April 22, 2024
She loves neutrals – ALL the neutrals. When she saw this scarf, she distinctly heard it calling her name. (don’t tell anyone – they’ll think she’s daft!)
But yes, this sometimes happens…
She admired the scarf extensively, and studied the colors for quite a while, too…
Her first thought was how lovely this scarf would look with her favorite summer dress – perfect for those days when she can’t get out of going to her office:
scarf – Echo; earrings – Milor Silver; dress – Alex Mill; bracelet – Judy Crowell; satchel – Brahmin; sandals – Jeffrey Campbell
Weekends? This scarf is just the right touch with a classic black and gray outfit:
scarf – Echo; earrings – Anna Beck; tee shirt – J.Crew; cardigan – Alex Mill; dove grey chinos – J.Crew; bag – Hobo; sneakers – Arcopedico
Another outfit that could go to work or out for any sort of activity with friends – the scarf breaks up the severe monochromatic outfit perfectly:
scarf – Echo; earrings – Lucky Brand; brooch – COS; silk jacket – Eileen Fisher; shirt – J.Crew; pants – J.Crew; flats – Camper
But should she bust out? She’s been hanging onto some things in a very muted shade of mauve, which she wear in the hot weather with white or beige…
She tries it on, and gives it a resounding thumbs-up! Even though there doesn’t really seem to be any mauve or pink in the scarf, sometimes things just sort of blend together in unexpected – but lovely – ways!
scarf – Echo; earrings – Mine Finds by Jay King; pleat-back tank top – L.L.Bean; cropped pants – L.L.Bean; backpack – Hershel; flip flops – Skechers
When she starts to gather up all of the things that she tried on when her scarf arrived, she realized that she had – right in front of her – a perfect, simple travel wardrobe for a long weekend…
Chinos, capris, and a dress. A cardigan and a silk jacket. Three tops… Maybe four pairs of shoes seems excessive, and she probably won’t pack all three bags!
But she doesn’t want to wear JUST the four outfits she’s already identified; what can she do with these clothes that re-combines them into new ensembles?
Hmmm… if she packs a simple black “weekender” bag with her clothes and shoes, she can carry her Hershel backpack as her handbag….
love,
Janice
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Oh my. I love the neutrals. And the single, very muted accent color that blends with all. So elegant. This inspires me.
At first sight I thought that this was a bit bland but it deserves more consideration. I can wear all grey. I have some taupe/mauve and a the odd ivory tee. I would swap black for charcoal. I have a grey scarf that has a pinkish mauve pattern going through. I never know what to wear it with.
I could wear this for a few days but longer and I would need additional accent colours. So to its merit, this would wardrobe would be a good base to add seasonal accents too. You could also add rose-gold or bronze jewellery.
Beth, the charcoal swap sound lovely. Actually, on my screen, the dress is such a soft black it looks charcoal. Seasonal accents would be good, too.
I like the way the colours go with each other and how you show that things don’t need to be matchy matchy to look good together.
The choice of clothes works well and this gives plenty of options for styling so you don’tget bored
However, the black won’t be in my group of clothes, I don’t do black, but the individual items of clothes could be used in different colours
This spring I’ve been updated my wardrobe and find myself drawn to a muted sage green, cream / stone and for some reason a pair of navy trousers with a slim camel stripe down the side. These are soft loose ish floaty trousers that can be worn dressed up or casually with equal aplomb.
Have not bought navy in years and years. But somehow the little stripe changes the look and feel of everything. The stripe means the slacks go with my beige soft blazer and the cream and navy stripped tshirt. In a heavy weight viscose polyester nix.
Seems I have a thing for strips this year as I bought a pink white fine stripe shirt in cotton and a white sage green shirt in viscose which i got to go with green trousers and creamy white jeans.
Have been looking at every purchase with my Vivienne hat on.
Have accumulated a lovely array of clothes that go together well and have brought back to the shops anything that didn’t fit in with my other clothes or that turned out not to tone in well enough colour wise.
The most trouble I had was getting a new handbag it took 6 tries to o find my happy stylish and useful bag. Returned 5 bags finally ended up with a rich warm honey beige crochet fabric bag that looks like straw but isn’t. It has a turn lock closure on the flap over, a roomy interior with security zippered pocket inside and best of all a chain and fabric handle like a Chanel bag. The handles can be worn doubled up over your shoulder or on your arm or held in your hand. It can also be worn cross body when needed by only using one strap and letting the other strap sit on top of the bag.
I’m so pleased with it and it goes with everything I have.
My combination of colours is sage green, cream, pink, navy and one viscose summer dress in a brick ed and cream pattern and a jade green plain silky Jersey skirt that can be worn year round. (I have tops that go with this skirt exactly – a tshirt, short sleeved knit top, a skinny rib check jumper and two pstyetned blouses that jgo well together. With jade skirt.
Also bought a tangerine orange vee necķed oversized wool jumper just because i fell in love with the colour.
I have learnt so much from your blog and the contributions of our family.
Thank you for everything.
Best regards,
Susan from Dublin Ireland
This is just gorgeous. While not for me personally, what an elegant, beautiful collection. Great start to a work week.
The soft mauve top fits in beautifully with the palette and the neutral scarf. A nice reminder that when colors are sufficiently de-saturated, they can blend very well into a neutral capsule.
Thanks to everyone who commented on the white pants vs. accent colored pants question in the last post – it was so interesting to hear your perspectives and experiences, and it definitely helped broaden my understanding of the issue.
Just read my message above. Didn’t realise it was so long.
Apologies for the typing errors.
To clarify…
My new summer dress is brick red and cream. And my blouses are patterned.
One is a silky material in a dark green background paisley print with jade green and muted golden sand and a tiny bit of white colouring in the pattern.
The other is a chiffon patchwork design with brown white pink jade green and mauve in the pattern.
Both blouses go with so many things that they earn their place in the wardrobe many times over.
See I am proud to say that I learnt a lot over the years from you all.
Am so delighted with my new look and can’t wait on the weather in Ireland to warm up.
Best regards to everyone.
Susan from Dublin Ireland
Susan, I love to hear the details of people’s wardrobes and choices, so I’m NEVER put off by the length of a contribution. Your spring wardrobe sounds lovely!
I agree. It’s always interesting and thought provoking to read others comments and take aways.
Clever you ! All the jewelry is square or squarish. Bags, too.
I love how Janice always coordinates the jewelry, not just in color but shape and feel… this is something I now look at when choosing what jewelry to wear with my outfits. I’m not nearly as good at it as her, but am learning!
Kind of a weird print, but oh the colors! Or, should I say neutrals? One of my favorite Echo 100’s for the color scheme alone.
Well the scarf is mine! I have many of these colors plus I like where the money goes. Thank you Janice for putting all these wardrobes together. I made sure Echo knew that I heard about it from TVF.
shrebee I own one 3/4 sleeve shirt that I always consider getting rid of but it’s such a lovely fabric and color. Hate to try to wear a sweater over it b/c I can’t hold the sleeves down. Too hot sometimes and I wish it was short sleeve or sleeveless. Too cool sometimes wish it had long sleeves. I learned my lesson and have NEVER been tempted by another.
Cynthia there was a Fierce Lynx bracelet I wanted and I asked to be notified when it was back in stock. Allison was lovely about it and I did get it. It’s going to be perfect with today’s scarf!
We had a hot water leak and we were gone so big mess. Everything is being moved out and stored so floors and walls can come out and be replaced etc. etc. I thought I could pack up and be fine b/c I read TVF but it’s much harder than packing for a month’s vacation! I had a one day notice and I don’t know the duration. I’ve checked my calendar for upcoming events but hoping the weather doesn’t get swelteringly hot before we are back in. Bathing suits and shorts got packed and are gone.
Oh and I only kept out one long sleeved tee and pair of jeans. While typing my comments I spilled coffee down the front of both aarrrrgh!!!
So elegant, I have a friend who would look fabulous in a wardrobe like this. Unfortunately for me, i need a lot of colour around my face, otherwise i look very washed out. Love the Dove grey, maybe a neutral for me to consider adding in. Janice maybe you could show how to do a 60/30/10 colour triad? I never get these proportions right trying to colour block. The ten is easy, necklace or scarf, but i usually end up with far more like 80/20 lol. Have a lovely day ladies.
I don’t think that the difference between 60/30 and 80/20 is worth the worry! It’s the kind of thing that depends on wee nuances like the length of a cardigan, or the width of a pair of pants – every woman is going to find that this works out differently!
Just tucking in a shirt is going to change 10% of the color impression of an outfit…
I’ll think if there’s a straightforward, relatively foolproof way to work this, but I’m not thinking that I can overpower the influence of each of our sizes and dimensions! Not that I should want to…
hugs,
Janice
I love this palette. It reminds me of my beloved Canadian geese. I am considering adding some of these neutrals to my nearly all black wardrobe.
Oh you’re right! And I adore Canada geese too – they always seem quite elegant in their neutral wardrobes! Not to mention that seeing them flying in formation makes my heart want to jump out the window and join them. (we live on the 24th floor, so it’s not going to happen…)
hugs,
Janice
In reply to Amanda Hudson’s comment about 3/4 length sleeve I would suggest this…
Try looking at that shirt as a light cover up ior cardigan (what some people call a topper).
Then if the weather is uncertain you could put it on top of something to keep warm enough but not too hot.
I love 3/4 length sleeves and usually wear them on their own or over something like a vest or tshirt or even a thin knit top.
I never try to wear tgem under something as it seems too bulky to me and I don’t like to feel bundled up. That’s why it works on top not underneath for me perhaps Ananda feels the same way.
The two stripped shirts thst I recently bought have these sleeves. Then again I do roll up the sleeves of jumpers and other tops and sometimes even jackets. It is what I have always done and I haven’t even got an explanation for it.
Hope this helps to give a different outlook on that shirt.
Regards,
Susan from Dublin Ireland