Remember our heroine the negotiator? She’s got a knack for fitting herself into situations where there’s conflict, and helping 2 sides reach a compromise. (How useful is THAT talent?) When she packs, she tries to give herself a range of options so that she can appear strong, friendly, forceful, or maybe even fade into the background a little bit… What a skill to develop!
She loves this painting…
In fact, she loved it so much that she decided to use it as the core aesthetic guide for her wardrobe!
Back in January she traveled for work, and had to go directly into meetings. A beautiful red dress made her visible without being strident…
When she travels for leisure (as she did back in April), you can see her flexibility and ability to provide herself with options…
Even if she just goes away for a night – for a special dinner! – she makes certain that she gives herself a couple of choices in her travel wardrobe. She learned a long time ago that you never know for certain what you’re going to want or need!
Our heroine has become so accustomed to settling differences between conflicting groups that she sometimes finds work for herself – in this case, a very high-profile issue for which she could see a solution!
This woman really LOVES a good dress!
One of the pleasures of only needing to pack 4 or 5 garments is that you can really go crazy with accessories!
Although this heroine is known for her dresses, she does wear pants from time to time… And she has jackets and cardigans…
I really could see just walking away from this wardrobe, shaking her hand and congratulating her on her good taste, and offering up no suggestions at all!
But she could get a couple of sweaters that match her cardigans (you know about me and twinsets!), a fabulously dressy skirt, a warmer pair of pants and a pair of loafers to wear through the autumn and winter.
These additions would be handy if she were going on another one of those “fabulous dinner” overnighters with her husband. The skirt automatically dresses up anything with which it’s worn, by virtue of the metallic fabric! And the short-sleeved sweaters don’t have to be worn with their matching cardigans – they’re very useful little tops all on their own. I’m thinking like this:
navy short-sleeved sweater – Uniqlo; pearl earrings – L.Erickson; pearl bracelet – Amadeus; ivory cashmere sweater – Lands’ End; pleated metallic skirt – Halogen; corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; loafers – Taryn Rose
While she never had pearl jewelry, so far, I thought that these pieces were angular and graphic enough to suit her style.
As always, I like to make certain that she has lots of ways to wear her new garments, so let’s build some more outfits for her…
Though I’ve sworn off navy since… the late ’80s? I could happy wear this wardrobe. If only I had her peace-making skills too!
love,
Janice
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With all those dresses or heroine has undoubtedly invested in IPL to keep her shapely legs smooth. I would suggest a belt for that J Crew dress – since it’s the only one that isn’t fitted.
I had to revisit the previous posts to remind myself of the overall look and feel of the outfits and I did think there was an ‘edginess’ about them, even the casual wardrobe in April. The additions and outfits in this post look more subdued somehow (twinset and pearls?). Or is it the footwear – sturdy and comfortable? Her mules, ankle boots and courts (pumps) are all streamlined with a pointed toe, so perhaps a pair of loafers and a festive strappy sandal in a similar style would help to make the new additions look more edgier? What does everyone else think?
Yes – I immediately thought of a skirt and pants. I think your additions work very well. I’m not really a dress person, except for dinners out, etc.
Such an off hand remark ” I swore off navy” , may I ask why? Was it a uniform thing?
Just being curious.
But else if I wore more dresses this would be right up my alley.
When I first finished college, I fell all the way into the navy suit, grey suit, red suit wardrobe… After I started working in a more relaxed setting, I swore that I would never wear navy and grey again! Grey makes a small return to my wardrobe occasionally, but I’ve never been able to warm up to navy since then!
hugs,
Janice
When I was in public accounting, we wore nothing but suits. In a way, it made dressing easy because all I needed to do was choose whether I was wearing navy or gray, but boy was I happy when I could stop wearing them!
Janice, this is funny since before TVF, I owned nothing navy. Not a single thing. After learning there is such a thing as a “dark neutral” (e.g. learning of importance of neutrals) and black is not an option for me (I’m Dark Autumn) I opted for navy. So thanks to you, I purchased a lot of navy items! LOL isn’t that funny?
During the 80’s I worked for a hospital system owned by Sisters of Mercy. They wore navy. I wore conservative navy and grey suits for work, so I hear you loud and clear! I could not stand those colors for a long time. Now, with more contemporary shades and styling, I am so happy to have them back as my base wardrobe colors. I do love how you advocate for fewer really good pieces.
I really love the versatility of this wardrobe. The high contrast colors give an authoritative air and the femininity of the dresses and jewelry balance that. Powerful women always have to dress this way, look at female politicitans. I see the heroine as a political operative who works outside of the traditional arena, where she can maximize her effectiveness and enjoy a pleasant work/life balance. Perhaps she will become more ambitious with age and look for even bigger things to do.