February 11, 2019
Back on Friday, I showed you a small travel capsule wardrobe based on a beautiful scarf – black and white with yellow and turquoise accents. The final wardrobe looked like this:
You don’t have to be all that alert to see that the majority of this wardrobe is black, with white touches in stripes, dots and prints. The only accent color items are these 5:
blue sweater – Boden; bracelet – Farra; scarf – GISY; yellow sweater – Caslon; earrings – Eshvi
So what do you do if you’re just simply not in the mood to wear yellow and turquoise? Maybe you’d like some pretty pastels? Change the scarf, change 2 sweaters and 2 pieces of jewelry…
scarf – Liberty London
We make the minimal changes necessary to the original travel outfit, and it now looks like this:
earrings – The Met Store; sweater – Isabel Marant; scarf – Liberty London; skirt – Lou & Grey; watch – Tissot; acrylic bracelet – Lizzie Fortunato; jacket – Topshop; boots – Mercedes Castillo; tote – Sole Society
2 adjustment to her travel capsule wardrobe that she’s packing:
striped shirt – Treasure & Bond; druzy quartz earrings – Kendra Scott; black earrings – Talbots; dotted shirt – Uniqlo; apricot sweater – Madewell; dress – Uniqlo; bag – Botkier New York; striped sweater – Halogen; scarf – Saint Laurent; pants – AG; loafers – David Tate; pumps – Donald Pliner
And the wardrobe looks… well, not entirely different – that’s a lot to ask when you switch out 22% of the clothes! But it does give a different overall feel, doesn’t it?
This is the little accent color cluster with the pink and apricot choices…
sweater – Isabel Marant; acrylic bracelet – Lizzie Fortunato; scarf – Liberty London; apricot sweater – Madewell; druzy quartz earrings – Kendra Scott
All of the original outfits from Friday are still perfectly valid and wearable… These are EXACTLY the same ensembles, with just the 5 accent pieces swapped out:
But what if you’re in the mood for something a little bit… stronger?
scarf – GISY
Her travel outfit looks quite different with that dark cinnabar red!
earrings – The Met Store; sweater – Treasure & Bond; scarf – GISY; skirt – Lou & Grey; watch – Tissot; agate bracelet – Salome; jacket – Topshop; boots – Mercedes Castillo; tote – Sole Society
And there’s nothing like acid green to make you stand out in a crowd…
striped shirt – Treasure & Bond; peridot earrings – Kohl’s; black earrings – Talbots; dotted shirt – Uniqlo; green sweater – COS; dress – Uniqlo; bag – Botkier New York; striped sweater – Halogen; scarf – Saint Laurent; pants – AG; loafers – David Tate; pumps – Donald Pliner
Again, this doesn’t change everything, but it does give the entire wardrobe a different mood. Maybe for different times of year, or different destinations, of different offices that you’re going to visit? (I remember an office that would have thoroughly deserved looking at me wearing acid green…)
This is the little powerhouse cluster of pieces that make this change possible:
cinnabar sweater – Treasure & Bond; bracelet – Salome; scarf – GISY; sweater – COS; earrings – Kohl’s
And again, all of the outfits hang together just fine with this startling change of colors:
Of course you understand that this idea will work with any neutral color – you don’t have to wear black in order to have a revolving group of “accent clusters.” I personally suspect that all of these colors might look great with beige? I don’t know about navy, grey, or brown…
love,
Janice
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This is pretty much the way I do it, except that my basic wardrobe includes other greyscale colors (grey & white) and dark denim. Works like a charm! I receive regularly compliments about how I wear color…no one ever seems to notice that in fact most of my clothes are same old solid colored basic neutrals, except for a few shirts and tops that come in my main accent colors (pink/berry and light blue/purple…). Scarves and sundresses are my only wardrobe items that really do come in every shade of the rainbow. So yes, it is not only possible but quite easy to have a wardrobe that is not bulging in it seams, is versatile and includes any and every color one’s heart desires in some form.
This is one of those precious instances where you do get to both eat the cake and keep it.
Janice,
I think brown or beige would work fine with these accent colors as long as the scarves also repeated those neutral colors instead of the black. Often , on a trip, I include 3 varied accent colors in tops or toppers. I like your idea of using sweaters as they can be worn either over a shirt or turtleneck or under a cardigan or jacket !
Bright post once more !
Your demonstration, Janice, is perfect. Obvious, concrete.
But (for me), it was necessary.
Other consequence : with these coloured options (and what beautiful colours !), I enjoy further your proposals of basic neutral.
Thank you very much.
And congratulations.
Love the Mandala scarf and acid green accents!!!!!!!!!
This is the most practical blog for me; thank you so much. I am an artist and love many colors, often feeling guilty about having them in my wardrobe. Black is my neutral/base color so you have helped me see how I CAN keep my beloved scarves and accent pieces and don’t have to do a Marie Kondo on them because I can wear them all with black! xoxo Hallie
Seeing the acid green made my heart happy. Fantastic job as always! :)
Janice, when you choose travel clothes, do you consider their weight and bulkiness? Those things are important to me as a “carry-on only” traveler.
In the your travel outfits that have the dress and a sweater, are you wearing the sweater OVER the dress?
THANK YOU for asking that question. I was very confused by that also!
Yep!
It’s an interesting exercise to look at the various neutrals and determine which are the most flexible for color additions. Black and White would obviously win. Then maybe Navy / Grey / Beige / Sand. Finally Denim / Brown / Olive / Khaki? For a person who loves color, the more flexible the neutral, the more options, right?
Love this post! And I just happen to be wearing an acid green shirt with a cinnabar red jacket over navy slacks today.
Janice, I would love to see you do this blog again using navy, grey and stone (beige) neutrals with different scarves and coloured accessories as I found this so inspirational with Spring being round the corner.
I love the basic wardrobe and adore the cinnabar and acid green accents.
This is fun! I have resolved to only purchase blues and winter whites this year in order to shape up my core wardrobe and gradually weed out the few other colors I have. I may revisit some of those other pieces as a possible accent color. I already know I really like coral as an accent with my blues and whites.
The New Ianthe Silk Twill Scarf is available in a blue color palette, by the way.
Janice! You are a GENIUS! What a brilliant way to add variety and pops of color to my ordinarily black wardrobe. You also made me realize that having two unrelated colors connected with a scarf and an accessory or two in both colors is the way to go. You lifted me out of the winter doldrums and saved my colored items from being Kondo’d (yes, they bring me joy!) out of my life. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
Love this idea. I wear a lot of black, because it’s my favorite color, but I don’t mind to add a little bit of a color now and then. Great inspiration.
Gads! You’re clever, Janice!
Wow! This is so inspirational, practical, and economical! For the price of two tops and one scarf, I can pump new life into my basic wardrobe! Thank you.
What is it about Liberty prints that makes my heart sing? Thanks for including Ianthe in your work!
Dena
This is my year of planned purchases and a darker pallete scarf is one. I would buy that scarf in a hot second if I didn’t have to pay $42 shipping!