July 8, 2022
As soon as she saw the painting, so many things became clearer…
It includes all of her favorite colors, but it’s the title that really grabs her…
This is what she wants – after two and a half years of staying home and being careful – she wants to be a passenger!
And so she’s leaving. As soon as the summer’s over, she’s going to buy a train pass and just GO…
She will choose destinations based on things like sporting events, or art exhibits, or other museum-type stuff… or maybe weather. Or something else!
She starts to plan her foolproof wardrobe now; anticipation is a big part of the travel fun, for her:
Sweater-blazer – J.Crew; heart earrings – I’MMANY London; sweater – J.Crew; pants – L.L.Bean; tiny hearts scarf – Ingmarson; ribbed skirt – Eileen Fisher; loafers – Vionic; flats – Cole Haan
She loves the idea of a wardrobe based in black, and punctuated with bright colors. She’s taking all weight of tops, because she’s not at all sure what weather she might find…
Red earrings – Deepa Gurnani; lapis earrings – Nest Jewelry; black linen tee – J.Crew; turquoise and royal tank tops – Lands’ End; scarf – Found Thread; turquoise necklace – Smilla Brav; red tee – Lands’ End
She realizes from the very first that accessories are going to be key! And she’s very open to the possibility of finding a blue and red striped sweater somewhere, or a turquoise and royal striped tee shirt…
Blue linen shirt – Nordstrom; mushroom print scarf – Pineda Covalin UK; necklace – Anthropologie; black cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; red cashmere sweater – Autograph; jeans – Levi’s; waterproof boots – Blondo; skirt – Melrose And Market
The only thing that keeps her from packing TODAY is the certainty that everything would be irreparably wrinkled by early September!
Before she sets everything aside for later, she imagines many of the ways that she might get dressed from this travel capsule wardrobe:
Do you have any travel plans for later this year? Do share the details, please!
love,
Janice
p.s. Roughly 8 years ago, I shared a story with you about someone with whom I worked, 35 years ago! Her shopping discipline was an example to us all…
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A holiday on the hoof, just going where the fancy takes you. When I was a kid, my Dad would take 2 or 3 weeks of and we would just go on holiday. I’m sure my parents had a rough idea of where they were going but that was in the days when each town had a tourist office and offered a bed booking service. You could even book a bed ahead for the next few nights in a new place It was a great way to explore the UK. My husband and I have done that to some extent, though we tend to base ourselves in the middle of a 50 mile area and explore out on different days. Now we use a booking app or a county tourism website.
We will have a rough idea of where we will go and what there is to do. However, we often don’t plan the time until we get there because so many interesting local attractions and events are only advertised locally. They are often so much more enjoyable without the crowds that flock to the places that are well known.
That sounds like a great way to travel! I can’t wait for a time when I’ll be able to do the same.
I love this article as it reflects my wardrobe pre Covid. I am now trying to get away from strong colours but they still have a strong pull.
The look back was to one I have never forgotten since first seeing it. I still wish I could shop like Agnes but I am not disciplined enough to only shop twice a year. With the closure of several of department stores and several smaller shops here in the U.K. and the failure of several big brand names, shopping for specific items isn’t easy. It’s a constant search for even simple items such as white tees that don’t come to below the bottom on a 5’2″” oldie like me.
I am booked on a 18 night Mediterranean cruise in October and a 7 day Norway cruise next May. I am also hopeful of The Netherlands next year but nothing booked yet.
I’m spending two (more) weeks in eastern France in December. I was there visiting friends for two weeks in May, and December is for Christmas markets. I’m going to skip the big cities and do the smaller markets.
I’m also going to leave a small capsule wardrobe at a friend’s house, since I plan to spend more time there in the coming months. It will be a 4×4 with pieces that will work in any season, so I can pack less for summer and winter trips.
Thanks for your inspiration!
Love this concept (maybe navy instead of black for me) Recently returned from Ireland 💚 – our trip for the year (3 years in the making!). We have beach week planned with the family in August. My thoughts now turn to 2023 – where will it take us?
Looks and sounds lovely, but don’t kid yourself, Covid is still out there and travel is still precarious. I speak from recent experience, just back from a Mediterranean cruise with our granddaughters, all recent university graduates. We postponed this cruise for two years because of the pandemic, had a wonderful time, were very cautious about hand washing, wearing masks and yet I contacted Covid. I began feeling I’ll on the long flight home and after 15 days have finally tested negative. I know I sound like a grouchy old lady but have no doubt, we are not done with Covid, it is everywhere. Go out there, travel, live your best life but do so with care.
Linda, thanks for injecting a dose of realism into the comment thread. I know so many people who stayed COVID-free until they traveled. With COVID fatigue, there are few people who are maintaining practices like regular masking, so even if you take precautions, the people around you usually are not. So you have to be very cognizant of the risks and decide how much risk you are willing to take on (which is a personal decision).
I’m in the vulnerable category and am still nowhere near being ready to travel again, though I do enjoy the fantasy trips our fictional heroines are taking on this blog.
Oh, now these are my colors, with the substitution of fuschia for the red. I’m not traveling anywhere this fall, but I could absolutely base my regular wardrobe on this. In fact I already have many of the pieces. Cobalt seems to be finding me lately, and I am happy to add it in. I’m with the heroine in looking for a royal and aqua striped tee, or a print that incorporates all three. These are all beautiful choices, as usual.
I could pull most of this wardrobe out of my closet! If I were going on a trip, I would substitute a dress for the jeans, but otherwise it’s just about perfect. For a number of reasons our family is not going on a long trip this summer, but we do plan to visit my husband‘s hometown. He wants to go back to visit a major museum in that city, so we will be spending a few days there. I’m looking forward to doing more travel next year, I hope. Fingers crossed.
Hubby and I will travel to Tennessee to spend Christmas with our daughter and her husband. That’s all we have planned, travel-wise. I will likely use all I’ve learned here to compose my travel wardrobe but don’t have a large enough wardrobe that I can put things aside in advance.
Like another commenter, I am trying to now buy softer shades in my palette of navy, white, grey + cool accent colours.
I love your flashback post. Agnes sounds like quite a lady and she reminded me of my late sister who also worked full time in ladies’ clothing retail. Like Agnes, she had repeat customers who would make appointments and find a rail of clothing awaiting them in a dressing room; everything selected specifically for their size, colour preferences, lifestyle, etc. She was still doing this in the early 2000’s. How nice it would be to have someone at your favourite store who could assist you like that!
Your dear sister sounds like a wonderful person to give confidence to her customers. I’ve had one experience of a personal shopper service where the so-called expert chose all the colours and patterns and styles that might suit her, a tall, statuesque brunette with autumn-winter colouring. Whereas I was blond ish, petite with soft summer colouring. It was not a successful encounter. I spent many years struggling until I found VF! Now I have been blessed with a daughter who knows perfectly what will suit me!
I’m glad you’ve found your groove. Daughters are a wonderful shopping ally. My sister, like anyone who’s worked retail for years, could glance at a woman and know what size they would need and if they needed tall, petite, plus, etc. It’s too bad that the tall retail assistant used herself as the benchmark for garment selection for customers. I hope she learned to do better.
We’ll be leaving September 13 for a quick stop in Milan, then precruise in Lake Como. Boarding ship in Bern and sailing to Amsterdam. Then train to Paris for a few days, then home.
We usually go a little later in the fall, so I am concerned about changing temps. I want to travel light and will be checking out your 13 item all weather capsules.
I really like the colors in this post. I have purchased two twinsets in blue from Talbots so far. My base is black as well. I will be keeping an eye out for a possible third accent color.
Your posts are always so helpful. Thank you for all your wonderful ideas.
We are going to Santé Fe in mid August with friends. It’s the big art fest!!! Third time it’s been planned and so hoping it happens. I have a sort of “coat of many colors” long topper that I bought to take the first time this trip was planned. Still planning on it with solids underneath.
This is a great capsule. I think I would just use the navy instead of the black and be perfectly happy. We are doing a 2 week road trip in August to take my oldest daughter to college. (I also have 3 high schoolers.) I think we figured by taking different routes there and back we will be in 10 states. Should be fun! I am already starting to map out my 4 x 4 wardrobe for the trip. My main colors will be navy/light grey with accents in pink, turquoise and butter yellow.
Love these colours! Such a good travel capsule. I would use silver jewelry as a winter and consider a stronger cobalt and or turquoise cardigan. Colour in travel photos works so well!!
This jewel tone capsule would be gorgeous on a heroine with dark-haired Winter coloring! That mushroom scarf is gorgeous; in the blue colorway it has a bit of an undersea vibe, which I like.
Hi Janice and Everyone! As some have mentioned, I think I would veer toward navy with these accent colors, and throw in some fuschia.
Well, Janice, since you asked…we are going to be in your neck of the woods next week helping daughter and her belovedest move in/clean their new place of residence, a 1/2 duplex in the Logan Sq/ Bucktown area. Our ‘bigger’ trip is New Orleans in November where a professional convention is being held. We are planning Yellowstone for next summer.
I have travel plans for later this year—as in the day after tomorrow. My little family of four will be driving to and staying in Atlanta, GA for a week. We will be attending the International Brotherhood of Magicians’ annual conference. I am very excited as this is our first professional conference ever, our first time traveling since the pandemic and our youngest’s first time traveling EVER!
I am pleased to be packing my “barn owl” earrings from Fable as they inspire magic to me— (think Harry Potter). I am working on assembling a travel wardrobe inspired by the Tree of Life wardrobe from the 6 Scarves series. It has been a fun process. I have always had a “box of crayons” wardrobe and am enjoying the world of neutrals that has been opened to me.
PS. I very much appreciated the flashback today. So much to learn from Agnes. Similarly, I had a college professor many moons ago who would chop off all of her hair every 6 months and then let it grow out. I admired her for not adhering to the 6-8 weeks “rule” and thought she had terrific hair as well.
Wow, where to start? First, the wardrobe. Striking, but so dark that I could never be happy in it. I would keep the turquoise, add the green from the top of the painting, maybe keep the bright cobalt and, though it is not in the painting, add white to brighten this up. Travel? Not in my plans because I prefer armchair travel. The whole world is open to me through books and documentaries. Lookback? I’m not able to find everything in just 2 ‘hunting’ sessions. My shopping is spread out so that when I find what I want/need, I pick it up. This month my focus is changing out cosmetics. They are extension of my wardrobe and sorely in need of culling. TVF has inspired me to cut out the things that I no longer use. If the cosmetic stash is cut by 25 percent this month, I will feel so much better about how much stuff I have collected over the years trying everything under the sun only to end up going back to my favorite vintage style formulas. Anyone else discover that most new products end up as clutter?
I would love to emulate Agnes! When I was a child, my mother took me “downtown” to a local upscale department store and would purchase five school outfits (dresses when I was in primary grades and skirts, blouses, and cardigans when I was approaching “junior high”), play clothes (new since I had outgrown everything from the year before), and dresses for church. We changed out of our school/church clothes as soon as we were home for the day. She and I would go downtown for a day of shopping a second time before Easter, and the same process was repeated with spring/summer weight clothes.
Unfortunately, now I collect clothes and have a bursting closet. I am near my goal weight, so I shouldn’t “need” to buy much (I am in a nothing new in ’22 challenge) until I get closer to retirement.
As far as travel goes, my family is *hoping* to visit Santa Fe in October 2023. Some wanted to go this year, but even double-boosted, I am not comfortable in crowds. I know several people who have recently caught COVID for the first time (despite being vaxxed and boosted) and it’s not fun. So, it’s armchair travel for the foreseeable future.
Dear Sandi,
I think I could go back to doing this; but shopping has become SO MUCH MORE important in our lives than it was… 38 years ago? Maybe we need to fix this…
hugs,
Janice
I agree about shopping becoming more important in our lives than it was. Lockdown has seen me bored to tears and shopping on line and the postman’s knock has kept me interested. My OH shrugs when the doorbell goes with the “more to go back” comment. He isn’t wrong.
I know Covid is still out there but at 78 I am not prepared to waste any more years and am prepared to leave it in God’s hands whether I get it and survive although I will take precautions.
Janice,
I have always adored your “ Agnes” posts and her wonderful collections, and though primarily monochromatic , they are still interesting with lots of prints and silhouette variations !
Agnes was amazing. There went a queen of a capsule wardrobe and a real blessing to her clients. She would have zero trouble putting together a project 333. I wish I had known her.
I’ve been doing the project 333 capsules 2 years now and I’m finding myself shopping for actual replacement needs at the beginning of the fall/winter as well as spring/summer.
During the January & July sales I do a little clearance buying IF I can find what I need in the size, colour and fabric I need. That doesn’t always work well. It’s been picked over and the leavings are not always the best. I can’t rely on it. In the past I’ve ended up spending too much on nice tops, forgetting that I need pants etc.
Much of what I decluttered out of my closet in the last few years traces back to my addiction to sale finds. A lot of money wasted, when I needed to focus on good pants that were never on sale. Or I bought pants and jackets in weird colours or silhouettes that were going out of style.
Most of my budget now goes to the things I really do need for the new season- buying full price but from a good selection. I’m more likely to find my colours, sizes and fabrics then. Because of Project 333 I know my actual real needs so I have a list. It’s not perfect but I am getting better.