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Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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How to Wear Diamonds – the April Birthstone; Some New Ideas!

March 27, 2017

Everyone already knows how to wear diamonds - there's a big business consortium that's been telling us exactly what to buy, and how to wear it, for decades...

So I'm looking at something a little bit different - unpolished diamonds, or diamonds as an accent with other stones, or diamonds in unusual colors. So if your birthday's in April (or the birthday of a special someone...) and you don't want to go full-on solid diamonds, I have some suggestions:

(yes, you've seen some of these dresses before! A nice dress can stand up to a lot of scrutiny, and works well with a variety of accessories...)

And this black pleated dress? I'm just saying - it's a REALLY good thing that I'm not shopping for a dress (or anything ... View the Post

How to add Accent Colors to a Navy, Grey and Camel capsule wardrobe

March 10, 2017

Monday I added accessories to a very neutral navy, grey, camel and white; many of you requested in the comments that I go back to my reader's original accent colors of wine and forest green to see how they might look with this capsule wardrobe.

Changing up accent colors is one of the easiest ways to take a very classic capsule wardrobe and put your personal spin on things, so I was positively eager to get to this post!

First up, let's update the color palette that we were using, and update the style notes for a bit of guidance:

 

I didn't want to really disrupt the core of our original Four by Four wardrobe, so I chose the very easiest way to experiment with accent colors - tee shirts!

I just pulled ... View the Post

Celebrating Women’s Day with some beautiful jewelry, made by women!

March 8, 2017

I promise, the 2nd approach to decluttering is ready for tomorrow! (and the results are VERY similar...)

But since today's International Women's Day, and we're supposed to be on strike, or not shopping, or at LEAST shopping from women-owned businesses, I thought that I'd indulge in some eye-candy jewelry (all made by women!), arranged in my very favorite "accessory family" themes:

earrings – Narayani; onyx & amethyst necklace – Matta; square earrings – Matta; bracelet – Neeru Goel; ring – Kenari; multistrand necklace – Neeru Goel; earrings – Rosalia Tarigan  

corded bracelet – Chuleekorn; anklet – Neeru Goel; heart pendant – Neeru Goel; ring– Mary Geluda; oval pendant – Mary Geluda; ... View the Post

Accessories for an “All-Neutral” Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Grey, Camel and White

March 6, 2017

 

Oh, how I love accessories! As much as it's important, and nice, to have good-quality, classic clothes, it's really the accessories that make outfits distinctively yours...

Let's briefly flash back to look at the scarf from which we're working; note that I've slightly changed the color wheel to reflect the focus that I'm going to put on brown leather accessories! I do these in PowerPoint, which gives you nearly infinite flexibility in the number of colors you include, the proportion of each color, the nuanced shade of each color, as well as the ability to change the borders (both color and width) at will. I don't think that PowerPoint was ever intended for this purpose, but it works really well!

The lace ... View the Post

How to Choose a “Project 333” Wardrobe Based on a Scarf – Ted Baker London’s Gem Garden

March 2, 2017

 

Monday I put together a wee wardrobe based on a most beautiful scarf, and today I'm going to add some accessories. Given my incredible fondness for numbers, I early on realized that the overall number of items here was going to be very close to 33, so I specifically aimed at that number...

First, let's refresh our collective memory of the scarf, and the colors we were using:

In case you didn't see this on Monday - the scarf is also available with a cream background in place of the black. Did you need more temptation? And this design/pattern is also available in other sized scarves, as well as some lovely bags!

And these were the pieces of clothing that I chose; there are 18 pieces here, so I'm going ... View the Post

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 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 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

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – February 2017

February 1, 2017

I'm back in time to work on this! I'm so happy... I love these growing wardrobes...

For reference, and just to savor, these are our scarves around which we're building our wardrobes:

As always, I have to remind you that you don't have to buy an Hermès scarf (or any scarf at all!) to use this approach to building a wardrobe. Just choose any focal item, or color scheme, and start from there! And if you do want an Hermès scarf, you certain don't have to buy one new - there are a number of reputable secondhand sellers on the internet. If you're unsure about something you're considering, send me a note!

Here's a link to last month, if you want to flash back to the January items...

This black, grey and brown ... 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