March 9, 2019
Planning a wardrobe with mostly neutrals doesn’t mean that your wardrobe will be predictable…
Let’s start with this most wonderful painting:
It’s pretty simple – we can start with the same neutral clothes that we used a few days ago…
jacket – Eileen Fisher; sleeveless silk top – Eileen Fisher; pants – Eileen Fisher; v-neck tee – Eileen Fisher
Long-sleeved shirt – L.L.Bean; jacket – Levi’s; short-sleeved shirt – J.Crew; jeans – L.L.Bean
Sleeveless linen shirt – Uniqlo; cardigan – Lands’ End; shorts – Lands’ End; jeans – Lands’ End
Ah, but the accent pieces are quite different. One of the neat things here is that this heroine could have 5 neutrals… the brown and the grey would both be excellent secondary wardrobe neutrals, don’t you think?
striped shirt – Alex Mill; brown linen shirt – Uniqlo; tee shirt – Halogen; grey cardigan – Halogen
This wardrobe feels very different to me than the earlier version with bright accents:
I’ve kept the silver earrings, and then added in brown and aqua…
crystal earrings – Adore; tiger eye and onyx earrings – Matta; chalcedony stud earrings – Nitya; dangling knot earrings – Wadarat Supasirisuk
Same with the bracelets – her neutrals are still perfect for her wardrobe, but she now has the freedom to add a couple of accent pieces:
watch – Timex; brown cord bracelet – Siriporn; multistrand bead bracelet – Nakamol Design; silver bracelet – Wayan Asmana
And all of her necklaces are perfect for her new wardrobe…
brooch – Monarc Jewellery; silver planet necklace – dee by diana; bolo necklace – Karen London; 2-ring necklace – Talbots
The most fun part of any wardrobe – to me, at least – is the scarves…
brown scarf – Riona Treacy; denim blue scarf – Halogen; black & white scarf – Eileen Fisher; agate print scarf – Faliero Sarti
The “accent color” leather goods aren’t really bright – this is where the neutral nature of the accent colors really is apparent. It was just accidental that the gym shoes has a bit of aqua on them; it’s too much to imagine that you could actually coordinate gym shoes to much of anything! (my hiking shoes are the most gruesome combination of lavender and pond-scum green you can imagine – they were purchased for hiking, NOT for their looks!)
sandals – Munro; belt – Something Navy; sneakers – Merrell; backpack – Doughnut
The neutral black leather goods can easily stay the same…
black loafers – Sperry; black tote – Allsaints; boots – Blondo; belt – Halogen
I didn’t change that many pieces here, but I feel like has a different “sensibility” than the earlier version with brighter colors:
Now, assembling the outfits was quite a bit easier. Sandals make a lot of difference!
Are you more comfortable with the brighter accent colors, or would you be more likely to wear this more muted wardrobe? I’d like bright, but they would have to be different accents… I’m going to have to keep looking for my version of this wardrobe!
love,
Janice
Like this article? Save it to Pinterest!
I love this one.
I like this feel very much. I always substitute navy for your black items. I would leave out brown and just have navy, cream, denim, aqua and grey. In fact those are the colors I’m taking on our cruise to Alaska in June. The softness of this wardrobe is lovely. But it will be fun to see your personal take on bright accents. Janice Collins Coyle, Washington DC
Love this. As usual you have opened my eyes. I’m always very reluctant to mix black and brown in a travel wardrobe because I ended up needing too many shoes, but you have mixed them beautifully. If I were doing this, I’d sub brown for black (and yes it is a tough color to find) and use the yellow for one of the accents. I’m one of those people who avoided yellow and orange like the plague until I got older and realized how good they look. You learn in quilting that just a bit of yellow makes other colors pop. Another struggle is getting over the black is for evening assumption. I have a harder time figuring out what to wear at night if I don’t have black in my suitcase.
I prefer this more subdued version and my casual wardrobe works very similar to this – thanks to discoving this site in 2015. Thank you! Your posts are inspirational.
My casual wardrobe has evolved and is now in great shape – I am on a last minute weekend vacation in New York and was able to pack quickly with ease. My core colors (all year) are black, grey and tan. My accent colors vary thoughout the year – wine for this trip. I’ll be shopping this weekend for something that assimilates. I find with my cultivated wardrobe I am able buy / own less and yet have a good range to cover variability in occasions, weather etc.
Buy and own less, but feel better about what you have – that’s the entire goal of The Vivienne Files! So happy to hear that it’s working well for you to try this approach!
big Friday hugs,
Janice
Five stars for this one. I love the art. The colors are so calming. And you have reined in the silhouettes of the pieces! I envision this heroine as an aquatic biologist. She’s a brunet to echo that brown color. I imagine she is a calm, quiet person who enjoys being alone out in nature.
I would absolutely wear this! I love black, brown, and silver together and wear it that way a lot. The only changes I would make is that all that white would be natural linen or khaki (white is too “bright” for me, hah!), and I’d have a complete set of leather goods in brown, with black as the accent pieces.
I, too, am a big fan of black, brown, and silver.
I love this wardrobe! And thank you for introducing me to this particular O’Keeffe painting. I was not familiar with it, and it is so gorgeous.
I really like this. Lily has mentioned the silhouettes; perhaps that is why I enjoy this wardrobe (and the previous one with the brighter accents). I’m not a loosey-goosey clothing person; I prefer closer silhouettes and fit. No drapey tunics for me! Lots of options for the white jeans and shorts again. I will definitely work on what I already have and rethink the combinations.
I was doubtful about including warm brown with the cool colours but I see from the other comments that plenty of Vivienne’s sisters like to do this, so well done Janice. I think this is a really good take on the scheme, for the smart casual wardrobe that so many of us like to wear. Coincidentally, it’ll be a useful guide for this weekend’s changeover to my autumn wardrobe. Less is more, eh …
I love this wardrobe – find it much more sophisticated and wearable than the bright one. Even though these colours wouldn’t be my first choice for accents I could quite easily live with them and feel good about each outfit.
This is a painting I could follow with my own wardrobe, instead of the aqua I would go with olive and definitely switch to gold jewelry.
This is very lovely and practical. The painting has some wonderful areas of yellow..you add just a bit..bracelet, small bag or scarf. The surprise pop of colour might be refreshing! Thanks for always giving us something to think about!
Love these colors, and I would also omit the brown and emphasize more aqua, blue, and green…and I never travel with white.
We are heading off to Ireland and Iceland in late September. Instead of shirts, except for my denim one, I prefer to wear long-sleeve tees and T-necks with pullover sweaters. Also love Lands End half-zip fleece pullovers. Could you address something like that in the colors of this panting. My neutrals are dark grey and navy.
Will not need skirts, dresses, or anything dressy.
Love your fou by four plans. It helps me a lot!
This sounds a lot like my wardrobe. I would be very interested in seeing this, too.
This is my favorite wardrobe to date! Thank you for the inspiration.
Amazing how changing a few colors completely changes the feel of this wardrobe! I’d love to see more of these.
I love the inspiration painting, thank you for that! I appreciate the muted accent colors, I have a number of pieces in aqua and in cognac brown. I’ve focused a lot on the cognac brown this year because I’m afraid it won’t work for me in the next cold season when my hair will be even more silvery. I expect to be able to wear aqua for the rest of my life so those pieces will just have to wait. I’m shifting away from black. Right now I wear it only in the evening. In the future, black will be limited to a small proportion in printed accents and accessories.
Thank you for including color palettes for those of us with silvering, gray, or white hair. I find it interesting that it is easier to find flattering shades in the menswear department since most men don’t wear makeup or color their hair 😃. I’ve started shopping in that department when I’m in the market for tops. Given the shape-shifting effects of menopause, I may end up eventually buying pants there too, although at the moment I’m moving away from pants to maxi skirts out of my frustration with being unable to find pants that fit my post-menopausal body.
I enjoy your blog very much, you’ve taught me a helpful way to think about my wardrobe, which I appreciate greatly.
I’ve been buying men’s jeans because they fit perfectly well, and they cost a fraction of what women’s would cost! It’s always wise to check their department(s) when you’re looking for something other than tights or bras…
hugs,
Janice
I have been told countless times over the years to not wear white pants because I have a “bowling pin” kind of figure — very small rib cage, short wasted, and high/wide/square hips and now post-menopausal with quite the tummy. I have a pair of dark brown jeans and have been playing around with substituting them for the white jeans. It changes the feel of the overall wardrobe so that it loses some of the light and bright feel of many outfits, but it could work well at this time of year I think. I’m very excited to be starting to learn a bit about style and wardrobing from this wonderful blog. Any other suggestions for what else to do instead of substituting dark brown for the white pants? Thanks much.
Love these color combinations. I would have to change the brown top to a gray brown (taupe) since brown is not my friend.