look back. This was brought up in the continued discussion yesterday regarding Wednesdays’ post. You know it’s a good one when people are chatting the following day! Have a great weekend everyone.
Yep, you have seen those earrings before! I try to show mostly new things, but there are always a handful of clothes and accessories that stick in my mind, and that I will pick in a variety of situations. It’s one of the more fun parts of my job!
hugs,
Janice
Clicked through to the dress description; it is described as “textured”. Seems that is is like a seersucker fabric—how lovely.
I’m drawn to this wardrobe because of the blues I think. I love the peacefulness of it. With my lightening hair and the lack of contrast in my features, I think the lighter colors would fade me out. But since you’ve chosen gold rather than silver metal, I think this heroine can carry it off.
Thank you for the inspiration of suck a curated wedding weekend wardrobe.
This is very timely for my guests, as we are hosting our son’s bar mitzvah in 3 weeks! Our guests will need to bring an extra, fancy outfit for the formal reception in the evening though.
I’m pretty sure our oldest daughter had exactly the same thought as this heroine, she’s staying in the hotel with her friends!
This capsule is beautiful. I will keep it in mind for my own future travels.
Yhis travel capsule
Today’s wardrobe, although pretty and well-thought out, didn’t grab me like a lot of others have. That’s ok because it was the continuing discussion from Wednesday and today’s look back that I needed to read. I think that while I have more than enough to get dressed with like the look back heroine, the problem begins with maybe too many ways to go with the colours. I culled the horrors – how on earth did I end up with so much black when I hate wearing it? I know that I will never be a minimalist as I love clothing too much to be content with a tiny wardrobe, but I do need to get my larger wardrobe to a cohesive state. That’s easier said than done. The question posed yesterday that stuck in my mind was about my happiness/contentment with my wardrobe. In all honesty, I think that I only am happy with about half of it in its current state…but I don’t know yet what I want to change. There are probably many ways to fix it, but I don’t want to change any more until I’m sure. Restricting colours is helping me though because when I see my favorite store’s catalog, I no longer let myself fall in love with something that is a great piece in the wrong colour & I don’t bring it home to become an orphan. Love the analytical posts and the look backs Janice. Thank you for all your work. I do have an idea for a post though. What about a post for 4 friends different personalities and colours who have tickects for a wide variety of outdoor concerts – Symphony on the Prarie, something at Notre Dame, another at something like Ruoff Center in Noblesville, maybe something much bigger and a few smaller? Seems like there are always a lot of outdoor concerts in the summer in the Midwest & it would be interesting to see capsules that would run the gamut from classical music to 80s to rock to country. Anyway, thank you everyone…much appreciate all the helpful ideas & comments from TVF readers too.
I really liked the series where a bunch of friends start with the same pieces and go different Sideview with accent colors, accessories, etc. Could fit in with the above suggestion :D
The way I began to sort out my wardrobe was to think about FIT. Firstly, did each item physically fit, feel comfortable and look good from all angles. Secondly, did it fit my personal style or was it not quite ‘there’. You need to know what your personal style is – what you like in terms of materials, shape, pattern (or not) and texture.
I then tried on everything with mirrors positioned so that I could see front and back views. I also had my daughter to help and hubbie acted as second adjudicator. We looked at everything to do with fit and whether it was ‘my style’. My style has changed throughout our lives but even if I now wear trousers more than skirts or dresses, there are trouser shapes that fit and those that don’t. The top that goes with the trousers is still my style.
Once I’d worked through the clothes that physically fit me NOW (not in my youth or possibly again if I lose weight.I put the rest to one side and grouped the remainder by form, function, texture, embellishments and decoration. I also closely looked at favourite outfits and whole outfits that others had complimented me on. What was it that I liked about them? I also experimented with different colour combinations. I got a much better idea of my wardrobe and what’s in it that fits.
“”I culled the horrors – how on earth did I end up with so much black when I hate wearing it? “” This was me when I did a closet cleanout. I chalk it up to osmosis, absorbing the color schemes and styles of those coworkers I see all the time. I gave them over to people who would appreciate them more.
Oops. Tickets. Sorry for the typo.
Love the colors of this. We have two November weddings and I am shopping my closet for both as I know I have plenty to choose from. As with Kari and Sally in St. Paul, I am never going to be a minimalist. I have also been trying to keep track of number of wears. Love to read the comments and of course TVF insights!
Absolutely beautiful selection. Perfect for a wedding weekend. The colors, the casual but posh look. Hit the nail on the head with this one! I find the muted colors to be so cool and comfortable for Summer. My dilemma, I was born with and had dark hair my entire life. Recently, with the inevitable onset of very ugly graying hair, I opted to slowly become a darkish blonde. Soon I will transition to a silver platinum gray. The total lack of contrast between my very fair skin and my blonde hair has left me stumped. How can I assume adopting a color palette such as this without looking totally washed out. I have been searching and studying and have come up a bit blank. Can you help a life-long brunette to become a blonde?
This is the exact opposite of me! Up through high school I was a blond and then through my adult life my hair has slowly been getting darker brown. Although the grey is creeping in now (but feels like blond highlights to me so I love it!) I don’t know what to tell you about clothing colors though. I have always loved color, but I think that might have to do with my personality (very outgoing) and not my hair color.
Ah, aging changes our hair color, our skin tones, our preferences. I admire anyone who loves color. I tend to shy away from very bright colors, even when my hair was dark, my skin so fair with freckles made bright colors look clownish on me. My wardrobe now is very neutral but in the tan to brownish, camel, and some black. A little gray. Now when I wear those I look like I have developed liver failure! Your comment has given me some ideas, I am going to try some bright colors, maybe in t shirts or scarves and see what happens!
I think there may be two different factors to think about here – value contrast and color contrast. I really like Imogen Lamport’s treatment of these:
https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2014/03/getting-your-value-contrast-levels-right.html
https://insideoutstyleblog.com/2016/04/what-does-colour-contrast-tell-you.html
Weddings traditions in the US are quite different to those in the UK. Rehearsal dinners are unknown in the UK, though I expect it’s a good way to break the ice within the wider family who might not have met. At my wedding rehearsal bats started flying round the church at dusk because the window they used to exit was closed. Fortunately, we found the pole-catch to open the window. A stiff drink was required after that experience!
I love the blue top, skirt and blouse. Though I might have chosen a cardigan with shimmer. I agree that a see through bag is a bit of a gimmick.
I love the bat story!
I think the rehearsal dinner became a practical tradition as so many participants come from farther away.
I studied this painting online and noticed another color. In the background there is green foliage. Can Olive green be incorporated into this capsule with olive accessories?
Sally in St Paul, I tried to reply to your comment but for some reason, the box wouldn’t open. Thank you so much for the link to the references. I am a quilter and color and value are a huge part of the design process. My colleagues laugh because I am constantly fussing about just that! Referencing that to apply to my hair/skin issue and clothing is brilliant. I have bookmarked the pages and will study. I hope to find a way to transition my (extensive) current wardrobe with some small pieces before I plunge into a major purge. I also make bespoke garments and plan to try out some new colors that way. I belong to a professional group that is recommending we get our “colors” done. I did do this a long time ago and did find It helpful. It is quite pricey now, I need to think about this. Again, that you so much.
Hi Janice and Everyone:
Really like the idea of Tote Bag Travel capsules. The colors in this combo are ones I could see myself wearing.