October 21, 2022
Our heroine from Wednesday is back on the road, with a rather different color palette!
This trip is going to be both more casual AND more dressy – so our heroine is including both jeans and sequins!
heather natural cashmere sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Sorrelli; scarf – Otto & Spike; jeans – L.L.Bean; bracelet – La Meno; coat – L.L.Bean; tote – Parker Clay; loafers – Steve Madden
note that she’s packing exactly the same number of everything…
There’s that one dinner (concert, opera?) that gives her permission to break out the really dressy top…
heather ash cashmere sweater – J.Crew; pearl earrings – The Met Store; ivory turtleneck – Lands’ End; onyx earrings – Anna Beck; pearl earrings – Lady Grey; black cardigan – J.Crew; Peruvian patterns scarf – The Met Store; sequined top – Allsaints; brooch – The Met Store; black corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; black and ivory silk scarf – ichcha; bag – Nissa; black pleated skirt – J.Crew; loafers – Aerosoles; ballet flats – Bernardo Footwear
She loves the way this looks – it’s just like her last travel capsule wardrobe, but it’s NOTHING like it, at the same time. It’s kind of magic…
She has lots of ways to wear these pieces too – it’s built into her system:
Imagine what she could do if she packed BOTH of these for a trip!
do you think that this is a good painting to use for next year’s “once a month” wardrobe? I think with all of these neutrals, it might be interesting…
love,
Janice
p.s. Six years ago, our heroine packed an overnight bag for her trip to see the opera, BY HERSELF! (hurrah for bold women!)
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That blue scarf is fast becoming a favourite. Fortunately, I have one similar. Last winter, I wore a lot of grey, navy, ivory and pale blue. It was restful and easy to wear. I love tops and jumpers with a bit of sparkle in the weave. A good way to elevate an outfit without going OTT.
I was so curious to see all of the pieces from this heroine’s two capsules that I just made a quick collage of the screenshots of the “everything” slides. It was interesting to see six common pieces: black pants and cardigan, the ivory crew neck sweater, a pair of two-toned shoes, the black flats and a pair of black earrings, used in both wardrobes. All of the caramel tops would work perfectly with the faded blue jeans and the black skirt of today’s wardrobe but I don’t see meany of the tops in today’s wardrobe working with the brown skirt or ivory pants.
It would definitely be interesting to see a year’s wardrobe based on this painting.
Are you considering using art as your 2023 wardrobe themes rather than scarves? I think that could be great!
I did the same thing – personally I would wear the grey sweater with the ivory pants :) I love seeing these two together – it feels very “realistic” to me; some days you feel like being in one palatte, some days in the other, but everything goes relatively well with each other and there are crossover pieces.
Janice, I think this is a great painting for a neutrals study!
I am thinking of using art instead of scarves – partly just to change things up, and partly to take the focus off of a single accessory that not all of us like to wear. I’m not positive yet – choosing the art is going to be really difficult!
love,
Janice
Maybe Foxes by Franz Marc? You did at least a couple of posts on it in the past.. very colorful!
Just checked out the ichcha site – what a stunning collection of blockprints! how do you find these gems?! i do not need a new anything. i do not need a new anything. i do not need a new anything…
I spend as much as 8 hours a day looking for the right things to put into each post. There’s a lot of “stuff” out there, but if it’s not available in lots of sizes, decently priced, and photographed well, I won’t touch it! I’m very picky…
love,
Janice
I love the idea of one of next year’s monthly wardrobes being based on a neutrals. Although the painting is lovely, I see a lot of black. I’d like to see a neutral painting that is not based on black.
It would be great to see a wardrobe based on this painting given what you’ve done with the last two postings. I could see this being a winner for me. I have a lot of navy, black and lighter blue (not quite pale, but light) in my closet…. perfect! I did have to look at the sequin sweater even though I have absolutely no reason to have something like that… awesome. Have a good weekend everyone!
Love everything about this group! Thanks. Met scarves and brooches are so beautiful.
Thanks for featuring an Australian designed scarf! It comes in other lovely other colurs too. I am seriously eyeing the pink version.
Julie, Australia
Blue jeans!!! I love it Janice… thanks for always indulging us. :)
I do love the idea of a painting inspired series, but since it seems like half your readers fall in the navy-gray-black cool camp and the others like myself are in the warm camp with ivory-green-brown, would it be possible to do one cool painting and one warm one? If you do a warm one, I would vote for either ‘Ivy, 1901’ or ‘Topaz, 1901’ by Mucha. One has tones of very light olive green and the other has yellow-browns. And for cool neutrals, today’s painting is perfect. I know suggesting 2 paintings would double the work, but it would be great to see how you develop a warm neutral and a cool one at the same time. Sometimes it’s easier to follow when there are 2 examples rather than one. Guess it helps the principle stick for some of us. I have been re-reading the 4x4s lately to see what I want to do with upgrading the dressiness of my work clothes once I am reassigned to a new location. My vintage capsule that I was building for work was based on being able to use some pieces that I can’t wear in the new office. So now have to add 4 blouses in ivory and antique tones. Still need a solid cardigan and 2 neutral skirts. The 50s swing coat that my mom made 30 years ago has worn out. The vintage pattern got stolen – long story- and still haven’t found a replacement for it or even a premade coat that I like. Another winter will be spent ‘making do.’
I love this painting and think it’s a great neutral start. Kari, I believe Janice is going to use a few paintings as inspiration as she has done in the past with scarves. What I like about the paintings is the ability to go in a few directions. It helps for those of us whose wardrobes go in different ways.
I think this painting would be great for next year’s wardrobe. I like the idea of two neutrals. Or more. I don’t wear scarves, but I can surely appreciate the wardrobes based on scarves. So I’m fine either way. I also think, and could be so wrong, that it wouldn’t have to be six paintings. Maybe four or so. The clothing world has changed so much in three years. Less of the abundance there used to be. Anyway, my two cents…
It’s interesting to consider the two capsules put together! I think there would be a lot of outfits to be made from combining them. I would be curious to see what outfits Janice would make from this versus various commenters, depending on how we feel about different neutrals worn together. My guess is that the grey tops might stand out a bit as less easy to mix and match (not that everything has to mix and match to the fullest possible extent!).
I would love to see at least one wardrobe in 2023 that includes multiple dark neutrals…particularly some mix of black, navy, and dark brown…as I think that’s what a LOT of people have in their closets. Capsules here mostly seem to focus on a single dark neutral (perhaps using a mid-range brown etc. as an accent color), which makes more sense in a travel capsule or in a start-from-scratch scenario than in a start-with-your-closet capsule. I’d like to see some capsules that reflect the reality that many women don’t want to have to commit fully to either navy or black, for example, and purge the rest.
I just love this painting and both wardrobes, although l personally gravitate more towards the black and brown one. In fact after one glimpse it became one of my most favourite ever of the Vivienne Files.
Therefore l would really enjoy if this painting and its color ways was included in next year’s “once a month”.
Two of my favorites:
Cool- Arrival of the Normandy Train
Warm- Before the Parachute Opens
Since I truly built with Tree of Life, “nothing for me in ‘23”
But developing a few 5 piece accents with next year’s projects… yes!
I think that this painting would be great for the twelve month wardrobe posts. Especially, today’s color chart with grey and black. Would love to see it. I plan using today’s post as my wardrobe inspiration. Thank you, Janice. You are so beautiful and talented.