Build a Capsule Wardrobe Archives - Page 24 of 80

Study in Verticals by Frantisek Kupka revisited for summer 2018

July 18, 2018

Our friend the meeting moderator has been traveling for work a LOT - back in January she was thrown into a really difficult negotiating session, but she was able to take a break to go to the beach in the spring...

Now she's been told that they FINALLY got those dinner reservations that they've been queued up for since about a gazillion years ago! They're only going away for the night, but it's a really special occasion - a once in a lifetime meal at a landmark restaurant...

Happily, it's really easy for her to pack, because she has clear wardrobe guidelines:

They're going to drive - it only takes about 2 hours. She wants to be relaxed and pretty, as well as warm enough! (some people absolutely adore ... View the Post

Fonds Marins by Lee Ungno Revisited for Summer 2018

July 16, 2018

Ah, our friend the iconoclast! She's got the wardrobe with the willfully unusual color palette, based on this painting:

She's retired, so she gets to travel as much as she can manage! She took a trip back in January, and then again in April, and now she's getting ready to go to a family wedding...

It's not a long trip, but she always tries to look nice when she travels. Everything just seems to go better when she's well-dressed...

She knows that there's a really nice rehearsal dinner to which she's invited, and also that the wedding is in the evening and thus will be sort of dressy. So she packs her 2 favorite dresses, a top to wear on the trip back to her home, and some comfy pajamas for the few moments ... View the Post

Passion Flower with Hummingbirds by Heade, Revisited for Summer 2018

July 13, 2018

Remember our quiet heroine, with the very distinctive olive, grey, gold and coral wardrobe? We first met her in January, and then again in April...

She's going into the city for a couple of days! Nobody seems to understand, but she wants to go to a couple of baseball games...

This is her inspiration, and her signature color palette:

She's going to take the train into the city on Friday evening, and probably eat some room service... It's a very short vacation, but a vacation nonetheless!

She doesn't need to pack much; she will need clothes for the ballgames, and something nice to wear to dinner on Saturday night:

When she gets to her hotel, she unpacks and hangs things up, and takes just ... View the Post

How to Shop a Sale (Some Modest Suggestions!)

July 11, 2018

In case you've been asleep for the last month, or somewhere without Internet access, we're barrelling headlong into the big "pre-season" sale time of year.

Now, I've got nothing against saving money, nor against buying myself something new and pretty... But these sales? They can overwhelm you, and before you know what you've done, you've spent a ton of money on things you didn't really need, just because they looked lovely and appealing...

So? How to avoid being a victim? Have a plan! That's my answer to almost everything...

First, think seriously and honestly - are you shopping for need or want? And might you spend the money somewhere more gratifying? For example, I'm not buying anything this fall, because I've ... View the Post

Dame au Chapeau by Natalia S. Gontcharova Revisited for Summer 2018

July 9, 2018

Remember our inadvertently very visible college professor? In January she was all over campus sporting a gold cardigan - or a hot pink one, and then in April she was off to a symposium in a gorgeous gold suede jacket...

Well, she's visiting another university to speak to a graduate school class... She seems to have made it onto everybody's list of "favorite visiting professor!"

Her wardrobe inspiration is unusual, but seems to work well for her:

She knows that the morning she drives downstate to the campus, she's going directly into her presentation, so she wants to dress for business, as well as for icy air conditioning!

She's not quite sure what else in on her agenda. They've asked her to stay for 2 ... View the Post

What if I Really Don’t Like Beige? Wasp & Pear by Gerald Murphy

June 27, 2018

As soon as I published the first wardrobe based on this great painting, I heard from readers who really loved it except... they don't like, or look good in, beige.

This isn't really a problem; this painting includes a few shades of grey! They're admittedly not as prominent as the beige, but that's okay. Let's see how this might play out, with the same 4 accent garments and a different scarf...

All I did for the color palette was change the beige to grey, and change the borders of each of the colors from brown to grey.

So this means that we need to start with A Common Wardrobe (i.e. classic garments that many of us might own) in grey:

As is always true with A Common Wardrobe, there are lots of possible ... View the Post

Does It Help To Have a Plan When Packing Accessories?

July 22, 2018

Wednesday's very colorful wardrobe could certainly use some accessories! I'm going to take this opportunity to experiment with something that I've been thinking about for a while...

Imagine this scenario: you are at work, some distance from your home. You find that for some reason you MUST travel, and you must travel tonight. You're leaving directly from work, and you're relying on someone else to pack your luggage...

Do you have enough awareness of what's in your closet to be able to tell someone else what to pack?

(my ability to do this is heavily reliant on Belovedest's overall facility with clothing and fashion terminology...)

You've got your color scheme:

This plan is the same items that I've been ... View the Post

What if I Get Bored Without Lots of Colors in my Wardrobe? The Wasp & The Pear by Gerald Murphy

June 20, 2018

Do you NEED color to be happy? A wide variety of colors? Lots of choices?

If this is you, then you can still travel with a capsule travel wardrobe - you just need to include a range of accents that all work with a neutral core. The neutrals give you all sorts of easy outfit possibilities into which you can insert a punch of color when you're in the mood. And when you want to be more subdued, you'll have that option too!

Let's start with an artist of whom I knew nothing until just a few days ago (I get the BEST mail from you all...):

While this painting clearly displays a strong affinity to great summer neutrals like khaki and ivory, it also includes some amazing accent colors. For this color palette, I skipped ... View the Post

Planning Your Accessory Travel Capsule Wardrobe

June 18, 2018

Let's look back at another recent travel wardrobe, and choose some accessories to be packed along with the clothes...

This wardrobe was all about colors of sky and sea; here's the original clothing color palette:

It's never necessary to have a plan for anything you do, but I think when you're packing, having some structure and some limits in mind can help a lot. If I don't set some clear guidelines when I'm packing, I'm likely to just toss in everything that I like (which is just about all of my wardrobe!) and then get somewhere and struggle to make sense of things...

Silver would be the obvious metallic choice for navy and shades of blue... but since we're talking about warmth and sun and summer, I thought ... View the Post

What Accessories do You Need to Pack?

June 15, 2018

Wednesday I shared one approach to pulling together a travel wardrobe when your original plan starts to fall apart. Today, I'm going to look at what accessories need to be packed in order to make sure that you can get dressed without problems and panic...

First, let's look at our wardrobe color scheme:

For accessories, you want to make sure that you're including a color that will be suitable for jewelry - something metallic - and a color that can be used for your leather goods. This is pretty straightforward for this color scheme; the brown is perfect for leather, and gold just feels right...

Next, you want to think about what you expect to want to pack. This might not turn out to be exactly what ... View the Post

Can You Dress the Way You Decorate? A Tote Bag Travel Wardrobe based on William Morris fabric

June 8, 2018

It's a good question... Maybe you're not inspired by a painting, or a scarf, but you're really happy with the way that you've decorated your home. Could that be the basis upon which you build your wardrobe?

Heck yes! It's particularly easy if you have your key colors chosen, and if you have a few keywords that you use to describe your "home style."

For example: maybe this is the wallpaper in your bedroom? Or curtains in your dining area?

For many of us, summer is for traveling to graduations, and weddings, and anniversary parties etc. etc. Usually these trips are only for a long weekend, so there's no need to pack everything you own; you should be able to manage with just a tote bag...

You can ... View the Post

Part 2: What I Saw Being Worn in Paris (and what was for sale, and what was in the windows, and on the walls…)

June 8, 2018

Let's start with some inspiration, shall we?

One of the first things that I noticed when I got back to Chicago is the absolutely boring way people dress here. Yesterday Belovedest and I walked about 5 miles - from near Wrigley Field to our home in the downtown. The majority of women we saw - of all ages and body types - were wearing workout tights of some embarrassing level of revealing, with a tee shirt and a sweatshirt. I don't for a New York minute believe that all of these women had been working out, or were headed that direction. In a world in which we collectively own more clothing than at any time literally in history, why are we all dressed so much alike, and so unflatteringly? Hmm...

So while I saw some ... View the Post