September 13, 2024
In honor of Friday the 13th (not really!), I’m sharing a post that’s been lurking in my brain for a while.
It’s pretty backwards, in that I’m going to show you the complete wardrobe first, and then show you all of the options in this that I see…
clear as mud, as I can sometimes be, when I’m trying to use words, where pictures work better!
Here’s the full 27-piece wardrobe for cool weather:
The questions that brought me to this included heroines who very much want a mostly denim wardrobe, heroines who can only keep a tiny portion of their wardrobe in their “main” closet at any time, and heroines who travel four nights a week EVERY WEEK, and who pack around a core of denim clothing…
So I started with six denim garments, which could easily go into anybody’s suitcase any time:
Vest – Splendid; shirt – Lands’ End; dress – L.L.Bean; Jacket – L.L.Bean; jeans – Lands’ End; skirt – Lands’ End
The next stop to filling out a capsule wardrobe, either for travel or for putting into the tiny closet, is to choose another neutral, and an accent color. Of course you can also add more denim, or just add accent colors, but I’m starting with a pretty traditional ratio of neutrals to accents…
I picture it like this:
So let’s see what these six clusters might look like:
Note that there are a couple of complete outfits JUST in the black garments, and also that you could pack just the denim and black and get by for a few days… Yes, accessories would be key!
For many of us, autumn cries out for some brown:
Brown cardigan blazer – Lands’ End; tee shirt – Lands’ End; turtleneck – Lands’ End; pants – Lands’ End
And for no good reason at all, you might want something light! Yes, I’m going to show you these pants until you’re sick of them, because since I got a pair (second hand!), I’ve worn the dickens out of them…
Ivory cotton sweater – Lands’ End; pincord shirt – Lands’ End; tee shirt – Lands’ End; Heritage stone pants – L.L.Bean
And now let’s look at the accent clusters! Some of these could certainly be turned into neutral clusters with the addition of a pair of pants or a skirt…
Burgundy = autumn…
Unless you like green better, in which case evergreen = autumn! (or Christmas…)
Or maybe you’re just a sucker for the rich beauty of camel…
So the easy math: 1 denim cluster + (3 neutrals x 3 accents) = 9 possible 13-piece capsule wardrobes!
I’m going to show you all nine of these; of course accessories would make a world of difference, but I think ever just looking at the clothing makes it pretty clear that these are versatile and quite pretty!
So which combination(s) do you like the most?
And would you like to see these with some accessories?
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, our focus wardrobe was pink, rose, denim and grey… pretty timely!
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
I like them all, but since I feel most comfortable in black and denim as it is my go to! I enjoy this. Secondly the cream and tan are lovely for those days when you want not to feel so dark in clothing choices. Great for Spring time.and YES to accessories please!
I love this post Janice. Can’t wait to look in my own wardrobe.
Love this idea! I would go for darkwash denim, skip the cream/ivory (replace it with the camel) and have some green and some burgundy. And of course the black is key for me.
I lean the same direction provided the green is more olive. Accessories will be key in pulling all together. Love this!
I agree, dark wash denim. It looks smarter, more chic and polished.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is just what I needed! Denim is truly the base of my wardrobe and this capsule completely fits the bill for fall into winter! You’re a magician!
This is a wonderful exercise! To my surprise I like the denim-stone neutrals the best. The accents are all good, although my favorite is camel. This is all so strange because I can’t imagine my denim jeans without having a black tee available. Thanks!
PS: Yes, to the accessories! My favorite is the denim and burgundy. I just feel it speaks to the season.
Great inspiration!! Thank you!
I read your email posts, but also enjoy viewing/saving them on Pinterest. Do you know why many fashion post only have the SAVE option lately? There is no option to view/read. Is this a poster’s option or Pinterest’s? I skip the SAVE only posts, so maybe others are as well. This may impact creators and their views statistics?
Shari, if you’re asking about what I think you are, Pinterest does look a bit different now. Instead of the black READ button next to the red SAVE button, you might see a blue VISIT SITE button under the description OR an underlined link under the heart at the upper left. I see the VISIT SITE button on things like Etsy and the link on things like YouTube, most web sites, etc. Some people just upload images, of course, and those don’t have anywhere to direct you to “read” it.
Hi Shari,
If you click on the title of a Pinterest post, including The Vivienne Files, it should take you to the blog/article. If it doesn’t, then the creator of the pin likely only attached the image to it, not the blog post URL.
Camel, brown, ivory.
Love the combinations. I think I am going to go with the green /denim/black combo. I love the look of the barrel jeans – hoping they love me back. Please provide some shoes and jewelry to go with the combos.
All except the camel, which looks ghastly on me.
My favorite is the denim, ivory, forest green capsule. The others seem too heavy for me. YES to accessories please!
For me it’s the denim/burgundy/black, though I would replace the black with charcoal grey. And yes please to accessories!
I prefer the ones with camel and ivory because I feel it blends better with the light denim. The green, denim and ivory also appeals to me quite a bit, but I’m not sure why.
I think I like the camel and ivory best. Maybe because I veer toward brighter colors? The forest, burgundy, and black combos all seem so heavy to me.
Happy Friday everyone. If you don’t want to think of Friday the 13th as “bad” take heart, it is also National Positive Thinking Day. A little off topic, but not. Looking at the wardrobes Wednesday and again today, I’m thinking oh wow, I could do that! Here’s the thing. I don’t know if it was Janice, or a reader that used the term “churn” (as in churn your wardrobe) awhile back. And I went, “That’s me!” Which I had never realized. And then a couple of you were talking about donating things, then wishing you had them back and even buying them again (I’ve done that too!)… A few years ago I got tired of burgundy and dark green and purged not quite all of it, but a lot. Then there was the year I experimented with neutrals – brown I’m looking at you! – and it just wasn’t me, not to mention the huge purge I did of purple when I got absolutely so stinkin’ tired of wearing it for two years. Now, burgundy and dark green and purple are all making a reappearance, but as columns (top and bottom) and then I wear a sweater in a coordinating print, or a plaid flannel shirt that brings in the color. This more minimal approach vs being all in on a color seems to work better for me personally. This is rather long winded, but the way you have all this broken down is just perfect. Thank you and have a great weekend.
Sheila, thank you for mentioning the Positive Thinking Day! I am going to have a cup of coffee and think some positive thoughts! Outside in the fresh air!
Oh WOW!!! Janice, what an amazing breakdown!!! I adore this wardrobe, and the concept behind it. Its a fabulous way to get lots of colors and looks and vibes out of a smaller number of pieces; easy to swap out colors (you only need 3 pieces to have a “capsule”!) I’d love to see accessories; and also variations on colors and styles, just to let the concept sink in further. Backwards or not, it makes a lot of sense to me! I bet you could do a “patterned” set of 4 or a “frilly” set of 3 or any number of combination of guides other than just color to assign a grouping….
Have a great weekend all!
Yes, please, do accessories.
For me ivory and camel. I’m also in love with Land’s End dark caramel right now. I just ordered the Lands End pants, you show them in brown, in flax heather and dark caramel. Fingers crossed that they suit.
As a denim gal, I love the denim base here. I tend to wear denim and burgundies through thanksgiving and then denim and black + red through valentines. I really like the denim with tan+cream and might have to try blending some of that in too.
This formula is just so brilliant! Better even than the 4×4 plans, and that’s saying a lot! Anyone can swap colors around, as some ladies have mentioned. I would use navy instead of black, for example. It could be changed for the seasons. It is functionally minimalist without the usual boredom. And I think there are a lot of people who lean heavily on denim, at least that’s what I see. I’d love to see accessories.
Of the colors shown, I’d lean towards the cream & camel, I think. As another commenter said, the dark colors are a bit heavy for me. In autumn, I tend to break out the deeper teals, purples, and coral/salmon/persimmon colors.
I realized a while ago that I tend to wear different colors in different seasons – and I seem to recall there was some discussion around this concept a while ago – so even if I really like a color, I only buy items appropriate to the season I wear them in. That concept has helped me tame my wardrobe and rotate the crop to get use of everything so very much!
I resonate with this! It took me a long time to realize that just having a navy cardigan didn’t make it appropriate for every season. That perhaps I needed the right weight of things to go with the season I planned to wear it in. I’m not sure why I didn’t realize that sooner but it has made a huge difference in buying habits and making outfits work!
Kristi, I double resonate with your navy cardi realisation :)
Janice,
Eliminate the black for me, and maybe the dark Evergreen, as very dark colors overpower me , and I would claim all the rest of the pieces . I would take a few neutral pieces from the brown, camel, and ivory groups, take a piece or two from the accent burgundy group, add them to the denim core and voila, there’s my travel capsule ! This provides both warm and cool colors, as well as lighter and darker ones — elements that I always try to include . I have more travel coming up, so this was most helpful, once again ! Thanks, Janice — love, love, love this !
This may be my favorite post you’ve ever done! Really inspiring to see the difference of neutrals plus color. Thank you.
This really is how I do my wardrobe! I had always thought I was doing something wrong because in normal capsules I have waaaaay too many cardigans! :) But I have several color sets, black, navy, cream, mustard/gold, denim, then I have the column B sets in burgundy, teal, raspberry and plum. The thing that I would add are tops that combine colors, like my flannels, dressy blouses and logo tees. I’m kind of itching to go look at things again and see what really fits and what’s extra! This gives me a more accurate framework to look at it.
Thank you for turning things topsy-turvy. Usually, I’m thinking how I can replicate a wardrobe with my own clothes. To have all the clothes presented first was initially overwhelming. However, that happens every day, when we open our wardrobes and drawers, to decide what to wear. But then we have to know how we can pick an outfit from a mass of options that still looks intentionally ‘put together’. As usual, you show us that it is easy when you have a formula that works.
We can then make the colour and fabric swaps which we prefer. Denim has no place in my wardrobe but I do like mid-blue. Navy for black. Teal Green for Forest. Pink for camel. Burgundy/Plum/Purple/Lilac/Berry is a huge group on my autumn/ winter wardrobe – the background colour. I look for pattern and texture in fabrics too. Plain just doesn’t really figure, neither does ivory.
Wow, what a fun post! I love the black, Burgundy, and denim one best, probably because I would wear all of it, but It was great to see how what might seem a little scattered actually works really well together.
I have enjoyed all your posts for quite some time now. Your posts are the most thought out, creative, intriguing and entertaining posts!! Thank you for your creative work, and for sharing it with all of us!!
My brain focused on the denim, ivory, camel selection because the colors are all light and were soothing. In was thinking this would be great for in Spring.
I’m not a light denim fan so the other colors were chaotic in my eyes. However, a dark denim would be fantastic with the black and burgundy or black and green. I’ve worn that combo before. Thanks for the ideas.
What a fantastic, brilliant way of looking at clothing. I absolutely love it.
As for favorites, I found that I really liked combos in which there was a contrast between light and dark. So the denim, black, and camel, or the denim, white, and any accent color. I would really love to see these with accessors!
Thank you for giving me a new way to think about packing for an upcoming girls’ weekend!
I like no more than a medium level of contrast, so my favourite is the ivory and camel. Even though I don’t wear camel! Or even much denim! But it looks good together in this capsule :)
So, now, at 0-dark-thirty, I am dragging my clothes out trying to make capsules… Janice makes it look so easy!
This is one of my favorite posts! Starting with denim is brilliant! I have a whole new way of looking at my wardrobe. I live in jeans when I’m not working, but these capsules looked so nice and polished—good enough for the office. Love it!!! Thank you!
It’s Saturday and I’ve just got round to reading this. So glad you laid it all out in pictures as I am far more inclined to understand that! I’ve been playing in my closet as I move very summery clothes to the back corners. Still hot enough to wear but not going to. I always sort by color (light to dark) and sleeve length for tops. But I have put all tops together still (light to dark) but included all sleeve variations. It really helped me see the colors that are outliers. Some I’m keeping for true summer wear but some I realized could go. Yep, I’m definitely a visual person! It’s like a few of you mentioned wrong color for season you want to wear it in. So thank you for the recent posts that got me going on this.
P.S. Of course accessories!!!
Very inspiring and yes, would love to see what accessories you can come up with.
My personal preference would be the denim, ivory and camel. Seems like the more I age, the lighter I go lol.
This is brilliant. I also have a very tiny closet. I love the breakdown here; it’s super super helpful. Of the options presented, I like the denim-camel-stone one best. I’d love to see the accessories, too.
I personally don’t wear denim; I’d choose black for my foundation neutral instead. Also, I need more bottoms than this wardrobe has. The solution to that is easy enough: simply fill out the three accent sets with skirts or dresses for an even thirty items. The concept is the same, and easy to translate for my needs.
I’m excited to see you play with this concept in the future, Janice.
Thank you so much for this post and all the work it must have taken to put it together! I’ve been studying it all weekend and am so excited. This plan is ideal for me. We will be moving to a retirement community in the next three or four years. All the floor plans I’ve looked at have small closets and not a lot of storage. This plan will help get me focused and my wardrobe in great shape! I hope you are able to do accessories. Also, maybe you could revisit this plan for warm weather later on? It really helped seeing all the clothes and then pictures on how you got there! Brilliant!!
Hi Janice,
I LOVE your posts and this one really inspires me!! I wear denim and black a lot, but now trying to incorporate more navy, olive green and ivory/beige/camel colors. It’s like this post was made for me. I am having fun organizing, decluttering clothes I don’t wear, and adding missing pieces. Lands End loves me now, but my credit card bill is giving my hubby a headache. Lol. Thank you for your talents.
Anyway….How are you doing? I have been thinking of you a lot lately. Wishing you peace and positive memories.
Carolyn
I love this! All of the neutrals and colours are so beautiful together. I like this cluster approach a LOT and will run through my wardrobe to see how it aligns. Ivory and Camel for me. Bright and fresh but cozy and warm.
Wow that is nice❤️ very inspiring! Casual comfort but pulled together!
This capsule really spoke to me! I am using this post as an inspiration for a Fall trip to New York to visit my grandchildren. I am using mid-blue denim, navy, cream, oatmeal heather sweater blazer, blue and cream striped lady jacket, camel, rust, some animal print and burgundy accessories. I really like the burgundy and forest green components as well. I may pick up some burgundy pieces this season. I usually struggle with what to pack, but I’ve been able to pull everything together from my closet thanks to your wonderful color combinations in this capsule. Thank you!