So the yellow dress was, in many of our opinions, hard to wear… I suspect that’s why our heroine wrote to me in the first place! But the overall idea of figuring out at least a few ways to wear a dress is still a pretty smart way to get your money’s worth from a purchase… Someone asked that I address the same dress, but in blue; that seems like a good idea.
But – the dress color is hard to assess – the dress on the model looks VERY different from the full-length photograph of the dress on its own. AND… the dress is supposed to be dry cleaned; if there was ever something that was going to keep it hanging in your closet (and not on your back!) is that knowledge in the back of your mind that you have to have it cleaned…
How about a washable blue dress, in a ponte knit and a lovely simple cut? With POCKETS!!!!! (AND it comes in yellow, and of course black…)
I’m staying with the guidelines that I use when I’m looking for a simple dress, upon which I’m going to try a variety of accessories:
At first glance, I thought that this would be the easiest blog post EVER – just take off the yellow dress, put in the blue one, and make a few small adjustments! How wrong…
Blue and black look great together – I swapped for a handbag that sort of makes the outfit:
Cardigan – Halogen; onyx hoop earrings – Loren Stewart; bag – Isaac Mizrahi; bracelet – Caputo & Co.; dress – Lands’ End; pumps – Paul Green
Blue and white aren’t tough to wear together either:
cardigan – Nic+Zoe; earrings – Catherine Canino; tote – Anya Hindemarch; scarf – Talbots; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Jeffrey Campbell
I was afraid, when I started out, that the navy and royal together was going to be difficult. In fact, it turned out to be the ONLY color in this post for which no changes needed to be made. The scarf works just as well with the blue dress as it did with the yellow…
cardigan – Halogen; sapphire earrings – Bloomingdale’s; crossbody bag – Longchamp; scarf – Nordstrom; dress – Lands’ End; navy sandals – Taryn Rose
I’m not sure about this particular blue and brown together… But this is as good a time as any to point out that the men’s department often has lovely pocket squares that make a lovely little addition to some outfits…
cardigan – Acne Studio; earrings – Etro; pocket square – Kiton; dress – Lands’ End; boots – Bella Vita; bag – Fossil
This scarf speaks to me…. I do NOT need another scarf…. sigh….
cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; earrings – Lagos; bag – Baggallini; scarf – Christian Lacroix; dress – Lands’ End; pumps – Calvin Klein
How cheery is this – the colors of grass and sky?
cardigan – Prada; earrings – Aqua; bag – Frances Valentine; bracelet – Kendra Scott; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Tory Burch
And if you are smitten with a summery bag:
cardigan – Madewell; earrings – J.Crew; bangle bracelet – Alexis Bittar; bag – Tommy Bahama; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Via Spiga
It took me surprisingly long to find a scarf with yellow and this dashing shade of blue. But this would be glorious in the middle of the summer…
cardigan – Banana Republic; earrings – Design Lab; scarf – The Met Store; dress – Lands’ End; bag – Aurora London; sandals – 1901
Here’s a way that those of us who wear LOTS of black can incorporate some color into our wardrobes….
cardigan – Tory Burch; earrings – Kendra Scott; bag – Simon Miller; dress – Lands’ End; sandals – Violeta by Mango
Or maybe you’ve gone completely overboard buying a fabulous cardigan to wear through the summer, with white. The addition of a dress gives you all kinds of new versatility….
cardigan – Barrie; earrings – Kenari; dress – Lands’ End; clutch – Rebecca Minkoff; floral ring – Desi Antari; sandals – Lands’ End
What can we learn from this?
- If you’re consistent in your favorite color(s), and you purchase things with those colors in mind, you can use accent pieces in all kinds of interesting ways,
- buying something “major” in an accent color isn’t necessarily a bad idea, if you plan ahead just a bit, and
- it is entirely possible to pull together an outfit with NO NEUTRAL COLORS at all.
My neutral-loving heart is going to have to adjust, eh?
love,
Janice
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You have the perfect vehicle already for adjusting your neutral-loving heart – clusters! I could never get on with your 4X4 system, although I could see it was a great idea, as most neutrals, near my face, don’t really suit me. The ones that do are hard to find – olive, khaki, brownish grey – no lights. When you came up with your clusters, I saw the light. That, along with an accessory wardrobe, is now what I base my buying on. Clusters of colour, and I stick to 2 or 3, with neutrals that go with all the clusters. I’m so happy with my wardrobe now. Linda M
I forgot to say that you need to choose colours that go together! eg dark teal and coral, dark purple with just about anything…Linda M
I had to laugh at the responses to last week’s yellow dress. I can’t stand it either! It must be a cultural thing, because there can’t be *that* many people who can’t wear yellow. Even color consultants will tell you that almost everyone has a version of yellow. Still, it’s a rare person that will agree to wear it. In the US, that is. In some other countries/cultures, yellow is everywhere and worn by everyone.
Anyway, this blue is gorgeous! I often wear royal or cobalt with navy but I hadn’t thought about pairing it with charcoal grey. Beautiful!
Love the pop of colour that dress brings to a neutral base capsule. I could slot it in with any of my grey, navy, black, stone/taupes, whites and it adds necessary variety.
I adore my strictly neutral base and adding the pops of colour through a 5 piece cluster as per your wonderful French 5 pieces.
This dress, a couple of silk print scarves, a pair of sapphire blue earrings and a top would be a great little royal blue 5 piece accent group to add if the colour worked out.
There’s 2 dresses I’m looking at now, this one and the blue & green print Lands End one from your last post on the bracelet wardrobe at a beach house! Love both! And both are machine washable too!
It’s a great way to add on to the neutral core without making a huge commitment.
Thank you Janice, it was me who requested using the blue dress and you’ve surpassed yourself with this lovely alternative dress. Apart from the Brown and Yellow, I would wear all the other colours in a heartbeat. Fantastic!
I really enjoyed your yellow dress post and I would definitely wear a yellow dress. But what I actually have is a royal blue dress so I went straight upstairs and tried a few things with it and had limited success. But now, so many ideas! Thank you!
What a wonderful lot of other colours can go with this strong blue! And so many of the accessories you’ve chosen are delectable. This is another good “food for thought” series, thank you.
PS I think you’ve chosen a good shade of brown for an appealing combo.
I must be one of the very few to like last week’s yellow dress. After a lifetime of avoiding yellow, I had my colours done again, and it turns out that yellow is my exact colour! I had a cardigan in that colour last summer and got so many compliments, I was amazed. Sadly the cardi is looking rather the worse for wear and this year’s yellow seems much more mustardy, which I’d definitely not my colour. So I’d happily wear that dress to the wedding….as long as I had comfortable shoes.
I own this dress from Lands End in black and have only worn it for funerals! Now I’m seeing so many possibilities. Maybe a jean jacket and handkerchief scarf with flat sandals in summer or boots in winter. Definitely got me thinking out of the box!
A denim jacket with a black dress is great – I saw a woman in the Tampa airport wearing exactly that yesterday and it looked really classic and lovely…
hugs,
Janice