accessories Archives - Page 13 of 32

How to Wear Aquamarines – the March Birthstone. I Have Suggestions…

February 23, 2017

From now on, I'm going to try to write the "birthstone" post a few days before the beginning of the corresponding month - in case you have a gift to find. (and yes, gifts to yourself are legitimate gifts!)

This turned out to be a much more difficult blog post than I expected. Normally, the first thing I would do is Google the word "aquamarine" and see how the color is "defined," i.e. how you arrange your RGB settings to get that color. (RGB is Red Green Blue - numerical settings that you can combine to get any color of the rainbow...) Then I'd change the word "Aquamarine" on each page to that shade of blue, as well as change the wee diamonds in the page dividers to that hue.

Well, THAT was interesting. ... View the Post

How to Wear Garnets – the January Birthstone? I ALWAYS have some ideas…

February 21, 2017

Yes, we're playing catch-up here; the idea of writing about birthstones wasn't sent to me until late in January, so I missed writing about garnets during "their" month. And going forward, I'm going to write about each stone a few weeks before it is "in season," so that if you're inclined to get something in anticipation of a birthday, you'll have a chance to plan ahead some.

Since this posts follows so quickly on the heels of the post about the February amethysts, I stuck with the same garments (for the most part) and just found new and lovely accessories!

One of the fun things about garnets is the range of shades of red available - everything from a pretty bright "true" red through to a deep maroon or burgundy ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Around a Statement Tote Bag

February 20, 2017

Someone sent me a link to this beauty... What excellent colors!

This bag includes a bunch of the classic neutral colors - beige, white, shades of rust into dark brown, maybe some black? I'm deliberately NOT including any sort of style guidelines here because I think that this is a case in which a wide variety of personal styles could accommodate this bag.

I'm going to focus pretty much on warm-weather attire here, but imagine for cooler weather - a navy winter coat with camel trousers... a navy wool skirt with an ivory sweater and brown riding boots.... mmm....

This is sort of a styling free for all - I just let my imagination wander toward whatever outfits I would like to wear, or that would be fun for ... View the Post

How to Choose Accessories for an Olive and Grey Wardrobe – Start with Art: Head of a Woman by Dali

February 17, 2017

Yesterday, I finally got up the courage to tackle a wardrobe based in olive and grey, and it turned out pretty great, I think. it was based on this most amazing painting by Salvador Dali and color scheme:

But a simple wardrobe isn't really useful, nor fun, until you add the accessories...

Cardigan – L.L.Bean; tee - Uniqlo; jeans – L.L.Bean; Top loafers – Dansko; middle – Dansko; bottom – UGG Feminine is Where You Find It She works outdoors quite a bit - half the time in the lab, and half the time sitting on the ground, counting the plants and animals she finds in a 1 meter square of virgin ground.

Cardigan – L.L.Bean; tee - Uniqlo; jeans – L.L.Bean; First earrings – Kenari; ... View the Post

How to Pick Accessories for a Grey-Based Wardrobe – Start With Art: Paris Dreaming by Peter Rumney

February 15, 2017

You might remember that yesterday we were looking at this very pretty painting and building a wee wardrobe around it:

And that we left that post with this capsule wardrobe assembled using our backbone template:

There's an interesting conundrum around the idea of accessorizing this wardrobe - it's inherent in the very different two "sides" of the template: bright vs neutral. One the one hand, a few bright accessories are going to be good fun to complement the bright blouses and sweater that I've included. However, you don't ever want to go overboard in that direction, because you can end up looking a bit cartoonish, and you don't want to leave your "all-neutral" outfits without any jewelry, ... View the Post

How to Accessorize a Capsule Wardrobe: Head by Pablo Picasso

This is really growing on me! Remember, on Friday, we started with the painting, "Head" by Picasso (which you may or may not really love - that's certainly up to you!):

Which, through a couple of steps of planning and shopping, gave us this 13-piece capsule or travel wardrobe. This is a wardrobe that's extremely versatile, giving you appropriate things to wear for every activity from a nice evening out to a hike in the park!

Cardigan– Scaglione; long-sleeved tee – Uniqlo; sweater – Uniqlo; tee – River Island; skirt– J. Crew; pants – J. Crew; jeans – L.L.Bean;

capris – L.L.Bean; shorts – Patagonia; long-sleeved tee – Uniqlo; shirt – Lands’ End ;sleeveless top – L.L.Bean

I also ... View the Post

How Can I Accessorize a Column of Black? Chic Sightings to the Rescue!

February 9, 2017

In the last few days, I noticed a number of women wearing simple black "columns," - a sweater and pants, or a tee shirt with pants, and at least in one instance, I think she was wearing a black dress with black tights.

But what caught my eye was the way that each woman had put her own very personal spin on the basic black core of their outfit. My eye was caught immediately when I saw this great floral tote:

This is really clever - the grey and white in the cardigan keep the outfit from looking anything at all like Halloween.

And I spotted this tote WAY across the room - I've always kind of wanted one of these... and I could love this cardigan to pieces...

Even when you're ... View the Post

How to Wear Amethyst – the February Birthstone? I Have Some Ideas…

February 6, 2017

It's a question that comes up surprisingly often - I'm an adult woman, and I sometimes feel like I'm too old to wear my birthstone...

Well, if you don't tell anybody that you were born in February, or that amethysts are your birthstone, they won't know the difference; they'll just think that you like amethysts, or the color purple.

And if they do know that it's your birthstone, and for some reason they think that it's odd that you wear them... ignore them. Well, ignore this particular judgment, for a judgment is what it is. And not a kind one...

I was born in June. I wear pearls a LOT. Clearly, I don't care if someone thinks I'm channeling my inner 3rd grader!

But frankly, it's nobody's business but ... View the Post

How to Assemble a Warm-Weather Capsule Wardrobe – Bavarian Cream Tossed Floral Cardigan

February 3, 2017

I have no idea why it's called "Bavarian Cream." I had no idea that the cream there was in some way special...

Today is the last version of the "start with a patterned cardigan" idea, with more complete explanations of what I'm doing with these cardigans. (brace yourself - I get pretty carried away explaining my methodology here!) This cardigan was chosen because one of you who is contemplating the purchase on this one felt that the colors might prove to be too autumn-like...

For what it's worth, upon close study, I think that these colors are pretty safely seasonless; one might be reluctant to wear a pair of cream wool crepe trousers in February (nasty salt splashes = ruined garment!), but for the most part, ... View the Post

How to Expand Your Accessory Wardrobe: Winter Scene in Moonlight by Henry Farrer

January 23, 2017

On Friday, I expanded the original travel capsule wardrobe into a more complete "Four x Four" capsule wardrobe, but the real fun comes with adding more accessories!

When our heroine originally packed for her winter weekend on the farm, these were her accessories - lots of scarves!

Just for reference purposes, and to enjoy this painting one last time, this is her style inspiration:

For normal life, constantly wearing boots won't work, so we probably should start by getting her a comfy pair of loafers...

And just because I'm bracelet mad these days, another star bracelet could be a fun addition. It's a good thing that I'm in a shopping moratorium this year, because these ALL are very ... View the Post

How to Choose Business Accessories, One at a Time – With a Navy Suit

January 11, 2017

Monday, we pulled together a wonderful business capsule wardrobe with a navy suit for the reader with a new job, but let's get her some accessories too!

Obviously, she had shoes on when she interviewed, but let's add a beautiful pair of black pumps, with comfortably low heels, to her wardrobe first:

And I always want earrings, sooner than later. I know women who never wear them and who look just fine, but I always feel more... complete? finished? when I get my earrings on...

While it's entirely possible to carry everything you need in your pockets when you're just banging around town, for work, a nice bag is essential. I didn't try to get navy leather goods for this ... View the Post

Build an Accessory Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

January 6, 2017

Yesterday's capsule wardrobe based on Soir d'Octobre was pretty great, but we can't just leave our imaginary heroine like this:

Let's remember our inspiration:

So let's work step by step - just as we did yesterday - and add all of the essential accessories (and a few fun ones) to this wardrobe.

First, one must have shoes! This time of year, a pair of short boots is a nice warm choice:

sweater - L.L.Bean; shirt - Lands' End; leather pants - J.Crew; Top boots – Rockport; middle - Aerosoles; bottom – Ariat

I know that many women would want a handbag immediately, but for me, I don't feel dressed unless I'm wearing earrings!

Here, I decided to test-drive the theory that I ... View the Post