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Home » How to Add Accent Colors to Your Capsule Wardrobe – Hot Pink and Green

How to Add Accent Colors to Your Capsule Wardrobe – Hot Pink and Green

Remember this beautiful painting, and intriguing color palette?Palimpsest 46 by Kamrooz Aram with color palette

And of course you remember this wardrobe from last week…

4 by 4 Wardrobe for warm weather in black, white, grey and pink

In and of itself, this is a pretty good assortment of clothes:

4 by 4 Wardrobe for warm weather in black, white, grey and pink

But for most of us, for the entire summer, we’re going to want more than 16 pieces… So let’s have our heroine start out her shopping by adding some hot pink, as well as a bit more black and white. For many of us, these shorts might be a big longer (like capri pant length!), or one could also find a skirt in this color…

4-piece Wardrobe Cluster in black, white and hot pink, for summer

cardigan – Lands’ End; print tee – Uniqlo; striped tee – H&M; shorts – Lands’ End; flip flops – Kate Spade

This is how her wardrobe now looks with the additional pieces. The hot pink definitely doesn’t blend in with everything else, but since it’s meant to be an accent color, it really doesn’t have to go with everything here.20-piece warm weather wardrobe in black, white, grey and pink

The 4 new pieces of clothing give you at least 8 new outfits – I didn’t even try to see how far I could go with new combinations!

how to style a hot pink cardigan for summer

how to style hot pink shorts for summer

how to style a black and white striped tee shirt for warm weather

how to style a black and white print tee shirt for hot weather

So our heroine pays off her credit card bill and decides that she wants to add 1 more cluster to her summer wardrobe, before the stores are suddenly full of cashmere and flannel! While it’s a definitely departure from everything that’s gone before, the bright green is clearly in her chosen color scheme, and thus will be extremely useful. And while we all know how much a white skirt is a target for every bit of dirt and schmutz in the world, we still buy them, and wear them…

a 4-piece Wardrobe Cluster in bright green and white

cardigan – Ralph Lauren; green onyx earrings – Aparna; strip top – Jil Sander Navy; skirt – L.L.Bean; polo – J. Crew Factory

This is the final wardrobe – this definitely isn’t a “Whatever’s Clean” kind of a wardrobe, but it gives lots of variety in terms of both level of formality and the degree of neutral, soft, or bright that you feel like wearing:a 24-piece summer capsule wardrobe in black, white, grey, pink and green

In hot weather, the green is a nice change of pace, and the 2 white pieces will be real workhorses in this wardrobe. Again, I put together 8 new ensembles with the 4 new pieces of clothing, but I’m quite certain that there are a lot more…

how to style a green and white top for summer

how to style a green polo shirt for warm weather

how to style a white cardigan with pink and grey for the summer

how to style a while skirt with pink and grey for hot weather

Would you ever actually pack 24 pieces of clothing? In my building, there are a number of people who winter in the south and then come up to Chicago for the spring and summer – this would be an ideal wardrobe to have for 3 or 4 months in 1 place. And I suspect that you’d be able to get everything into a checked suitcase (26 inch?) and another large-ish carry-on bag.

I’ve never lived like that, but I wouldn’t mind trying! Except I’d be chasing the cold weather from place to place…

love,
Janice

How to Add Accent Colors to Your Capsule Wardrobe - Hot Pink and Green

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05.03.17 17 Comments

Tags: color palettes, green, hot pink, shopping, signatures, warm weather
<<A Bit of Immodesty…How to Add an Accent Color for Warm Weather; Start with Art: View of New York by Charles Sheeler>>

Comments

  1. hovien says

    May 3, 2017 at 8:31 am

    This is beautiful! Might be my favourite so far…
    Maybe it's not a "whatever's clean wardrobe", but I feel I get bored easily, so the minimalism and pure simplicity of them doesn't really work for me. It's great that here there is a balance between simple pieces and explosions of color and pattern. I will try to make something similar for myself with black-grey-navy as a base and fuchsia, emerald, vanilla yellow and mint green as accents. I love color and interesting pieces, just have to find structure to be able to wear them as much as I would like.

    Vivien

    Reply
  2. Shrebee says

    May 3, 2017 at 10:21 am

    Janice,
    Super variety here !
    Remember the discussion from a couple of weeks ago about wearing shorts with warm tops and toppers like long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts ? Well, I thought of you as hubby and I recently walked around a chilly Cape May, New Jersey, and I observed a number of men dressed in that manner. I have also spied it here in the community where I live. Not so much with the older women, but on 40 -ish and college age women.

    Reply
    • Shrebee says

      May 3, 2017 at 10:28 am

      I meant to add — with regard to your clusters format , that is usually how I select a capsule, starting with pants, a matching topper, and two coordinating tops, and build with multiples of that pattern with two or three neutrals and two or three accent colors . This was an excellent example , thank you !

      Reply
  3. Jazz says

    May 3, 2017 at 10:39 am

    I like the change of pace that these two accent colours add to the overall look.

    Reply
  4. Taste of France says

    May 3, 2017 at 10:57 am

    This is really brilliant. If she wears the pale pink and gray most of the time, the hot pink and green really offer a change of pace, a dash of variety, without going completely off track. We all want a kind of uniform (for sanity's sake) without it being a boring uniform. This is the answer.

    Reply
  5. Janice says

    May 3, 2017 at 11:50 am

    Yes I agree with Taste of France. This is an answer to adding a bit of spice to a simple 2-3 color wardrobe. I love bright colors but must be very careful as they overwhelm me. A great solution inspired by one of your posts, is to have a bit of bright in a couple added print tops or in a scarf . Love this wardrobe ! Janice Collins. Washington DC

    Reply
  6. Gail says

    May 3, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    Winter in the south, you mean. But you have summer and a great summer wardrobe on your mind!

    Reply
    • Janice Riggs says

      May 3, 2017 at 12:14 pm

      Of COURSE I did – thanks for catching that! When I go to Florida in the winter, it still feels like summer, and thus my brain went South without me…
      hugs,
      Janice

      Reply
  7. cheryl :) says

    May 3, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    Love, love, love this color scheme! :)

    Reply
  8. Chabe says

    May 3, 2017 at 2:43 pm

    As lovely as it looks on paper, I just cannot imagine the same woman looking equally good in pastel colors and bright colors. I look great in hot pink, but like death warmed up in blush…

    Reply
    • Nancy/n.o.e says

      May 3, 2017 at 3:46 pm

      The wardrobe reflects the art inspiration beautifully, and provides a wonderful amount of cohesion and variety. But the colors are a little tricky, or at least would be for me. The blush just could not exist in my life, although black, white, gray, and fuchsia are wardrobe staples (emerald is OK, but blues are better). There must be other women who can pull it off, though. Look at Vivien's comment above: gray, black, navy, with accents of emerald, fuchsia, mint and vanilla yellow. Pastel and brights together in a lovely wardrobe palette. – nancyo

      Reply
    • hovien says

      May 3, 2017 at 5:06 pm

      I agree that there are too many pretty color palettes that won't work with our natural features. These exact shades in the post probably wouldn't work on me either, but the ones I mentioned do, because in the seasonal color types I'm a true summer – cool colors at all times, avoiding extremes in contrast and saturation. Black is an exception, but I only wear it as bottoms in the winter.

      Vivien

      Reply
    • Nancy/n.o.e says

      May 4, 2017 at 4:07 am

      Thanks, Vivien. Your wardrobe palette sounds perfect for your Summer coloring. I am a Winter, and deeply saturated cool clear dark/bright colors are my best. White is fine, but pastels are very iffy. – nancyo

      Reply
  9. Bea says

    May 3, 2017 at 9:19 pm

    You have been awarded the coveted 2 thumbs up award from KiKi. She was signing pink shirt, pink dress and pink shorts. Well done!

    Reply
  10. lrlincks says

    May 4, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    These bright colors add just enough excitement to all those pastels! Brilliant!

    Reply
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  12. Sakshi Verma says

    March 9, 2018 at 7:22 am

    Thanks for sharing this marvelous post. I m very pleased to read this article.Sign in pogo

    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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