May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

April 21, 2025

Well this feels weird, doesn’t it? We just finished these paintings a few days ago, and now we’re back with them.

Realistically (we can do realism once in a while, can’t we?), this might be more the way a normal person would pull together a capsule wardrobe after cleaning out closets, or changing their life dramatically. It would be interesting to have just four garments for a month, then eight, then twelve garments in the third month, but most of us couldn’t function very long that way!

So let’s visit this heroine with her most enigmatic, yet alluring, painting inspiration:

When we just saw this heroine with her April wardrobe additions, she had a 20-piece wardrobe that looks as if it could get you through quite a lot of life:

This heroine has decided that she’s going to get her summer clothes NOW, and make certain that she has exactly what she wants!

A digression into the subject of linen, if you will indulge me. Linen is possibly the most durable fabric you can wear, and it’s production uses MUCH less water than producing cotton. Linen can eventually be recycled, IF, AND ONLY IF it’s not blended with other fibers.

This whole “pure fiber” thing is really pretty important. If you are trying to buy things that will eventually be returned to nature, as we should, then buying clothes that don’t have a mixture of fibers in them is important. Anything blended with a synthetic is NEVER going to decompose, nor can it be shredded and re-spun into new thread and eventually new fabric. And that’s not good. Yes, we love the whole “stretch denim” thing, but there are more important things in the world than our reluctance to break in a pair of jeans!

The linen shirt you buy now should be with you the rest of your life. Seriously. I’m going to show you 100% linen summer clothes whenever I can find them. I feel strongly about this, and I’m hopeful that you will understand the importance of this to the world.

Her shopping? It looks pretty simple – some might say boring – but these four pieces have a ton of potential!

And oh yeah – the longer you own linen, the softer it gets, and the less it wrinkles. But there’s nothing wrong with wrinkled linen clothing – it stands away from your body and lets air circulate, and it makes it evident that you’re wearing a truly natural fiber…

We’ve reached that time when I break the clothing and the accessories into two separate images, for better visibility! Our heroine’s wardrobe after her May additions is getting lovely…

Here’s the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for this heroine. I’m thinking of doing our June shopping with this list in hand. I wonder if that will work?

Of course these four new pieces of clothing are going to be really easy to incorporate into the existing wardrobe. But it’s always useful to take the time to actually assemble new outfits and think about things like shoes, jewelry, handbags or other accessories. Best to find that you need a pair of bone sandals BEFORE you’re about to set out to meet friends for coffee!

Remember, the second installments of the Six Paintings series will be published Wednesday, and then the third on Friday. At which time I should be in Dublin!

Fingers crossed!

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, our heroine of the day was heading into the city for the weekend, with a tiny travel capsule wardrobe in brown, orange, teal and bone. Yum!

p.p.s. Earlier installments of this wardrobe can be found here: Christmas Day Introduction, January, February, March, April.