Home » A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing in Brown and coral, for uncertain weather
A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing in Brown and coral, for uncertain weather
Still evolving the same packing which started with my honeymoon, I’m now thinking of a trip where you’re leaving a cooler climate (maybe early autumn in northern climes) and heading south. Brown keeps your grounded in the September or October mood, but still lots of soft coral colors to enjoy your vacation destination!Tomorrow is the last installment of this particular theme and variations; I’ll be using the color of the year – tangerine!!! (the identifying of annual colors always makes me laugh…)
Brown cardigan – Aviu,
gold heart earrings – Alex and Chloe, white tee – Michael Stars, Scarf –
Hermes, Coral jacket – H&M,
brown pants – Maxmara, penny loafers – J. Crew, brown bag –
Christopher Kon
sunglasses – Acne, pearl earrings – Kate
Spade, coral chandelier earrings – Lauren by Ralph Lauren, coral striped top –
newlook.com, white short-sleeved button-front top – Kookai,
flowered dress – Josephine, brown
tee – Hanes, coral cotton cardigan – Uniqlo, pearl bracelet – Kate Spade, khaki capris – Levi’s, flowered skirt – Josephine Studio, lace
top – Dorothy Perkins, brown dress – Bailey 44, coral
tee shirt – Eddie Bauer, coral wristlet – Dorothy Perkins, brown ballet flats –
Banana Republic, gold sandals – Vaneli, coral bracelet – Ans
Jewelry.com, brown sandals – Madrone
I love these capsules so much that I carefully deconstructed your idea. I listed how many pieces of the neutral, the solid accent color, and the pattern I could determine were needed to recreate these. You mentioned a 5+2+7 approach which got me started.
Then, choosing navy as my neutral and bright blue/white as my accents, I made my own capsule for a Seattle-New York train trip coming up in early May. I can't begin to tell you how helpful this is! I have everything I need except one easy to obtain item (that has been on my to-buy list for a while), it all fits in my carry-on bag and I KNOW it will all work together. Navy is great for a more casual capsule, since I wear dark wash trouser jeans quite a bit.
I may do a "Polyvore on the Floor" a la Deja Pseu. So excited for my trip and testing my capsule!
I would love to see your 5+2+7 items listed out to see how close I came, since mine is more like 5+5+4+accessories.
Dear Louise, The 5+2+7 isn't a particularly "carved in stone" system – it's just what has sort of evolved during this "honeymoon" series of wardrobes. It could just as easily be 6+2+6, or some other variation. The only constant is a solid core of a neutral, a reasonable grouping of an accent color (so that your accessories work well with your clothes), and some kind of a plan. If you do a Polyvore on the Floor, PLEASE send it over – [email protected]. I'd love to see! big hug, Vivienne
Brown (from cool) to coral (warm climate) is a brilliant vacation packing strategy for fall. It's definitely a keeper. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you should feel very flattered!
I too, am enjoying this theme — and the 5-2-7 concept is brilliant, but color me confused because I can't figure out what the 5 core neutrals are in these sets! OK: Long pant, short pant, cardigan, dress, and______?
So putting aside my embarrassment at "not getting it"…I've got to ask for help from all of you who seem to understand this better than I.
Dear Sharon, You're not seeing it because I cheated! I tossed in khaki cropped pants instead of brown, because (a) brown were impossible to find, and (b) khaki is sort of like the joker card of neutrals – goes everywhere, turns into anything. Sorry I threw you for a loop on this Friday the 13th! Speaking of which, we had the doughnut apocalypse at work today – did anybody else have an interesting Ft13 incident? hugs, Vivienne
Having been color analyzed, and learning that my "flattering" black wardrobe really isn't, I've been switching to browns, but it's a struggle. No only is brown difficult to find, but it doesn't seem sophisticated or stylish to me.
And then you offer these lovely brown and beige combinations and I feel hopeful. Thanks for all the inspiration. I don't know how you do what you do — but I'm glad you do it!
Doughnut apocalypse? Shades of Homer Price! As for me, maybe Ft13 is why I had to try 7 pharmacies, in the rain, before I found my eye medication the dr. prescribed this morning.
I just wanted to let you know that you have had a profound effect on my wardrobe. I have just bought my first Hermes scarf (entirely thanks to this blog) and am packing for my weekend in London with a complete eye on 'what would Vivienne take'. Thank you.
I'm so curious as to where you find all these clothes! You mention stores/designers I've never heard of…Dorothy Perkins, Josephine??…how do you do this? Do you have the contents of 20 websites memorized or do you have a central store like Bluefly or something?
I'm in awe, but asking also for me…I do a lot of online shopping but never find such fun things as you keep coming up with.
A combination of sources – Google Images, Bing Images, Yahoo Images, and a whole bunch of store that I check almost every day. You have no idea how much time I spend digitally shopping… and I do it all because I enjoy it, and want to show you my ideas in the best way possible! big hug, Vivienne
I am a home sewing, pastor's wife, mother of 4 and grandmother of 5, 56 year old who is really inspired by these. I looked all over for the yellow and blue sweater you posted about a week ago, but it is not to be found, especially not in Alaska. I have never liked black, so I am really enjoying these other neutral options. Going to Germany in October/November, and filing these away for inspiration. Thanks so much!
These are my colors! That 1 year shopping fast is going to be a long one if I keep visiting this site. How long does it take you to put together your daily posts? Again, thanks for all the wonderful ideas.
Thank you so much for such beautiful blog. I anxiously wait for each post to enjoy the surprise of what colours you'll be mixing! I wonder though whether we could make this formula work with more than a neutral and a pop of colour. I am going to Europe in June for a 4 days conference but am extending the trip and making it a family vacation. We'll stay for 2 weeks and have a 5 year old in tow, so no romantic nights out. Would you be able to suggest something for me with, say 2 neutrals and 2 accent colours? Erica
I love these capsules so much that I carefully deconstructed your idea. I listed how many pieces of the neutral, the solid accent color, and the pattern I could determine were needed to recreate these. You mentioned a 5+2+7 approach which got me started.
Then, choosing navy as my neutral and bright blue/white as my accents, I made my own capsule for a Seattle-New York train trip coming up in early May. I can't begin to tell you how helpful this is! I have everything I need except one easy to obtain item (that has been on my to-buy list for a while), it all fits in my carry-on bag and I KNOW it will all work together. Navy is great for a more casual capsule, since I wear dark wash trouser jeans quite a bit.
I may do a "Polyvore on the Floor" a la Deja Pseu. So excited for my trip and testing my capsule!
I would love to see your 5+2+7 items listed out to see how close I came, since mine is more like 5+5+4+accessories.
Dear Louise,
The 5+2+7 isn't a particularly "carved in stone" system – it's just what has sort of evolved during this "honeymoon" series of wardrobes. It could just as easily be 6+2+6, or some other variation. The only constant is a solid core of a neutral, a reasonable grouping of an accent color (so that your accessories work well with your clothes), and some kind of a plan.
If you do a Polyvore on the Floor, PLEASE send it over – [email protected]. I'd love to see!
big hug,
Vivienne
Brown (from cool) to coral (warm climate) is a brilliant vacation packing strategy for fall. It's definitely a keeper. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you should feel very flattered!
Beautiful as always!
Hugs
Tereza
I too, am enjoying this theme — and the 5-2-7 concept is brilliant, but color me confused because I can't figure out what the 5 core neutrals are in these sets! OK: Long pant, short pant, cardigan, dress, and______?
So putting aside my embarrassment at "not getting it"…I've got to ask for help from all of you who seem to understand this better than I.
Dear Sharon, You're not seeing it because I cheated! I tossed in khaki cropped pants instead of brown, because (a) brown were impossible to find, and (b) khaki is sort of like the joker card of neutrals – goes everywhere, turns into anything. Sorry I threw you for a loop on this Friday the 13th! Speaking of which, we had the doughnut apocalypse at work today – did anybody else have an interesting Ft13 incident?
hugs,
Vivienne
Vivienne – ah-h, thank you!
Having been color analyzed, and learning that my "flattering" black wardrobe really isn't, I've been switching to browns, but it's a struggle. No only is brown difficult to find, but it doesn't seem sophisticated or stylish to me.
And then you offer these lovely brown and beige combinations and I feel hopeful. Thanks for all the inspiration. I don't know how you do what you do — but I'm glad you do it!
Doughnut apocalypse? Shades of Homer Price!
As for me, maybe Ft13 is why I had to try 7 pharmacies, in the rain, before I found my eye medication the dr. prescribed this morning.
Not my colors, but gorgeous as usual :)
I just wanted to let you know that you have had a profound effect on my wardrobe. I have just bought my first Hermes scarf (entirely thanks to this blog) and am packing for my weekend in London with a complete eye on 'what would Vivienne take'. Thank you.
Tangerine is nice, but wouldn't you rather to turquoise? It might have been last year's color. these are great!
I had a specific request for tangerine, but just for you, I'll do a brown and turquoise on Sunday!
thanks for being here,
big hug,
Vivienne
I'm so curious as to where you find all these clothes! You mention stores/designers I've never heard of…Dorothy Perkins, Josephine??…how do you do this? Do you have the contents of 20 websites memorized or do you have a central store like Bluefly or something?
I'm in awe, but asking also for me…I do a lot of online shopping but never find such fun things as you keep coming up with.
A combination of sources – Google Images, Bing Images, Yahoo Images, and a whole bunch of store that I check almost every day. You have no idea how much time I spend digitally shopping…
and I do it all because I enjoy it, and want to show you my ideas in the best way possible!
big hug,
Vivienne
I am a home sewing, pastor's wife, mother of 4 and grandmother of 5, 56 year old who is really inspired by these. I looked all over for the yellow and blue sweater you posted about a week ago, but it is not to be found, especially not in Alaska. I have never liked black, so I am really enjoying these other neutral options. Going to Germany in October/November, and filing these away for inspiration. Thanks so much!
Kathy, I was born and raised in Germany. This won't be nearly warm enough if you want to venture out. Hope you have a wonderful journey.
These are my colors! That 1 year shopping fast is going to be a long one if I keep visiting this site. How long does it take you to put together your daily posts? Again, thanks for all the wonderful ideas.
Thank you so much for such beautiful blog. I anxiously wait for each post to enjoy the surprise of what colours you'll be mixing! I wonder though whether we could make this formula work with more than a neutral and a pop of colour. I am going to Europe in June for a 4 days conference but am extending the trip and making it a family vacation. We'll stay for 2 weeks and have a 5 year old in tow, so no romantic nights out. Would you be able to suggest something for me with, say 2 neutrals and 2 accent colours?
Erica
nice idea.. thanks for sharing...