January 31, 2024
We’re almost through January! Did you notice that there were THIRTY-ONE Mondays in January? Sheesh….
But we have loveliness to brighten this last day:
The colors here are glorious – bright, strong, and just slightly off of the usual or expected red and blue…
I realized within seconds that there was virtually NO way I was going to be able to match those colors to any dress, sweater, or much of anything. Furthermore, I decided that I wasn’t going to try!
Many of you know that I wear a lot of black and white; the best way to show this scarf in its full beauty would be to pair it with subtle, classic clothes, and some special accessories.
This first ensemble is a simple but perfect way to dress when you have to both work and do something social later in the day…
blazer – J.Crew; earrings – Ettika; bow brooch- Anthropologie; white linen shirt – J.Crew; scarf – Echo; pants – J.Crew; bag – Lula-Ru; flats – Adrienne Vittadini
If you need to wear a dress, but you don’t want to complicate things, wear your washable wool, with comfy shoes and accessories that draw all the attention to your lovely face…
drop earrings – Sterling Forever; square earrings – Sterling Forever; scarf – Echo; bracelet – Shymi; dress – Lands’ End; bag – Rodier; ballet flats – Bloch
When you need to go out for a relatively casual activity, but you still want to look like you made some effort, a scarf, fun earrings and colorful shoes make it fast and perfect!
Cashmere sweater – J.Crew; earrings – The Pink Reef; scarf – Echo; white jeans – J.Crew; bag – Tommy Hilfiger; loafers – Anne Klein
Sometimes, you have to be a grown-up! But you can still put a little bit of fun into your very appropriate outfit:
Cardigan – H&M; earrings – Rodela; scarf – Echo; bracelet – BIKO; skirt – MICHAEL Michael Kors; ballet flats – Vionic
When I was choosing pieces for these outfits, I wasn’t really thinking of these items as a travel capsule wardrobe. But when you put everything together, you could certainly do worse than to take this on a long weekend adventure!
Yes, it’s a lot of handbags. Maybe bags are your thing…
For about 25 years – from the time I was 30 until my mid 50s, I wore exclusively black and white. I never got bored…
love,
Janice
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how beautiful! These are my colors and since I sew I can make clothes in them. But the black and white is a pretty solid foundation.
Where do you get your fabric though? My friend and I have been mourning the closing of the last, semi-decent, place to buy fabric in our area.
I have friends who sew, and many of them order fabric from New York! I don’t know the name of the company(s) but I suspect if you lurk for a while on a sewing chat group, it will be discussed. Anybody out there with suggestions?
hugs,
Janice
Laurie, try https://www.moodfabrics.com or https://fabricdepot.com for fashion fabrics. Both ship international too. Sorry if links don’t work I’m on an old Kindle that is glitching. Cut and paste should work.
So sad to have the fabric store shut down. Part of the joy of sewing is the feel of the fabric.
This is my fave:
https://bandjfabrics.com/
Also this, which is couture-level expensive, but check out the “end cuts” tab. I look at it at least once a week.
https://mendelgoldbergfabrics.com/
Let’s hear it for all sewists!
This would make a lovely travel wardrobe for a dressy-ish holiday. Maybe a baccalaureate and graduation? The three handbags add so much personality to the outfits I would want to include them all if I had room.
Another wonderful inspiration. Thank you, Janice
This is me all the way. I love black as the base and then I add a pop of color. You have helped me wi the adding scarves and other accessories. I always look forward to your emails and blog. Thank you, Janice! Carolyn in Ohio
Love the way you added these pretty colors with the foundation pieces of black and white. Very pretty! My favorite is the casual ensemble.
A mostly poly dress with a 100% polyester lining? I’d call that a sweatbox. However, great ideas and a great help in remixing my closet.
The slightly violet blue is one of my favorite colors ever. I have quite a few things in my wardrobe in that shade. Combining it with the turquoise from the look-back, and I’m instantly in my happy place!
I love the vividness of optic white and black with bold accent colors. This wardrobe would be absolutely perfect for a black-haired, blue-eyed heroine with a high degree of classic feminine polish in her personal style. I’m still loving the Viva Magenta from 2023, and I’m guessing this heroine has some choice garments in that color. A pair of pristine blue jeans in a medium wash with a bit of a periwinkle tint would be a nice casual addition to her wardrobe, in place of or in addition to the white jeans; they would coordinate nicely with the blue accent color and would create some fun juxtapositions worn with her modern pearl jewelry, etc.
I think it’s interesting that you mention the shade of denim that would work here. Denim is one of my neutrals, and the shade of the wash matters a lot! My favorite garments have just the right greyed medium blue, so that they go with grey and all the accent colors I like. How fun to see denim as an accent color!
I’m swooning over the blue earrings & bracelet.
That scarf would look stunning on my daughter, who probably has that vivid pink somewhere in her closet.
This would make a great long, dressier weekend wardrobe. I think one would have room for all the bags and shoes because there’s really not many clothes! Besides you would be carrying one and wearing one pair. How fun.
Ah, more of my favorite colors, and a lovely, dressy style. I love all of this! Here is yet another gorgeous scarf from Echo for me to drool over. Maybe some day…
This would actually be a fantastic serious wardrobe for a Funeral / mourning week. I’m specifically thinking of Ireland where there are a number of very public social occasions such as the Wake, Funeral service, Post funeral service meal, cremation service and meal after that. If you are in the close family there are also meeting all the different teams that put it all together, caterers, publishers, priests etc. There can be 100’s of people at each event and not the same crowd each time and they are on different days too.
I live in Australia and last year I was planning to return to Ireland on very short notice to attend the funeral celebrations of someone close to me. Using years of reading the Vivienne Files and then sitting with a friend we figured out all the outfits and made sure I’d polished all my shoes etc and the checked the components so everything was ready to be packed and be worn etc. Extra challenge was the opposite season to Australia where I live. When it’s hot summer day in Australia it’s very hard to think of all the layers you’ll need in wet west of Ireland.
The funeral celebrations are very public in Ireland and an amazing social occasion. Interestingly I’ve never seen so many Hermes scarves as I did that week. The ladies wore a long sober coloured winter coat with a Hermes Scarf around the neck or shoulders. It’s a good way to add interest and personality. And there isn’t a fixation on Black – Navy, Charcoal grey and bottle green are all fine. My own interchangeable wardrobe was based on Navy – I used the Slot Machine concept that is from some early posts here and it’s honestly the best way to manage different levels of formality using core basics.
Where in the west? I have family in Clare…
hugs,
Janice