I think anybody who has met me can appreciate why this painting caught my eye immediately:
Femme au Col Blanc by Marc Chagall
I loved the clarity and simplicity of this painting – the color scheme is a refreshing change from seeing black and white with red so frequently. (not that I’m going to quit wearing red any time soon, but I do understand that it’s ubiquitous…)
She’s NOT Feeling Christmassy…
Some years, you just don’t…
But she knows that she has to look beautiful for a couple of days, so she breaks out her favorite colors (no red, thank you!) to accent her best black clothes…
pendant – J.Jill; black v-neck – Uniqlo; white shirt – Lands’ End;
green onyx earrings – Alok Jain; blue sweater – L.L.Bean;
floral scarf – Talbots; green gloves – Talbots; velvet skirt – Lands’ End;
crossbody bag – Barneys New York; loafers – Louise et Cie;
boots – UGG; jeans – L.L.Bean
There will certainly be a dressy meal somewhere in the family get-together, so she packs her go-to velvet skirt…
And as long as there are small children in the family, there will be some sort of outdoor… stuff… so she’s sure to have jeans with her. Happily, she’s not traveling to a snowy destination – that would make carry-on packing IMPOSSIBLE!
Only the most comfortable shoes go with her; family holidays are painful enough without having sore feet…
Those Talbots cashmere gloves are on sale, and are available in TEN colors…
She will have plenty of choices about how to get dressed – more than she will need for a short weekend holiday trip.
She’s thinking that shortly after she gets home (and does laundry) she’s going to book another trip – quite different – and do things SHE wants to do. All by herself…
love,
Janice
p.s. Yes, it’s below zero, and yes, I’m going out today? How do I do it?
- Strategic layering, including Buff “tubes” of fabric that can be worn as a gaiter, a hat, pulled over your face, etc. Really, surprisingly important and useful.
- Uniqlo Heattech tops. I don’t know how they work – maybe it’s all the placebo effect and I feel warmer because I’m told that I should feel warmer. But they’re very affordable, come in a range of styles and colors, and are useful bottom layers.
- Amazing leggings, from Under Armour by way of L.L.Bean. I wear leggings a LOT in cold weather, and these are the warmest, best constructed, and least bulky. Pricey, yes, but you only need 1 pair!
- Wool socks. Minimizes callouses and blisters, and supremely warm…
- Bogs boots. If I could travel back in time and add 1 item to my wardrobe from the very beginning of my life, it would be these. I do not EVER have cold feet… Seriously. They’re as close to a miracle piece of footwear as I can imagine.
Wonderful painting. I went to a big Chagall exhibit a few years ago and was enchanted, but this one wasn't in it. I will be dreaming of it all day.
Wonderful wardrobe (especially those tall boots!), wonderful story.
Janice,
I love the ease and simplicity of a single neutral with two accent colors for a brief trip ! It saves on shoe packing, at the very least ! The blue and green instead of red with the black, are a nice relief for the eye, but as the scarf includes red, for a slightly longer trip, I'd include the red too. Your packing posts , along with how to assemble a wardrobe, are my very favorite posts — looking forward to lots more !
Love this wardrobe and the story – as the unmarried aunt I'm the one always expected to do the travelling to others (even though I'm the best cook and the most organized hostess) – sigh – oh well, I'll take inspiration from this lovely colour combination. And while I am also a black, white & red gal – the blue and green accents are rather refreshing!
Oh Margie, the family politics of Christmas are weird, aren't they. But I bet the family hosting each year are happy and relieved to see you and your skill-set arriving.
Robyn in Tasmania
So fresh!!
So nice to see a velvet skirt, I wore my velvet skirt to a holiday party last week. I've had mine for many years and it always looks great to my eye for the holidays.
What name(s) did you find for that color blue when you searched? It's so pretty.
Uggg, I searched for just plain blue and scrolled through (literally) about a thousand navy items. Sometimes, that's why it takes me 5 or 6 hours to write a post for The Vivienne Files. But I'd suggest cornflower, azure, royal, lapis, cobalt, French blue or gentian blue. It's so difficult; designers name things whatever weird thing inspires them, and then WE'RE supposed to be able to find it later!
hugs,
Janice
I bought a pair of Bogs boots on your recommendation in a previous post and they are absolutely wonderful! My intention was to have waterproof footwear for a trip to Ireland – but they are my go to shoes for winter in central NY. And I agree with you, they are so comfortable and my feet actually stay warm. I wish I had them years ago.
I love this – I wear mostly black (or dark denim) pants and skirts and it *is* hard to find alternatives to red to wear with them. The blue and green are so pretty and fresh! You've found such nice shades too, whatever they're called. This would make a good colour scheme year-round, I'm thinking. And the painting is wonderful. There's such a lot of Chagall that we don't often see, and he's full of delightful surprises.
Robyn in Tasmania
To me this looked like a flowered scarf but it has another dimension…the "astro" in the title signals robots with claws extending from their hands and space ships of various designs mixed in the flowers. These were a surprise to me although they were plainly shown in the small pictures under the scarf. My husbands says no one will notice them. My grandchildren are delighted with them. As for myself, not so much. Still it is a tremendously useful scarf, light weight and colors that tie in any colored tee to your black pants and jacket, so I am keeping it. I may be careful how I tie it to select what designs to feature…
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