October 2, 2024
Let’s check in with what the “Start With Art” heroines have been buying!
This month, we’re starting with this heroine and this painting. The more I look at this painting, the more I appreciate it – especially the essential touches of black in a painting that is mostly warm colors. Sometimes, you just want to have some black in your closet…
First up – let’s look at her wardrobe as of the end of September. I’ve divided these into two images, so that we can actually SEE the garments:
Hmm… no dresses, no skirts. That’s this heroine’s preference, and I can support this! I have a couple of friends who may have legs, but I’ve never seen them, so I’m only assuming this is true…
And now her accessories – also broken into two images. Visibility is key, trust me!
Our heroine decides that she would like to have a casual but luxurious second layer in black, as well as a pair of black jeans… Her other two tops kind of fell into place after she made the initial choices.
please note, I’m trying to show jeans that do NOT have any synthetic fibers in them. Synthetics don’t biodegrade EVER, and so your stretchy jeans are going to be with us forever, unless you burn them! And that’s not a good idea either. Why is it so hard to find clothes that don’t do so much damage? When did we get to be so wasteful?
This is the fruits of her October shopping; I think it looks delicious!
As all clever heroines do, this lovely woman gets her new goodies home and starts assembling new outfits…
Our next heroine draws her inspiration from this lovely, soft, gentle image:
Her tops are lovely – but she only has one ivory second layer… hmm…
Her bottoms cover her quite well – literally! But there are always more shades of brown…
Her accessories are beautiful – I think anybody who has chosen their accessories with some kind of unifying theme will have this kind of lovely collection:
Clearly this heroine wears boots A LOT. Well worth remembering…
She finds a lovely cardigan, and a pair of pants in the interestingly named “coriander.” A classic v-neck sweater (one of those things I think everybody can use!), and a simple tee finish her clothing choices. Nice warm boots are never wrong…
Her “dress-up in her new clothes” experiment goes really well – not surprising, is it?
Our last heroine to visit today is this woman with a taste for bold accents of red… sometimes!
Her wardrobe is certainly full of bright accents!
Of course her accessories are lovely, although finding scarves in red and grey isn’t as easy as one might expect! Maybe as winter moves in, she will find something – maybe in the men’s department? Less expensive, and often better quality…
It’s hard to think of what shoes she might need!
Easily enough, this heroine found lovely grey flannel pants (which are lined to the knee!!!), and then decided to check that same website for other things that might be useful. The polo sweater is simply gorgeous (I own this sweater in black, and it is beautiful quality…) as well as dark grey v-neck sweater. She had to scramble a bit to find a grey tee – how weird is that? – and decided to finish her shopping with classic silver jewelry and some boots:
I don’t think anybody’s amazed to see how easily these purchases fit into her existing wardrobe:
What captures your imagination the most this month?
I’m completely NOT shopping right now, because we have JUST finished moving… From the 24th to the 48th floor – yes our view is amazing…
BUT… I was so excited about our closet – it is all kitted out with that “custom closet” stuff where you have drawers, and places to hang short things, and long things, and some shelves…
It turns out, though, that all of those extra “helper things” take up space that might be allocated to actually storing CLOTHES. We lived in an apartment once before that had exactly this floorplan, and that closet just had a bar (on each side – it’s walk-in) and a shelf. And we could fit TONS of stuff in there…
Our current closet is literally overflowing. Things piled on window ledges, the floor, stored in duffel bags…
Sometimes, simpler is better!
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I was just back from Paris and Amsterdam. My post from this day shares info about where we stayed, and what we ate – always one of the best parts of travel!
Jeri b says
I love how cohesive these six monthly wardrobes are. I would be so happy to do this with my wardrobe. But, I am such a magpie. I love diversity and I’ll see a wardrobe or an outfit and think to myself, “”This is it! This will make my wardrobe perfect””. No such thing. So I am trying to have a nice core of my neutrals, navy/ blue, white/ivory, beige/camel. Just a touch of black because sometimes you need a pair of black pants or a skirt or a dress. My mother gave me a beautiful black leather blazer with white and black piping on the lapels over 20 years ago. It’s the last thing she ever gave me. I cherish it and wear it every winter. So, even though black isn’t my best color, I find ways to use it.
AH, closets. I love closets almost as much as I love clothes. When we bought our current house I was so excited. Even though we were downsizing, we were gaining a lovely walk-in closet. Now this closet is for both my husband and me. When we bought it had those coated wire racks on three walls. The attic access is in our closet and to reach it you have to remove everything from one and a half racks and then balance a ladder against the wire racks. They were inconvenient and definitely did not accommodate my magpie wardrobe. Not to mention, this is the only place in our home for clothes. So out of season clothes have to be stored here also.
What to do? I perused House and lusted over all the beautiful closets. I did floor plans on the websites of custom closet designers. Then, sparked by a random comment I read long ago on TVF, I tore out the wire racks, painted the closet a bright white(so I can see the colors in true light), and hung a lovely chandelier. I then bought rolling double clothes racks. One for me and one for my husband. On mine I hung an extra rod lower than the others. My husband doesn’t love clothes and would only wear shorts and cotton shirts for all occasions if I wasn’t involved. So on his rack are all his hanging clothes and on the back side are all our winter jackets and coats. Since we’ve moved to Florida, we don’t need many.
On my rack, I have my current wardrobe on the front rack and my out of season clothes and special occasion clothes are on the back side. My second layers are on the extra rack hanging below the front rack. I added a rolling shoe rack and a chest of drawers for foldable clothes and lingerie.
Everything is portable and easily moved if we need to get in the attic.
My friends look at me as if I’m crazy, but this works for me. At least until I can get my 20′ X 20′ designer closet.
Kim says
Wow, you came up with the perfect solution for your closet!
lilbear says
A sustainable fibers recommendation – we were just in Maine on holiday and came across an alpaca farm with a shop full of gorgeous, from practical quarterzips to fab sweaters and socks. Those folks know where every scrap of fiber comes from – sometimes even which alpaca! I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but I was impressed. https://store.mainealpacaexperience.com/products/
Lise says
Gosh I love all of these!
Kim says
Janice, I would LOVE to see the view from your 48th floor apartment! And your new closet once you get it sorted. I’ll bet you’re exhausted from the move. My fave of these three is the second one.