September 16, 2024
You certainly remember that on Friday, I grouped a bunch of wardrobe clusters into a wardrobe that offered lots of possibilities for travel or for visibility in a small closet:
But we need accessories! While this wardrobe is fine without them, it’s not much of a reflection of how women actually get dressed, eh?
Starting with denim! If you find denim shoes that you like, and you can picture wearing them, grab them. Denim shoes aren’t growing on trees, and a lot of them are tricked out with lots of sparkles, embroidery and other unnecessary stuff that will just fall off if they get wet or you brush against something…
Earrings – Talbots; Vest – Splendid; shirt – Lands’ End; ribbon scarf – Lost Pattern NYC; dress – L.L.Bean; bag – Betsy & Floss; Jacket – L.L.Bean; jeans – Lands’ End; skirt – Lands’ End; denim oxfords – Embassy London USA
Today, I’m going to focus on wardrobe that use just two of the neutrals available to us. Starting with black:
yes, this scarf will go with everything in this wardrobe! You seldom run into something quite so versatile…
Black cardigan – L.L.Bean; v-neck sweater – J.Crew; tee shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Sterling Forever; pants – L.L.Bean; bag – Talbots; loafers – Rothys; Menagerie scarf – Echo
Now, let’s pile on accessories with our three accent colors:
Cardigan blazer – Lands’ End; tee shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Kendra Scott; wrap sweater – Lands’ End; boots – Aerosoles; scarf – Lauren Ralph Lauren
Deep forest vest – Lands’ End; cardigan – Lands’ End; shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Kate Koel; scarf – Artifact.; boots – Lucky Brand
Earrings – Milou Jewelry; scarf – Artifact.; loafers – Gentle Souls by Kenneth Cole; Cardigan – J.Crew; cashmere crewneck – J.Crew; short-sleeved sweater – J.Crew
NOW!!! When we put our brown and ivory/stone garments into a second closet (or a bin on a shelf), we are left with this wardrobe:
Let’s imagine we’re working with the heroine who travels four days each week; her first bag will include her denim and black neutrals, with burgundy as her accent. It looks like this:
With these 13 garments (almost certainly a “Whatever’s Clean 13” Wardrobe?), she has more than enough outfits for both her weekday travel and to wear through the weekend. I’m just going to show four examples:
At the end of the weekend, she does whatever laundry is necessary for her denim and black cores, as well as other personal items. Monday before she leaves for her 2nd week of work, she pack the same denim and black, but with evergreen as this week’s accent:
Okay, she might not want to wear her green striped shirt with a print scarf, but other than that this is pretty foolproof! More possible outfits:
The next weekend, she’s going to have laundry again. There’s ALWAYS laundry… But when she packs on Sunday evening (she’s leaving earlier than usual on Monday morning!), this is her travel capsule wardrobe:
And as always, she has plenty of ways to get dressed:
So every time she’s in a hotel room, unpacking and hanging her clothes, she has a balance of familiar denim and black clothes with a dollop of a fresh accent color!
If you travel a lot, there are worse ways to manage. If only I had thought of this 20 years ago…
love,
Janice
p.s. Beware of “brushed” sweaters. Pulling all of those fibers out and letting them hang on the surface of a sweater is an invitation to pilling – fast and furious! If you don’t mind buzzing your sweaters (don’t overlook this most high-quality of sweater shavers!), it’s fine, but don’t be caught off guard…
p.p.s. Ten years ago, the wardrobe of the day was based on blue, green and camel – very harmonious with today’s wardrobe!
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
An interesting idea for anyone who travels regularly, though I’m not sure how the main clothes would stand up to such frequent washing. Denim also takes a long time to dry. Swapping in the brown occasionally would give the black a rest.
I’m not a traveller but I do like my outfits to be ‘put together’. I could tweak this colour scheme for my autumn/winter wardrobe – slate blue, navy, teal, burgundy/plum/purple and grey/taupe. Though, I would have to add in lilac and pink for a bit of light relief! I have more than enough clothes but burgundy and/or slate blue boots and bags would be good additions.
Janice, I’m obsessed with this capsule, so I love that you have added accessories and shoes into the mix. I believe that adding a denim trench and/or a refined denim blazer would also elevate this whole capsule. Talbots is offering both right now and they’re beautifully cut.
The denim trench can be found here:
https://shopstyle.it/l/cfXBH
and the blazer is here: https://shopstyle.it/l/cfXC1
The trench is particularly appealing because it isn’t double-breasted! What a great thing….
hugs,
Janice
Wow! The accessories make such a difference. I wasn’t sure about this wardrobe last week, but I definitely see the possibilities this week. It looks so complete for fall.
Perfect! Exactly what I had In mind.
Love the burgundy accessories! Question for the ladies out there – do you hang or fold your cardigans and vests? I’m changing over my closet to fall and winter clothes and always struggle with this. I change it back and forth and wonder which way is best. Thank you!
Susan in Toronto
I hang some of the lighter weight sweaters, but mostly fold.
All are folded, regardless of weight.
I hang light ones, like cashmere or linen, and fold heavier things. I just kind of eyeball how much the garment seems to sag on a hanger, and adapt accordingly!
hugs,
Janice
I hang them all – but I’m not saying that’s the right idea; it just makes it easy for me to see everything. Maybe i should change it up…
I fold everything, but that’s mostly because the closet setup I inherited in our recent move has very little hanging space and a TON of shelves!
I see where this is going and I like it! I worked on the general idea over the weekend, and it’s definitely doable. I used navy instead of black, as it’s my dark neutral. That part was easy. I have very little forest green, but I do have sage green and teal, so I put them together. I have a little burgundy and a little plum, so those are a group. I gave the camel a miss as I’m probably going to use it in place of the brown neutral. And my denim is darker. It helped me see where I am missing some basics.
lol! I was doing something like this just this past 10 days. I put together a little 11 piece capsule with a medium denim blue colored lightweight cotton skirt, dark denim shorts and pink shorts, a pink t shirt, white t-shirt with a bit of lace at the collar, and a medium blue floral 3/4 sleeve shirt, a pink and white floral dress and a blue and white floral dress, a pink cardigan, white long sleeve cardigan and white short sleeve cardigan.
Pink, blue and white were my colors and they have served surprisingly well for the last 10 days. I’ll be swapping them out for another set if something, I’m not sure what yet, but it will be something! Maybe I’ll go with my navy, gray and lilac colors next.
It’s so nice being able to play with your clothes this way. Lol. It becomes a little adventure even though I don’t travel.
Of these colours I prefer the camel and would swap out the dark green for my lighter sage and teal green and turquoise clothes.
Don’t have much black and only one pair of heavy weight maroon trousers that are useful in winter. But i can see how the plan works and appreciate it.
I like variety and have a few colours to play with. Some are seasonal and others are a constant throughout the year.
Look forward to Wednesday’s groupings.
Those denim oxfords … be still my heart!!!
I have started traveling a lot, but the reasons for my trips are often very different, requiring different capsules for each trip. It occurs to me that, after establishing a base that I always take for any trip (the denim set in this case, except I personally wouldn’t choose denim for my base), the other three capsules could be fine tuned to meet the needs of different purposes for travel. For instance, a trip to help out on the family farm would require more active work clothes; a trip to join my daughter to see a ballet in the city would of course need a fancier support capsule.
I commented on the Friday post that I’d use black as a base instead of denim, but this new thought today makes me think I might use taupe for my base, with black as one of the support capsules instead. Seems like taupe would be more flexible for these different purposes for travel.
My neurons are firing like crazy with this new direction you’re heading! I think you’re really on to something special here.
Julie, like you, my brain is churning the way this formula can be tweaked.
Also, interesting web site you have there…
Oops! Janice— I sent that last comment before completing the correct email address. You can reject the comment, and I’ll repost correctly here:
Thank you, Sandy! I didn’t realize anyone but Janice could see the website, but I’m very glad, of course.
I’ve been following the Vivienne Files for years, as many of us have, and it just amazes me that it can still excite the mind. I’m planning on a wardrobe reorganization based on the concepts here.
I surprise myself some days. But I’m starting to realize that there are amazing numbers of possibilities for ways to plan and organize our wardrobes. And they’re all hiding in my brain, waiting to emerge when they’re ripe…
And your site it lovely – everybody visit desertsong-urbanfarm.com to see what Julie does…
love,
Janice
Another that thinks this is an exciting new template. I would have a bag per color way.
The accessories really make this perfect! I have a pair of Allbirds shoes in denim color which I live in during cool and cold weather. They are casual and made out of wool. There are different styles. They keep your feet so warm and are so comfortable. You can wash them too in the washing machine! Nordstrom and Amazon carry this brand as well as their site (probably other places too) so we can still support Janice with a purchase!!
Camel shows up here as very versatile. Too bad it’s not as available as other neutrals this year. Everything in cycles! I’ve certainly noticed how fast it sells out. I would buy for winter a complete set of camel everything from cords to a pantsuit to a simple dress to the holiday dressy pieces- then add all my gorgeous brights.
I would absolutely be willing to try a striped shirt with a print scarf. My guess is that the scarf would need enough of the color in the stripe to allow it to play nice. Maybe?
Here’s a question: common sense tells us to have in our wardrobes a dress or pieces one can wear to luncheons, civic events, dinner, the opera and memorial services. With the right fabrics and style, this is doable using accessories. It’s an easy one if you wear black. But I really don’t like it at all- having something to do with how it makes me look a decade older! It seems like dresses are leaning to satin, sparkly and flimsy or swooping Bo-ho. Blazer/ trouser combos are hard to find except in odd colors. Gaaaaaahhhhh.
This.
The hardest thing is to pull together those elevated occasions if I don’t want to wear black. I keep a small black capsule for these events + choral concerts in which I perform. I’d rather keep 1 dress for chorus wear and stay away from black for anything else.
I hear you! I’ve been on the hunt for a simple camel sheath dress in an all season fabric for quite a while now and it’s been surprisingly impossible to find. Here’s hoping they cycle back again soon!
I hear you! I’ve been on the hunt for a simple camel sheath dress in an all season fabric for quite a while now and it’s been surprisingly impossible to find. Here’s hoping they cycle back again soon!
I just went through my wardrobe and culled a few pieces that were really color outliers. I ended up with a navy base, for neutrals, denim, black, cream and brown (although this one is on probation!), and for accents a wine/raspberry family, turquoise/teal family, mustard and greens. I counted my items and admittedly there were almost 70!!!! (I counted dresses and light jackets) I realized that I have duplicates of a lot of things right now (in toppers/shirts and pants) since the weather is so variable on any given day. So in the next month a bunch of things can go back in the bin to wait for spring.
Another fan weighing in Janice! I love love love this thought process. I can see as many iterations for this one as your 4×4 capsules or your 13-packs. Per capsule – different colors, different styles, different situations; Per wardrobe – spanning seasons, spanning cultures, spanning style-vibes.
It strikes me as a great template for those of us who need color variety; who have multiple facets to our lives that require different capsules at different times (of day, of season, of life)
I look forward to all the ways you choose to explore this!
Interesting thought process as we head into fall. Looking to see where my own wardrobe needs filling in for fall.
Are skirted leggings still in or do they go? Now finding it hard to get back into wide leg pants again.
As long as we can wear skirts with leggings under them (i.e. forever), we can wear skirted leggings. I’m so opposed to things going “in and out of style;” we make our own style!
hugs,
Janice
Which is absolutely why I read this blog religiously. The capsules you show are consistent and easily added to by season and year. One doesn’t need to chase trends to look put-together and approachable.
Love this whole process! Amazing that it feels like a “new” way to look at your wardrobe. Great inspiration. Oh and I for one would definitely wear the print scarf with the stripe shirt.
The blue bag is so lovely …
What a fresh way to look at things! I guess I’ll need to figure out what my core is now. Maybe it changes by season. 🤔
In the 10-year look back, I just loved the painting, which somehow I’d never noticed in the “Start with Art” page, but I really wanted to see the brighter colors. It did happen, just a bit later – https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2019/10/start-with-art-revisiting-yellow-tree-by-linda-jacobson.html/. I think I’ve found my perfect autumn wardrobe palette!
Oh, than-you! Your seasonal colour and style choices work very well for me, as I have allowed myself to include a bit of black here and there. This plan had me hanging my accent colours neatly together last Friday, and now you have shown the combinations and accessories too. I am a person who needs a wardrobe change every week, and this is it! I have never seen this before – a truly weekly and then 3-weekly changeup. My heart is smiling because my closet now is sorted, accessible, reasonable, and pretty. My ADHD brain is agreeing to go along with a plan!
Julie
very pretty.
Apart from burgundy, the others are neutral colors for me.
It’s nice that you present my wardrobe so visually;) We color lovers don’t want to limit ourselves to a few colors.
I’ve been looking for a burgundy or dark green coat for a long time.