October 30, 2024
Just For the Night…
They tell her that’s all she needs to do – just meet with the core workers, take the whole staff to dinner, and then come back the next day.
Unless she gets stuck, because of air traffic, or a strike, or volcanoes…
She’s not THRILLED about the trip, so she decides to be inspired by something as unlike work as possible:
She seldom wears yellow. But she’s in the mood to shake things up a bit, so this is going to be her color palette. She knows that for a longer trip, she could easily add lots of beige, and bits and pieces of green…
It’s not a madly dressy office, so she knows that she doesn’t have to dress up. Comfortable pants will make all the difference if she’s stuck on a plane for an interminable time of boredom:
Yellow oxford shirt – J.Crew; skinny scarf – Allegra K.; labradorite earrings – Reeves & Reeves; cardigan – L.L.Bean; knit corduroy pants – Lands’ End; weekender bag – Manhattan Portage; boots – Munro
For no good reason she can pinpoint, she decided to pack four garments. Flat shoes. Dirt cheap socks (which she may regret!). And she pinches his pocket square to wear as a jaunty little neckerchief:
Butter yellow tee – L.L.Bean; pocket square – Eton; earrings – Vintouch Italy; sweater vest – J.Crew; herringbone pants – Banana Republic; charcoal cotton sweater – J.Crew; crossbody bag – MFK Collection; socks – Forever 21; flats – Dr. Scholl’s
Technically, she’s prepared for an extra night, because she has enough tops with her to eek out a third outfit. Or to change her mind about what she wants to wear…
She sees four possible outfits – there might be more, but she doesn’t even want to consider that!
She’s learned that if she gets all of her grumbling out of the way ahead of time, and if she packs just right, she can be the cheery ray of sunshine on these trips. That’s not a bad reputation to have!
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, we started with a timeless Missoni scarf. If you ever see one in your perfect colors, don’t hesitate!
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Yellow is really tough for me, but I love the idea of a simple two-color travel wardrobe! The dark grey is a fantastic base for this kind of quick trip. I can see subbing the yellow out for a slate blue, a burgundy or a forest green for an accent.
Love all of it! However, I do not own a single yellow top except for summer wear. Have to remedy that.
Hope you are healing…you are in my prayers.
When I first saw the color circle I thought “meh”. Boy was I wrong! I love the dark gray with the yellow. I also agree with Ellen S about other colors that could be used as an accent. And the casual vibe is perfect for me.
Can’t find this painting on the internet. Where did you find your image?.A Google search will pull up your article, but no info on the artist.
https://nihonbijutsuin.or.jp/product.php?id=3236
Pale yellow is my favorite color to pair with charcoal grey. Rust and a deeper yellow would be additional accent colors. This palette feels like November when most of the leaves are down, and the days are shorter and cloudy.
i love yellow. last winter, there were a few lemon yellow sweaters and warm outerwear floating around. I snapped those up! Yellow that isn’t mustard is hard to find in winter weights.
I hope you feel better soon. I look every m-w-f hoping, but not expecting anything. It’s such a treat to read your posts.
Glad you are feeling better, hope you can do your trip at a later date. I love this travel outfit. Wish I could wear yellow so pretty. Thank you for your hard work.
I was wondering what she might wear to go out to dinner. Outfit 3 would be just fine. I don’t wear yellow and am averse to patterns with yellow in too. So I would sub with pale lilac and expand with silver grey.
I was thinking that they would all go straight from the office to dinner – not anything terribly fancy. A “nice” dinner would change her requirements!
hugs,
Janice
I hope you’re feeling better! This post made me laugh because I just looked over my “Color Me Beautiful” color palette from decades ago and realized that I never wear the one shade of yellow I can wear, and that I’ve gotten away from wearing charcoal grey (I like navy much better, though it’s not actually on my list of “approved” colors). This wardrobe is for me! I can’t tell whether I just don’t like it, or whether I’m not used to it and assume it would look bad on me and some time contemplating it would change my mind. So I’ll try the latter and see what happens.
It’s interesting how we can react to certain colors. Even when I know I can’t wear some colors, I can still appreciate them. I like rust and olive but would not wear them. I can look at your monthly six scarves combos and think “Ooh, that’s nice” even when I wouldn’t build my closet with those clothes. However, although these two colors are allegedly part of my seasonal color palette, I find I have a visceral reaction to this combination. I never wear yellow, like ever. It really gives me a cringe feeling. I tried a wardrobe with two neutrals, grey and navy. I always found myself choosing the navy and avoiding the grey. It felt so somber and depressing. So slowly, I have eliminated most of the grey and leaned into the navy. I’m sure there must be some color theory or psychological reason we have strong reactions to certain colors. Fortunately even though there are the few I don’t like, there are thousands that I love. And in the end, there’s no such thing as a bad color combo.
Hi Janice
I hope you are feeling better though it will take time.
I havent been on your site recently but just heard your name on Lyric FM. So, music can connect us at such a distance, from Galway to Chicago. Happy Halloween
Nell Thomas
Dear Nell,
I listen to Lorcan almost every day – isn’t it fun that he responds so generously? I love that station, and I’m absolutely chuffed that you heard my name!
love,
Janice
I love every last piece in this collection. Fun! Thank you for such great work!