September 30, 2022
Why yes, Pantone found additional colors at New York Fashion Week…
Which is fine with me, because I could look at accessories ’til the cows come home! And since I live in the city, that would be forever, right?
Let’s start with this classic red; yes, this scarf is an investment. But you could wear it at least once a week during cool weather, for the rest of your life. I’m finding that I have some scarves that 20+ years old, and that I still adore.
Cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; earrings – Kate Spade New York; scarf – Etro; bracelet – Monica Vinader; bag – Betsy & Floss; ballet flats – Journee Collection
I’ve chosen ivory (Winter White?) and beige as our wardrobe core colors to “test drive” this batch of accent colors. While I wouldn’t wear white pumps in this lifetime, I know a LOT of women who wear them through the year and look just lovely.
Ivory cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – Madewell; tee shirt – J.Crew; bag – Sinbono; corduroy pants – J.Crew; ivory skirt – J.Crew; sneakers – Fitflop; pumps – Coach
And for those of us who don’t wear skirts, I thought that beige would be just fine with jeans and cords. One need never wear a skirt, you know! (this from a woman who has worn a dress for 29 days in a row, and who plans to wear it for another 71 days!)
Cardigan – L.L.Bean; earrings – Bony Levy; tee – L.L.Bean; bag – Wandler; jeans – L.L.Bean; twig corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; moccasins – Minnetonka; boots – Eileen Fisher
Red and ivory – I would wear this every day of December, and quite a few days in February! And any other time I wanted to, frankly. Just a little bit of red makes everything feel festive…
And on days when you want to brighten up beige, red will do it. And in case anyone thinks that your jeans are too casual, dazzle them with a gorgeous scarf!
Here’s a chance for me to remind us all that when we struggle to find a particular object in a particular color (like a lovely handbag in Crystal Rose), consider something metallic! It often saves the day when you’re not sure what to wear…
Sweater – L.L.Bean; pink chalcedony earrings – Auree Jewellery; Vanessa scarf – Elizabetta; tennis bracelet – Essentials Jewels; loafers – Steve Madden; bag – Talbots
I know a beautiful blond who could wear this and look like a princess:
Pink softens any edge that jeans or cords might seem to have:
Here’s another example of the joys of finding the right metallic accessory. I’m sure that six months from now, I might easily find “Summer Song” loafers or sandals, but right now these gold suede loafers are a brilliant option:
Sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – Girls Crew; Meadow scarf – Elizabetta; bracelet – Kendra Scott; gold suede loafers – Johnston & Murphy; bag – Sinbono
This could be lovely for cool weather dressing up – you would stand out in every crowd!
See how perfect these suede loafers are with our heroine’s beige jeans?
I could SWEAR that the London fashion colors included this shade of green!
Sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Monica Vinader; scarf – & Other Stories; bracelet – Gem Bazaar Jewellery; sneakers – Cariuma; bag – Sinbono
Green and Winter White screams “holiday season” to me. I could love wearing this…
I was surprised how much I like green with beige – it was a combination far from my color combination radar system!
Okay, this shade of blue is gorgeous. The shoes might not be a flawless match, but there was NO WAY I was going to miss sharing these with you…
And one of the joys of this particular accessory family is that the cardigan is cotton, so you could wear all of these things straight through the summer!
Cardigan – Boden; floral earrings – Oscar de la Renta; Wool Shawl of Rainforest Imagination – Jessie Zhao New York; bracelet – West Coast Jewelry; flats – Greats; bag – Nativa Leather
These colors are far from my norm, but I would feel beautiful wearing either of these outfits:
And blue brings a cool, soft feeling to beige…
I will look at the other 5 New York Fashion Week colors in a few days – we have some scarf-based wardrobes demanding my attention first!
love,
Janice
p.s. Five years ago, we were looking at all 12 of the Pantone spring colors for 2018. The more things change…
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I love both the blues. It would be lovely to see more “summer song” in the shops in the next year.
Pastels are not my friend, but I can wear icy blue and my pink is much brighter. Love, love, love the red, the green, and the periwinkle (Blue Perennial). I would truly love to add Dean Ballet Flat
GREATS in Light Blue Leather, but they don’t come in 6.5 W. This has given me an idea, though, of an item I may wish to seriously search out in 2023.
I could wear those two brights repeatedly? My skin tone seems to love brights. This is a beautiful set of accessories, the kind you can wear for years…make that decades!
The ivory skirt looks like a wonderful neutral to anchor a lot of outfits through a lot of seasons (depending on the fabric) our winters can be cold, so wear with the flesh colors pantyhose or is there a color of tights that would work? What’s the consensus among this group of serious capsule builders?
The white/ivory skirt + pumps definitely gave me pause for a winter wardrobe, but I’m in Minnesota! I assume this combo is intended for a heroine who lives somewhere where relatively sheer nude hose is sufficiently warm.
I am not a serious capsule builder, but I like wearing a white/ivory skirt in winter with matching tights/leggings + boots in a darker neutral shade (which I repeat in the upper half of the outfit). I use white/ivory more as an accent in winter than as a core neutral, if that makes sense.
I have two bulky sweaters with flecks of white in the yarn (one is lavender and the other is a mid-turquoise) and I’ve often worn them with a white skirt. I find it quite mood-lifting. Like you, white isn’t a core neutral for me but it’s a nice injection.
As bizarre as it sounds, you can get flesh-toned tights that have a fleecy lining. https://www.skinsualintimates.com/product/flesh-tone-fleeced-tights
Oh, that Wool Shawl of Rainforest Imagination! So much to look at there, and such a beautiful shade of blue. Thank you for sharing that one!
I would happily own EVERY SINGLE Jessie Zhao New York zoological print scarf that Janice has ever shown us…but this one is blue would be a particularly nice choice for those of us who wear a lot of navy, white, and blue (raises hand).
Ditto Sally, they are just beautiful.
The beige combos leave me a little meh but I do like the winter white/ivory with these accent colors. With red or green, what a great variation on the usual red or green + dark neutral theme…particularly for a heroine in a warmer, less snowy/slushy climate than I’m in. But even for those of us with Real Winter Weather, an accent of white with say red or green + black or navy or charcoal could brighten things up nicely (assuming one is happy with a high contrast look).
I took a good look at the ivory cardigan from J. Crew and it’s funny how from the flat lay it looks like a really typical shape/size, but seeing it on the model, it looks like a very slouchy oversized fit. And only one of the photos on the website gives you even a sense of how it looks on, which is strange. You’d think by now that retailers would realize that when they’re offering an item in sizes XXS-3X, perhaps using solely models who appear to be smaller than an XXS does not offer much information to potential purchasers! My guess is that if a person bought the cardigan in the actual correct size for their body that the fit would not be so sloppy looking, but they aren’t giving me any evidence that it’s true so hard pass, J. Crew.
I know Old Navy is not very upscale but on their website you can click what size model you’d like to see the garment on. So I can click the size XL that I buy in tops and see it on that size model. I wish all retailers did this. Super helpful!
That’s very helpful, Kristi – I didn’t realize that! Thanks for sharing. I’ll check it out!
Janice, I do believe you searched my closet for today’s neutrals. I happily wear all year round white, ivory and beige more than other neutrals. As for the colours, yes please to both blues and the green. It looks so crisp and polished.
I love these colours and you are brilliant at finding beautiful accessories!
Happy weekend, all!
Oh interesting! I have seen many times that people have said “oh, these are my colours”, and now it’s (sort of) happened to me! How nice. I love the ivory, and have picked it out for spring/summer neutral, along with a really light grey and a bit of navy/blue. Not the beige, that’s a step too far, but if it’s called sand, oatmeal, etc., then maybe :) We are just commencing spring, here in NZ.
I’m newish to TVF, and have just happily completed winter with navy and grey as neutrals, as I develop my retirement, more casual wardrobe. The cores of 4 are great, and I’m a sucker for a formula, so love the WIC13 and the rolling 26? (if I remember correctly). I’m up to 2017 in my archives homework :)
The neutrals have been an interesting experiment for me. I always had neutrals, but never the full complement as I was always more attracted by colour. And now, in focusing on having “a suit, a twinset, a column”, it seems I have become more attracted by the neutrals. No one would expect that it would be ivory and grey without much else for me in summer, but I am very happy with it.
That is an absolutely genius idea mentioned above about websites showing the desired size garment on the same size model. I find the photograpy on most sites most unhelpful, both in the size of the model, and the poses they are photographed in. Strange, when presumably they want us to order the clothes, that they make it so difficult to see how the garments will look on ourselves. My husband said it should be possible to plug in your basic measurements to a clothing site, and be shown on a ?mannequin ?avatar with those measurements how the desired sized garment will fit. How genius would that be! And really, when we can get amazing images of space and our internal organs, why not!
That is brilliant!! Our avatar could be hooked to a log in or something and they could show clothes on us. I would love that! It would sure make online shopping easier! :)
I think Lands End has something like that, or at least they did at one time. I didn’t go through all the set-up, so I may be wrong about how it works.
I think it’s long gone. It was a great idea – my image looked alarmingly like me! – and I like using it. I think it must take a lot of bandwidth to run that kind of thing?
hugs,
Janice
The pink and both blues would be my choice. The nearest I get to Winter White is an ivory coat. My beige would be grey-brown (taupe).
Hello all,
I know colours have peculiar names but can anyone tell me what “summer song” looks like.
I’m in Paris this week (for the first time ever) and I’ve noticed three different women, different ages, all wearing that Classic Green – and they all stood out in the best possible way!
Isn’t it interest how you see some accent colors a lot? I love that sort of thing…
hugs,
Janice