September 2, 2024
This month feels like a new start for many of us – back to school and all that. In France, they call it “la rentrée” – the re-entry. Everybody’s back from vacation and ready for the return of autumn…
So I’m going to look at these wardrobe with a few minutes of simple analysis, before I just tear off shopping with our various heroines!
Let’s start with this most difficult (for me) wardrobe, based on a cheery and always interesting painting:
Five accent colors! Pastels AND brights! So not my style… which is great, right?
Just looking at this, I feel like this heroine might want to look for more green, orange or pink…
And let’s see what she has, separated by function:
She owns neither a simple long-sleeved ivory tee shirt, nor a classic ivory crewneck (maybe v-neck?) sweater… hmm…
And her bottoms:
It’s hard to see anything obviously lacking here…
Maybe we’ll get a clue from a slightly closer look at her accessories!
This is a pretty casual assortment, for the most part – neither a pair of dressy shoes, nor an evening bag:
Although her jewelry and scarves are probably more than adequate for anything she does:
So after some thinking, I think that this heroine is going to start preparing for all of the upcoming dressy events. If you’re picky, or like things that are difficult to find, or hard to fit, it’s never too early!
Earrings – Nazzar; green dress – Boden; green cardigan – Boden; clutch bag – Arms of Eve; ivory sweater – J.Crew; satin pants – J.Crew; pumps – Marc Fisher LTD
Let’s see how these new clothes integrate with what she already owns! It’s pretty clear that she can wear either of her new sweaters and pants together…
If you want to look back at the earlier stages of this wardrobe, you can find them here:
Christmas Day Starter, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
Whew! Let’s move on…
I love this painting – wouldn’t you love to hear what these most elegant women are discussing?
The first thing I realized, when I sorted everything in our heroine’s wardrobe by color, is that she could use some more rust!
And interestingly, this heroine still doesn’t have a classic olive cardigan… THAT could come in handy!
While I don’t always thing that accent colors make good pants (or skirts), rust seems like a classic for autumn, doesn’t it? And she has nothing, yet…
To my very scarf-focused eyes, this doesn’t seem like enough scarves!
And if our heroine finds rust pants, she’s going to maybe want to look for a pair of shoes that will give her real mileage for them. While she can certainly wear black, beige or olive with them, it might make some sense to get a pair of loafers or boots that blend with rust pants…
After some really lengthy searching, I think we’ve found the perfect things for this heroine! (of course, most months I think that…)
Earrings – Chisel; scarf – Soft Strokes Silk; plaid popover top – L.L.Bean; russet sweater – Orvis; green cardigan – Alex Mill; corduroy pants – GAP Factory; loafers – Nordstrom
Everything on her shopping list, and a great plaid top that can be worn almost every month of the year!
How does this look, when she starts assembling outfits?
These outfits just scream “autumn leaves” to me…
If you want to catch up with this heroine’s earlier shopping, all the fun can be found here:
Christmas Day Starter, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
And our last painting for today – another earth-toned beauty, but in much softer colors!
Sorted by color, this wardrobe clearly needs a bit more light blue! Autumn might not be the time of year, but we’ll take a look…
Interesting… this heroine has neither a brown tee shirt, nor an ivory one! These are the kinds of garments that you can forget to buy, but which suddenly become essential, once you own them…
Hmmm… her only dark brown pants are very summery…
I frankly can’t see any big holes in her jewelry and scarf wardrobe:
Well yes, this heroine has THREE pairs of boots! But she doesn’t have classic brown loafers, nor a darker brown bag to carry in cool weather (the short days seem to call for darker colors in all kinds of ways).
The PERFECT light blue sweater jacket! And her tee shirts! And dark brown pants that are the exact color of her new brown tee shirt…
Bag – Coach; scarf – Artifact.; light blue sweater jacket – Lands’ End; rich coffee and fresh ivory tee shirts – Lands’ End; rich coffee corduroy pants – Lands’ End; loafers – Børn
Oh boy, can she wear her new purchases! Yes, the scarf is added with no real reference except beauty, and perfect colors…
All of this heroine’s earlier shopping adventures can be found here:
Christmas Day Starter, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
What appeals to you this month? I’m getting ready to change apartments (from the 24th floor to the 48th!!!), so I hate all clothing that has to be carried in an elevator and rehung…
But wait ’til you see my new closet! It’s gorgeous – I will share some time in late September or early October…
love,
Janice
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This is just what I need. I’m trying to assemble my cool/cold weather wardrobe and your breakdown of the different wardrobes is perfect timing. I have a lot to ponder.
The link for the lovely Coach bag takes you to an equally lovely but very different purse by J Crew.
PS
Can’t wait to see your new closet!
I love the additions to the Denis and Nash wardrobes. The colours are not mine in the Denis but with swaps, I could easily make it into a country casual wardrobe.
I love the restfulness of the Nash. I’m cautious wearing blue with brown but the sky blue jacket and dark brown trousers look great. I have been experimenting and have a pair of dark brown cords and taupe chinos. They look good with light/mid purple and burgundy/wine. However, a pair of brown jersey trousers would add to the smart-casual look with the sky-blue tweedy jacket I have. I would need a scarf or floral blue/brown top to tie it together as an outfit.
I’m wondering if the Klee would benefit from some mid-blue, warm pink and camel/tan as we roll into autumn. I’ve always thought that the pastels are a bit too pale. Mid-blue and pink would add some depth and less contrast. There are several squares of warm pink and the mid-blue is in the bottom row. I wear mid-blue and warm pink a lot in the autumn. The ‘dirty months’ from October to December throw us all manner of weather that create puddles and mud on our legs. Useful additions might be mid-blue jeans. I would also add camel/tan trousers to pick up the fringe colour which would look great with the green and mustard. Perhaps a camel coat too which would go with everything. Robust shoes and boots in camel/tan would be more practical than cream/beige in winter.
I particularly like the additions to the Nash this month. Shocker, I’m sure, given my love for plaid flannel shirts. I’ve added two more to my collection for this year. Never enough. I also really admire how you can see the trees in the forest. Looking at all the wardrobes and seeing what’s missing is amazing. I do not have that eye. One thing I do know that is NEXT YEAR, I really must add to my summer/warm weather wardrobe. I am beyond tired of the same three shirts day in and day out. I may be in a minority here, but I am so looking forward to cooler weather and moving into fall clothing.
Sheila, I too am looking forward to cool weather. I keep a fairly small wardrobe and I feel I have just worn it to death! Can’t wait for jeans and sweaters!
I pulled out some perfectly good fall/winter clothes the other day & groaned – I’ve been wearing most of them for years and 6 more months of them was not appealing. So I checked the fall trends & shopped my closet. Magico presto! It turned out that all I had to do was switch the focus from teals/blues to burgundy/camel and everything old was new again! I did add two new toppers, but it sure showed the strength of good basics. :)
I, too am looking forward to cooler weather dressing, mostly because I love layering and print mixing, which is much more challenging when my summer outfits this year have consisted of a dress and sandals.
All three are beautiful and functional, but I do love the new pieces for the Klee. Our heroine can look posh in these AND dress them down a bit. Love the accessories, as usual! We are getting back to scarf weather and you can never have too many of those IF they work in your palette.
You’ve really pulled together remarkably coherent wardrobes with these paintings.
I love how you analyze the wardrobes. It’s so helpful and instructive.
That sweater blazer in the Nash wardrobe is on sale today – mighty tempting!!
You mentioned your hesitation to use accent colours for pants/skirts. As a lover of colour I can vouch for the usefulness of accent colours below the waist. Some of my most frequently worn “bottoms” are a mustard yellow summer skirt and a magenta knit skirt, both solid fabrics. I decided years ago to wear plain fabrics below the waist and inject pattern via tops and scarves.
I’m thrilled for your new closet and look forward to seeing it!
Thanks for including the links to the wardrobes’ previous posts. Sometimes we take a second look at a garment or accessory and decide to purchase it.
The visual of all the clothes laid out is always helpful, and taking it a step further to organize by color and category makes the analysis easier. When putting together a capsule for travel, etc., I put garments and accessories in an Excel worksheet. The items are in the rows of the first column – Tops, Pivots, Wraps, Bottoms, Dresses, Shoes, Bags and Scarves – with a break between the garments and accessories. The column headers across the top are used for the colors including one for prints. With the Excel grid, it’s easy to tally how many items there are in each category and of each color to look for what to add and avoid duplicates. A text vs. visual approach that works for me and might appeal to others who like to analyze this way. After a trip, I revisit the worksheet to note what was not worn to help with planning future capsules.
Good luck with the move, hope things go smoothly.
Forgot to mention. Before packing, I create a visual by laying the garments on the bed in rows and columns as per the worksheet.
Such a great idea!
I love how you analyzed each of these wardrobes, first by color, then by tops, bottoms, shoes and purses, and accessories. It was so incredibly helpful to see, and enabled you to pick the perfect additions. I know you always do this with these wardrobes, but for some reason it really struck me as so helpful today. Its probably because I am almost done with my closet renovation and I am eager to make what fills it just as attractive as the closet itself now. The visual layout of the wardrobe is so helpful.
I’ve been struggling with my olive green travel capsule – you’ve given me terrific ideas for coordinates since olive can have blue or yellow undertones. (Or course I have a little of each so nothing matches exactly…)
You could always split your olives into the two subsets and create smaller capsules around them. Thats the real beauty of capsules! We don’t usually have just one.
Th3 color combo of olive and yellow reminds me of my grade school uniform.
When I was a teen, during the Preppy faze, I would only where olive with khaki or cream. As an adult, I’ve crossed the color spectrum and have worn olive pants with a magenta.
https://www.nordstrom.com/s/the-lila-linen-blend-a-line-skirt/7875254?color=EQUESTRIAN+SADDLE&size=4&utm_content=33817189855&utm_term=pla-819472651122&utm_channel=low_nd_shopping_standard&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=662927188&adpos=&creative=145518898258&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&acctid=21700000001689570&dskeywordid=92700049880581803&lid=92700049880581803&ds_s_kwgid=58700005470160253&ds_s_inventory_feed_id=97700000007631122&dsproductgroupid=819472651122&product_id=A1953548&merchid=1243147&prodctry=US&prodlang=en&channel=online&storeid=&locationid=9028615&targetid=pla-819472651122&campaignid=662927188&adgroupid=33817189855&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD8eAEkw6uIYuhU8TLbLb1sMqEATI&gclid=CjwKCAjwxNW2BhAkEiwA24Cm9GkTALyk1E90rdSSltZpOU3Tq16kyTkyYN_9leFlOQ86SLD5n2cRQRoCrA8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
I am hoping for a long rust skirt. I live in west Texas, so a long swingy skirt and boots just feels right in that wardrobe. If Western isn’t your thing, it could easily go East Coast literature professor.
Good find! I would never put this on The Vivienne Files, though, because it’s almost sold out in Size 14. I try not to show garments that are about to disappear for many of us – it makes finding nice things harder, but I don’t want to exclude anybody!
hugs,
Janice
Ah yes. That is what makes you the professional at this and me the person who enjoys seeing what you build. Also, your ability to make a link that isn’t thirteen line longs!
This is how we like to start the week.
I see all the work that went into this long post. (and that’s besides moving) Thank you Janice.
Then in October two ladies in one post, even though I read for a while today.
I would like to mix the Denis and Nash. And I want something dark green and jeans for the Nash next time. In everyday life I live in Denis’ wardrobe but I still want a simple black dress. And I’ve discovered that I wear light and dark colors throughout the year, mostly simple and elegant for the right occasion.
I was inspired by Dan’s le parc to check out Lands’ End Labor Day deals and I was able to purchase a few items in the target colors.
Olive and Rust color chinos
Dark brown cardigan
Four varieties of short sleeve tops, Cream, paprika, olive and rust. (Not a fan of long sleeves.)
I finished it off with a pair of dark blue jeans. Hope they all fit and are appealing.
Regina, that’s awesome! I rely on Lands’ End. Great return policy. I took advantage of the sale to stock up on winter tops. It looks like the Sale continues today…
What a great two ways to look at these wardrobes. And a reminder to do so with my own. I find all these colours very ‘restful’ and pleasant.
Enjoy your new view and new closet!
Just love your pages I look forward to them, all the time.
A moving tip….. I have moved a lot, normally in the same neighborhood. I was a costume designer, so this was the way we moved costumes from wardrobe to theatre, too. We always take a sleeping bag, blanket or duvet, lay it on the floor lay the clothing on them with hangers attached and zip up/wrap up and move. Hope your move goes well. It is always marvelous to have a dream closet. Miss mine 🙃
Janice, I just saw a new Echo silk bandanna. It’s called City Hopping. I really think it depicts Chicago?
It is indeed based on places in Chicago! Good eye… at least it’s navy, so I’m not forced to buy it!
hugs,
Janice