Archives for February 2016

February 2016

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) by Diego Velazquez

"We Don't Have the Funds for Retention Bonuses..."

And with that, her heart hit the floor. Working for a company that gets acquired every two years is bad enough, but at least the buyer usually tries to make it worth one's while to stick around...

Her new manager continued...

"But you know that we're headquartered in France?" (uh, yea, the accent sort of gave the secret away...)

"If your partner can get the first week of March off of work, I'd like to send you both to stay in our corporate apartment for a week..." (note that the corporate apartment is on the Rue Montaigne...)

You're not quite sure you heard correctly. Take a deep breath: "Let me check, but I'm sure it won't be a problem..."

"You ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Cream, Aqua and Golden Yellow: 1 Piece at a Time

Wow, this was much more difficult than I expected it to be!

This is really a great color scheme - the accent colors are sufficiently different from each other that introducing them into an outfit gives you two very different sensibilities...

And I didn't set out to find so many pieces from one source, but when I found that they had matching pieces in brown, it didn't seem like a bad idea!

So the matching brown pieces made it impossible to resist getting a brown shell, too. I think of this as a wardrobe that's ideally suited for changeable weather, or for those of us who have hot flashes...

I love this yellow...

Cream and brown together are an underrated combination - every bit as classic as black and white, and much more ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Sea Seen from the Heights of Dieppe by Eugene Delacroix

What a gorgeous image, especially in late February, in Chicago!

As much as this painting suggests a wardrobe with a LOT of gold and yellow, I'm going to have to work around that, because those clothes are NOT easy to find! So I'm going to take advantage of the boat in the foreground, the beige clouds and distant sea, and the glimpses of blue sky. Some mother-of-pearl jewelry would be logical, no?

They Met on The Internet

Not that it's unusual to date someone you met online - much the contrary. Many of her nieces and nephews dated people they met on the internet, and she even knew of a couple of very successful marriages that started there. It's just not something she ever expected for herself...

But they kept dating, and after ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time, 3 Accent Colors with Navy and Beige

If you want to include 3 accent colors in your wardrobe, this is for you!

Please note that, although there are a lot of accent colors here, I've tried to keep them all in the same range of intensity and saturation, so that they will all "behave" in the same way when paired with neutrals. It's a hard concept to explain, but I find that it makes a lot of different in keeping things versatile and harmonious. (yes, there are 4 accent colors shown here, in keeping with the original request. I didn't have a lot of luck finding the raspberry color...)

Many of these steps will look painfully familiar, as I build a base of neutral colors upon which you can use accents as the embellishment. I know I harp on this a lot, but it's hard to ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Male and Female Cardinals, in Warm AND Cool Colors

So I'm going to start alternating "1 Piece at a Time" Wardrobes with other fun things, so that we don't collectively burn out on the concept before I've addressed ALL of your color scheme requests. I am absolutely going to look at accessories for these wardrobes - those might be some of the "interspersed" posts. As much as I have an endless attention span for a single subject, I understand that a bit of variety keeps things fresh for us all.

Someone suggested that the male cardinal wardrobe (here) and the female cardinal wardrobe (here) might be combined. I'm ALL OVER that idea!

Do these two look like they get along?

I've often thought that it's possible to build a wardrobe with 4 or 5 neutral colors and just 1 accent. In fact, a long ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in Navy, Beige Turquoise and Yellow

I'm going to start tackling the various color schemes you all requested - what a great, long, and wide-ranging list!

Today I'm going to do the first of a couple using navy and beige...

First up, the favorite outfit: (for what it's worth, the most frequently mentioned accent color from you all was turquoise).

This request was for accents of both turquoise and yellow, so the color scheme looks like this:

From here, for a while, this will look very familiar. I am a strong believer in the absolute necessity of investing in a core of neutral garments before you start going crazy with a lot of accents!

I could have included the navy and beige tee shirt I used before, but I've got a plan for stripes in another piece, so I chose ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in Navy, Beige and Poppy

A requested color scheme - this looks so "Coast of Maine in the summer" to me! Maybe because L.L.Bean is well-represented here. I don't necessarily think that everybody is going to buy things from them, but their photographs of simple, classic clothing are among the very best I can find for our illustrative purposes.

Starting outfit:

Although this outfit doesn't include beige, it's been determined by the requester that beige will be the other neutral color, so our color scheme is thus:

This time, I decided to get that neutral tee shirt top out of the way immediately. While these aren't fascinatingly stimulating and madly fun purchases, they can be the most cost-effective items in your wardrobe, once you get them there!

Moving ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in beige, pink and soft green

I'd be happy to do more of these - suggest colors, and I'll give it a try!

Today, we're going into warm colors, starting with a favorite outfit of a woman who wears and loves warm, soft colors:

I can see the appeal of a comfy tee, broken-in chinos, and a cuddly cashmere cardigan!

Although her "seed" outfit doesn't include green, she makes the deliberate choice to include it in her wardrobe plan:

I may have beaten this poor horse to pieces by now, but a great place to start to expand a wardrobe is to find pieces that are different colored versions of your current favorites. In this shopper's (now nicknamed TS) plan, a green tee shirt, just like her blush one, is a simple and foolproof place to start.

As much as TS loves her ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time

Unpacking my bag last night, I was thinking about how, for the last handful of trips I've taken, I've started my packing by choosing my travel outfit, and then adding 1 piece at a time until I'm at an appropriate number of garments for the length of my trip. It's a system that's working pretty well for me...

I then started considering the possibility of applying this concept to the building of a wardrobe. Some people just aren't in a position to buy an entire wardrobe, or even an entire outfit, at one time. And for those among us who are more comfortable moving gradually into changes, this might be just the ticket!

Let's start with this outfit; maybe this is someone's very favorite ensemble, including the colors around which they wish to ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: A Cardinal, in Warm Colors

So Wednesday I danced with the "cool male" cardinal; today, let's see what the "warm female" cardinal colors have to offer!

I'm going to use exactly the same red garments as I did on Wednesday, just to show how very different they feel when they're used with brown and camel.

To me, it's always an education to see how an accent color can look like it's completely different when I place it into a wardrobe with different neutrals. I never tire of seeing colors working together.

This warm wardrobe demonstrates that you can love red and NOT ever have to pair it with black or navy!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: A Cardinal, in Cool Colors

There are a lot of cardinals in the park very near here - it's my favorite detour when I'm out and about to go look for them. They are SO striking, and such a spot of cheerful color on these short, grey winter days!

I'm always taken with the way in which the male and female birds are colored differently. He is very high-contrast, in cool colors:

I'm going to visit her color scheme too, but for now, I was in the mood for a small 4 by 4 wardrobe in these colors. Maybe a miniature winter work wardrobe? (for those among us who do miniature winter work?)

Since the red tops won't ever be worn together (I don't know, physically, if you could), they don't have to be dye-lot matched. But they should all reflect that intense, vivid ... View the Post

The Finishing Steps: Shifting Accessories from Cool Colors to Warm Colors

When we left this project, it was neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red meat, as they say...

But that's okay, because transition REQUIRES a period of "this and that." Unless you're going to throw out absolutely everything and start from scratch (which I don't recommend, and actively discourage!), you're going to find yourself in this kind of spot if you choose to make a major wardrobe shift. Just press on, patiently and intelligently...

Step 6 - Shoes for Skirts, and a Tote

Step 6 of the clothing change gets rid of black skirts and move toward warmer pieces, so your black pumps and boots are pretty obsolete! And you might as well address a new tote bag, since you're in the "leather goods" mood.

Since this wardrobe is overall a ... View the Post