November 22, 2024
It’s snowing like the end of the world here in Chicago – I’m very happy! Of course, it will last an hour, and then melt… sigh…
More heroines than you might expect are committed to wearing navy, grey, and accent colors that vary with the seasons. I hear from you often, and I can entirely agree that your choice is an elegant and pretty foolproof way to dress…
For you, I’ve chosen to include denim blue in your palette, just to give you options! My idea of what The Common Wardrobe would look like for you is delightfully uncomplicated and versatile:
Navy cashmere crewneck – L.L.Bean; charcoal vest – J.Crew; navy Donegal cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; white shirt – Lands’ End; chambray shirt – Lands’ End; striped shirt – Lands’ End; navy tee shirt – Lands’ End; gray tee – Lands’ End; white tee – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; grey pants – L.L.Bean; navy knit cords – L.L.Bean
One could certainly pack this, some jewelry, a handful of scarves, and a couple of pairs of shoes, and be fine…
But our heroine’s going to be seasonal for the Winter holidays, and use (the very easy to find right now) berry as her accent. For berry, search for any possible version of wine, burgundy, bordeaux, merlot etc.
hat – Barbour; earrings – Talbots; Fair Isle sweater – L.L.Bean; navy gloves – Lands’ End; burgundy turtleneck – Lands’ End; scarf – Elizabetta; jeans – L.L.Bean; tote – MZ Wallace; boots – Blondo; oxblood red coat – Lands’ End
She’s going to wear her warmer coat, because the trip is expected to be snowy and brisk. But she’s happy to have a down vest with her too:
Garnet earrings – Everly Jewellery; bordeaux cashmere sweater – L.L.Bean; scarf – Elizabetta; striped shirt – Lands’ End; navy vest – Lands’ End; navy knit cords – L.L.Bean; loafers – Söfft
Chambray looks lovely with charcoal grey, doesn’t it?
Yes, your eyes will water when you buy a serious pair of mittens, but if you live somewhere that gets bitter cold, or if you have cold/painful hands, you will live to believe you made a good buy…
charcoal vest – J.Crew; earrings – I’mmany London; chambray shirt – Lands’ End; small scarf – Ralufineart; mittens – Hestra; grey pants – L.L.Bean
Our heroine’s not a skirt person, so she packs her corduroy dress! More than dressy enough for most things…
navy Donegal cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; garnet earrings – Ross-Simons; scarf – Met Museum Shop; corduroy dress – Lands’ End; tights – J.Crew; flats – Trotters
Her assembled wardrobe for her week away seems complete, versatile, and quite appealing!
She daydreams about how she will get dressed while she’s away…
Of course, you could live the rest of the winter with these 12 garments! But if our heroine suddenly finds that she’s going to be away longer than expected, she could add a few more things…
Dotted turtleneck – L.L.Bean; plaid flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; quarter-zip sweatshirt – Lands’ End; leather sneakers – Josef Seibel
Just for reference purposes, let’s remind ourselves where we started, WAAAY back in the day:
Black cashmere turtleneck – Lands’ End; black long-sleeved tee – L.L.Bean; black cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; chambray shirt – J.Crew; white and China blue shirts – Lands’ End; short-sleeved tee shirts – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; stone twill pants – L.L.Bean; black knit pants – L.L.Bean
I would still suggest, to those who struggle to get dressed, that they seriously consider making sure that they have some version of The Common Wardrobe. You won’t stand out in a crowd, but you won’t struggle either!
And basic, classic clothes are the perfect base for accent sweaters, jackets, vests, necklaces, scarves…
love,
Janice
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This could very well be my closet! Now, I’m desperate for a burgundy (or red) puffer coat. I love this combination, as I’m quite literally wearing it today…navy, red and grey. It’s classic and chic without ‘trying too hard’, in my very humble opinion. Well done, you!
BTW, how are the ribs doing?
very pretty.
And I could easily pull it out of my closet.
I would only swap a pair of pants & top in dark green. (I took a closer look at the scarf). plus matching jewelry.
Goes with everything.
Depending on the weather forecast, I would prefer to take two ankle boots.
I have loved all these Common Core Packing Wardrobes. I used to have my version of a common core in gray, navy and black. Past few years have winnowed it down to just the navy. I wish we were getting snow. Instead we had a huge windstorm and rain, and many people are still without power. And another storm scheduled to roll in this afternoon. IN any case, these wardrobes are just brilliant. Love everything about them. Ellen, because new duties have me outside at school, I recently bought a beautiful full length puffer coat at LLBean in a beautiful pine green. They also have it any a Rosewood, which probably isn’t the color you are looking for, but you might check them out and see if they have a red or burgandy. Have a wonderful weekend ladies, I will be here hoping my power doesn’t go out again.
I love everything single thing about this wardrobe. You had me at the chambray shirt with charcoal vest! After I had just told you that I’m not crazy about navy. But what you have paired it with has blown my mind.
Echoing earlier comments: I could pretty much do this one with what’s in my closet, and I just might. I don’t have a burgundy dress, but I could substitute a skirt and sweater.
You’ve hit me right where I LIVE!
Thank you so much for this everr-so-helpful post!
I love everything about this. I would only have a hard time wearing the loafers. Somehow they always look clunky on me. Maybe because I’m so short? lol I never know what length to hem my pants with loafers.
Kathy, I have always preferred a sleek shoe regardless of what is on trend so I also would be substituting out the heavy loafers. The flats are closer to my style though I am not 100% sold on the texturing, but on my screen they look brown instead of burgundy (“sangria”) and appear to clash with the greys.
I looked at the woven flats too. They are still in my cart as I assess how well they might match.
Here in the northwestern part of the US, a corduroy dress is beyond useful. I’d bet that this group could find 100 ways to style a corduroy dress. The cost per wear would be amazing. Same goes for a chambray shirt. I wear mine with khakis or tan cords. The garnet/pearl earrings could easily show up in a holiday gift for my beautiful daughter. I hope everyone in and near the storm paths stays safe. Bean boots/ shoes and wellies come to mind.
Pinning this . I live in gray/black/navy with accents. I love everything about this one. Hope you are healing well!
Nice job finding grey and navy pieces that play well together (at least on my screen)! I’m especially pleased to see how the three grey pieces coordinate beautifully even though there are three different brands involved. Finding a nice trio of top, bottom, topper in a neutral (neither very warm or cool undertone) mid-tone to light charcoal grey is not necessarily easy, and this provides a good example. To be transparent, I think the “difficulty matching greys” issue comes into play more for me as I expand out past that first set of three pieces into a collection that spans seasons and that is built over time. It makes me wonder whether there is a undercurrent of trends across time and seasons that affects all brands to some extent so that it’s easier to collect 3 coordinating grey pieces from different brands in Winter 24-25 because they’re all tapping into the same color zeitgeist. The obvious question is whether the color offerings are hugely influenced by the Pantone colors but I personally haven’t noticed that those colors are interpreted by brands very strictly. Of course the even more obvious explanation is that Janice is a master who spends a huge amount of time curating these glorious capsules and maybe I’m not so much :D
I did notice the optional grey sweatshirt is in a very pale grey, which is a good idea! I like to have the option of doing that kind of “tonal” outfit with some darker and lighter versions of the color, and light grey is just such a classic sweatshirt color that we are used to seeing that it mixes and matches into a capsule very easily (kind of like blue denim jeans).
I love the inclusion of the chambray and denim in this wardrobe. It’s interesting…I don’t think of chambray as a winter fabric but the chambray shirt looks great here in this deeper color and will layer well.
The berry tones are really pretty and again, so well curated. I am a huge fan of grey + burgundy so that combo is great to see. I think ultimately I prefer this to a brighter Christmas-y red, though I think it would be difficult to go wrong with any shade of (neutral to cool undertone) red in this capsule.
In the vein of “click through to see the various color options”: The striped shirt from Lands End also comes in a lovely “deep sea wildflower” print that would not work in this capsule but hits me where I live. Tempting!
I have to throw out a strong endorsement for the Lands’ End shirts – I have the black & white stripe (of course!) and also a black and white large tapestry-like floral that they did a few years ago. It has a specific name for the print, which you would recognize IF I COULD REMEMBER IT!!!
But these shirts launder like a dream, and can easily be worn without ironing. As much as I love to iron, not being forced to is always a good option…
love,
Janice
This wardrobe makes me happy and I love that you chose a berry tone rather than a true red, which could read as wintery nautical (even though I doubt that’s a real thing). The whole wardrobe just feels so cozy and yet very livable. I would switch out the pants for skirts and maybe choose different shoes.
Happy weekend, all!
I am one of those navy people, and this looks a lot like my closet! Thanks for some good ideas to complement. I have the Met scarf from the Cloisters in NYC and wear it ALL THE TIME.
This looks like most of my closet! I only have one berry/maroon sweater because my accents are pinks/blues/lilacs, but these neutrals are where I live. Light and dark gray, navy, cream, white, denim…anything in these ranges I absolutely adore.
Thank you for putting this one up Janice!
Hoping your recovery is going speedily,
Pepper
Thank you. I could easily live with this wardrobe. Though if I were making any additions, I would also include burgundy cords. Instead of three shirts, I would have one or two patterned shirts and an extra top.
This looks like my closet … except lately I have been wearing a lot of charcoal and black. Now I feel inspired to move the navy closer to the front and fill in some gaps I spot when I look at this wardrobe.
About 20 years ago I had a pair of wine colored patent leather loafers and they were my favorite shoes EVER. I am going to have to check out the pair you linked to because lately I have been wishing I had another pair.
I have pair of the woven trotters in brown. I was so excited to get them but it turns out I have had a hard time incorporating them into my rotation, not sure why. I made myself wear them a couple of weeks ago and they are comfortable, but still blah.
If I replace the 2 gray items and tweek the shade of red, this wardrobe is absolute perfection for my travel plans next December. Thank you and I pray that your trip to Paris is therapeutic!
I agree about Lands End shirts. No iron great colors and they always have a tee shirt in the same color group.
Janet, the observation about the T shirt in the same color group is SMART for those of us who like the option to wear one of the button up shirts jacket-style over a tank or T in the warmer seasons! You can make a button up shirt a real four-season piece depending on how you layer it, and having that T/tank that coordinates wonderfully as an underlayer will help you get mileage out of your button up shirt purchase.
Love this! Navy and charcoal are my favorite neutrals. This variant on the common core knocks it out of the park for me! Have a great weekend
I’m really liking this little series. Very instructive and helpful. I can see the basic idea and adapt it to my own style and closet. And I’ve always loved the Common Core Wardrobe. Love the color schemes shown, especially this navy and grey. Berry colors are just perfect and appropriate all winter. In my own closet, with the exception of flannel shirts used as overshirts, I don’t wear button up shirts anymore. Knit tops are more comfortable and flattering. So, when I work at adapting the Common Core, I am left with a gap where the button up shirts go. This time of year I have slotted turtlenecks in, and it works reasonably well…
Long time reader here, first time to comment. I have just returned from a short trip that included Paris in early November and, of course, I was reading TVF as I travelled so I specifically was watching for sweatshirts. We stayed on the left bank, near the Sorbonne, so that may have influenced what I saw, but we also traveled throughout the city. I saw NO sweatshirts, not one. If that’s what you wear everyday at home, by all means continue to do so while you travel. But given how much suitcase space that take up, and how they might be seen as uncommon/too casual/etc., you might want to rethink how comfortable you will be wearing them.
On a different note, what I did observe is that nearly all pants were wide legged. Not 100% of them, I did see a few skinnies, but maybe 90% were wide. Also, many bulky, boxy, cropped (to top of hip) sweaters. And at least two heavy wool coats that were straight, long (ankle length) and sleeves to the fingertips, but otherwise fitted across the shoulders. If I had that coat it would spend half the winter at the dry cleaners!
I am coming back to say I think this wardrobe needs silver/pewter metallic accent pieces (or gold in a pinch) … down vest, bag, fancy shoes, casual shoes, a pleated dress up skirt, a scarf. A little sparkle but in a casual way. :)
I am adding to my own list – silver sequined T-shirt and/or skirt, silver foil jeans, silver mules, a casual bag & a dress up bag.
I knew that you’d find additions for my navy/grey/berry wardrobe that I “need”. I have wardrobe basics that match up pretty closely to your common wardrobe. The exception is that fabulous grey sweater vest that I could live in every day. And navy (waterproof!) boots!!! Also, love the Bordeaux cashmere sweater.
Definitely pinning this post
OMG I love everything about this wardrobe! It is exactly what I have been trying to build to. Now I only have two problems:
1. Choosing which of these lovely pieces I should request for Christmas (I’m thinking at least two scarves and the corduroy dress)
2. Figuring out how to afford everything else by myself :D
Amazing, lovely work!
Thank you for returning to the common wardrobe. It provides me with the most easily worked system for my style and interests. There was another similar set; start with 9 that was just 3 pieces smaller. This navy/gray set looks like those to me with a French 5 thrown in. I love it. A breton stripe white and cranberry T would be a perfect addition.