December 25, 2023
Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating, and Happy Monday to all the world!
Let’s look at some art, and some tiny wardrobe clusters that I assembled to get our heroines started on their wardrobe-building adventures:
Someone mentioned that we had no red last year – this might fix that!
A range of greys, a range of red, and some pure white for relief!
All of our heroines are starting out with VERY basic clothes – the kind of things that you need, but don’t necessarily get a big thrill out of buying…
Charcoal heather cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; grey pearl earrings – I’Mmany London; dark cranberry turtleneck – L.L.Bean; dark gray heather pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Genevie; geo-print shirt – Lands’ End; loafers – Dansko
I love this painting – these women are pretty dressy for just hanging around under the trees!
Our lover of all things olive green has an interesting palette with which to work – she’s got brown! She’s got black! She’s got rust! This will be interesting…
Some easy neutrals that give her a couple of options set us up for some more exciting purchases ahead:
Katahdin khaki cardigan – L.L.Bean; olive star earrings – sccollection; sunwashed olive and vicuna heather tees – Lands’ End; pants – Lands’ End; olive cashmere scarf – Scarves by Franci; shoes – SoftWalk
Yes, another Rothko! I’m smitten with the soft orange and bubblegum pink paired with black and ivory…
I’m eager to find things that combine the orange and pink – I saw a perfect sweater, but there was (literally) only one left… sigh…
This heroine is going to swing back and forth between calmly, classically neutral, and bright accents!
Cashmere cardigan – L.L.Bean; scarf – Kurt Geiger; earrings – Kate Spade New York; black tee shirt – L.L.Bean; pants – L.L.Bean; petunia sweater – J.Crew; loafers – Birdies
Soft classic colors, but not predictable!
I thought this heroine might be best served by establishing a solid base of neutrals…
Almond milk shirt – Alex Mill; baroque pearl earrings – The Jewellery Store London; tiramisu cardigan – Alex Mill; almond milk corduroy pants – Alex Mill; scarf – Inkanti; Walnut alpaca sweater – Alex Mill; loafers – Cole Haan
Last year’s range of shades of brown was so much fun that I’m going to try it with blue! I envision this wardrobe as mostly navy and white, with touches of bright and interesting blues…
Matching these colors exactly might be too impossible, but we’ll start out trying, and if we have to adjust, we will do so. There are no rules that compel anybody to “obey” wardrobe plans…
So far, I’m loving the simplicity with the bright pop of the scarf and earrings:
White shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Genevive Jewelry; cashmere sweater – L.L.Bean; pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – COS; navy cardigan – J.Crew; navy loafers – Birdies
Our warm weather heroine is starting – again – with beige…
This year, her accent colors are bright, or maybe soft… The painting is simple but offers quite a few options!
Why yes, January clothes are in the stores. And Yes, the include linen…
Linen shirt – Everlane; earrings – Estelle Bartlett; green top – Boden; pants – J.Crew; marble print scarf – Artifact.; soft blue haze tee – Lands’ End; espadrilles – LifeStride
What do you think? Be kind, I’ve worked on these for weeks…
love,
Janice
p.s. Four years ago, I ended our story about Edith and the Kingpin…
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These posts make me feel like a kid on Christmas! Thank you Janice for exciting my imagination— and a Merry Christmas to you!
Wow, Janice, surely there must be something for everyone here! I bet I’m not the only reader who is all a-flutter with the anticipation of spending time with these paintings/wardrobes.
The blue OBVIOUSLY … I love this monochromatic palette from the Elizabeth Magill painting already, and I totally expect it to be an enduring love!! :)
And the Georgia O’Keefe, grey, red and white … that’s a lovely painting, & would make a great wardrobe … with, for me, a tiny course correction from white-white towards winter-white.
The Maurice Denis painting is gorgeous. It’s just not a colour palette that I could wear, but I think we probably all know someone who would look stunning in it. And it will be fun to put it together.
The Nash, I do remember that painting from previously. I could live with it on my wall, for sure.
The colour palette of the Klee is interesting. I do like a light neutral.
I can’t warm to the Rothko just yet, but we’re all different! Lots of people will love it!
I hope you’re having a good Christmas Day. Thanks so much for posting this on Christmas, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how it comes together over 2024.
Merry Christmas to those celebrating, and thank you Janice for getting this together for us. The Denis, Nash and Magill for me. I also remember the Nash from a previous post. It will be interesting to see how the Rothko comes together. As Vicki said, surely there’s something for everyone here. Amazing as usual. Have a glorious day everyone.
If I may, I’d like to share the link to an article I just read this morning. It was in a ‘best posts – style’ round-up on Cup of Joe, and it’s interesting to consider as we head into a new year and perhaps also into these new wardrobes. Whether you agree with the deeper life insights she shares or just read it for the wardrobe philosophy, it’s something that’s interesting to ponder. Consider it a Christmas present from me!
https://cupofjo.com/2023/06/06/women-capsule-wardrobe/
Wishing you a very merry Christmas, Janice, and the same to all readers wherever (and whatever!)you may be celebrating.
Thanks, Bren. This is truly inspiring.
Thank you Bren. I was really surprised to see she took overalls and jumpsuits. Not expected.
She is wise! I love that she immediately sees the possibilities in expanding her wardrobe planning to other areas of her life… Thanks for sharing!
big hugs,
Janice
Thank you Bren for sharing this. I wondered what her life is like in Cambridge that she doesn’t have need of a dress or skirt and her footwear only includes trainers/boots (I looked up that post too). As for “the only thing she misses” – well I had to look that up. Bum bags as they are known in the UK, are rarely seen now and only in limited circumstances, like a walk in the country. In town, we carry shoulder or cross-body bags, tote bags or backpacks.
I really enjoyed that, though I’d sure like to see what kind of jumpsuits she wears…. I’ve never owned one. I have so many clothes now that I need to get rid of some, but I now like everything I own! So I’m trying to buy nothing except what I find I have still have a gap for, wear what i like best, and then let things wear out and give things away every season when it turns out I don’t wear them after all.bd if a nice problem after years of having lots of clothes that didn’t fit right or work.
Christmas Day joy seeing your selection of art and color. I love the cranberry color you chose. Pops of color, like a sweater, blouse or scarf with basics of black, dark grey, or navy foundation is my favorite wardrobe capsule. The blue palette is definitely summer capsule, for me. I must go through my closet and see if a beautiful blue print scarf should be added.
Thank you for this gorgeous gift of colors. Happy Holidays.
Janice,
This is going to be fun!
I can easily see myself in some variation of each of these upcoming wardrobes.
Happy celebrations to all.
Each of these paintings gives a lot to ponder: mood, technique, use of color. I hope our heroine inspired by the O’Keefe painting has occasion to pack for a weekend in Santa Fe to visit the O’Keefe museum. While she’s there, she might find some stunning silver accessories at the Native American outdoor market next to the history museum.
The color palettes cover a lot of options, which is perfect. We all do not need to march around lockstep in the same colors. I’m eager to see these capsules build through the seasons, especially the ones in the bright colors. LOVE that bright blue. And I’ve been wearing alpine blue from LL Bean quite a lot—the cotton turtleneck AND the long -sleeved tee.
BTW, you will find some beautiful pink and orange options at Kettlewell Colours. It’s a combination I often wear.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Janice, thank you for this gorgeous grouping. I could imagine easily stepping into any of these paintings but was secretly hoping for the Magill, and there she is! I’m shifting into navy and all blues for my foundational wardrobe, so I’ll be pulling ideas from this. Perhaps I’ll add seasonal accents as I go, but let’s focus on one thing at a time.
I can’t wait to journey with all these heroines in 2024. What a beautiful cast of characters!
Bren, thank you for the link. Off to read Cup of Jo, she’s a delight.
Beautiful! Can’t edit to see where these go. LOVE the blue!!!
Just want to say Merry Christmas and thank you for this post. Even just the looking forward to seeing these wardrobes grow the coming year is fun!
First of all, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday with your loved ones.
What a pretty selection of colors. There are a few things that appeal to me.
With the blue wardrobe, I really hope they stick with the blue tones and use light blue instead of white.
These paintings are just amazing! Can’t wait to see how they progress. Especially the Magill. Excellent choices all around, I’d say.
Happy Holidays to all!
Merry Christmas! Lots of options from an eclectic selection of paintings!!! Yay!
Such a great variety of colours palettes; I’m sure everyone will be able to identify with at least a couple of them. I know I’ll be especially watching three of them! (The Lane, the Red Maple and the all-blue wardrobe)
Thank you, Janice and Merry Christmas, all!!
I love Dans le Parc!! Can’t wait to see what you do with it!!!
Merry Christmas, Janice! These are going to be so fun to follow this year. My favorites are #1 Glen and #2 Lane Near Wormingford. Just gonna call that one Lane. I think you’ve done an awesome job of finding something for everyone in 2024.
Love, love, love! All beautiful paintings. So far, I like the Dans le Parc painting. The Rothko reminds me of Dunkin Donuts, but not quite as bright. (Orange is my least favorite color. It makes me look sick. But I have seen it looking stunning on other people. I try to keep an open mind.)
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to you and yours. And to all you fans as well.
Louise P
Looking forward to the year ahead. Thank you for all your hard work setting this up. I haven’t decided which will be my favorite wardrobe. I’ll wait and see how they develop.
A lovely Christmas present to wake up to. All these wardrobes are going to be fun to watch but I do gravitate towards the blue. I love the red and grey and look forward to seeing if I end up bringing them back to the fore front of my closet.
Merry Christmas all!
These all look lovely! I like the O’Keeffe (this is my favorite post ever: https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2016/03/start-with-art-autumn-trees-maples-by.html/ ) and look forward to seeing how they all develop. Merry Christmas!
What a lovely Christmas present! My favorites are the Klee and the McGill.
Klee – it has the most colors and it is oriented toward a warmer climate, both of which are appealing to me. I Iike that the colors are mid-range but fairly saturated, so not too dark for the tropics but not so muted that they wash out my fair skin. For me, I would probably choose a deeper shade of blue. The color of the green top is gorgeous!
McGill – I’m not usually a monochrome person, but I love vivid blues. I found myself thinking that this wardrobe could be perfect with various “French Five” accessory options.
Thank you for all the work you did on this! Looking forward to more inspiration!
Merry Christmas, Janice! What a lovely collection of paintings you picked to guide us through the next year! I am, of course, partial to the grays, reds, and white of the Georgia O’Keeffe work – I’ll add bits of black and make sure the white is soft. After three years on a tropical island, we moved to the much colder Midwest last year, and I need to rebuild my wardrobe, almost from scratch. This is perfect timing, so thank you for including the gray-red-white color combination. I’ve already ordered the scarf you linked, and am waiting for Dillard’s to open tomorrow to see if they carry those Dansko loafers.
👏👏👏
OH MY GOODNESS!!! This is going to be the best year EVER! I love the whole set.
That Rothko is my favorite. It looks clean and crisp and exciting. I’m excited that it’s black and cream rather than black and white, and that she’ll swing between classics and brights. Hoping for dresses and cream colored pants in this wardrobe later in the year.
My favorite as well! Excited to follow. Thank you Janice!
Agreed – just love these Janice, and most especially the Rothko!
You are truly awesome – happy 2024!
I love love love the all blue painting. When I retired, I got rid of everything black from wardrobe (almost everything!). I seem to be steering toward a colour palette that’s strong on blues. I also love the Nash painting and corresponding wardrobe of neutrals with soft blues and greens. Maybe my summertime inspiration?
Hoo boy! I’m never going to be able to settle on just one of these wardrobes!
What a lovely Christmas gift to find in my virtual stocking! Thank you so much, Janice, and wishing you a very merry Christmas and joyous and peaceful holiday season.
While none hit me as hard as last year’s Berlin painting they are all works I would love to see. As for what I might wear probably the Rothko. I already have oink and orange scarves. Actually you inspired my current wardrobe. I started with art with a painting I bought from a friend. It is purples and blues and some gray.
This is very exciting! Fun to think of the possibilities with these wardrobes! They are lovely paintings. It would be fun to also try to match the “attitude” of the painting ie modern contemporary, classic elegance, modern edgy or maybe sporty, soft casual, etc. You already do this to some degree, but it would be fun to make a point to match the painting style, as well as the color palette. Hope you are having nice holidays!!
I think it will be the John Nash for me. I have been trying to come away from too much black and white but have got a bit lost in the wilderness with burgundy and navy. I am not reaching for those colours to wear. I have also been very against ‘summer’ colours as too muted, my nature crying out for strong clear contrasts. However I have recently bought a smoky blue and taupe check jacket which I love so perhaps this lady is for turning after all. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
I love the variety here, and I’m so excited to see what the year of wardrobes will bring! So far, for myself, I’m liking the shades of blue and the last warmer tone wardrobe. I hope the accents veer more bright than soft, but I’m sure it will be lovely either way.
YES! I already love the nuances of blue wardrobe!! I am so looking forward to following that one!!
Janice,
Merry Christmas to yiu and yours and all of your readers here !
you, not yiu
Oh 2024 is going to be a fun year. I am most partial to your first painting and wardrobe but all of them are so interesting!
Merry Christmas! What a lovely end to a festive day. I will be watching the all blue wardrobe and hoping to pick up some elements for my wardrobe, especially looking forward to”bright and interesting blues”. I love the soothing nature of the Nash and wish I could wear those colors. So beautiful!!
Ohh, these are going to make a very interesting variety! I’ll be watching the Blue/white wardrobe closely, and the red/ white/ gray as well. I’ll bet when all is done those two could be combined into one (large) interchangeable closet!
And Edith and the Kingpin was one of my absolute favorite little stories! Enjoyed it all over again.
Merry Christmas!
Ohhh am I ever looking forward to that glorious blue wardrobe, and the lovely cranberry and gray! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Happy festive season and a new year with lots of inspiration for everyone!
I am looking for the warm colored wardrobes, and I am wandering how warm the colors of the Denis, Nash and Klee clothes are going to be. As always I will find clothes and ideas that I love. Thank you Janice.
Happy Boxing Day, everyone! I hope you all had a good day yesterday, whatever the day brought. As for the paintings, I’m most interested in numbers one and five. Grey and navy are my neutrals, and I favor clear to bright accents, so possibly number three as well. But all of these wardrobes will be interesting to watch as they develop. And Janice, we can only imagine the huge amount of work that goes into these posts. Thank you for a year-long gift that you give to us.
I like them all and can’t wait to see the treats you have in store for each pallette.
Janice, you are such a gift to us!!! I can’t tell you how much I look forward to MWF!! (nor how often I check back to read the comments!)
Blessings on you and yours!
Beautiful choices, cant wait to see how they all progress. Happy New Year to you!
As a lady who adores the warm neutrals, thanks for being inclusive. So many who do capsule wardrobe sites don’t take variation in account, different coloring, ages, levels of formal/casual.
I’ll definitely be following the lady who loves olive. My hair has gone from a caramelly auburn to a warm salt and pepper, and my skin gets paler each year, but olive still looks great.
Thanks so much and have a warm & thrilling holiday season.
I always try to include black, grey, navy, olive, brown and beige – keeping it fair!
hugs,
Janice
What an interesting bunch you’ve picked to work with this year. I’m quite excited to see what will come of these capsules. Early favorites are the O’Keefe, a beautiful classic; the Magill, those gorgeous blues; and maybe the Rothko, exciting and unexpected.
Thank you so much for all the time, effort and yes, love that you put into TVF. These posts really brighten my day.
This is very exciting! Fun to think of the possibilities with these wardrobes! They are lovely paintings. It would be fun to also try to match the “attitude” of the painting ie modern contemporary, classic elegance, modern edgy or maybe sporty, soft casual, etc. You already do this to some degree, but it would be fun to make a point to match the painting style, as well as the color palette. Hope you are having nice holidays!!
I’m interested in watching the Nash and the Klee. If the brown in Nash was a warm and the green was too, that would be my top pick. However, if I ignore the orange coral in Klee, that is a good match for what generally looks good with my colouring. The Nash makes me think of a lady historian who specializes in ‘between the wars’ with a love for the big manor houses. The Klee funny enough brings to mind a woman who has a year long guest lecture spot in the Keys… Both sound like dream jobs to me.
Happy Christmas everyone. Hope you are having a relaxing holiday, Janice. Let me share a bit of Christmas magic before diving into the paintings. I shall explain the context but it all revolves around a purple floral coat.
My daughter got married in November. It took me quite a long time in the preceding 11 months to decide on an outfit as Mother of the Bride. In the initial stages, she wanted me to choose an outfit that I was comfortable in. My idea was to wear a dress with a complimentary coat or jacket to keep warm outside. I’m not one for the starched, straight and stiff MoB outfits but a floaty dress and coordinating jacket/coat would be perfect, particularly with florals in the mix. I do love florals (as you know) and have often admired other women who wear floral coats for special occasions. So I found a purple floral coat that I loved for sale on Etsy. Although my daughter also liked the coat, she decided that purple (and blue, my other failsafe) would clash with her colour theme. I did eventually settle on a burgundy floral silk dress and pink jacket which looked lovely. Anyway, I couldn’t forget that purple coat and thought that I could wear it for evening and dress-up occasions – a style development of becoming ‘smarter’ and less casual. Unfortunately, by the time I had decided to take the plunge, it had been sold. I only hoped that the new owner would enjoy wearing it but I was quite disappointed that I had missed out. Today, my daughter gave me my Christmas present… the purple floral coat – she was the buyer!! 🥰
Thank you, Janice, for taking the choosing the inspirational paintings to delight us in the year ahead. Like Dame Eleanor, I’m delighted that you have chosen another O’Keefe. Shades of soft reds, grey and ivory will do me well.
The John Nash is almost continuing the theme of the Monet from last year. This was my favourite in the end and an experiment for me. Transposing grey for taupe and soft browns will continue this adventure with green and blue. The scarf looks so soft. I have a similar one in teal. So my take on this wardrobe will be soft teal, slate blue, taupe and ivory.
I have struggled with a light neutral in my wardrobe and often just make do with a pale accent or pale grey. I can count on one hand the number of tops I have in ivory/white (excluding camis/thermals). This is something that I’m going to rectify this year. My Christmas outfit this year was an ivory/cream blouse embellished with pearls on the shoulders with blue teal velvet trousers. Simple, elegant and comfortable.
Well, I am bowled over by all the blues in the Elizabeth Magill painting. I’m looking forward to seeing how this develops. I do know that I will have to have blues in pattern and texture to liven it up.
Enjoy the rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas and look forward to a New Year, New You.
Beth T, that is the sweetest story. What a thoughtful daughter!
Thank you Beth T for both the story and reminding me that I can “switch out” colors. For instance gray instead of taupe. That would make that particular color scheme doable for me. I have a similar story to yours except it wasn’t a coat, but a laptop. Had been looking for a new one for ages, found one on sale, but by the time I decided to go ahead and spend the money it was gone. Yep – my boys went in together and bought it for me for Christmas. Looking forward to the Wednesday/Thursday post!
The palettes feel like they have a lot of beige (which I always notice because I’m lukewarm on beige and dislike beige pants, not because beige is “wrong”). When I counted there are 3 with beige and 3 with white. If we want every palette to have a light neutral, then I guess our options are limited!…though I would like to see light grey used more as a cool light neutral option to add to the standbys in various shades of white/ivory/cream/beige. The dark neutrals are more distributed across the palettes. It’s interesting that we have another beige-based palette without a dark neutral, but no palettes with dark neutral(s) and no light ones.
After last year’s two palettes with my favorite navy + olive neutral combo, I was wondering what palette from 2024 would appeal to me…and I think I’m joining the “shades of blue” bandwagon. I would not be satisfied limiting myself to only shades of blue, but I think the palette could help create a wonderful foundation capsule that color collectors like me could supplement with modules (French 5 or similar) in other colors. For example, I could definitely see having a base of blue and white to which different accent colors are added seasonally. I like the idea of exploring this as an alternative to having a strict color palette of neutrals and accent colors selected up front.
Of course I will follow the development of all the capsules with interest!
The Rothko wardrobe gets points from me for adding that two-tone orange/pink scarf right off the bat, rather than staying safe with neutral basics. Definitely sets the tone that this will be a bold capsule. I also really like the first selections for the grey wardrobe. I didn’t realize until I clicked through on the grey loafers that they are “metallic pewter” – love it.
These are going to be fun! I love that red is included. Thank you for including it.
I’m very excited about all the shades of blue together. It’s going to be gorgeous!