June 21, 2024
Well, our (quite real!) heroine was pretty pleased with the blue and white wardrobe, and was wondering what might happen if she added some brown and pink…
Just for clarity (and to help those of us with a less than stellar memory!), this was her original travel capsule wardrobe:
hoop earrings – Elk & Bloom; Sweatshirt – Lands’ End; white gauze shirt – J.Crew; flower earrings – Mignonne Gavigan; long earrings –Sita Nevado; Headband – Tasha; cardigan – Eileen Fisher; sailor blue top – J.Jill; beaded bracelet – Loft; dotted bracelet – Michael Nash Jewelry; necklace – BaubleBar; blue cotton gauze top – J.Jill; tote bag – Target; scarf – Pashmisy; white top – L.L.Bean; blue bag – Brahmin; cotton gauze cropped pants – J.Jill; dress – J.Jill; floral pants – J.Jill; linen shorts – J.Crew; sneakers – Adidas; white loafers – Minnetonka Moccasins; flats – Free People; sandals – Talbots
Our heroine’s first instinct was to add another 10 pieces of clothing, to try to keep everything even and balanced. But she realized that this might be pretty ambitious, as well as making the wardrobe rather large. (if she was just planning for a summer wardrobe, it might make sense to do this; since she specifically asked me about travel, I’m trying to keep the wardrobe reasonably small)
So after a great deal of searching, and some serious thinking, our heroine chose to add this to her travel capsule wardrobe:
Pink linen dress – Boden; pink earrings – Talbots; cardigan – GAP; tiger eye & pearl earrings – Nordstrom; print top – Boden; brown pants – GAP; sangria sunset tee – Boden; brown tee – Lands’ End; bag – HAH Archive; scarf – AlanaKayART; ballet flats – Madewell
This was pretty clear-cut shopping:
- a three-piece outfit in her 2nd neutral,
- plus shoes and a bag, also in brown. This give her a base upon which all of her other wardrobe colors can be worn!
- a pink dress, which will look lovely alone, or with either of her cardigans, or even with her white shirt!
- a pink tee shirt – the obvious place from which to test any potential accent color, and finally
- a print top that includes white, pink and blue. It won’t necessarily look at all great with brown, but that’s fine – absolutely everything doesn’t have to match! These aren’t Garanimals…
- And OH YEAH – more earrings, and an extra scarf…
Our heroine’s larger travel wardrobe now looks like this – plenty of variety!
If you have four colors in your wardrobe, you have six possible “two-color” color combinations for an outfit. Our heroine has already pretty much exhausted the “blue & white” outfits, but she wants to see if she can get dressed in the other color combinations offered by this wardrobe:
We determined that wearing pink and blue together might be pushing the envelope for her comfort level; she’s not really thrilled about mixing two bright colors! But with a print top, the more “low-key” possibility of wearing blue shoes with pink earrings is one way to mix those two colors successfully!
The idea of being able to wear ANY possible color combination in a wardrobe is interesting – I, for example, would never think about wearing brown and purple together, even though I own a few garment in each color.
But it’s a thought, and that’s worth something!
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I was up to my eyeballs in a “Start From Scratch” wardrobe series. Exactly ten years ago, I shared my thoughts on adding jeans and a shirt to one’s wardrobe…
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This wardrobe turned out fantastic! And yes I would totally wear that lovely printed shirt with the brown pants. That combination evokes a very ‘70’s feel to me.
And the look back…aah the memories! That series is where I started voraciously reading the Vivienne files archives several years ago now when I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for a wardrobe before my surgery. I’ve learned SO MUCH from you since then! Thank you!
LOVE this! It’s bright, cheerful and has a practical bent to it. As someone who lives in color (particularly bright pinks and blues), I appreciate the thoughtful care given to the brown base color. It truly gives a grounding effect, while still allowing the brightness to shine through. I’m mad for this blouse, too. Well done!
Brown turns out to be a favorite for me. I wear it with: pink, apricot, peach, coral, apple green, aqua, my best red (leaning toward yellow rather than blue), off white, and light tans. Following your advice from way back I’m patiently acquiring foundational pieces in brown. I may be searching for a unicorn dress, but if I could find a classic dress that can go the sneakers/cardi or denim jacket, casual scarf route and then switch accessories to go out to dinner or even a business or somber occasion, I would grab it. The real test of patience comes when I spot a suitable style, but the brown is nearly black or carries too much red or rose or rust. Conversely, I will spot a lovely brown color and the style is all wrong. Boho puts my teeth on edge, and don’t get me started on hemlines just below the crotch.🫣🙀
AK,
Apparently you and I “ travel in the same boat” , though I don’t mind brown that leans toward rust .
I treat dresses with short hemlines as tunic shirts and wear pants, capris and shorts with them. And once in a while another longer skirt if the layering looks right lol.
Ooh, now this I love! Did you just make me want to bring back brown to my wardrobe???
Love this wardrobe And have already modified the one from Monday for travel this week. The plan pants have been substituted for blue seersucker love the additions for this one however, for my coloring, I would have to substitute black or even gray for the brown.
Sorry that would be blue print pants.
I would wear this collection, no problem! I’d also wear pink and blue together, so this one is coming together nicely for my colorful wishful-wardrobe.
One thing this exercise has done for me is solidify that I really dislike brown clothes. I’d wear the pink and blue together but never with brown. I’d just sub in navy. I do love all the style choices and especially that Boden print blouse! Wonderful job, Janice!
I like the blue and white and the pink slips in very nicely. But the brown. It seems too heavy but in a closet prob wouldn’t have the same effect as flat on the page. I have one brown piece, a skirt. No undertones drawing it to yellow or blue. I wear it 1-2 times per year. So it’s not really earning its place but…..it goes with the “Mary Maxim” sweater with buffalo that my mom knitted for dad close to 60 years ago. It only gets cold enough to wear about once per winter if I’m lucky! Considering the perfect match for my dad’s sweater, yeah, that skirt’s earning its place.
It absolutely has a spot! In Sugar Land we don’t have many cold weather days but you should definitely pull out that skirt and sweater. Really cool to own them.
Don’t ever get rid of that skirt unless you find a much better substitute – you keep that sweater forever! That’s a treasure that many of us envy and admire…
hugs,
Janice
Janice,
The addition of the brown and pink are more to my personal preference for more than one accent and one neutral color for either travel or just wardrobe purposes . While I would have to wear more muted and warmer versions of both the pink and the blue, I love this grouping as a travel capsule !
I agree with AK about finding a versatile dress for Summer. I had found one at a thrift shop, but my hopeful wishes to get down to the size that it was never transpired, and I no longer possess it, darn, as I am currently once again working in that direction for my body size ! Sigh —- .
I never wear brown, but I’m thinking if I changed the brown garments to gray and the brown leather accessories to pewter, this wardrobe would still look very pulled together and would work for someone who is on the blue side of the color spectrum as opposed to the yellow side. Altogether, it’s a lovely wardrobe for a summer trip, and I can see how it could go into the fall with darker blue and burgundy and gray.
Thank you for the garanimal reference! Whenever I bring it up in conversation, no one has ever heard of it.
I think that sometimes, at least a third of The Vivienne Files is just what I remember from Garanimals! I never wore them, but I remember them vividly…
hugs,
Janice
I always wear pink and blue together. My brown is light taupe worn with coral/salmon pink. I always think grey when you have dark brown.
IMHO the brown shouldn’t be part of this wardrobe it’s a warm colour that’s muscling in on cool tone territory, better a grey, charcoal or black. A linen dress with heavy the dark brown accessories looks off in the warm weather black wouldn’t look good either (unless she goes for liquorice all sorts) Maybe brown/pewter sandals and a woven or fabric bag or just nix the brown and use the white accessories or go out on a fun limb and use the blue shoes, bag and either of the gorgeous blue and pink scarves. The aesthetic with the brown just doesn’t say easy, breezy summer. Don’t get me wrong I love pink and brown for fall and winter but I think you have to consider the overall effect of the materials visually when put together. The brown just drags the dress down and it looks like she’s trying to justify the purchase of the brown items. Anyway a pair of those flats should be sandals maybe in gold or a pretty neutral metallic.
I, too, love that BEAUTIFUL blue!
But I would prefer a light gray to the brown in this capsule. (Or even black.)