September 4, 2023
I’m so happy with these; sometimes I struggle to find things to add to these wardrobes, but this month I feel like it all just fell out of the skies and into my computer!
This very casual heroine came into September with a wardrobe that’s got a lot of soft, gentle colors…
She knows that she wants a pair of casual pants for cooler weather that AREN’T grey, as well as a couple of darker tops, to reflect the changing season; this is what she found:
Sweatshirt – Alex Mill; tee shirt – Alex Mill; scarf – Coocoomos; sodalite bracelet – Jean Claude; vintage indigo pants – L.L.Bean; sneakers – Bzees
Her wardrobe retains its distinctive look and feel, but offers her more options if she wants to wear darker colors!
And her accessories are wonderful…
She has plenty of outfits – including warm, darker-hued choices for cold, cloudy days. Do we think that this heroine will EVER need something dressy? I suspect not…
Next, what is rapidly becoming my favorite wardrobe! If only I looked just a LITTLE bit better in brown… Maybe avoiding this temptation is for the best!
This heroine never really worries about what accent colors she has, nor if she has enough of one of her neutrals – everything a neutral!
So she arranged her wardrobe by function, to see where there might be gaps. She only has 1 skirt, and she really loves it – would it be crazy to buy the same skirt in a different color?
not if she wants a dark brown skirt – they are HARD to find!
Once she had reconciled herself to a 2nd pleated skirt, she decided to get an entire small grouping in this shade of allspice – pants and a cardigan given her so many easy ways to get dressed. (not to mention packing would be a breeze from this wardrobe!)
Smoky quartz earrings – Aurree Jewellery; cashmere cardigan – J.Crew; allspice chinos – Lands’ End; scarf – Soft Strokes Silk; allspice skirt – Lands’ End; boots – Bernardo
Her wardrobe now looks more balanced between light shades and dark. What a dream of a wardrobe this is, for the woman who just wants to get dressed without a lot of stress, and who is happy always looking recognizable…
I could want this wardrobe if only to have these accessories. Brown boots for the win!
Of course she has lots of new outfits – that’s how these wardrobes are designed. But I could easily see this heroine getting dressed in the dark with NO problems!
Finally, let’s check in with our heroine with the black and purple wardrobe!
At the end of August, our heroine had a pretty good wardrobe! 
But she can see a couple of gaps – her black pants are either jeans or summery – maybe a pair to carry her into fall? And she does NOT have a black dress – which is a pretty big omission for someone who wears a lot of black!
Her only purple sweater is a lightweight cardigan – maybe she will bump into a nice sweater too…
You see where this is going!
Amethyst earrings – Madewell; heather amethyst sweater – Madewell; black dress – J.Crew; scarf – Kargede; black corduroy pants – Lands’ End; pumps – Cole Haan
This feels a bit more comfortable for her – adding the black pieces makes it clear that she knows her favorite neutral! And the sweater will be a workhorse…
And OH MY GOODNESS – does this heroine have some great scarves…
It would be easy to find a dozen ways to wear her black dress – or her black corduroy pants! But she makes sure that she has a couple of ideas for each new piece – you don’t buy clothes that you aren’t sure you will wear:
So which is your favorite?
love,
Janice
p.s. Nine years ago our painting of the day was The Magpie by Claude Monet; the wardrobe mixed dark grey with light blue and a soft terra cotta/apricot….
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Hmmm . . . will the Normandy Train woman never be invited to a fancy wedding? IME there’s always something to dress up for, at some point. I love those colors, but the style is too casual for me; the final one is nearer my style, but the colors aren’t doing it for me. Well, I’m sure there will be plenty of people who love these! The day before the look-back is more me (https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2014/09/a-4-by-4-wardrobe-in-burgundy-pearl_3.html/ ) though I’d swap in two skirts in place of two of the pants, and dump the plaid flannel shirt in favor of a dress.
Have a great Labo[u]r Day if you’re in North America!
Most people dress in a casual way these days. I do though I still like to be ‘put together’ as our Normandy heroine does. My elevation of this style is a pair of silky jersey or velvet pull on trousers with a satin blouse, of a soft and silky feel jumper or a sparkly top. An elevated skirt/dress would midi or maxi length and made of georgette, crepe or velvet or a combination. A second layer would be a jacquard jacket or velvet jacket or faux fur coat. Relaxed but dressy.
More and more the Kirchner seems to fit my aesthetic. It is so lovely and so wearable. And the accessories are amazing.
Now I get why the post arrived later than usual! Thank you Dame Eleanor for the heads up. I also thought this first one was too casual, but I looked again and with those accessories just adding one dressy blouse can do the trick. There are times in life were this makes sense! But it’s too gray, I would swap almost all the dark gray for denim.
It seems I like the rothko above all the rest!
Fun to watch them all, they are beautiful dream closets.
Cheers and blessings!
I am getting more and more fascinated by the approach taken with the brown Degas wardrobe. I like the actual wardrobe a lot, but I wonder how this might work with a different colour.
I keep thinking of some of my favourite paintings by William Hammershøi and how a cool grey scale from white to dark carcoal grey might work with black leather goods, silver toned jewellery with pearls and grey textiles.
https://ordrupgaard.dk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Vilhelm-Hammershoei.-Solstraaler-eller-Solskin.-1900.-Inv.nr_.-373.-Fotograf-Anders-Sune-Berg.jpg
https://ordrupgaard.dk/udstillinger/vilhelm-hammershoei/
Oh yeah…. (thinking…)
hugs,
Janice
Yes please to Charlotte’s idea. I think many of us have been totally fascinated with the Degas but not able to wear the color.
I’d also love to experiment with a monochrome ivory/silver/grey/charcoal wardrobe.
I would also love to see that palette. My wardrobe is 75% blue, but for some reason I have been leaning more into gray recently.
The paintings remind me of the movie “Babette’s Feast”; perhaps it’s the Danish quality of light.
I really like the Renoir set, and made an effort to copy the vibe with some Moss things and some Coffee things and something in cream, brown plaid. However. It really isn’t me. Live and learn! The Normandy train set is actually more suitable for me, both in color intensity and casualness. Add navy and it looks a bit like my closet already. I like the ease of the Degas capsule. I’m with the lady who mentioned the same strategy with grey. I think Janice did something like this in navy, in the spring.
It’s amazing what I learn from the comments. I always get totally distracted by the colors and how they work together. I very rarely look at the wardrobe as a whole and whether it is more casual or dressy or what kind of lifestyle it might suit. I see comments like these from others not only in the six paintings series, but other postings as well. It’s just interesting to me that I never “see” that aspect of the wardrobe. Something to practice I guess.
The elevation from casual to dressy can be easily achieved by using more luxurious materials and textures. You can still wear pull on trousers and casual style tops but it’s the material that changes the ethos of the outfit.
When Janice puts the accessories together, my eye immediately goes to the shoes. If the heroine has a shoe wardrobe I love, then her style will be most like mine.
Obviously, our heroine wearing the brown to cream wardrobe can easily drop one or two accents into this capsule. I noted what you’ve done with the mostly black accented with pink and purple. No reason she can’t do the same with her brown. The possibilities could be: mint green, salmon, geranium red, coral, flamingo pink, shell pink, aqua…. Lots of possibilities. But, in the near term, she might look for a chocolate brown puffer jacket, chocolate brown cords, or a brown cashmere sweater dress with matching pumps and cream pearls. I avoided brown for decades until I sat in the chair for a House of Colour consultation. When the consultant draped me in chocolate brown I was very surprised at how my complexion lit up. VERY surprised. Now, I’m determined to build a head to toe core of items in that color and build from there.
The problems of elevating a casual wardrobe for the occasional elegant occasion is not easy for me. The struggle is real! Since they happen so seldom, I can’t be sure if the few items I’ve set aside will fit, are seasonally appropriate, or comfortably classic enough…
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I am working on setting up a dressy capsule right now. All based around navy. With a couple shoe options and pant/dress options. It is a work in progress so we’ll see!! I am so casual/teacher casual in my regular life that dressy events always catch me so off guard!!
All the wardrobes are coming along beautifully. The latest scarf in the Kirchner took my breath away! I can’t imagine a wardrobe that didn’t need one or two dressier options but maybe that heroine is out there.
Oh, yes, me too with the grey scheme idea, Please! That whole light to dark neutral wardrobe is really beautiful…can’t do it though! Light to dark shades of grey would indeed be a splendid thing to see. How did I ever get dressed BJ (before Janice)? I have always liked clothes and colors, but putting things together is so much more fun now that I have a better idea of how to do it.
Maybe it’s the grey and cloudy weather this morning, but I’m really enjoying the Monet wardrobe today. If an event comes up that requires dressier clothing, perhaps this heroine will do like my sister and rent a dress for the occasion – it’s a practical and cost effective way to do it if these events occur infrequently, and you can choose something that’s right for the specific event/weather/etc. And you get to send it back when you’re done!
Sally that’s genius! I am one of those with very rare dressy events…
That is definitely genius!
On the casual style/upscale fabric topic, I think whether this works depends on the person. You know how some people look elegant no matter what they wear? I’m the other way around. I can make nearly anything look sloppy. The only way for me to look put together is to start with the right cut and type of garment, and then pay a lot of attention to accessories. Any sort of knit or flowy pants and I look like I just got up; any jeans and t-shirt, even if they are velvet and silk, and I look like I’m going to clean the garage. This has a lot to do with why I am so attached to skirts and dresses. They read as “dressed” in a way I can never achieve in more casual pieces.
I hear you! I love that loose, relaxed, effortless chic vibe – but I CANNOT PULL IT OFF. My sister on the other hand – absolutely FABULOUS in slouchy stuff. Me, I look like I’m 4 and got dressed in mommy’s closet, but less adorable.
I think part of the dressed up fabric is to do it in the style of clothing you already wear. So for example if your “normal you-niform” is skirts and dresses made of denim or casual material, you would upscale them to silk or what-have-you. If your normal is Jeans + teeshirt, i think the assumption is that you like how you look in them/ dont look like you’re going to clean the garage.
I read somewhere (may have been here!) that if you would like to figure out how to dress up in your style but don’t know how/ don’t feel comfortable, that you take your standard daily outfit (work trousers and a sweater for me!) and change the trousers (same cut) to a more upscale material and same for the sweater, and BOOM! You’re all done, in a manner that still feels very natural for you to wear.
OH yeah – I wrote that a few years ago – I will try to find it!
hugs,
Janice
The Brown outfit is so me but not the entire capsule!!
I still love the browns…so gorgeous & my colour. Actually, I still think that a similar concept could work with any colour. I would love to see it done in white to green and again in a cream to golden mustard. Either could illustrate the concept very nicely. So many ladies have mentioned green as a neutral lately that it might be a popular 2 part post. Thank you Janice.
My life is so casual. Even the women at my church wear jeans and capris. I have a summer funeral outfit and a winter funeral outfit; and I struggle when I need to pull something together for a wedding. I have an appropriate outfit for business in the winter, but nothing great for summer. I have dresses of three sizes in the closet but none of them fit. I’m not real sure why I still have them.
I appreciate the comments from people who suggest some dressier elements for capsules. Perhaps two or three articles could be devoted to how to create capsules for funerals, weddings, and business occasions.
I LOVE the Kirschner combo! Those colors are so me.