January 3, 2022
Happy New Year! Let’s all be as kind, and as happy, as we can possibly manage! Why do anything else, right?
Today, I’m looking at the possibilities of a suit with a turtleneck. Not a “real” suit – although you could certain wear a real suit if your life calls for one. I’m thinking more of a matching 2nd layer top and pants. This can be sweatpants – we’re not judgmental…
First up, no matter how grey the day, or your wardrobe, the addition of butter yellow brightens up everything!
Butter yellow turtleneck – L.L.Bean; grey pearl earrings – Margo Morrison; “Echinoida” yellow silk bandana – Debbie Tzima; charcoal knit corduroy pants – Lands’ End; charcoal cardigan – Lands’ End; loafers – Bella Vita
Why yes, Santa is bringing me this lavender turtleneck… Gift cards can be lovely…
Oddly enough, you are going to see this next turtleneck twice; sometimes scarves that I see seem to suggest the same accent colors! But that’s good in a way; there are limitless ways to combine colors. Rules are to be questioned when it comes to aesthetic subjects…
Dark nutmeg tissue turtleneck – J.Crew; square earrings – Fool’s Gold; navy knit cords – L.L.Bean; navy cabled crewneck – L.L.Bean; scarf – Tasha; loafers – Marc Joseph
The right woman could wear this next outfit and brighten up EVERYONE’S day!
Heather pomegranate turtleneck – J.Crew; peridot earrings – Max + Stone; black cardigan – J.Crew; scarf – PJ Studio Accessories; knit pants – Liverpool; penny loafers – J.Crew
See what I mean about this dark nutmeg turtleneck? If you look good in this color, think about your neutrals and how it might look…
(I personally love the earrings with this outfit, too!)
Dark nutmeg tissue turtleneck – J.Crew; earrings – Pure Crystal Jewelry; quilted jacket – Madewell; knit corduroy pants – Lands’ End; scarf – Tasha; loafers – Munro
I think I have this scarf sideways! But you’re going to fold it to wear it, not hang it off your back like a painting…
Warm taupe turtleneck – J.Crew; earrings – Fossil; twig corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; Luna scarf – Helikon XX; oatmeal heather cardigan – L.L.Bean; loafers – Cole Haan
And for those of headed into Phase 276 of wearing sweatpants and slippers (what year is it?), we can still look pulled-together and lovely. This is the kind of outfit just MADE for Zoom conferences:
Vintage pine turtleneck – J.Crew; earrings – Lizzy Fortunato; vintage indigo cardigan – L.L.Bean; sweatpants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; slippers – Fleet & Foster
Wednesday, I’m going to show some more of the “6 Scarves, 12 Months” for 2022. I’m not quite ready to choose entire outfits for these wardrobes, but I am going to make some important additions to the simple 5-piece neutral wardrobes with which we started.
love,
Janice
p.s. Today’s flashback is a short, but VERY IMPORTANT, reminder from seven years ago about how long it takes to build a wardrobe. Patience, patience…
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Happy New Year to you and yours. I love wearing accent colours to brighten up my day. This winter, I’m eschewing my usual deeper colours for lighter accents. The smokey lilac poloneck is right up my street. I’d be wearing it with grey, navy, purple or plum. The green and indigo outfit is an unusual combination. Nutmeg is a popular colour this year (not one I wear) which would also go with beige and olive along with the navy and brown.
The weather is so grey, gloomy and wet in the UK, that there has only been about 12 hours of sunshine in the whole of December. It is so mild that animals and butterflies are coming out of hibernation. Usually, we would go on crisp winter walks with our feet crunching on frosty ground. At the moment we are wading through mud and puddles. There is little incentive to go out, so staying in wearing comfy clothes is much more appealing.
I’m wearing a small number of clothes and jewellery (I dont generally wear scarves indoors), but I have enough options to provide variety for my life at the moment. As a friend said at the weekend (outdoor event), we still miss having things to look forward to, miss being able to plan ahead, and events are still cancelled at a few days notice. We are reluctant to travel outside our local area or mix with friends and relatives we don’t often see.
So my hope for the New Year is that we will overcome our fears, be brave and live life to the full.
I don’t think there is a link for today’s flashback Janice. Should there be or do we just hunt?
Put your computermouse to the text: “seven years” and it will work :-)
Thanks Heidi.
“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Happy New Year to All
Happy New Year Janice and thanks for including the Fleurs d’Orleans scarf. I have an outfit almost exactly the same, so maybe I’m doing something right. I’m not buying any new clothes this year. I went overboard last year, mainly out of boredom and now I’m going to enjoy following your advice about how to combine all the things that I have. Let us all hope that opportunities will arise to get out and wear them, practising kindness all the time, obviously. I can’t emphasise enough how much I enjoy your posts and appreciate the work that goes into them.
Vicki
Morning Everyone, Happy New Year. Although not something I’ve been wearing, I love the nutmeg with that plaid scarf. The pomegranate turtleneck with the Fleurs D’Orleans is gorgeous and something I COULD wear. I agree about yellow. In fact, maybe today is a good day to wear my soft cozy yellow sweater I love so much and have hardly worn this year. It’s rather sad here – rain moved in so the snow is just gray slush and rather unattractive at the moment. ? I am so looking forward to new posts on six scarves. Have a good day all!
Janice and Ladies…Happy New Year!! Love the warm combinations you showed us today!! Just beautiful!! This year I will try to be more mindful of what I purchase!! I love good classic clothing in luxurious fabrics and unusual jewelry and handbags with classic shoes. I try not to draw a great deal of attention to my feet because I’m on a walker but I’ve decided this year I may throw caution to the wind!! Let us live a joyful life while showing grace to all while treating our family the same way!!
I love the soft pine green + indigo outfit, and the blue leopard scarf always draws my attention. Unfortunately the scarf has a significant yellow border that is highly conspicuous when it’s folded (images on the link) and an overall brighter look than it appears here. If the scarf appeals but looks too muted for you here, click through and you might be pleasantly surprised!
Seeing how well turtlenecks can be layered under anything, I wish I could tolerate them better, but crewneck Ts are my alternative that are almost as useful. And wearing a crew neck sweater, I would likely to cover the neck with a scarf anyway!
I haven’t tired of seeing the yellow + grey combo yet, and I like the shade of yellow chosen in that outfit. The bandana is a perfect bridge piece for it.
I wonder whether somewhat clunky traditional loafers are having a moment as they appear in all but the last outfit or if that’s just part of the cozy theme of these outfits. No matter how many times I see this style on TVF, I can’t get over how unattractive they look to me, so I don’t think my eye is going to adjust to the look. I much prefer the sleeker, pointier versions. Of course I would be tempted to sub a pair of animal print shoes in every one of these outfits to zhuzh them up a bit…and the same pair would work in every outfit, I think.
I will echo what another commenter said: I can’t wear turtlenecks, but a nice long-sleeved t-shirt would work well as a replacement, and would be an invaluable addition to the basic building blocks of any wardrobe – you’ve got my wheels turning now. :)
What a pleasure it is to read this blog, for so many reasons! In addition to the excellent style advice, I’m so grateful for your encouraging and kind approach towards life. I also feel you have attracted readers who share your positive attitude. This is a difficult time, and it seems to me that the best thing we can do is be kind to each other.
On another note, I love Jessie Zhao’s designs and think they would be a wonderful choice for future wardrobes.
Happy New Year everyone – I’ve read that it’s meant to be an auspicious one this year which has lifted my spirits no end.
I’ve always enjoyed wearing roll-necks and the pomegranate and lavender ones are right up my street.
I also enjoyed the look back message and I would add that it takes even longer if you veer off in different directions or continually change your mind on neutrals and accents (as I keep doing). Maybe I should just accept that I’m going to have lots of mini capsules that won’t always play nicely with each other, but will have at least one or two capsule ‘friends’ to go on holiday with or other such event. It continues to be a work-in-progress…..
Sharon I know exactly what you mean! In addition to going gray I am very tired of my primary accent colors of red and purple (and all shades in between). Now I can’t decide what I want to do. Last year I found myself with a couple of French Five capsules that will “play nicely” with one of my neutrals (gray, navy, black – yep, I got them all) but not necessarily with other items in my closet! This year I was looking at adding light blue, but then became totally smitten with the Tree of Life scarf in the Six Scarves posting!
Sheila, I too am greying and seem to be more muted so I am shifting my winter neutral from navy to grey. I’ve been playing around with more muted accent colors-blues, not navy and peachy/pinks. Since I am outside a lot I’ve been wearing inexpensive hats in the accent colors I’m playing with before I commit to a beautiful sweater, vest or luxurious scarf.A French Five capsule seems a wise way to adjust and find a new favorite as your coloring changes.
It’s tricky for those of us who love to wear and look better in color. I would definitely get burned out if I limited my accent colors as much as the capsules on TVF. This is where thinking in color families and feeling free to select more than 2-3 accents can be helpful…much as Beth T mentioned in her light to dark range of values across several colors.
If I were looking to limit my accents while having enough variety to keep me happy, I would start by thinking about colors in terms of soft vs. bright and warm vs. cool undertones. It feels much easier to coordinate across colors when they fit in the same category: soft warm, soft cool, bright warm, or bright cool. (Light and dark value can be varied and mixed together pretty easily, I think, so it wouldn’t be my first consideration.) A bright warm pink can be very challenging to wear with a soft cool pink, for example, but a bright warm pink and bright warm blue are pretty easy to put together.
This is where having a personal color analysis that leads to a color palette, or simply adopting one of those color palettes, helps a lot, I think. Those palettes have a LOT of different accent colors but the specific versions of the accent colors share soft vs. bright and warm vs. cool undertone. For example, the Light Summer color palette has ivory, stone, taupe, grey, rosy brown, slate blue, navy, and various versions of yellow, mint, pink, blue, red, teal, and purple that all look harmonious because they have similar levels of brightness and coolness. Many of the same colors are in the True Autumn palette, but the versions are all much warmer.
I guess I’m proposing that in contrast to the typical TVF capsule wardrobe approach that starts with the hues (red, pink, blue, etc.), we could instead start with the intensity/saturation/whatever (soft vs. bright) and the undertone of the colors…which could be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to the more hue-based approach.
Of course, in my own closet, it’s color chaos! :)
When I found TVF, I was overwhelmed by colour. Through the Vivienne Files posts, I realised that I could group my colours in spectrums of light to dark shades.
So now I can say that my true neutrals are grey, navy, brown and ivory, whilst my accent spectrums of light to dark shades are blues, purples, pinks, reds, teal/aqua.
The variety of shading has allowed me to create (at least in my head) ‘go to capsules’ knowing that everything coordinates.
I have enjoyed your posts for years! I am getting closer to my ideal wardrobe and I am loving the process.
The last outfit in today’s post brought a question I have front and center. I simply don’t understand how to wear scarves with a zip up, high neck sweater and a scarf. Is the scarf another layer around the neckline? Is the sweater unzipped and the neck laying broadly away from the neck? Do you simply place it on the bag being carried? I love the cables and line of these sweaters, but I love scarves more. Therefore I have never purchased this sweater style because I fear a more limited use, I will say I do not have a slender, long neck ….sigh. Pam
Happy New Year to you, too!
I do like that nutmeg turtleneck. And all the flat shoes are lovely (so comfortable for walking along streets and paths in much dreamed about vacations to come, someday).
I live in the desert southwest and winter clothing is not much needed- but layers are welcome on chilly January mornings and I’m seeing some new pieces here that would work well!
Hello Janice and Everyone! Happy New Year and it’s good to be back with you again!
I am SOOOO all about the turtleneck, which I wear probably 6 months out of the year. I usually go for the lighter-weight ones, not usually sweaters. At this time of year it’s a turtleneck, then a long sleeved tee over that, then a sweater or sweatshirt over that. Layers, you know.
I have embraced grey as a wardrobe piece and have found that different shades of grey (pearl, marled, charcoal, light) makes a good monochromatic outfit on me today. Well, the sweater has some black appliqued (sp?) flowers on it with some sparkly gems in the middle of them.
However, I still can’t go near yellow with grey without looking completely pallid.
My 21 piece wardrobe challenge for January is blue, grey, white, and pink, and shades thereof.