October 4, 2019
Five years ago, I talked at some length about how to assemble a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, using this painting as the inspiration for the color palette. I used the most muted colors visible in the painting, at the time…
Someone recently asked me to take a look at the brighter colors – there are plenty from which to choose, aren’t there?
So You Can’t Travel Anymore?
When her medical condition began to strongly suggest that wearing dresses or skirts was going to be MUCH better than wearing pants, her friends suddenly assumed that meant that she was going to sit at home, wearing your grandmother’s mu-mu, and watch daytime television…
So she packed her tote bag, made dinner reservations and bought concert tickets, and headed for the train…
scarf – Pig, Chicken and Cow; earrings – Zenzii; cardigan – Bobeau; watch – Olivia Burton; link bracelet – Argento Vivo; dress – Eileen Fisher; bag – Sole Society; boots – Aquatalia
She’s not concerned… she’s always preferred skirts and dresses anyway, so this wasn’t a big adjustment for her…
red marled cardigan – L.L.Bean; gold ball earrings – Talbots; red paisley scarf – Etro; gold hoop earrings – Kendra Scott; denim shirt – Polo Ralph Lauren; necklace – Akola; red ochre tee – L.L.Bean; leaf brooch – Talbots; link cuff bracelet – Talbots; satin evening bag – Anya Hindmarch; denim skirt – Lands’ End; black ponte midi skirt – Lands’ End; black top – Eileen Fisher; pumps – T Tahari; flats – David Tate
In fact, she loves the feeling of walking around her favorite city looking just a bit dressy; it certainly sets her apart from the majority of people she sees! And it all feels sort of romantic…
A couple of nights away, a couple of days wandering the city, some amazing meals and a memorable concert or two… This is not someone sitting at home feeling like their life is forever diminished!
She knows that her favorite hotel manager will be working this weekend; that’s a nice added reason to look and feel beautiful, isn’t it?
love,
Janice
p.s. 2 years ago I shared a bunch of new color palettes that I had devised, as well as sharing a VERY touching video of a man able to see color for the very first time…
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Thank you – so glad you revisited this one. I loved it when I found the old post and adore this new look at it. Great colour and style inspiration in both and I can see both summer and winter ideas over the two different palettes. Once again thank you.
Over the past several weeks I have been reading through your archives (binge reading!!) on the weekends and I just read the original post last Saturday. I love seeing this revisit. I really like the all-dresses/skirts wardrobe.
I’m with you, Gina. I’m also binge-reading past posts and loving all of the possibilities. These colors are just–lovely!!!!
I always love the sweaters you pick, Janice. I also love your left-brain methods. When I was younger, I traveled in what I stood up in, an extra pair of jeans, two tops, and four pairs of underwear, regardless of the length of stay. (Sometimes finding that laundry isn’t as universally available as one would like.) This last trip, I asked myself “what would Janice do?”—I packed clothes according to your “whatever’s clean” formula and had enough grown-up outfits to stay for weeks if I wanted. Capsule formulas FTW!
Fun to look back at the muted version inspired by Yellow Tree.Same painting very different capsules. Your 4×4 explanation in the old post was very helpful.
Oh my goodness! So beautiful. The more I look at this painting, the more I realize how many ways you could interpret it; you could spend weeks and weeks coming up with new color schemes. I love both of the ones you’ve done so far. I think, for me, I’d use black and the yellow (make it camel?) at the base of the tree for my neutrals, and the go crazy on all the greens (lime, olive) for my accents. And then, for someone with very different coloring, a beautiful casual summer wardrobe could be made with white, bright blue denim; and then periwinkle, lime, and turquoise blue for accents. I’m sure you’ve thought of many more color schemes.
Anyway, beautiful painting, and beautiful interpretations, Janice.
Comparing the two posts, it struck me how much I like the wawy you now show examples of the garments and accessories put together. Thank you!
Also, going back to the old post and the “arrows” reminded me: didn’t you once post links to some sites that could generate a palette from an image? Could you re-post, please?
Thanks!
Comparing the two posts made me realise just how much I like seeing the pieces and accessories laid out to make example outfits, as well as having the groups and the spread of all the garments. Thank you.
Also, didn’t you once post some links to sites that would extract a colour palette from an uploaded image? Please could you re-post them? (I bookmarked them, but they got lost in a recovery operation!)
Thanks
Thank you so much so mixing navy blue and black in this section. I love both and have a hard time picking on or the other but guess what….you should me that I do not have to!
I have three of those Bobeau cardigans and they are wonderful!!!