June 8, 2020
I don’t know about where you are, but right now, if I have to pull on a pair of pants, they’d BETTER be linen… (I don’t love heat…)
granite linen pants – L.L.Bean
This time of year, if you’re going to wear your favorite silk scarf, it might be smart to consider wearing it in your hair, or on your bag, or… (there must be more ideas…)
mint green “A” Floral scarf – Aspinal of London; navy linen pants – H&M; Earth Mandala scarf – GISY; green linen pants – H&M; shield scarf – Aspinal of London; black silk pants – Eileen Fisher
navy lion and peacock scarf – Aspinal of London; brown linen cotton pants – Uniqlo; mustard “A” Floral scarf – Aspinal of London; granite linen pants – L.L.Bean; Magenta Robins scarf – Aspinal of London; black silk pants – Cuyana
I can’t emphasize enough that we need to be vigilant about reading every word of the descriptions of items that we find online. I searched, SPECIFICALLY, for silk pants, and was returned a ton of satin pants (most of them polyester).
While I’m nagging about careful reading, if you order earrings, be certain that you’re getting TWO earrings (unless, of course, you only want to order one earring). Lots of people are selling single earrings for those of us who wear more than 2 earrings. But opening a packaging and finding only 1 earring, when you’re expecting 2, is a bit disappointing. (been there, done that!)
As I often try to do, I’ve made alterations from last week’s outfits, to accommodate this week’s garment. I love seeing these outfits gradually evolve – it’s a clear way to see how well-chosen classic garments give you lots of versatility:
Lapis earrings – Anusara; navy striped linen tunic – L.L.Bean; white tank top – Lands’ End; navy hemp pants – Toad&Co; ballet flats – Trotters
If I were trying to base a wardrobe on olive green, I think I would be tempted to use a range of warm accents (apricot, butter, caramel) as accents… now who’s in the mood for an apricot pie?
Earrings – Gemondo; poplin shirt – J.Crew; butter yellow tank – Lands’ End; pants – Current/Elliott; ballet flats – Loeffler Randall
Polka dots! The world needs more dots…
Earrings – Marie June; linen cardigan – Eileen Fisher; dotted tank top – Old Navy; black silk pants – Eileen Fisher; flats – Hush Puppies
This is cheerful….
Earrings – Samuel B.; cardigan – Lands’ End; floral tank – Old Navy; pinstriped pants – Uniqlo; ballet flats – ARA
One of the great pleasures of having a good core wardrobe in neutrals is that you can go as nuts as you want with accent colors!
Earrings – Diamonique; geranium cardigan – Nic + Zoe; white tank top – Lands End; granite linen pants – L.L.Bean; ballet flats – Calvin Klein
I’m smitten with this cardigan – it’s feminine and cool without being overwhelmingly ruffled and lacy and twee…
Pearl hoop earrings – Olivia Burton; pointelle cardigan – Halogen; desert peach tank – Lands’ End; black linen pants – Eileen Fisher; ballet flats – Lucky Brand
As always, this looks like something that I could go pull out of my wardrobe and pack. Packing… sigh….
White, black and pink tanks – Lands’ End; sleeveless white shirt – Lands’ End; linen cardigan – Halogen; shell pink linen shirt – L.L.Bean; striped tee – Banana Republic; striped short-sleeved sweater – Max Mara; pink cotton cardigan – Lands’ End; black shorts – Lands’ End; black silk pants – Eileen Fisher; black skirt – Lands’ End; shirtdress – Banana Republic
Here’s the master list, nearer every week to being finished! The more I look at this, the more I see it as a useful guide – at least for me – to making sure that I have all of my “core” wardrobe items in place. That kind of simple organization makes life easier!
For some reason, I’ve got the itch to treat myself to something… What do you do when that strikes?
love,
Janice
p.s. 2 years ago, we considered the possibility of dressing to match your home decor…
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Absolutely linen trousers or cotton chinos. Though the weather has changed in the UK so I’m back wearing denim and twill jeans with long sleeved shirts and tees.
I like your earring choices and as for apricot pie – my Mum used to make those….
The look back is very interesting. I’m a big fan of Morris and Arts & Crafts patterns. If I dressed using my house it would be from my lounge – slate blue and garnet red with cream and navy neutrals, with gold jewellery. From my dining room it would be shades of mid to light green and ivory with delicate gold and pearl jewellery. From my bedroom – plum and lavender with silver jewellery.
Such Lovely items. I am also treating myself to something… fragrances. Im trying colognes that combines with the colors I’m wearing. For example, if I’m wearing something white I’ll be trying a white fragrance like CkOne. If I’m wearing red I’ll put on something that smells like red berries. If it’s blue, CoolWater-Davidoff and if it’s green, Herbae par from L’Occitane. If it’s pink, Burberry-her. Love smells. I think they’re nice to put me in the mood of looking good.
How fascinating that you think of colours with specific fragrances. I have heard that some people also visualise colours with sound. Perhaps you could suggest fragrances to go with Janice’s wardrobe ideas. Maybe you could make your own.
Have you read “Jo Malone: my story”? Its a fascinating biography of how she became a perfumier, her influences and sense of smell which she also associates with colours, memories and sensations.
Thank you for sharing, Beth. I’ll check it out.
At last someone else who associates perfumes with colours! I’ve done this for as long as I can remember (and it wasn’t just because the packaging of Aqua Manda and Sea Jade were respectively orange/brown and aqua that I associated those colours with thos smells!).
I really liked every single one of these (it helps that an accent color ballet flat is one of my favorite things) but the navy and white subtle pattern mix with the pops of red is absolute perfection.
I don’t have any truly can-wear-all-summer lightweight pants but I think they’d be a valuable addition to my wardrobe. I am a bit picky here…I don’t tend to like loose/unstructured linen pants on myself (too wrinkly and schlubby on my plus size pear shape), but I could see putting these linen/cotton pinstriped ones into my wardrobe (and the sale price is excellent). Alas, they are not available in my size, but it gives me an idea of something to keep an eye open for.
As I read this blog, I’m more and more convinced that navy + white/ivory (with some moss/olive green and chambray as a support) are my happiest warm weather neutrals. I’m not ready to eliminate other neutral items from my wardrobe right now, but it’s a pretty big step for me to realize I can close the door on adding or replacing any warm weather clothing in black, grey, or brown. (Removing from consideration anything that is black or has black in the print is huge all by itself.) And it won’t be at all restrictive for me because I can wear pretty much any of the many, many colors I love with some combination of navy/white/olive/chambray. For example, I would very happily wear the black polka dot, pink/grey, and peach/black outfits substituting navy for the grey or black. It will be interesting to see how I feel about grey, black, and brown when cool weather comes around again.
Realizing that you can walk away from a really popular neutral is HUGE! I realized in about 1986, when I went back to graduate school, that I didn’t care if I NEVER saw another navy, grey, or burgundy garment. I’m back to occasional grey, but the other 2 colors have never made it back into my wardrobe! They were never really right for me, although I look fine in them. Sometimes it’s just a question of temperament and deep inner love…
hugs,
Janice
My secondary school uniform was mid and light tones of grey. After the age of 16, I could only wear grey if it was very dark coat or silver. For 25 years I didnt wear grey until my hair began to go grey. It’s only in the past ten years that I have experimented with mid and light tones of grey in my wardrobe and pink, blue and grey forms the backbone of my summer wardrobe. Now grey looks good on me again. However, I am now having a real problem with dark navy….. it just looks too heavy. Maybe a French navy or dark slate blue or dark denim would be better because they have a softness about them which is more flattering.
Please would you feature a range of dark blue shades in the wardrobe selections instead of just very dark navy. Maybe the different shades might suggest particular accent colours. Different shades could be another way of demonstrating a wardrobe transition over several months?
I agree, I would love to see some lighter navy items featured here!
There may be no more important line you’ve written than “One of the great pleasures of having a good core wardrobe in neutrals is that you can go as nuts as you want with accent colors!” If everyone remembers this, a lot falls into place.
When I worked as a news anchor, I had core neutrals for my blazers (in those days we DID NOT wear cardigans or even a sleeveless dress on camera!!!) and could come up with a wide variety of outfits with silk Ts from Nordy’s and a great collection of scarves. Earrings were important as well. You’re a godsend to help me find a retirement look…and styles that will do multiple jobs. Thanks again for so much great advice and helping us find looks we love!
Hi Janice
Can you talk about how to wear the wider leg pants, proportion etc. I have a Short waist, wider hips and find they make me look Dumpy. I love the idea of the loose linen pants but can’t seem to find a way to look right.
Thanks
I wear wide leg trousers a lot of the time. I’m five foot tall with very short legs – inside leg measures 26.5 inches! I’m pear-shaped. Wide hips and large thighs are my bugbear.
The best looks:
1. Always wear tops or blouses tucked in which helps define the waist.
Wear as a second layer, if you need to:
1. A loose cardigan or unstructured jacket that’s either cropped or sits at or just below the waist to give the illusion of longer legs.
2. Alternatively a long loose cardigan or cardigan or soft coat which ends halfway down the thigh or down to the calf.
After many years of experimenting, I realised that cardigans or jackets which finish at the hip or knee somehow cut the body in the wrong place. This has the effect of shortening and/widening.
I tend to wear 1 in spring/summer and 2 in autumn/ winter to keep my legs warm!
I also find that outfits created with tonal outfits of the same colour or use a matching bottom and second layer like a suit. These add height too. Ibfind that too much contrast between tops and bottoms is distracting.
Hope that helps
Beth
Beth thank you for this, I’ll try the proportions noted and see how it goes
Summer and silk scarves, now that’s a trick.
Over the years I have collected a handful of ideas. There are some excellent scarf tutorials online… I also find Mai Tai’s blog quite inspirational in this regard- she seems to rock her scarves around the year, including middle of summer.
1. Scarf loop. Start with bias fold. Tie the ends together. Put around your neck. Simple, but it works.
2. Scarf necklace. Start with bias fold. Tie one knot in the middle of the scarf and two additional knots on both sides. Tie the ends together. You now have a silk necklace!
3. A scarf can be folded into a belt pouch or a small handheld bag…Hermès had some tutorials, I think. These bags are admittedly small and on the fragile side, but they can be handy if you just need to run to get some ice cream…
4.Of course, instead of belt bag you could always just use your scarf as a belt. Ok, this can be tricky to pull off in style if one is plus size, but I have managed it once or twice.
I couldn’t agree more about reading the descriptions. My pet peeve is leather – it often takes a lot of delving into items described in the headline as “leather” to establish that they are not leather at all but “PU leather” or similar. I cannot help but believe that the intention is to mislead (if not defraud), since those who want leather don’t want substitutes and those who specifically want to avoid leather presumably also want to know that they are doing so. I find Amazon to be especially guilty of this and regularly complain – which makes not an iota of difference.
I experience the “silk pants” type of frustration often whenever I have something specific I’m looking for.
I’d like to add though, that silk and satin are not mutually exclusive – satin is the name of the production technique, which gives the shiny surface, and silk is the material. Satin fabric can be produced from silk, cotton, wool, but of course, polyester is the cost-effective option, so it is the most common these days.