Many of you mentioned mixing shades of blue with your navy and beige, citing the always beautiful suggestion that this reminds you of the sand and the sea. How can anybody make this happen?
all tops – L.L.Bean, scarf – Theodora and Callum
Say this is your summer shopping – these are the accent colors that you use, rather than the red and green that I used earlier. So your color scheme is this:
In addition to changing out the accent colors, I’m going to make two simple changes to the original core wardrobe. First, I want to include a floral sweater that does justice to our chosen accent colors:
navy floral cardigan – Yumi, sweater – Acne Studios, dotted blouse – People Tree, tee shirt – People Tree
and I’m swapping out the patterned skirt from earlier for a solid navy skirt with a bit of texture.
navy pants – Dorothy Perkins, patterned tunic – Velvet, navy skirt – Societe Anonyme, jacquard pants – ‘S Maxmara
Our 24 pieces now look like this:
Options? We have LOTS of choices now…
Anonymous says
April 23, 2014 at 12:22 pmThe added checked navy skirt is a nice shape, but what is the fraying at the bottom?
Janice Riggs says
April 23, 2014 at 1:39 pmOddly enough, the bottom of the skirt is unfinished! I don't know if hemming it would affect the drape, but if I bought the skirt, a hem would be the first thing I'd take care of.
Eileen says
April 24, 2014 at 6:48 pmSkirt lengths can be tricky. Perhaps they left it unhemmed so you could hem to exactly the length you prefer? That or clothing manufacturers have hit a new lazy high point
ilona says
April 23, 2014 at 12:41 pmCould you feature a couple choices of shoes for this wardrobe? Please and thank you. As much as I prefer navy (I'm transitioning from black to navy)(and determined to make it work this time) the shoes/tights always throw me and have kept me from fully committing to the navy. The transition has been easier as we move into warmer weather, but bare legs enjoy a short season in the Midwest, so I'm already thinking about this next phase… Thanks for your help.
Janice Riggs says
April 23, 2014 at 1:40 pmAt least with pants, I'd seriously consider cordovan or a warm brown – men wear navy suits all the time (well, they USED to…) and they never wore navy shoes with them…
Anonymous says
April 23, 2014 at 4:46 pmJanice, you are so right. Last fall when I was shoe shopping to go with my navy core, the ohsostylish owner of my wonderful local shoe store recommended going with cordovan/oxblood/burgundy. She adamantly told me that matching navy skirt, hose AND shoes was a near impossible task and one we shouldn't attempt! She was right and I did not regret my choice based on her recommendation. And might I add that back in the 70s, I worked in a summer job for a man who always matched his shoes to his leisure suits (he had quite the rainbow of suits). And it looked so ridiculous!
ilona says
April 24, 2014 at 2:39 amThanks – I've been using a saddle tan which seems to work well – but be on the lookout for something in the cordovan family. Watching you work through this series has been fun and instructive.
Erica says
April 23, 2014 at 2:05 pmThank you for your great work and pleasure to read your posts. I really admire your taste and talent. I would also be grateful if you could add some choices of shoes or bags to the capsule.
Jean Shaw says
April 23, 2014 at 4:06 pmI am crazy for the periwinkle–whenever I find it, I buy it (within reason, of course)…
the happy forgiver says
April 23, 2014 at 5:26 pmI can't help but miss the old floral sweater and the printed skirt! I wish you would add them back in and include the new additions, too. LOL. This kind of thinking is probably why I have such a hard time whittling my wardrobe down (although much progress has been made).
Anonymous says
April 23, 2014 at 7:39 pmIt's too bad you removed the original navy print skirt. It was the classiest part of the entire wardrobe other than the LBD.
Anonymous says
April 24, 2014 at 12:32 amThanks so much for this! And you even included my favorite periwinkle blue.
From one of your readers who loves beige and blue because it reminds us of the sand and the sea. (Or in my case, the sky and the water and the sandy beaches along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan.)
kris