November 17, 2023
Suddenly, there are a whole bunch of new Echo 100 scarves!
For no good reason I can offer, this one really sparked my imagination – SO pretty, but also a wide range of color possibilities…
This scarf seemed like an obvious candidate for a core of denim, or ivory, or olive… But what if I just worked with the five visible colors in (more or less) equal quantities?
The Library Will be Open For the Holiday Weekend!
The library at the gardens are seldom open, and when they are, you have to have reservations, and an assigned desk, and you need to tell the Preservation Society what you’re going to be studying. It’s a serious thing!
She’s going! She loves working with heritage flowering plants in her landscape design work, and she’s going to find some new and wonderful ones. What a great job…
Utility green cotton sweater – J.Crew; scarf – Echo; earrings – Olivia Welles; green vest – J.Crew; ivory pants – J.Crew; weekender bag – Vera Bradley; boots – Spring Step
Yes, her tote bag matches her new scarf pretty closely! You can’t do that every day…
All of the researchers will be staying at the Garden Guest House, so she won’t need to be outdoors a whole lot; the buildings are close, and the Guest House will provide their meals. She needs only to concentrate on the Elizabethan Era garden diagrams that will be available to view and study – she will be more than happy!
Vintage rose cotton turtleneck – L.L.Bean; floral earrings – The Pink Reef; gold floral earrings – Savvy Cie; floral top – L.L.Bean; cashmere cardigan – L.L.Bean; blue border scarf – Echo; floral scarf – Etro; forest green corduroy pants – J.Crew; French vanilla merino cardigan – Kettlewell; faded indigo jeans – L.L.Bean; floral sneakers – Keds
Many of the other visitors will be historians, or medical professionals looking for new possibilities in the world of herbal treatments… None of them will be well-dressed, particularly. It’s a special crowd, for sure!
Our heroine has gone 100% floral themed for the long weekend – it’s easy for her, since floral motifs of any sort have long been her trademark.
With just a tote bag of casual garments, she’s set to dress for changes in temperature, unexpected spills, or a whim that strikes her:
But what if you don’t want to dress like a flower every day? This scarf has lots of possibilities; use black or navy as a neutral and use the five “scarf colors” as accents…
Or use ivory and/or olive as neutrals, and the remaining colors as accents – there are always possibilities!
So MANY possibilities…
love,
Janice
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Well this appeals to me for the variety of neutrals and accents that can be selected and worn in different ways as main colours or accents. I love the floral theme providing lots of possibilities for other capsules to be created. I’d love to create a vintage rose column with a floral top. The floral top for example has purple and lavender flowers. The ETRO floral scarf is stunning.
My dress for my daughter’s wedding this weekend is a burgundy floral maxi dress with a faux fur trimmed rose pink jacket. It is a relaxed but still glamorous take on the Mother of the Bride outfit. I’m wearing a vintage style hat with feathers.
That sounds just awesome Beth. Have a wonderful time.
That sounds absolutely terrific: appropriate, dressy and comfortable. I hope you have a wonderful time!
Gorgeous! Have a wonderful time…
love,
Janice
It sounds very you! Enjoy dear Beth T!
This reminds me of a UK show I used to watch “Rosemary and Thyme” One of the main characters was a horticulturalist and often dressed in floral themed outfits, sweaters, vests. Colors not for me personally, but I love the way everything came together – very nice. Thank you Janice, have a lovely weekend everyone!
I love Rosemary and Thyme! I found episodes on YouTube and really enjoyed them.
“Rosemary & Thyme” trifecta – gardening, travel and sleuthing. What’s not to love? You might recognize Pam Ferris, who played Laura Thyme, as Sister Evangelina on “Call the Midwife.”
I always really enjoyed that show too! Ah, Acorn TV…
hugs,
Janice
Loved that show! I just finished up the 3 seasons that were on BritBox, my favorite streaming service ;-)
And yes, this capsule is bookmarked for future reference – it’s very “me” with the possible exception of that lovely yellow sweater. I think it would make me look a bit un-lovely. I appreciate that spark of color that it provides, though. Thanks again, Janice.
A few commenters this week have mentioned that they can’t go very long with a rigid colour scheme and that they need variety. That’s my M.O. too; I need colour and variety.
So…..I like how the variety of colours in this wardrobe enables the heroine to wear outfits that look completely different from the others. She has choices.
I truly adore your characters and their stories. I have been following you for years. You have been a blessing to me in finally putting together seasonal wardrobes. I wore a uniform for all 12 years of school and had no idea how to put together a decent collection of clothes. This fall I did Project 333 and am enjoying dressing for the day with minimal decisions to make.
Another perfect capsule. It’s casual, but quite smart. IF you take this heroine’s capsule forward, I imagine she would adore owning a really pretty pair of garden clogs. Flowered of course! Or, maybe with garden tools.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone.
Floral Doc Marten’s perhaps?
Loving this, especially the denim and multiple colors! :) I was just cataloging my capsule pictures from fall looking to see which things got worn more or less. It’s really interesting that some made the “more” list that I wouldn’t have thought of. And some pieces I love I only wore a couple times. Getting ready to switch to a red (blue red) and green (kind of an evergreen/thyme color) capsule (with grey and navy basics) for the holidays. I have found if I switch to the winter capsule too early I’m done with it by January. And I have some special red things I love to wear this time of year. So I’m going to try an in between small capsule and then pull the winter one out after the holidays. We’ll see how it goes!
Looking at the Everything image, I was struck by the fact that there are basically 3 twin set variations here – the green, the rose, and the ivory/yellow – and that each of them work with each of the pants. So that’s 9 3-piece outfits right there. Really the green is a full trio that can be used as a 3-piece green or broken down into inner and outer columns as well. The light floral top and ivory pants have an inner column vibe. Jeans of course can be worn with any of the pieces. So it’s an extremely versatile capsule, esp. considering the variety of colors.
For myself, I would probably substitute a darker wash denim for the ivory pants. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t do pants in very light neutrals. This would also allow me group the items in three sets of three with similar color and/or value: (1) all the green; (2) rose + darker wash denim; (3) floral + yellow + light denim. With the ivory pants and light wash jeans, the rose is only matched value-wise by the green pants, and I think I’d prefer to have another lower value-contrast option.
It’s always a mark of a stellar capsule when I find myself thinking how one tweak could create a capsule I would be absolutely thrilled with personally :)
I love the floral motif throughout the capsule and would definitely be mixing my floral prints. I own two pairs of the Rifle Paper Co. floral Keds (one based on navy, one based on white) and I adore them. They are much more versatile than you might think at first.
With every capsule we see, I always assume appropriate garments for layering under, but the wool cardigan shown as a stand-alone top makes me curious about (1) whether any readers wear their cardigans this way and (2) if so, what do you layer under, if anything? Wool is personally an itch-athon for me, but even if this were a material that I am comfortable with as a skin-touching layer like cotton, I would be hesitant to wear it alone because it’s a cardigan (and thus I’m not sure how much to trust the buttons to be appropriately spaced for wearing with no under layer). When layering, I tend to prefer layering under a top with sleeves if I can, instead of a tank or camisole, to extend the number of wears between washing. I have a small number of dedicated close-fitting knit tops/Ts in both short and long sleeves that I use for this purpose. But it makes me wonder about how different capsules might require different kinds/numbers of underlayers, which can be quite relevant when trying to pack into a single small bag for travel.
I can’t think of any time I have ever worn a cardigan as a stand alone. In theory it seems like a good idea, but I always layer at least a sleeveless T with cardigans.
Same; depends on the time of year, but my cardi or jumper would always have a short or long sleeved tee as a next to the skin layer. Because they’re nicer next to the skin, and easier to launder. And I know people are wearing knitted vests as a first layer, but I can’t warm to that! :)
I liked the graphic showing the color scheme with black, navy, cream, or olive base. My eyes immediately went to the navy and cream based graphs. Yes! For me those would work. After spending our HOT summer in SugarLand (Houston) in white and very light denim blue skorts, (and I’ve never been one to wear light colored bottoms) it felt weird to go back to navy. Huh. More and more it seems like I should try to find stone colored jeans for winter.
Pink and green! Why have I never thought of that before? I have come to depend on you to jog my view of thinking about combinations of colors.
I was inspired to wear pink and green from a previous VF wardrobe a few years ago. Such a lovely combination.
this is an outstanding pink and green combo. often it looks childish and unserious.
I’m waiting for the heroine to be a 79 year old woman in an Independent Living situation in the outpost of
Bonita Springs, FL. Last year she lost enough weight to be a size 12. She has loved textiles since her youth
and she took to heart Karl Lagerfeld’s advice, that you can’t enjoy fashion if you are too large. Karl himself
lost a lot of weight in his twilight years and kept it off. She tends to prefer textured fabrics and, along
with purchasing clothes from various outlets, she also sews. Sewing clothes has revealed to her many more
textile types including her current favorite, “Sport Knit”. For items that don’t lend themselves to sewing, she
follows theviviennefiles as her top go-to.