Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
January 8, 2014 Belovedest requested that I work with this scarf - he's always loved orange and blue/green accents!
Yes, I've included three dresses in four months - partly to show the range of colors that are possible when using this scarf as inspiration.
The rest of the year tomorrow!
love, Janice ... View the Post
December 2, 2013 Difficult colors to track down, but well worth it...
If you're staying an extra day or two:
love,
Janice ... View the Post
OCtober 30, 2013 So the idea of carefully choosing a "cluster" of shirts and sweaters, to give yourself some layering options, also works well if you have to dress warmly but a bit nicely...
When you have to have a few options for holiday or party attire, this is also an approach to consider.
love, Janice ... View the Post
October 28, 2013 I found, after a few days of travelling, that the shirts and sweaters that I had packed gave me a lot more options than I had anticipated! A reminder: these are what I had in my bag:
Of course, I could wear any of these except the cardigan on their own. But as the weather, and my location, shifted, I began to experiment with different ways to layer these 5 garments. I discovered that, ultimately, I had a DOZEN options. In the coldest weather, I was able to layer three tops together for maximum warmth, and thus the Triple Top Secret was born!
But I quickly realized that, if I had chosen JUST a little bit more carefully, I could have had even more ... View the Post
September 30, 2013 This is such a great painting - simple, but beautifully balanced and whimsical, with a wonderful usage of multiple shades of green. Many people find green hard to wear, but if it looks good on you, I say wear it often, and with a smile. From this painting, I drew primarily the idea of looking for a lot of different shades of green, and of balancing the outfits through the strategic use of green accessories... Does anybody else remember reading a book - maybe as a child in the '60's - that included a character named Mrs. Moss? She was a schoolteacher, and she ALWAYS wore green? It's tickling around in the back of my head, and I can't figure out if I really read this, or if it ... View the Post
September 21, 2013 I wasn't crazy about this color when I started looking for accent items for our capsule wardrobe, but when I started putting it against the neutral colors it really began to grow on me. And I'm also beginning to see the value in an accent cardigan. I think it's easy to assume that an accent color for a season or two might be best purchased in a blouse, tee shirt or sweater, but upon reflection I can see that a cardigan could be worn more often, and make more of a visible impact... Food for thought.
While I was combing the internet for this color, I noticed that the brand Schumacher had a variety of garments in this color currently available. It's not uncommon for a ... View the Post
September 16, 2013 After I finished today's post for Tish at A Femme d'un Certain Age, I looked around at some other possible colors with which the black items could be worn... and stumbled upon some beautiful green options. Not something which you might want to wear every day, but an interesting choice if you want to be remembered and make a statement of originality!
Blouse – Uniqlo, earrings – Annette Ferdinandsen, Black slouch pants – Helmut, black cardigan coat – Ann Demeulemeester, scarf – Nordstrom, watch – DKNY , flats – Delman , tote – Victorinox
Peridot and blue topaz earrings- Ippolita, green asymmetric sweater – Allude, earrings – Arunashi, green tank ... View the Post
September 14, 2013 This is another Pantone seasonal color that feels a lot like a neutral to me - and a beautiful neutral! There are lots of items available in this color; if you aren't comfortable wearing this near your face, there are still a lot of options for shoes and pants...
Scarf – YuhOkano, cardigan – Bark, earrings – Nikki Baker, Buddha bracelet – Eastern Mystic, loafers - Munro
love,
Janice ... View the Post
August 13, 2013 Not a color combination I would have thought of, but I've seen it a lot recently, and it's been beautiful! There's a LOT of grey on the streets of Chicago these days...
love, Janice ... View the Post
Hypothesis: You've had a lot of success with a small "Whatever's Clean" wardrobe, and you'd like to be able to make a seamless transition to cooler weather.
First off, shorts and sleeveless tops just feel wrong when school starts and the calendar rolls over to September. So these would be the first three items to phase out.
[/caption] In October, it might be time to give up linen pants and your simple white tee shirt.
[/caption] For November, these three are ready for a break:
[/caption] But of course you don't HAVE to put the nine replaced garments away - they'll still work well for layering. Except the shorts - accept that most of us can only wear shorts in November in the ... View the Post
July 10, 2013
Sometimes, you have to travel for a special event to a place where the days are warm, but the evenings can be quite cool. This is a perfect opportunity to invest in an astonishingly beautiful coat, which gives you lots of colorful options around which to build a travel capsule wardrobe.
Regarding the question about the handbag color? I personally would always opt for a metallic when I'm not sure of what color. Not a blindingly shiny gaudy metallic - something more subtle and muted, in the same general color range as the clutch shown here. I find that metallic are a lot easier to blend in with a variety of colors than anything else that I see.
love, Janice
PS - For more color inspiration, check out ... View the Post
July 24, 2013 Navy and green summer outfits - some for quite warm weather, and others that I saw in the more spring-like transitional coolness a couple of week ago. All of them were fresh, pretty, and stood out in the crowd.
I don't know if anybody noticed, but if you liked the way these colors looks,replicated a few of these outfits in your own wardrobe, and were a little bit rigorous in sticking to one shade of green, you'd have a pretty nifty capsule wardrobe, or a pretty organized suitcase full of clothes:
love,
Janice ... View the Post
