January 1, 2024
Happy New Year!
Let’s go! I’m going to try – for the first few months – to be logical and methodical about building these wardrobes, rather the way an adult might go about buying clothes…
Just in case you want to look back to where we started, this will take you there!
Let’s start with this most elegant painting:
Last month/week, we started this heroine out with the most basic of garments – but still enough for a couple of outfits!
Katahdin khaki cardigan – L.L.Bean; olive star earrings – sccollection; sunwashed olive and vicuna heather tees – Lands’ End; pants – Lands’ End; olive cashmere scarf – Scarves by Franci; shoes – SoftWalk
Since this heroine lives where it’s pretty cold, she thought that dark pants might be logical – it could snow! Maybe…
And she wanted an accent cardigan…
Earrings – Anthropologie; rust cardigan – Treasure & Bond; black and ivory tee shirts – Lands’ End; scarf – Yen Ting Cho; black pants – L.L.Bean; loafers – Franco Sarto
At this very early stage, she has an almost foolproof wardrobe; getting dressed in the dark might not be perfect, but you couldn’t look terribly bad…
Let’s take a look at a couple of outfits that she now can wear by combining December and January garments:
Next, our heroine who is seeking both simple neutrals and zesty accents!
Her December clothes gave her the option of a solid black outfit – never a bad idea – and of wearing her black pants with a pink sweater:
Cashmere cardigan – L.L.Bean; scarf – Kurt Geiger; earrings – Kate Spade New York; black tee shirt – L.L.Bean; pants – L.L.Bean; petunia sweater – J.Crew; loafers – Birdies
She lives somewhere that has all KINDS of weather… But she might be going away soon to someplace warm, so she takes advantage of seeing some summery items that suit her… as well as a perfect scarf!
Earrings – Liz Claiborne; pink tank top – Papinelle; orange top – Conquista; ivory jacket – Lands’ End; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; ivory pants – J.Crew; sandals – Jack Rogers
This is the kind of travel capsule wardrobe that would be perfect if you were spending just a day or two in a wide variety of places, from warm to cool…
This heroine is the kind of woman who can wear something sleeveless under a cardigan; if you struggle with that, your pink and orange tops might need a bit of sleeve!
Remember this wonderful painting? Or is it an etching? I don’t care!
For December, we loaded up our heroine on ivory and brown…
Almond milk shirt – Alex Mill; baroque pearl earrings – The Jewellery Store London; tiramisu cardigan – Alex Mill; almond milk corduroy pants – Alex Mill; scarf – Inkanti; Walnut alpaca sweater – Alex Mill; loafers – Cole Haan
While browsing, our heroine wandered into the world of Allspice! And proceeded to take advantage of it…
She also spotted a wonderful scarf; it’s light, bright, and has the blue and brown for which she is shopping!
Earrings – Bio-Trimmings; chambray tee shirt – Lands’ End; shawl-collar pullover – Lands’ End; scarf – kelpman textile; allspice skirt – Lands’ End; allspice pants – Lands’ End; flats – Massimo Matteo
When assembled together, these 8 garments look great! One could travel for ages with these things…
Mixing December and January clothes open up lots of possibilities:
Wednesday, we will visit our 3 other heroines to see what they’re finding…
love,
Janice
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Good evening from New Zealand ( home of the All Blacks!)
Happy New Year Janice!
Thanks for your amazing work, your research and writing is much appreciated.
You help inspire my suitcase planning for trips to the UK and Europe.
Wishing you health and happiness for 2024!
I don’t know if you saw that Ardie Savea was named the best player for 2023 by one of the rugby magazines… Ireland had 5 players in the top 50…
hugs,
Janice
👍😊
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all!
Jessie Zhao scarves could become an obsession! This is a designer who loves color. This is probably going to be my favorite capsule.
I think brown/blue combinations are gorgeous. The John Nash inspiration is so very pretty—- I’d just grab warmer & clearer versions of his colors. Just yesterday, I grabbed a chocolate brown shirt, topped it with a turquoise jacket, accented with a. Turquoise necklace & belt. Worn with jeans & tan booties.
Don’t get too rational and logical. It’s your creative side I appreciate.
No worries! Rational is a deliberate choice that I make when I’m overwhelmed with the results of being creative just a bit TOO much…
hugs,
Janice
Happy New Year Everyone! Janice, thank you for the link to the first post. I’d already forgotten what all of them were.. jheez. The holiday has been too much for my brain. I very much like the addition of the allspice to the Nash collection. This may be the one I watch. Believe it or not, I can actually tell that the warmer tones of the Denis painting aren’t for me. Can’t wait to see what’s coming on Wednesday – especially the shades of blue. Have a good day everyone.
Love the Nash wardrobe even though they aren’t colors I typically wear! I think it’s the softness I like. Just beautiful. And that Jessie Zhao scarf is perfection with the Rothko wardrobe. Happy New Year to all!
Happy New Year! The browns!
I wish you all a happy new year.
Of course I love the 1 & 3.
If it starts off fantastically in January, I’m excited to see what else comes next year.
Oh, the six paintings all look so promising.
I think the Nash is a water colour painting?
I am surprised how much more I enjoy these three now that there are more pieces and colours but I guess that more pieces -> more variety -> more enjoyment makes perfect sense!
I’m so excited for the Rothko this year and that scarf to start us off! Just yummy! And I’m so glad that my favorite heroine doesn’t appreciate sleeves under her cardigans either. This is definitely going to be my favorite!
I was impressed that you found linen in January then realized that they are pre-order. Maybe her trip is being pre-planned for a cruise in March? That Jessie Zhao scarf would be perfect for a spring cruise.
Happy New Year.
I am still sticking with the Nash painting but I have already changed the brown for green in my mind. Love the taupe and I am sticking my neck out with green although mine will be more apple green than the greyed green in the painting and should be ok with cream, taupe and smokey blue all of which I already have. Blame the sales for me jumping the gun.
Some really pretty pieces in all the wardrobes. For me, personally, number one is too warm. Number two is too vivid. I should like number three. I have grey-green eyes and beige-y hair. For some reason, the colors (with the addition of peach, or was it pink?) remind me of the Koret, polyester coordinates my mother bought at Younkers! Ah, associations and color!
I think it all looks wonderful! :) Thanks!!!
Happy New Year! Looking forward to the rest of the series – especially the blues!
Happy New Year everyone! I’m loving the Nash. Rose Brown would be my darker choice with blue. I’m looking forward to all the blues on Wednesday. I know plenty of adults who are neither rational nor logical in their clothes buying.
I am determined to buy at least one item from the Rothko set each month. I love this one more than anything you’ve ever done before. This year I am suddenly in the position of needing to be on call to travel to Central America, Minnesota, or Europe at a moment’s notice. It’s absolutely perfect for my situation!
I love the Rothko too but I cannot figure if it’s orange or a golden yellow. One top is labelled orange but the scarf appears yellow and pink on my screen. The painting itself reads a golden yellow. The pinks seem to be the same as in the painting. Thoughts?
Since I wear a lot of this pink and black I remember once receiving a verbal (and disrespectful) caution from a rather mousy soul that I looked like a ‘liquorice o all sort’. Next day I wore lemon yellow and black the following day pale blue and black and finally white and black…I am rather fond of all sorts!! Not everyone is.
Happy New Year everyone. I have not had a chance to look at TVF for five days so I’m catching up! What a treat to sit and read the new posts, the look backs, and all the comments. I am loving the Nash the most at this point. Can’t wait for the next group. The Echo scarves are so lovely and it’s so interesting how folding them changes the look and predominate colors.
On the declutter lookback I did learn some things. Yes it is too overwhelming for me to pull out/try on everything. But my velvet pants/skirt experiment was successful. I wore only velvet bottoms for the holiday season (Thanksgiving thru New Years) and I really enjoyed. The 30 plus year old pants just didn’t fit my 70 plus year old body quite the same. So they got worn but are now in the donation bag. Everything else was great! For the next two months I’m going to wear only corduroy or ponte knit. In 2024 I’m going to wear them in October and November as well. I’ve always sorted my clothes by color but doing it by fabric really seems to get me into things I haven’t worn. Since I live in a warmer climate it seems to be a possible solution to getting items into the rotation. If at the end of the two months something doesn’t work then it can easily be let go of. This method makes it easy for me to choose a top based on the temps.
All 3 wardrobes are off to an amazing start!
Looking at the row of 4 Lands End T-shirts in the black/olive Denis wardrobe made me smile. I think this heroine has found her source for go-to Ts and is buying smart duplicates in multiple colors, and this seems quite wise to me. One thing that I often notice about capsule wardrobes is that there is so much variety in the silhouettes/fits of the pieces that even though items should work together based on color/texture/etc., it’s not clear that they actually will fit together right when wearing them. Having a highly standardized T in each of her neutrals should help a lot with that. I do have to assume that she’s a top tucker since the rust cardigan looks short (and having a top hanging out underneath might look strange). This is a case where the silhouette of her standard T works well but perhaps not the length if worn untucked. I have observed that some people’s shape/size is more amenable to wearing a top in multiple ways to get the silhouette/proportion needed for a given combination (tucked, partially tucked, tied into a knot at the side, loose, etc.), but mine is really not as forgiving. This is a place where the theoretical mix and matchability of a capsule meets the reality of one’s unique physical self.
The brightly colored Rothko capsule is appealing to me mostly on the basis of those two wonderful scarves! I’m looking forward to seeing how the colors come together as additional outfits are created from it. The big cat scarf is amazing, but I admit that for this capsule, I wish it had just a bit of black in it.
The scarf added to the taupe/brown/beige wardrobe is absolute perfection. The All Spice color looks so great in these images as a taupe-brown color but on the LE site, it looks warmer and not as dark. This is a situation where I’d have to have the items in hand to gauge whether it’s one of my desired taupe colors or not. But if the heroine has a wider window of acceptability around this color, these pieces should work very well in the capsule.
Happy New Year!