August 30, 2023
Sometimes a painting just grabs your attention and won’t let go; that’s how she felt about this…
Yes, she has almost black hair, and eyes that are either aqua blue or green, depending on something she can’t quite figure out…
So for her upcoming trip, so thought that this would be a great inspiration!
Until the last day or 2 before she leaves, she’s not sure what she will wear in transit; she decides to assemble her wardrobe far ahead of time, and then just choose her travel outfit when she knows what the weather will be.
Start with the neutrals, with some essential accessories:
Black cotton cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – Bling Jewelry; scarf – Elizabetta; tee shirt – L.L.Bean; black jeans – J.Crew; skirt – Boden; ballet flats – Gentle Souls by Kenneth Cole; loafers – Franco Sarto
yes, these are the same 5 grey pieces from last week!
Cardigan/blazer – J.Crew; earrings – Gallardo & Blaine Designs; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; crewneck sweater – Nordstrom Signature; tee shirt – Lands’ End; pants – J.Crew; boots – Lucky Brand
Now the fun starts! She’s been collecting tops in colors that compliment her eyes – time to choose 4 of them, as well as a couple more scarves:
Hair clip – Closet Rehab; glacier teal tee – L.L.Bean; scenery scarf – Soft Strokes Silk; black onyx earrings – Anna Beck; green silk shirt – Boden; onyx bracelet – Jean Claude; green cotton sweater – J.Crew; leaf print scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; glacier teal cardigan – L.L.Bean
She hangs the 12 garments on her portable hanging rack, and arrays the accessories on a small table beside the rack; she likes being able to see everything together.
She stands in front of her little art installation for a good long while, and assembles outfits in her mind. This is always a smart thing to do – it’s easy to forget to pack something essential, like socks, if you don’t take yourself step-by-step through getting dressed a number of times.
yes, I once was away for 6 days with ONE pair of socks – one pair of well-worn, often-washed socks!
Do any of you dress to match your eyes? I have a couple of brown sweaters, but it’s never been a “thing” for me…
love,
Janice
p.s. Five years ago we considered how to decide if we should purchase something that really tempts us – I struggle with this still!
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Amazing, love these colors. I wear green, but not turquoise, so it’s interesting to see it with gray vs. navy or black. I do have green eyes, and I find that when I wear green my eyes look very very green. (I wear both olive green and the emerald green shown in your post.) I do have that Jessie Zhou scarf, and the scenery scarf is just lovely. Wonderful posting. Great way to start my day. Thanks Janice!
PS Love the look back. If I could I would wear corduroys and sweaters year round.
absolutely! and looking closely can show up two or three colors that are an excellent basis for a four-pack or a french five. (in my case, hazel, teal, and maize). i can totally see today’s wardrobe looking fabulous on the lady you describe!
Lovely post. I have red, going silver, hair and blue eyes. When I wear royal cobalt, like shown in Monday’s post, my eyes look brilliant. They’re turquoise when I wear turquoise and violet when I wear purple and gray when I am in a mood. I don’t wear gray near my face. It washes me out. The greens set off my hair whether olive, emerald, or kelly.
I think this is one reason I am a magpie for color. While I intellectually strive for a minimalist wardrobe I am way too distracted by so many beautiful colors.
Janice,
I am packing for an extended weekend once again, and I have reviewed your various basic templates with the end result of deciding to start with the slot machine 3×3 format as my basic core . I love variety so for each column I choose a different neutral or a near neutral like denim blue or olive green. I try for a light, medium, and a dark line up of the neutrals First I choose a pant, then a top and then a topper ( always a topper of some sort) in each of the neutral or near neutral colors. While that is more than enough for a long weekend, I prefer a clean top for each day, so I add one or two mix and match accent colors or prints that work with all 3 basic or neutral colors, so that then morphs into more of a cluster format or a 4×4 . If it was just hubby and me I would do repeat wears of tops and save the weight and space , but around a certain family group that we would be visiting, that would be frowned upon , sadly . For longer trips, I stick with those same 3 colors, but just add more items . On a subsequent trip, I change my selection of my 3 neutral colors and accents. I have learned so much from you over the years ! In the past I probably would have felt insecure if I didn’t stuff my biggest suitcase possible ! A carry on size is my standard piece of luggage now , plus a tote, even if i check a bag, though we mostly do car travel now . I am still always tempted to overpack even with the above guidelines, but I’m learning, still learning ! So thank you again, dear lady, for helping me to be able to lug a much lighter load !
It’s a grand feeling, isn’t it?
hugs,
Janice
Oh I love aqua/green with grey. I have light green eyes too. Whenever I pack, I always try to incorporate a top, cardigan or skirt in the colour scheme. It would look a bit dressier with dress ballet flats. I would also include a silver pendent or some aqua/green beads if didn’t want to wear a scarf.
It really seems as if nearly every color looks good with grey. Anyone who w likes the way it looks can feel confident investing in some truly beautiful core pieces.
Love your scarf and shoe choices.
I recently started wearing a soft spruce tee from LLBean that matches my eyes perfectly and I love it. I always thought of my eyes as blue and would try to dress as such but this slight variation has made a big difference.
I saw the thumbnail picture for this post and squealed internally when I saw the greens. I’m a sucker for blue-based greens.
I have ever-fading blonde hair, pale skin with pink undertones and green eyes. Blue, aqua, teal and green tops work very well with my colouring – especially highlighting my eye colour – but I accidentally discovered that the best shirt colour to make my green eyes pop is lavender! The effect was astonishing and people consistently comment on my eyes when I wear that colour. That doesn’t happen when I wear green so it seems that lavender is my best colour. I guess purple and green being secondary colours is the key to this reaction. Sadly, it’s not a super popular colour in the stores.
I LOVE these colors. i wear a lot of gray as my neutral and love to accent with blues and greens. thank you for the inspriation!
You are killing me with the shades of aqua and green and the gorgeous scarves today! The leopard one is even reversible with a second colorway that is also wonderful. This is the capsule I will travel with when my hair goes grey and coordinates better with the grey; right now, navy would be a better neutral for me (which I could still wear with the aqua/green pieces and many of the accessories).
I do wear colors that match my eyes, esp. in tops, scarves, and toppers. My husband likes me in olive because it makes the olive in my eyes stand out (and he loves those warm green colors). My eyes have a range of colors from olive, emerald, teal, and navy so pretty much the entirety of the yellow-green, green, blue-green, and blue sections of the color wheel (which are also my favorite colors!) are well-represented.
I think the effect of clothing + eye color is a bit different for those of us with “colored” eyes rather than neutral ones. Brown would coordinate with brown eyes but not make them pop in the same way. I would expect to go for contrast rather than matching with neutral eyes.
This was lovely as always. The scarves are beautiful. Sally I have brown eyes and I totally agree that when I wore brown they did not “pop”. The inspiration art would be fantastic with several denim/chambray shades for a more casual look, too. Hoping for cooler temps and rain soon. I feel like I may never need a sweater again!
I’ve never thought to wear clothing colors that match my eyes! I have blue eyes and I do tend to wear Navy as my neutral the most!!! I’m a Spring so I try to stick to my Spring colors although I must admit I’m very much a neutrals wearer most of the tie!!! They are classic and rich appearing!! My style really!! Elegantly chic!! So me!!!
For Wendy: I’m seeing lovely lavender items at Athleta in shirts and jackets; merino wool pullover sweaters at J Crew and Uniqlo (these lean towards orchid). I’m a graying dishwater blond with brown eyes and find that lavenders and strong royal blues work best with my coloring.
Thank you for the great tips! Much appreciated.
Janice – The Leopard Jesse Zhou scarf also comes in another color way that would also work with the wardrobe but adds royal and navy blue. I can wear charcoal grey but the grey combo with the scarf is a bit too dark for me. I also wear no black except occasionally black jeans. The alternate color scarf might not match as well with the dark grey but it’s really pretty! Very tempting. All in all, a nice wardrobe.
Well, now I feel silly. The scarf is reversible! I might just have to get it!
This is amazing! You could have been describing me, about 20 years ago. Now that my hair is closer to the charcoal color than “almost black”, I find that neither black nor charcoal suit me well. Any thoughts as to other neutrals? I find myself inclined to wear either camel/caramel or bright navy with these colors.
I could “shop my closet” for late winter/early spring capsules in these colours. How lovely. Add in the violet from the “Summer Forest Imagination” scarf and I’m good to go. And the “Leopards of the Verdant Wild”, two for one! What a bargain $$ wise and space wise. Love it.
My current project is packing for: two days driving for a week at our beach house (all work and no play) then two day’s driving for a week at a different beach house (all play and little work) then two days driving home. Weather TBD. Ack! However, I’m sure that a review of some of your previous posts will see me through. Yep. I have every confidence that I will pack what I need and use what I pack and look good doing it!
Lovely posting, love the turquoise and green combo. I am starting to wear more of this combo myself as I have been told turquoise is my wow colour and really brings out the colour in my aqua eyes as well. My mother always wore blue to match her eyes and rarely used any other colour in her wardrobe, so interesting on dressing to match your eye colour. Love these scarfs as well. Thank you Janice.