February 14, 2020
A couple of my friends have asked me to revisit this color palette for spring and early summer – that transition time of year! It’s not quite right for this snowy day in Chicago, but it’s a beautiful daydream…
We first saw this heroine when she went on vacation at the farmhouse, in the dead of winter! Her wardrobe was then expanded into a true 16-piece “Four by Four” wardrobe. And THEN, our heroine added on some essential accessories to make this a more complete winter wardrobe…
Now, the weather is warming up at the farm – the tenant farming the land told her that she was seeing crocus and some daffodil sprouts! She’s got to go up and investigate.
This is the painting that inspires her color palette:
Winter Scene in Moonlight by Henry Farrer – The Met Museum
It’s a lovely spring day when she gets ready to drive up, so she doesn’t have to wear anything terribly heavy…
jacket – Rails; earrings – Adriana de Gadea; natural tee – L.L. Bean; watch – Olivia Burton; tote bag – Mali + Lili; scarf – Halcyon Days; shoes – Børn; canvas pants – L.L.Bean
She’s planning to leave most of what she packs up at the farmhouse for the summer – probably everything except what she wear back into the city. She strives for a mix of casual and moderately dressy…
Since I helped her pack, I can give you some insight into her choices…
I INSISTED that she get this black pleated skirt to have with her – I own it and LOVE it. Yes, it’s pleated all the way to the waist, but the fabric is very soft and it’s easy to pull the hem of a sweater down over the waist. AND it’s lined…
I also own the jeans – 4 pairs! Highly recommended; once you’ve got the right size, you will never forget because it’s printed in big letters inside the waistband of the jeans. Makes life easy…
The black and white earrings are VERY small – what a nice thing, to see enameled earrings that aren’t as big as your ears! And for a heroine going to the country, bug earrings and flower earrings are perfect choices.
Her necklace is the night sky that she so loves when she’s away from urban ambient light. And she felt that her bracelet had the feeling of a butterfly…
tiny black and white hoop earrings – Banana Republic; blue bug earrings – Betsey Johnson; black ¾ sleeve tee – J.Crew; blue print tunic – L.L.Bean; beige cotton sweater – Meraki; white organic cotton tunic – Eileen Fisher; straw bag – Betsy & Floss; star and moon necklace – Stella + Ruby; filigree bracelet – Kendra Scott; chambray tunic – Dorothy Perkins; set of 2 tee shirts – Amazon Essentials; denim shorts – Wit & Wisdom; black skirt – L.L.Bean; scarf – Ralph Lauren; sandals – Patricia Green; white jeans – Lands’ End; black pleated skirt – Halogen; canvas shoes – Keds
When she gets to the farm, she turns on the hot water heater FIRST THING! After dinner that she whips up with the groceries that she brought with her, she takes a hot shower, bundles into her flannel nightgown and fuzzy slippers, and starts putting away her clothes. She realizes that she doesn’t know what she’s going to wear when she leaves, because everything looks so good hanging together in her closet! This is pretty nearly a Whatever’s Clean Wardrobe – she could just about get dressed in the dark without risking putting together a terrible outfit.
As she dozes off that night, she daydreams about what the weather might be in the next days, and what she might wear. She knows that she’s going into the small town nearby for dinner one night, and that she wants to walk around the property to see how her tenant’s work is going…
Those of us who have a bolthole to which we can repair when the real world becomes too much are SO lucky, aren’t we?
love,
Janice
p.s. Six years ago, I was headed to New York with Belovedest, and I was determined to literally CARRY my bag – no rolling through slush for me!
Like this article? Save it to Pinterest!
If she is walking around the farm in the winter/spring she will need rubber boots….in some yummy color! Maybe cherry red or school bus yellow with all the blue and cream!
She definitely needs the boots. I live on a mini-farm and this time of year I don’t set foot off the porch without them!
Of course you’re both right – I’m too used to living in Pavement Central!
hugs,
Janice
These would all be nice …
https://tinyurl.com/whnxsmk
https://tinyurl.com/uvdhluw
or
https://tinyurl.com/yx5ecpj2
Funny – that was my thought too. I live on a somewhat-rural property and I can’t seem to keep canvas shoes clean. Rubber boots or slip on clogs are a must! And white athletic shoes need to be leather.
I love the cohesiveness of the color palette, seems like dressing well would be so easy with this casual wardrobe!
This has been one of my favorite paintings and I love the winter version of this wardrobe! Thanks for revisiting it and adding the spring pieces to expand it further!!
Hi Janice,
Thanks for these “REVISITING” series! These are so fun.
Gorgeous!! Yes yes yes to rubber boots. I live on a farm, and even though I don’t do the “farm work,” I definitely slip on those rubber boots when meandering around outside. Happy Valentine’s Day, Janice and VF Ladies!!
What great choices, Janice. I love the upgraded basics in the options. Just ordered the J Crew tee. Love the detail at the sleeves. Also love the Rails jacket—not a plain Jane Jean jacket.
If there is any more versatile color than denim blue for less than dressy clothing..I don’t know what it is! Lovely inspiration as we look longingly toward Spring!
I love this wardrobe, and its given me some ideas. Thanks for the link to the Dorothy Perkins chambray tunic. I’ve been looking for one like this for a long time. I’ve just ordered it and it should be with me by Thursday. ? I also love the two scarves and have similar already.
Update – sadly item recieved was NOT the one pictured ??. I was sent a medium denim standard style shirt with two pockets on the front and whitish press stud fastening down the front and on the pockets. Completely different.
?
By the way, the Marks and Spencer blue jumper, featured in your Pantone colours post, would look nice with this wardrobe. I saw it the other day in the shop. The blue is flecked with white, like the sky in the picture. If I didn’t already have a similar jumper, i would buy it.
I thought about including it! The only thing that stopped me what that I wasn’t sure about 2 sweater that much alike, but in retrospect I should have bucked the fear and done it anyway…
hugs,
Janice
Here in the UK, The Guardian newspaper has just issued its swanky 150 page Spring/Summer Fashion magazine. Page 29 tells readers that on the catwalks scarves “were sartorial foundations rather than an afterthought”. On to page 68, where readers are advised on “How to build a capsule wardrobe . . . how six items can make a seven-day wardrobe”. Sound familiar? On the subject of the Farrer painting, the two Japanese students who lived along our road for a year both wore these, and only these, colours. They always looked new, fresh, original and never, ever boring. (Fabulous hair helped, of course!)
In the past, I’ve found that when an aspect of my personal style becomes popular, I will feel dated when it falls out of style. I hope that doesn’t happen with scarves!!
Thankfully, I don’t expect hat-wearing to be widely embraced by women so I will, hopefully, be able to maintain some uniqueness in my personal style :-D.
YOUR STYLE sounds great and I would join you in wearing HATS (and gloves). Next year you will still be STYLISH whilst others are slavishly buying the ‘next in thing’ whether it suits them or not. You will stand out and others will wish that they had just a bit of your confidence and style to use clothes as an expression of your personality and flair.
The main aim of the fashion industry is to sell clothes. Unknown people ‘decide’ what is ‘in’ or ‘out’ to make us want to buy more. Negotiating the morass of stuff and selecting only those colours, shapes, fit and lengths which we know suit us, is a skill that is carefully developed over many years. Janice, bless her, helps us all to make wise choices by ignoring the ‘wrong’ stuff and only buying the ‘right’ things when we find them.
I’m currently relishing shops full of midi length dresses, A-line skirts and pastel colours, especially lilac, because they are ‘in fashion’ and readily available. ? However, I can remember raging with frustration during many fallow years when autumnal colours, bias cut or short length were all the rage. Charity (thrift) and vintage shops saved the day! Please keep wearing your hats and scarves, otherwise we won’t recognise you!
Swap the beige (makes me look like death) for charcoal or cognac, and you have the basis for many of my favorite travel capsule wardrobes. – nancyo
There’s that “Impossible Blue” from Pantone 2020, perfectly combined and contextualized. What a pleasure it is, reading Vivienne Files!
Shhhhhh but I suspect she keeps a pair of nice rubber boots behind the hot water tank closet door or in the small entry closet just so she doesn’t have to drag them back and forth. She’s likely fond of small conveniences that make her life serene.
I wonder if your heroine also has a co-ordinating pair of gloves in the pockets of each of her coats, like I do, so she’s never without?
Thank you so much for this and it appeared so quickly after one of my comments. I’m glad others have also loved this palette. I have the skirt and the white jeans and since I don’t wear shorts any more will substitute a denim skirt and or skort for the shorts. I plan to order the print tunic probably in both colors. For those who made the comments about the boots, great idea and use for my blue boat boots.Thanks again Janice.