March 14, 2022
The LAST WEEK of the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe! I trust by now that none of us own all 52 garments, but that we’ve at least considered them and made intelligent decisions about what will and won’t work for us…
I was – in theory – going to look at winter dresses today, but there aren’t really a ton of nice ones still in the stores or online; fashion favors the advance shopper! So I just picked out a half-dozen dresses that I like, and thought about how I might wear them.
First up – for something very dressy:
Dress – Dress the Population; earrings – QuayL Designs; bracelet – TJMaxx; bag – Rosana Exposito; sandals – Badgley Mischka
I considered a necklace for this dress but I felt like the floral print was such a statement that leaving the area around your face mostly bare would bring attention to you – which is the point of getting dressed up like this!
But floral earrings are never wrong…
This next dress feels like going out to lunch with my friends…
Baltic teal dress – Lands’ End; earrings – Adina’s Jewels; bracelet – Missoma; bag – Lemaire; sandals – Olivia Miller
It’s certainly possible to find jewelry and leather accessories in this shade of blue, but that felt like too much of a good thing to me! I particularly like the way the clasp on the pearl bracelet is echoed by the gold earrings…
This next dress feels like something I might wear when I’m out on the weekend with Belovedest and my mother, driving about running errands and perhaps stopping by a garden center or arboretum…
Gauze dress – Caslon; earrings – Anthropologie; bracelet – Talbots; bag – J.Crew; flat espadrilles – Eileen Fisher
The mint earrings are quite a statement (at least in my world!), so a simple bracelet and neutral accessories might be all that I would want to add…
This next dress? This has dinner with Belovedest written all over it – or maybe dinner with friends!
this orange color is called “flamingo!” Clearly named by someone who has never actually SEEN a flamingo?
Rumpled satin dress – Sam Edelman; earrings – Kate Spade; bracelets – Cult Gaia; bag – J.Crew; sandals – Franco Sarto
No, your floral earrings do not have to match your dress exactly! If you have friends who would find fault with this, you need to think seriously about whether they’re worthy of you…
This next dress caught my eye immediately because of the color! But I could see wearing this to a summer party, or a wedding…
Eyelet dress – J.Crew; earrings – Alexis Bittar; bracelet – Chan Luu; bag – Lulu Townsend; sandals – Jack Rogers
Please note that if you can still navigate taller sandals, they would be just fine with any or all of these dresses; I choose shoes for those of us for whom ballet destroyed our feet and legs! Maybe I’m on a 1-woman crusade to remind women that we NEVER have to wear anything uncomfortable. Ever. For any reason!
And this last dress is for the office… (of course, my office is either our dining table, or one of the desks in our bedroom. Yes, we have 2 desks in our bedroom!)
But even the most stubborn among us are going to have to be seen in an office space at least once in a while…
red print dress – Boden; earrings – Marni; bracelet – Cynthia Rybakoff; tote – East West; sandals – Easy Street Shoes
Rumor has it that it is going to be legitimately WARM by mid-week here in Chicago… I think that means that I should start digging out my summer dresses!
love,
Janice
p.s. Six years ago (more or less!), we looked at the Pantone Fall “new” colors – they’re all still beautiful!
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For the most part my dresses languish in my closet except for the hot days of summer when I find them a cool option. However, that periwinkle dress is amazing. Probably a little too dressy for my life style, but amazing.
With the world opening up again, I’m embracing dresses and your choice and styling of these items is an inspiration. My first choice would be the teal combo. Hope you have those sunny days soon. We are edging towards Autumn and I’m looking forward to putting together the looks I’ve seen over the past 6 months.
The mint dress is beautiful! I love a sleeve year-round and the length is great. It even comes in navy, my dark neutral.
Beautiful outfits all.
I love all these dresses for simple elegant dressing. I’m giving up trying to find skirts – let them find me. I’ll have more success with a dress which can be covered with a jacket or cardigan depending on the weather and the occasion.
On Saturday, I wore a teal green jersey dress with burgundy suede biker style jacket and dark grey snake print ankle boots. I wouldn’t have had the courage to wear such a mixed outfit without your blog. It was so comfortable and the dress and boots was complete as an outfit in itself without the jacket on indoors. Sometimes when you wear a skirt and top, it can feel incomplete. I should wear dresses more often.
I like the idea of a dark blue dress in summer but navy is too dark on me. Baltic teal would be a better choice and I have similar bead necklace and bracelet. I’d like to find a light teal gauze dress similar to the green one (though we call it crinkle fabric in the UK). I have a lilac jersey maxi dress from Lands End but midi length lilac cotton dress would be lovely for the summer. The burgundy red dress is an interesting addition because I would wear it towards the end of summer with a long sleeve top underneath.
Thanks for completing this years Weekly Timeless Wardrobe. I look forward to your analysis of how its shaped up. A couple of years ago, you asked whether there was mileage in doing a similar theme for jewellery and accessories. I for one would be keen because I like taking an outfit and wearing it with different accessories for different occasions.
Beth T, your Saturday ensemble sounds gorgeous. Teal and burgundy are among my favorite colors, yet I’ve never thought to wear them together. One of my wardrobe goals is to buy edgier footwear and those snake print ankle boots would fit the bill nicely.
Susan, I’m 58 and I must say that I’m less conservative in my dress now than when I was younger! I was encouraged by my daughter to get the suede biker style jacket and the boots. She is so slim, stylish and elegant, that I often feel a bit a bit of a frump next to her. Unless, it is very warm, I might wear a similar outfit to my son’s graduation in a couple of weeks.
One of my favourite combinations is teal green and purple so plum/burgundy is not so much of a leap. I also wear the bluer Baltic (Ocean) Teal with warm pinks. As for the snakeprint boots, they look like charcoal grey but then you notice they have a subtle snakeprint. I have always had wide feet and used to get very frustrated that I could never wear fashionable shoes. Wide fit shoes were for old ladies. The boots came from an online wide fitting shoe specialist.
That teal dress–I’d wear that anytime!
The teal dress is my favorite as well!
The eyelet dress is so pretty.
These are beautiful! Now that I’ve got my skimmies I’m trying to wear more dresses. The sales lady and I had quite a bit of fun at Macy’s trying to find them. I told her the name skimmies and she said, we have Jockey ones and I finally was looking up your site… a blogger mentioned them and they linked to Macy’s, I said… well they are Jockey skimmies… we were both right. And both laughing by the end of it! :) I love them!!!
Hi Janice and Everyone! I love the colors and prints of all the dresses. I don’t know about the spaghetti straps on the very floral one. That would be very brave for my being ‘a woman of a certain age’ .
I switch over to my summer wardrobe about mid-May, just about the same time the threat of frost is past 😊
Love these, and the mostly flat or low heels that accompany them. I just did another major declutter of foot wear and a beautiful pair of boots had to go because the heels make me unsteady and I have enough balance problems as it is. Embracing reality instead of living in denial.
Good to see examples of nice footwear with dresses. Inspiring and heartening.
That Baltic Teal dress is exquisite.
Another GREAT bit of advice from Janice:
“Maybe I’m on a 1-woman crusade to remind women that we NEVER have to wear anything uncomfortable. Ever. For any reason!”
Etch this into your memory, ladies!
It is interesting comparing the Timeless Seasonal Wardrobes with our actual weather. Way Down Under in South-eastern Australia Spring takes a while to to heat up so many cool days & Autumn is one of our best seasons because the weather is stable and mild. I’m examining my clothes that I own in readiness for Spring & looking at my short sleeves clothes – they might be a tad too cool. For many days in Autumn they would be just right. Long sleeved/3/4 length tees just right for Spring.
I’m currently working out my 1st Cluster (dark) for Spring so I’m now thinking that Autumns 1st cluster might be looked at concurrently.
I can see a cluster matrix at work here – Dark column of neutrals over different seasons seamlessly merging together.
So much work & thought in the TSW. Thanks again.