blue Archives - Page 16 of 35

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time, 3 Accent Colors with Navy and Beige

February 25, 2016 If you want to include 3 accent colors in your wardrobe, this is for you!

Please note that, although there are a lot of accent colors here, I've tried to keep them all in the same range of intensity and saturation, so that they will all "behave" in the same way when paired with neutrals. It's a hard concept to explain, but I find that it makes a lot of different in keeping things versatile and harmonious.(yes, there are 4 accent colors shown here, in keeping with the original request. I didn't have a lot of luck finding the raspberry color...)

Many of these steps will look painfully familiar, as I build a base of neutral colors upon which you can use accents as the embellishment. I know I ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in Navy, Beige Turquoise and Yellow

I'm going to start tackling the various color schemes you all requested - what a great, long, and wide-ranging list!Today I'm going to do the first of a couple using navy and beige...

First up, the favorite outfit: (for what it's worth, the most frequently mentioned accent color from you all was turquoise).

Tee – Lands’ End; cardigan – L.L.Bean; pants – Jil Sander Navy

This request was for accents of both turquoise and yellow, so the color scheme looks like this:

Tee – Lands’ End; cardigan – L.L.Bean; pants – Jil Sander Navy

From here, for a while, this will look very familiar. I am a strong believer in the absolute necessity of investing in a core of neutral garments before you start going crazy with a ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in Navy, Beige and Poppy

February 22, 2016

A requested color scheme - this looks so "Coast of Maine in the summer" to me! Maybe because L.L.Bean is well-represented here. I don't necessarily think that everybody is going to buy things from them, but their photographs of simple, classic clothing are among the very best I can find for our illustrative purposes.

Starting outfit:

Blouse - Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L.Bean; pants – Jil Sander Navy

Although this outfit doesn't include beige, it's been determined by the requester that beige will be the other neutral color, so our color scheme is thus:

Blouse - Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L.Bean; pants – Jil Sander Navy

This time, I decided to get that neutral tee ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Version 2 Hydrangea Haze by Ted Baker London

February 8, 2016

I was working on a casual version of this when everybody started asking for a casual version... Sometimes we all think very much alike!

Hydrangea Haze scarf – Ted Baker London

I swapped out the pinks for purple and blue - a great color combination. I also softened the grey from the first version of this wardrobe (revisit it here) for a pure white.And then I found that these 2 accents were VERY difficult to find... at least in items that meet my many requirements!

On Campus?!?!? Yes, of course I'd like to go visit - we're talking about my favorite freshman in the whole wide world. But we're staying ON CAMPUS for Parents and Grandparents Weekend!

Sleeping in a dorm. Eating in ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Reflections II by ImageDiary

WHAT a scarf...

And what delicious colors with which to work in a capsule wardrobe...

My goal here was to look for fluidity, as much as possible...What I wouldn't do for this dress, by the way. This is the kind of thing that you buy and then build outfits around - which wouldn't be difficult. While you can easily wear it as I show here, you could also put on tights, boots, a black cardigan and your Reflections II scarf in cold weather...

This scarf was described as having "water drops" as the pattern:

Pearls seems pretty obvious, when the theme is water:

PLEASE, cut the tag gizmo off of the blue sweater... What ARE they thinking?

There ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with Art – The Second Buddhist Kesa

Such lovely colors:

Perfect for spring travel!

A "Miles" 2nd Honeymoon They agreed that it was the most cost-effective thing to do, so they immediately started using their airline credit cards for EVERYTHING possible...

After a few months, they totaled up their miles, and called the airline.

Long-sleeved tee – Uniqlo; tank – Uniqlo; jersey jacket – Uniqlo;

henley – Uniqlo; dress – Uniqlo; capris – Uniqlo; jeans – L.L.Bean;

wide-leg pants – Uniqlo

The woman on the other end of the phone was lovely. She didn't mind being on a speaker phone, and she just laughed when they talked over each other. Finally, they decided to see what the longest trip possible was ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Toasting Friends Version 2

January 19, 2016

Many people wanted me to revisit this painting, and many of you are interested in seeing posts with warmer colors, and many of you are looking for lower-contrast wardrobes. I'm tackling a lot of ideas in one lovely painting!

One of the fun things about this painting is the range of lovely colors included. I've madly exaggerated the amount of camel included in the painting, but I'm going to use shades of camel, beige and coppery brown as neutrals...

The most difficult thing about writing The Vivienne Files (well, except for having dozens of ideas, and not enough time!) is choosing a color scheme and then realizing that the colors I love and want to use aren't necessarily available in beautiful ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Toasting Friends

January 15, 2016 So many of us have these events coming up this spring or summer - a wedding, graduation, bar mitzvah, baptism, or other celebratory event. What a nice excuse to travel!

But it does require a bit of planning, because in just a few days, you might well span the full gamut of activities from a very dressy event or two, to things like cleaning out a dorm room, or playing frisbee with nieces and nephews. Barbecues, picnics, and more relaxed family activities require a completely different wardrobe from what you'll wear to the actual event itself.What to do? Just plan to take more! A normal long weekend is a great time for a 6-Pack or an 8-Pack, but for these very special weekends, I think 13 pieces is perfectly ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting With Art: A Porcelain Figurine Version 2

January 12, 2016

Today's capsule wardrobe is a bit more casual, with a bit of influence from the aesthetics of the figurine; these kinds of things have to be approached carefully, because I don't want to do any egregious cultural appropriation! It's sort of like when people would visit Ireland (when I lived there) and dress all in green, and walk around saying "top of the mornin' to ya...." So I took notes from the fluidity of the figure for some more draped and/or wrapped garments, shamelessly grabbed some pearls, tossed in a really amazing brooch, and included a very origami tote bag. This would be a great addition to the earlier wardrobe - most of these pieces would blend seamlessly with the other garments. Having a ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting With Art: Kveikur by Justyna Polar

January 8, 2016

Someone sent this to me ages ago, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to get to this gorgeous piece...

This suggests the most lovely color scheme, which is both timeless and seasonless:

I've also received lots of requests for travel suggestions for longer trips - that 3 to 6 week trip that includes a few meetings, maybe some teaching, maybe some sightseeing, maybe some time in an office, and almost certainly some casual outdoor activities.

The trips that have been submitted to me for packing advice had a few things in common:

They are all more than 2 weeks, some as long as 6 weeks. This doesn't automatically require more than 12-15 pieces of clothing, but if ... View the Post

Wearing Unflattering Colors: Pastel Blue and Green

December 31, 2015 Oh, I could tell you stories about wearing mint green...

I decided to combine these two posts, because it wasn't tremendously easy to find nice things in these colors - especially nail polish. That surprised me; I would have assumed that all pastel colors would be pretty readily available...

A LOT of these items appealed to me, and I thought that the combinations turned out well. And what I wouldn't give for a pair of lace trainers...

I love this look - it reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream! And that can ONLY be a good feeling...

I also thought that this was lovely - soft and feminine...

The ring just makes the all come together! I don't suggest that you wear ... View the Post

Choosing an Accent Color for Teal or Petrol Blue

December 8, 2015

First up, I have to confess that the whole question about what, exactly, this color is called is a mystery to me. I found all sort of shades and tones of these color under both Teal and Petrol blue. It seemed, in a general sense, that it was more likely to be called Teal in North America, and Petrol blue in Europe. Further, the things that claimed to be Petrol were generally more expensive than those that were called Teal. You may find different examples...But whatever it's called, it's very pretty!

In the time that I've been looking into the idea of accent colors, I've approached finding ideas a few different ways. Some color I just knew would work well, and some were combinations that I have wanted to ... View the Post