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Home » Building a BUSINESS CASUAL Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Bridge in a Snowy Landscape by Utagawa Hiroshige

Building a BUSINESS CASUAL Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Bridge in a Snowy Landscape by Utagawa Hiroshige

September 11, 2015

Yesterday, I put together what I thought was a pretty casual wardrobe, based on this painting. It wasn’t the MOST casual thing imaginable – it included skirts and nice sweaters – but it would certainly be appropriate for most non-work activities that didn’t include garage cleaning, painting, or basement mucking…This is our art, and our color scheme:

 

In order to take yesterday’s wardrobe to work, I upgraded the skirt and the pants from the more casual cotton to nicer wool pieces. Depending on how casual your office actually is, you might easily have been able to wear yesterday’s pieces to work too!

Cashmere cardigan – Uniqlo; wool skirt – J. Crew; Tee shirt – not available, similar here; trousers – J. Crew

For the off white – same thing; the tops were keepers, but the skirt and pants were moved to slightly dressier fabrics.

Cashmere cardigan – Uniqlo; skirt – J. Crew; Tee shirt – Betty Barclay; twill trousers – Transit

I waffled back and forth about keeping the denim shirt, but finally decided to hold it over for this wave of the wardrobe. If this shirt wouldn’t work in your office, you could always find a beautiful medium blue shirt that could step in here with no problems. The really cool sweatshirt from yesterday HAD to go – I just don’t ever feel like sweatshirts are appropriate for work!

Denim shirt – Uniqlo; grey sweater – Woolrich; Striped tee – ATM; orange tee – Majestic Filatures

EVERYTHING here had to go – no down vests, no jeans, no hooded sweatshirts. I might have kept the plaid shirt, but it felt casual to me, and I was really pretty smitten with this orange one!

Orange sweater – Uniqlo; grey trousers – Lands’ End; Grey cardigan – Lands’ End; plaid shirt – Elizabeth and James

I kept the same accessories to make following this process a little bit easier – too many moving parts make it more difficult to focus on the inherent versatility of this color scheme and the gradually shifting level of formality.

Orange fringed scarf – La Fiorentina; aventurine earrings – Nareerat; silver pendant – Jantana; stud earrings – Vince Camuto; cuff bracelet – Achara; silk square – Brooks Brothers; chunky scarf – Free People; reversible tote –  Street Level; tweed flats – Lucky Brand; grey flats – Taryn Rose;  boots – H by Hudson

If you didn’t want to sink a ton of money into an office wardrobe, this would certainly cover you (literally and figuratively) for a long time!

Tomorrow, I’m going to dance through this one more time, and take it to a much more formal level. I haven’t started it yet, and I’m really eager to see how it goes! Come join me…

love,
Janice

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09.11.15 17 Comments

Tags: blue, capsule wardrobe, cool weather, cream, Four by Four, grey, orange, Start with Art
<<Building a CASUAL Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: A Bridge in a Snowy Landscape by Utagawa HiroshigeBuilding a DRESSY Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: A Bridge in a Snowy Landscape by Utagawa Hiroshige>>

Comments

  1. Elizabeth Ellen Carter says

    September 11, 2015 at 7:37 am

    This has been such a fun project Janice, I can't wait to see what you do with the formal set. These colours work beautifully across all seasons. I see how I can make this work for my spring and summer.

    Reply
    • Chris in Indy says

      September 13, 2019 at 6:01 am

      Still love this painting – still love this wardrobe! Thanks, Janice!

      Reply
  2. Cornelia says

    September 11, 2015 at 11:05 am

    I agree with the comment above. And you never fail to come up with something that is in my closet already and that I had never thought about putting together.

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    September 11, 2015 at 11:59 am

    This color scheme will work beautifully for people who are either part of the gator nation or for fans of the football team.

    Reply
    • SewingLibrarian says

      September 11, 2015 at 11:47 pm

      Ha! Or the Tennessee Volunteers!

      Reply
  4. Pam @ over50feeling40 says

    September 11, 2015 at 12:09 pm

    Yes…white after Labor Day! So glad those rules are gone!

    Reply
  5. Virginia says

    September 11, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    If you combined the items from both days, you'd have a fabulous wardrobe that could take you from the woods to the office. One of my favorite series!

    Reply
  6. Nancy says

    September 11, 2015 at 1:02 pm

    These are my favorite colors…people don't often think about using complimentary colors together..but they work..thanks! Just a question..would you use the denim shirt as a light jacket with a tee underneath, I can see that working in this group!

    Reply
  7. Nancy says

    September 11, 2015 at 1:03 pm

    These are my favorite colors…people don't often think about using complimentary colors together..but they work..thanks! Just a question..would you use the denim shirt as a light jacket with a tee underneath, I can see that working in this group!

    Reply
  8. BlondieGirl says

    September 11, 2015 at 1:25 pm

    Fabulous exercise in wardrobe utilization. From casual to business casual to…can't wait to see how you take this up a notch!

    Reply
  9. Doré Way says

    September 11, 2015 at 1:36 pm

    Orange….I think I love you!

    Reply
  10. Leslie K says

    September 11, 2015 at 2:55 pm

    I just love this!

    Reply
  11. Laura says

    September 11, 2015 at 6:34 pm

    Top set – the link to the Club Monaco tee is wrong; it links to the J Crew skirt.

    Reply
    • Janice Riggs says

      September 11, 2015 at 6:59 pm

      Aaaack! It's sold out, but I found us a very similar one to take it's place. Thanks – ALWAYS – for catching these issues.
      big grateful hug,
      Janice

      Reply
  12. Anonymous says

    September 11, 2015 at 10:40 pm

    Great posts (today and yesterday)! I found it interesting with these colours that you can tone it down in colour (monochromatic) or tone it up or anything in between. Depends on the occasion or you mood for the day. I like the orange check shirt as it was bright in colour but subtle – in contrast to the orange jumper. Carol S

    Reply
  13. mollie.dirig says

    September 12, 2015 at 4:55 am

    Perfect part 2! :)

    Reply
  14. lrlincks says

    September 12, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    My office is casual and I could easily wear any of these outfits to work! Love it!!

    Reply

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The Vivienne Files is a unique personal style blog with carefully-selected capsule wardrobes based on color palettes drawn from works of art, nature, and more. It helps women buy less clothing, and to love what they buy. Read more...
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