November 1, 2023
As I sit here at the dining table typing, it has just quit snowing in Chicago. Bear in mind that nothing has stuck to the ground, and for all I can tell, it didn’t even SNOW down there! We live on the 24th floor; we see snow that never hits the ground…
I don’t care. I love snow!
Let’s visit our heroines and see what they’re doing to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. It might seem terribly early to begin to look at festive attire, but remember that the really good stuff ALWAYS sells out early…
First up – my favorite painting of the six. I think. Subject to change!
You don’t have to choose, really! I know people who walk into a room in a museum and immediately pick their favorite painting there… This can be useful if it helps you identify the things that you most love, but let’s not get carried away with worrying about our preferences for things that we CAN’T have…
When we left this heroine in October, her 32-piece wardrobe looked like this:
Our heroine already has a beautiful navy pleated skirt, so she wants to find something to wear with that! And she’s thinking velvet…
With some diligent, disciplined shopping, she finds the following:
Fair Isle sweater- Barbour; necklace – Linya Jewellery; velvet top – Boden; navy velvet pants – Boden; bag – Reiss; pumps – Badgley Mischka
Maybe she will wear the velvet top and pants together – some of us look like an overstuffed sofa if we do this, but some women look lovely dressed this way. Velvet has that lustrous quality that seems to both absorb and reflect light – yum!
Even though she’s not sure that she will wear her new shoes with pants (although she could…), she knew that she wanted dressy accessories to wear with her pleated skirt and her new velvet top.
Here’s her updated wardrobe; she’s arranged things by type of garment, rather than color. Sometimes, this can make a lot of difference in getting dressed!
Her accessories are still wonderful…
Her new outfits start with wearing her velvet top – dressed up, and then dressed down:
Her timelessly classic Fair Isle sweater can be worn with any combination of navy and green, including wearing it over a solid column of either color…
Velvet pants can be worn with anything! Sometimes they’re just a nice warm touch of luxury in a more relaxed outfit:
Now, let’s visit our heroine with the “black and brights” wardrobe! Her inspirational painting is this amusing street scene – I’ve heard that these women are “professionals,” but I can’t confirm that…
Right now, her wardrobe is heavy on black; any of us who love black always find this to be true!
She too would like to find a pretty top to wear with her black pleated skirt! Another skirt really wouldn’t go amiss here – she only has the one, and her black dress… And a luxurious sweater in one of her accent colors will be easy to wear with her skirt(s) or pants…
And dressy accessories! Sometimes you already have the clothes to get dressed up, but you could really step things up a lot with the right shoes, earrings and bag.
After a really quick shop, these are her purchases:
note that the earrings are NOT huge, like so many dangle earrings…
Earrings – Nadri; cashmere polo sweater – Alex Mill; lace top – Boden; velvet skirt – J.Crew; bag – Badgley Mischka; shoes – J.Crew Factory
Her updated wardrobe seems almost unchanged – only with a bit of study do you realize that she’s added some festive items…
Her accessories are amazing – if someone went mad and sent all of these to me, I wouldn’t be too upset! (except, of course, for finding storage space!)
Her new lace top is great under a cardigan, with jeans – just a touch of dressiness… and with her pleated skirt, it can be worn any time of year.
A black velvet skirt is as nice with boots as it is with pumps – and any of her accent colors go perfectly with it…
White jeans and a luxurious cashmere sweater would be great fun to wear to a relaxed holiday event, and with black pants it can be worn day or night:
Friday, I will share two more of the “Six Paintings, 12 Months” wardrobes…
love,
Janice
Earlier months of these wardrobes can be found here:
p.s. Let’s talk books! I just finished The Lord of the Rings (I know, 40 years after I should have read it!) and I’m bereft…
p.p.s. Has anybody else noticed an appalling amount of fake leather clothing in the world? I can’t imagine how uncomfortable these things would be to wear…
Like this article? Save it to Pinterest!
Janice, I’ve read Lord of the Rings quite a few times, and it’s one of my contenders for if I am ever marooned on a desert island and only allowed one book (horrors!). I have a beautifully illustrated flimsy rice-paper copy, plus a battered & stained paperback set for “normal” reading (i.e. accompanied by food and cups of tea).
Isn’t velvet gorgeous? And I also love the fair isle sweater, such a great addition to the Rothko wardrobe. It was interesting how much easier it was for me to evaluate the wardrobe, once things were sorted into function rather than colour. I have my closet sorted by function first, colour second.
Nga mihi, thank you.
Absolutely love the new additions – particularly the Rothko. That Fair Isle sweater is just perfect. I recently located a pine green velvet blazer and pants, and an off-white lace blouse on JCrew Outlet. Snatched them up as possible wedding outfit next December. If the pants don’t work, I do already have a black velvet pair. I was delighted. I also purchased – earlier this year – a muted purple velvet blazer I am very much looking forward to wearing once it gets a little colder. Not quite there yet here in the PNW. Looking forward to seeing the other wardrobes – I’d completely forgotten it was first of November, so what a nice surprise to see in my “inbox”.
Just gorgeous, I wish I could afford them all! You are great at putting these outfits together!
BTW, Wisconsin snow stuck to the ground over night. Looks pretty but hate driving in the upcoming weather.
I too think that the Fair Isle sweater does so much for that Rothko wardrobe. Good find Janice! I do love Fair Isle and now own 3 of them, which I wear all throughout the winter. I wonder if the Kirchner wardrobe needs a bit more denim blue? It feels like a lot of pink to me.
I FIRST read it when I was 16….and remember the desolation when it was finished.
I have way, way too many book recommendations. How about “A Gentleman in Moscow”?
Janice, could you do a thing with grey? Specifically, around a grey winter jacket, that could be dressed up or down, which I have had no success in finding. Just too-puffy puffers. Thank you so, so much for all your diligent and fascinating research, which, from reading frequent other comments,I see that I am not alone in my gratefulness.
I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” but it has been by far the most polarizing book my club has read. Loved or hated, no in between. I read “To Kill a Mocking Bird” every few years and always find something new.
Janice, I too love snow and rarely get but my 96 year old mom called me from IN just to let me know that the first flakes were falling!
The Fair Isle really works wonders with the Rothko. As always the additions chosen are lovely and good food for thought. I did like seeing items sorted in categories. That will be useful in future packing.
Sheila how smart to grab something dressy for possible wedding parties.
Enjoy your weather wherever you are.
I am in the hate it group on Gentleman in Moscow group. However, I thought The Lincoln Highway was terrific. Also recommend Lessons in Chemistry, and Horse. I think Horse was the best book I have read this year.
Regarding the grey coat, I have a knee length Patagonia in grey and it works well for work or play. Not at all puffy.
Hey, Darby, thank you so much! Will look. Am going shopping tomorrow!
Love a Fair Isle sweater and on the lookout for a new one. I have used the sweater shaver several times on the two I currently own! Like you I detest the fake leather as it is uncomfortable, sweaty, and generally cheap looking.
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are favorites!
It’s been 53 years, but I read LOTR in high school and was obsessed with it for about two months, but there were so many more books/series to read! Fun fact: I’ve met Sean Austin.
Faux leather: 😱😱 Doesn’t matter how expensive. It looks cheap. Faux suede, on the other hand, is pretty nice.
The fair isle sweater was a fabulous find in those colors. When you’ve already built a capsule around those two colors and add this, you’ve punched up the wardrobe. I’ve scanned that wardrobe & found another 5-7 possible outfits. Makes me want to knit another pullover fair isle in MY best colors.
I love the outfits inspired by the Kirchner painting! Are the scarves currently available, and if so, from where?
They might still be available – the fastest way to find out is to visit the earlier posts about the Kirchner painting and click on the links for them. I’m pretty confident about the Aspinal of London A, but any of the rest may have sold out…
hugs,
Janice
I love fair isle sweaters and used to knit them a lot. I always had something in my own often quirky colours. Then sweaters became too warm and they were all donated. Hope someone enjoyed my choices!
When I was a teen I had a faux leather vest and pant set. I wore it to rags. It was fairly lightweight, flexible and not too shiny, but the breathability was pretty poor. Now I would probably go with a faux suede, not faux leather. Also, I hate when a leather bag or shoe turns out to be “vegan” leather. Aaaaaaargh!
LOTR is one of a few series I reread on the regular. I’ve been revisiting this classic since I first read it at 13 when I was in the hospital with mono. I took an iTunes U class, a close (line by line) reading of The Hobbit which I’d really recommend. Also I now have the entire series on audiobook read by the incomparable Andy Serkis (Gollum). Outstanding.
Always excited to see the next installment in these wardrobes! I still haven’t read LOTR. One of these days… If you haven’t read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, I highly recommend. It is easily one of the most influential books I have ever read.
Hardcore LOTR fan here -my mom read me the whole cycle when I was five, and I’ve reread it dozens of times since… Didn’t figure out til college that Tolkien was a serious scholar & had built on a lot of real cultures & their stories to build Middle Earth, which is probably why it rings so true. For a very different (fantasy-humor) author who takes a similar magpie approach, check out Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (NightWatch & WinterSmith are favorites). For more classic fantasy, Robin Mckinley (Hero & the Crown, The Blue Sword) or Patricia McKillip (The Book of Atrix Wolfe). A more recent favorite is Elsa Hart’s Li Du series (Jade Dragon Mountain, etc) – not fantasy but an excellent quest. 😊. (Ask a book geek…)
And yes, I’m muttering to myself about that Fair Isle too! Good find!
“Vegan leather” is plastic. I don’t wear plastic clothing. This is one trend that can’t fade fast enough.
I first read TLOTR right at the end of my senior year in High School…a few decades ago, lol, and I think I’ve re-read it every 2 – 4 years since. I can rant for an uncomfortably long time about the things the movies messed up…I get seriously disturbed when directors mess with the story the author told, lol.
I am enjoying the painting-based wardrobes tremendously; looking forward to the next two installments!
Amen, hallelujah, sister!! I couldn’t even watch them all I was so mad. They had the budget, they had the technology, and they just completely screwed up… well, pretty much everything. What a huge missed opportunity!
LOL at all the comments about vegan leather!
Back in highschool I read “Huma, the legend”, another from Tolkien and loved it too.
And I’m also liking the fair isle sweater and the velvet top.
Cheers and blessings!
Are you sure you mean Tolkien, rather than fantasy more broadly? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Huma
Books I could (and do) read over and over –
Tender is the Night – F Scott Fitzgerald (or maybe Zelda)
A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Favorite modern-ish writers I will read anything from – Amy Tan, Jane Smiley, Anne Tyler (Vinegar Girl is so charming), Alice Adams, Anna Quindlen
I love the velvet pants from the first wardrobe, even though I’m loosely doing the second! From the second, the lace top is my favorite!
Just found your email
Can’t wait to receive more
A touch late to the party! But I think you’ve just answered some of my own “black and brights” queries.
I go a step further and add in some yellow pieces – I can’t bring myself to white jeans during this life phase (2 under 5)!
Thank you for keeping up the amazing work!