February 6, 2015 She has to travel for business, but it doesn't have to clutter up her mind... One of the reasons that she is so good at what she does is her ability to cut through the noise and focus on the essence.
love,
Janice ... View the Post
Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
February 6, 2015 She has to travel for business, but it doesn't have to clutter up her mind... One of the reasons that she is so good at what she does is her ability to cut through the noise and focus on the essence.
love,
Janice ... View the Post
January 24, 2015 For now, I'm finishing up this idea of monochromatic outfits and "accessory families" with some summery white linen items. (yes, they look sort of beige or ivory on the page, because white on white would be an incomprehensible blizzard...) Since the available linen white shoes are limited in January, I decided to grab some shoes that match or tone with the accessories - always a fun option! And for the elusive celadon, I chose some gold sandals; metallic are always worth remembering when you're struggling with a shoe color choices.
I'm starting to work on some more "Start With Art" wardrobes - anybody have some ... View the Post
January 19, 2015 To show how very versatile these "accessory families" can be, I chose six beige garments for today. From these six pieces I put together six outfits. Then I picked three of the families from last week, and show each of those against the beige outfits.
Some of the families that had a really strong silver or "cool" cast to them didn't dance terribly nicely with the beige, but these warmer accessories just look wonderful with the simplicity of the classic garments.
So many possibilities...
love,
Janice ... View the Post
January 7, 2015 She's blonde, so she's not always mad about wearing black, but she has green eyes... and so she's found a way to make it work.
love, Janice ... View the Post
December 20, 2014 One last look at this idea - substituting green for the burgundy with which this travel capsule wardrobe was originally presented. Other colors that would work well with camel would include rust, coral, peach, other shades of green, pretty much a whole bunch of shades of blue... lots of choices!
I think by now we've all figured out that these four garments would get you through 3 or 4 days pretty easily...
love,
Janice Looking back:2013: From Desk to Dinner Party: Incorporating a Gem Tone into Neutrals 2012: Two sides of the whole "color" system question ... View the Post
December 17, 2014 I know I seem to talk about this same idea a lot, but I can't sufficiently emphasize the benefits of building your wardrobe around a unifying theme of some sort. Your theme could be a particular color scheme, a painting, a photograph, or a scarf - there are really no limits to what you might choose. This theme doesn't have to last throughout your entire life, nor does it have to define absolutely EVERY purchase that you make. However, it should be an overarching guideline that helps you make the hard decisions when you see something appealing - does it fit? does it clash? does it harmonize? does it make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER in the context of your chosen style theme? So, when someone asked ... View the Post
December 12, 2014 I rarely see anybody wearing green, and I almost NEVER see a mixture of shades of green in one outfit, so it was truly a red letter (or a green letter, I suppose) day when I saw both of these women. Sometimes it's certain that these kinds of ensembles are the result of carelessness, or color-blindness, but in both of these cases it was clear that a deliberate plan was at work. Bold statements, but eye-catching and fun. Not for the faint of heart, but certainly something in this to inspire us.
love, Janice ... View the Post
November 15, 2014 If you're looking for a scarf investment that can rival Hermes, don't overlook the beauty that comes from Etro. I bought an Etro scarf for my honeymoon (in pink and black chiffon...) and I will treasure it forever. Etro pretty much OWNS the idea of paisley, and they make them in as many color combinations as you can imagine... So how do you choose? Maybe take a look at the sweaters or shirts with which you would hope to wear your scarf, and work backward from there.
This scarf is particularly well suited for autumn, and for the winter holidays. You can wear the muted green (or brown, or tan, or black), or you could bust out with a bright red. The earrings just sort of felt like they wanted to be ... View the Post
November 13, 2014 Isn't this beautiful? One of you sent it to me, and it captivated me immediately. The vertical layout, the soft background, the muted shades of green and blue, the accents of warm rust, gold and orange - what a wonderful painting. There are so many things about this that could serve as inspiration and focus: the colors, the organic nature of the image, the soft blending of the background colors, the use of about a billion shades of bluish green - there's just no end to the ideas that can come from this one work of art. (but that's probably true, for the right person, of any work of art, right?)
This was my chosen color scheme - a base in very dark navy, accents of all those ... View the Post
November 7, 2014 You really, seriously, can get inspiration anywhere, if you keep your eyes and your aesthetic heart open to what's out there. This absolutely wonderful picture was sent to me - what a delightful mix of softly faded colors.
It wasn't at all hard to come up with a color scheme. Many of you ask about how I build color wheels - I use the graphing gizmo in PowerPoint. I use PowerPoint for all of my vignettes, because it does everything I need. Just insert a graph into a slide, and then change the colors and sizes of the various wedges to suit your preferences. You have a new, beautiful mnemonic for your wardrobe colors, AND you have a new skill to put on your ... View the Post
November 6, 2014
There's a lot of beauty here, and colors galore...
I settled on these, using ink blue as my base neutral. Realistically, you could choose anything soft and muted in the green/blue/purple family and be extremely successful.
This is for someone subdued, a little bit dressy, going away for a couple of days to a warmer destination. Maybe not the beach, but someplace where lighter fabrics will be comfortable. The dotted texture of the water is echoed in the first scarf, and the floral earring and pewter loafers are feminine but not girlish.
A linen dress, a silk skirt and a couple of tops, along with some pretty accessories are all you ... View the Post
October 29, 2014 Over the weekend, we had an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday - bright, clear, and warm enough to walk for miles. As we neared home, we passed this tree, and Belovedest took a photo of it for me.
In order to really hone in on the leaves, I've cropped down the photograph to a handful of leaves, and isolated just three colors. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you see something beautiful - focusing really closely on one small thing can help a lot to clarify which colors captivate you most.
This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to find a beautiful winter coat! A core of brown, simple clothes make a good base...
For an overnight business trip, ... View the Post