December 29, 2023
Only a few more days typing “2023!” Not quite ready, personally!
Let’s look at three more scarves, and around each of them construct a 6-piece travel capsule wardrobe. Maybe you’d get sick of wearing the same 2 or 3 colors over a week or two, but for three days, it might just make things easier.
Isn’t this lovely? And lots of possibilities…
The dark color might very well be navy in this scarf, but on my monitor it looks black, so that’s what I’ve included. I’m sure you understand…
This weekend is a split between dressy and relaxed; I think she’s ready for anything!
Lime sherbet sweater – J.Crew; green earrings – Swarovski; black twill shirt – Lands’ End; rose quartz earrings – Monica Vinader; pink fleece top – Lands’ End; jeans – Lands’ End; scarf – Echo; skirt – Aggi; denim dress – Lands’ End; clogs – Sorel; ballet flats – band of the free; boots – Blondo
If you’ve ever wanted to own something designed by Romeo Gigli, here’s your chance!
Red and orange together – without shame!
It will probably be warm – but we might have a cool-ish even or two…
Turquoise polo – Lands’ End; turquoise & MOP floral earrings – Vintouch Italy; red shirt – Lands’ End; pearl earrings – Dower & Hall; sailcloth tee – L.L.Bean; bone cotton pants – PacSun; scarf – Echo; pearl & jasper bracelet – Pearls of the Orient; orange board shorts – Lands’ End; cotton cardigan – L.L.Bean; natural raffia flats – Birdies; sandals – MIA
And if you’ve ever wanted to own something from Dale Chihuly – we’ve got a scarf from him too! These 100 scarves are proving to be lovely, and from some truly excellent artists…
You might want to think of this scarf as jade, set in silver…
Another “warm days, cool evenings” capsule wardrobe:
Sweater – L.L.Bean; green earrings – Bling Jewelry; white top – L.L.Bean; pearl earrings – Crislu; scarf – Echo; grey alpaca sweater – Alex Mill; pearl bracelet – Lagos; white jeans – L.L.Bean; grey tee shirt sweater – Lands’ End; white skirt – Alex Mill; silver flats – band of the free; sneakers – Steve Madden
There are more scarves being introduced on January 7th; I will be all over them as soon as they’re released!
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I attacked cleaning out my closet by using clusters…
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Isn’t that odd. I love the first scarf and was imagining it in my wardrobe, but I used different colors. My wardrobe with it would be gray, camel/brown (would have to have scarf in hand to decide), and the green of the leaves – not the lime neon green. Just goes to show different people see different things. Even though I love the first scarf I think overall I liked yesterday’s selections better and personally would expand one of those for a longer trip. Have a great weekend everyone
ps did you really mean July 7? or Jan 7? Just checking! July seems like a long time to wait!
It’s actually January 7th – late next week. I spend quite a bit of time confused…
hugs,
Janice
My favorite is the first scarf! The colors I’d choose are navy, pink, white and a cool olive green instead of neon. I may need to buy this scarf if it’s still available.
I just looked at the scarf on the website and I’m revising my olive green to more of a true green, maybe Kelly green. It doesn’t look olive in the other photos. And it’s still available…
Ooh! The 3rd capsule is so pretty. And I can see it working in the UP in the summer.
Oh my goodness, I just ordered the orange/red/blue/ivory scarf, an unprecedented action on my part. The colors I wear now, and am more drawn to most of the time will make this scarf very useful. I have been slowly coming to this realization despite my blacks, greys and whites which I have been wearing for decades. Am I going through a (way past) midlife crisis? Has anyone else experienced this?
The third one is beautiful and the colors make me think of summer in the tropics!
I am loving the Echo 100 Project! The 35″ size is too much scarf for me, but they are interesting. When purchasing a scarf, the image on the scarf is very important to me. I want it to be relatable, even if I’m the only one seeing it. I love birds and flowers, so the first scarf has been a favorite, but why would someone want to wear the image of some random woman?
Lily, I’ve been feeling the same way about the many person images on the scarves in this collection. They really don’t appeal to me; I’d always prefer a nature motif!
Such pretty scarves. The first and third would fit right into my wardrobe. My tweaks for the first would be the shades of mid-dark blue of the woman’s face/hair and the pigeon wing. Then purple of the pigeon breast with the pink of the flower. I would leave the green but might put in the taupe brown of the branch. As for the third scarf, I reinterpreted this one for me as pale aqua jumper, an aqua and white patterned tee, silver grey or aqua cardigan, silver grey trousers, white tee, silver grey skirt. I’d also include aqua/silver necklaces. These wardrobes seem quite summery and I’m reassessing my relationship with skirts and dresses. This is where the decluttering look-back was so helpful, particularly showing a garment as smart or casual.
I thought that I had read all your decluttering articles but then realised that this one has not been tagged for Decluttering (please could you add the tag to this?). I was amused by your first approach to decluttering with wine. My beverage would be a large mug of tea (helps bring calm to stressful situations!). I would also need more than one bed to spread things out on… My husband would come in and groan… I might begin enthusiastically but then give up because we need to go to bed… I would then resolve to do the exercise again with my daughter and a bottle of wine!
A few years ago, after I had found VF, I did take courage to declutter my wardrobe. I found clustering to be the most successful approach. It was easier to do a warm weather and cold weather sift first though my aim was to be able to wear most things for 6-9 months. Being able to create smart and casual clusters with main garments is good for increasing wear.
I originally ordered colour groups to see which main colour clusters were the most dominant and if any new two/three colour clusters which I could create. This is how I discovered that grey was the true neutral because navy and marine blue belonged in the blue cluster which wasn’t dominant, neither was purple dominant even though its shades are my favourite (I’m rectifying that). In fact, burgundy/plum-pink-grey was the dominant cluster, plus soft blue with warm pink or teal with pink were new mini clusters. I then clustered each type of garment (within the colour clusters) to discover the ratios of tops/bottoms and second layers. This showed up that I could build in more teal and introduce soft brown.
Before I began building smaller clusters, I tried on everything for FIT. As my daughter said, there was no point keeping something or building and outfit/cluster if the primary garment doesn’t fit, needs alterations or repairs. Having a second person who can be trusted for honest and non-judgemental opinions is very helpful. If it doesn’t FIT, set it aside and move on. You can always reassess later, particularly if it is a favourite. If there was a scarf, shoes or jewellery which was an obvious ‘match’, I would include it. As yet I need to repeat the process with accessories and shoes.
My clothes mountain has been reduced but I could take it much further…
I loved looking back at your decluttering as I had just gone through my closet earlier today! I really felt the need to get rid of anything that doesn’t make me totally happy to wear; even if I rotate through the same clothes endlessly. I realized that plaids don’t suit me as well as any shoes that are not 100% comfortable. Did I drink wine as I was doing this? No, but I am now, so pardon any mistakes. :)
Janice,
In your retrospective from 10 years ago, one of the commenters mentioned a link to a former blogger named Jennifer Skinner, dated January 3, 2014, I think, whose posts are still available online, though she no longer actively posts . Jennifer suggests 6 bottoms that each have 2 coordinating tops and toppers, though the toppers can be used with other bottom combinations. Hence 12 outfits . Or more, if some are interchangeable.
I always purchase in terms of clusters or modules . An entire wardrobe capsule of all interchangeable pieces is overwhelming and not necessary for my satisfaction in having plenty of varied outfits to wear .
In terms of clusters, I always start with 3 matching, and I do mean matching, not just coordinating pieces, such as a pant, a top, and a topper of some kind, all the very same color, then add an off white top and at least 2-3 accent colored tops and toppers, aiming for twin sets with different textures, if possible , and perhaps a print in a top or scarf or necklace to pull these accent colors together with the neutral . This gives me both an inside column and a suit look . Packing with 2 or 3 of these different neutral plus accent clusters seems to work well, but I duplicate the same color bottom within a cluster , maybe with a different texture to have 2 bottoms in the same color as each other. Of course the length of the trip determines how many clusters to pack . .
The name of the poster who referenced Jenifer Skinner in your 10 year look back was named GRASSHOPPER .