November 11, 2022
Wouldn’t this make a wonderful scarf?
A Winter’s Tale by K. Neil Swanson
And for those of us who love navy, this is a beautiful inspiration!
Do You Know Someone Like This?
Her Christmas tree is decorated with birds. She has bird feeders outside her windows. She just loves birds – she doesn’t have to explain this to anybody!
And so when she’s assembling a wardrobe for cool weather – especially for a trip! – she turns to her favorites animals for inspiration.
She starts with her essentials:
Turtleneck – Alex Mill; corduroy blazer – Alex Mill; navy sweater – J.Crew; pull-on pants – Alex Mill; cotton skirt – J.Crew; resin rinse jeans – J.Crew
Her chosen inspiration has a wide variety of possible accents, but these are what she’s chosen for this particular wardrobe:
Heather pine sweater – J.Crew; white shirt – L.L.Bean; bright blue sweater – Nordstrom; dress – L.L.Bean; butter yellow tee – L.L.Bean; long green cardigan – Paisie; striped tunic – Cove
She could probably pull together an outfit that clashes a bit, but generally speaking this is a “Whatever’s Clean” wardrobe i.e. she can wear anything that’s not in the laundry and come out looking pretty nice!
Because her favorite painting has brown branches upon which her birds are perched, she has decided to wear brown leather accessories! Lots of men wear brown shoes with navy suits…
Bird stud earrings – Lime Tree Design; mallard earrings – Fable England; navy silk scarf – Ilona Tambor; phoenix necklace – Smilla Brav; blue striped scarf – Inkanti; wavy gold bracelet – Marie June Jewelry; goldfinch brooch – Fable England; green scarf – Emma Wallace; woven bag – Bembien; tall boots – Naturalizer; loafers – Linea Paolo; short boots – Børn
As with all clever and wise heroines, she works her way through her capsule wardrobe to make certain that she has everything that she wants and needs…
It’s wonderful to be really interested in something, and it’s even more wonderful if you can channel your enthusiasm into your wardrobe!
I wonder if I could assemble a wardrobe devoted to chocolate and coffee? Maybe THIS is why I’m tempted by a brown sweater…
love,
Janice
p.s. Five years ago, I was thinking about how we might dress for the upcoming holidays!
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It would make an amazing scarf!
I’m glad you add the brown accessories. I could imagine sneaking in red shoes or broach just because…
I have been giving the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe a go by picking out my 13 clothes items for a specific temperature regime. Down Under we have fluctuating temperatures as we move towards Summer. I have stacks of combinations and there is even time to laundry. Thanks for the inspiration.
What a great painting. Very interesting artist. Cheery. As is the theme of nature and birds. I used to live in a rural area and had a couple of bird feeders. I spent many an interesting day sitting on the porch with a mug of tea and a pair of binoculars. I also like the clothes. I have been thinking of branching out on my accent colors, and this might just be the inspiration I need.
Yes, it would make a wonderful scarf!
This is such a nice little collection with lovely themed accessories. I’d love to see this Whatever’s Clean wardrobe expanded to a full, year-round wardrobe with the inclusion of red to make it 5 accent colors and using brown or white (or both!) as additional neutrals. Some of us love lots of variety and wouldn’t mind 5 accents and 3 neutrals. 😁
Agree about all year round wardrobe expansion.
Well, if this just isn’t me all over. Not only are these the current colors in my wardrobe, I am known for feeding birds and a multitude of squirrels – some of whom now chirp thank you to me as I hand them the peanuts – yep, they come up to the door to get their snacks. I love watching all the little birds. This has started off my day in the nicest way possible. Thank you Janice, now off to see “Wakanda Forever” I’ve had the ticket for months….. Have a good weekend everyone!
we watched it last night… all I can say is ENJOY!!
Brown is lovely with navy and other blues. It turns out to be an incredibly versatile neutral color for those of us who wear it. (I like my browns warm, not overly dark.)
Some of us remember when it wasn’t all that hard to find navy shoes and grey shoes. I had navy, grey, brown, ivory and black pumps during my work years. All were very classic.
Still loving your start with a scarf approach!
Yes, I do know somebody like this with birds!
She feeds the birds in her yard so much that they come to her sliding glass patio door looking for her– I always say, “you’re like Snow White!”
This is a great picture — would also be a great jigsaw puzzle for this person — and the colors and outfits are terrific and gorgeous together, thank you!
Hmmm…. does she take her inspiration from this picture into all 4 seasons? Or do bird colors inspire her in different ways throughout the year?
Thanks again Janice have a good weekend!
This would be an amazing scarf, if only! And it would solve some of my challenges like the green stretch cordouroy skirt I bought on sale and have never worn but it was so cheap….seeing the green turtle neck with the navy jeans makes me think I could wear a long navy t shirt with the green skirt but how to tie them together? I much prefer to wear brown with navy over black but had so much black collected over the black years it was okay for a while. Now that I’m moving away from black, the desire for brown leather is returning. And the brown leather shown here is the perfect color for me.
And if this pic were a scarf, I would need orange over red bc of my lovely orange sneakers. Yes lovely. And did y’all see the little orange and blue bird in the middle? An Astros bird!
Nice spotting of the rare Sialia Houstonia ;)
I don’t do well with butter yellow, but the clear yellow in the painting and your color wheel is hard to find. For many years I carried a brown bag and often wore brown shoes. My brown boots worked with everything except my red coat. Thank you for the reminder of how much I enjoyed brown.
I am needing to pull together clothing for a two-week trip to Israel the first of February. My clothing will be mostly casual with a couple of dressier blouses. I am thinking layers. Modesty shouldn’t be an issue during winter months, but I usually live in pants and wonder if I need to take a longer skirt or a dress. Any suggestions from you or your readers would be helpful.
Love all of this! I would prefer orange to the soft yellow during cooler weather.
Love all of it! Love to see orange as an accent color.
Janice,
I love what you said about having a deep interest and channeling it into your wardrobe. What a great idea! (And yes, what a wonderful scarf that painting would make! Another great idea.)
But what really got me was the third idea–the one about assembling a wardrobe devoted to chocolate and coffee: I LAUGHED out loud!!! Thank you for that! =)
Camille
P.S. to April: go ‘stros! ; )
This reminds me of a boy my son told me about in his magnet school for “high achievers” — a boy who liked cats so much, he wore a shirt with a cat on it almost every day! My other son loves red and tries to wear it almost every day, and I also know a boy who likes purple and wears purple shirts each time when we see him once a week. Of course that’s not even counting the girls who wear pink or unicorns or those Disney adults or the adult men and their sporty clothes. This is definitely a bit more subtle and sophisticated way of doing it, I guess!
Gosh I remember my Dad losing it when my brother wore brown shoes with a navy suit. i see a lot of men in navy suits wearing lighter brown shoes and while I think it looks contemporary and smart it also skews a bit casual so when my sons were called upon to be pall bearers at their grandmothers funeral they wore black lace ups with black belts. My oldest did wear his brown shoes and belt with his suit as best man at a friend’s casual wedding and he looked great. Never brown leather with a gray or black suit though.
I think the brown leather items you show look great with navy but If I could only afford one really good pair of leather boots or was considering a pricey bag for myself, I’d go with black. I do have a very $$$$ saddle brown ‘Sash’ bag which has worked for the fall and summer, I have a black winter puffer this year so might see how it works with that but I’ll stick with the black one with my red coat.
I agree with you that black is still more formal and appropriate (and easier to match!) Than navy or brown
I love birds – I’m one of those people who became an avid backyard birdwatcher in 2020 – and my main neutral is navy! This wardrobe really sings to me, and the brown leather accessories are such a good idea.
The chocolate and coffee wardrobe idea made me laugh, because I realized not long ago that all my wardrobe neutral colors are food that I also happen to like: cream, honey, caramel, chestnut, cocoa, coffee, espresso…
Oh my… I love the way you think!
hugs,
Janice
Perhaps Janice would consider a chocolate, coffee, cream, caramel wardrobe, all jesting aside. There seems to be quite a few ladies here who use those colors. And I think it would be great fun.
One time sorta serious, now very casual birder here – 527 species in the lower 48 US. I do have 40 bird motif items in my wardrobe, including 18 scarves. So I’m kind of on the “put a bird on it” end of the spectrum. The bird earrings are really cute.
This painting is intriguing because I immediately see both a Northern Cardinal (center right) and a Eurasian Blue Tit (lower right)…who live on different continents! There’s a story there, no doubt.
Navy with cognac leather, as shown here, is magical…it’s my favorite leather color with navy. Darker browns don’t look as good with navy to my eye. For a casual Christmas, I would substitute red for the yellow.
I LOVE this collection and it would suit me to a T. Please just ship it over! :) I wear navy as my neutral and have tried using navy leather goods or grey, which is another good neutral for me (I’m a summer) but I just love a good golden brown leather like this with my navy and denim. For some reason I cannot wear black in shoes/pants (unless they are sandals), so that’s a no go for me. I crave contrast in my clothes. Thanks for a fantastic ensemble! I just want to say I am here for a coffee/chocolate look too!!! :)
Amazing painting which I immediately thought was a scarf. My eye was caught by the Robins, Great Tits and Blue Tits both frequent visitors to my garden. The Blue Tits are incredibly agile and will hang upside down to get seeds and berries. I think Red Cardinals must be amazingly vivid in the wild. So yes, I’d throw the boat out and add a touch of red too.
The look back is timely. I have a vintage US Christmas cardigan with embroidered Red Cardinals on it. I wear it on Christmas Eve. Come Christmas we have lots of bird decorations at the top of our tree too..
I have lost a lot of weight this year and so needed an entire new wardrobe. My neutrals are navy and white/ivory. I bought almost all items from thrift stores on-line. I have to thank you for keeping me with a narrow focus in building my new wardrobe. Most of my purchases fall into what ever is clean. This capsule wardrobe fits right in as my accents are a range of blues and greens. The advice here is priceless!