May 8, 2024
A week of operas – well, four operas in seven days!
Not for the faint of heart, for certain…
And she also needs to cover her head every day – she wants to find a classic, simple scarf that she can wear with everything…
This might be perfect!
Her plan is to take a two piece black “dress,” and another simple black dress, and accent them with her favorite bright colors. There will be so many people attending these operas – nobody’s going to notice what she wears! But of course she wants to be appropriate and comfortable – as well as being nicely attired when she heads out for a super-late dinner…
The one outfit that she’s already sorted out includes the coolest little clutch bag…
scarf – Echo; earrings – rōz; cardigan – Eileen Fisher; split neck blouse – Lands’ End; bag – Sophia Aleia; skirt – Lands’ End; shoes – Sarto by Franco Sarto
For non-opera days, she will sightsee – so jeans and walking shoes make sense. But she’s sticking with her signature motif of black with a bright 2nd layer:
scarf – Echo; earrings – Aracheli Studio; cardigan – Boden; tee shirt – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; tote bag – Atelier Du Sac; loafers – Munro
Another – slightly dressier – sightseeing outfit will make it possible for her to stop at a reasonably nice restaurant for dinner:
scarf – Echo; earrings – rōz; cardigan – Alex Mill; shirt – Lands’ End; chinos – Lands’ End; boots – Lucky Brand
After giving it some serious thought, she decides to stick with just one pair of dress shoes, and one evening bag. She’s going to be sitting down most of the time, so she doesn’t need to worry about sore feet… And her bag will work with most of her accent colors – if it clashes, she thinks she will survive!
scarf – Echo; earrings – Oscar de la Renta; cardigan – Boden; bag – Sophia Aleia; dress – J.Crew; shoes – Sarto by Franco Sarto
She hangs everything together on her laundry drying rack – it’s never looked so good!
Just for fun, she scrolls through a few additional outfits in her mind. She knows that every weight and silhouette may not be ideal – a bolero cardigan with a button-front shirt might be awkward – but she’s comfortable with the choices she has available:
I have to admit – if I were making this trip, I may just have decided to buy a stack of the Boden cardigan in 4 different colors…
love,
Janice
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What a lovely capsule for a fantastic opera-fest. I’m quite envious of your heroine! And, being a pre-loved devotee, cute Boden cardigans will be my next search on eBay.
We’re moving home later this year so my head is full of ideas both for furnishings and colour schemes. My favourite at the moment is based not around a scarf (although why not?) but a cushion I have, which is made from William Morris ‘Forest’ velvet fabric. And this morning, prepping a veggie cottage pie for our supper tonight, I was struck by what a great colour combination chopped onion, yellow pepper, leeks, black beans, and parsley are. Now that would be something: to base a capsule or a room around veggies! :-)
Have you ever looked at Thredup? Yes, spelled like that… They take horrible photographs, but you cand find some wonderful deals there…
hugs,
Janice
Love vegetables as inspiration! When I had a veggie garden, I liked to photograph the bounty. And as I write this, I am looking at a still life painting with vegetables that a friend created. No limit to where we find our color inspirations.
I love how the little clutch bag almost seems to change colour to fit the outfit.
Is she covering her hair with the scarf shown? Sometimes a mid-size square like that is adequate to cover hair and sometimes not.
Maybe the heroine just needs something light to cover the top of her head but it’s ok if her hair peeks out? Or does she have a cool way to tie it for the opera?
Usually hijab scarves are much larger and designed to show off designs as folded against the hair and wrapped around the face and neck, or to drape around the shoulders. I do know a glamorous Arab-American woman who wears her hijab turban-style, very non-traditionally, but it is off her neck.
I think she had chemo and her hair isn’t grown out completely, but I’m not certain. She’s planning to wear it like a turban; I think she saw a photograph of the artist for this scarf wearing a turban, and that’s what gave her the idea.
Some women in Chicago wearing beautiful hijab scarves – I love to see them!
hugs,
Janice
Also if the operas are in Italy and her sightseeing includes churches, she may want to cover her head out of respect.
Thanks for the heads up re Thredup, Janice. I’ll take a look, although if it’s US based then postage to Scotland will be a consideration. :-)
I’ve basically been using this colour equation for quite a while (although not day in, day out): navy column pieces with various blouses/tops and sometimes with a colourful topper. You get lots of mileage that way, especially helpful in varying weather.
I love how the diagonal texture on today’s black handbag echoes the diagonal dots of the inspiration scarf!
i always love looking at the color combinations and how different the outfits look with just different accessories. I realize that’s the point, and i appreciate it!
LOVE! This looks just like my wardrobe.
Oh, now this answers my question from the other day, how to pack for a 5-8 day trip in a carry-on. Perfect. Must go find a purple cardigan!
I wouldn’t want to do this day in, day out, but for a week? It’s a nice way to make travel packing and dressing easy to do. This much black has a bit of a winter vibe to me, but given her plans for the trip, it has a timeless elegance that’s quite appropriate to the occasion. The pearl/gold/red glass bead earrings are gorgeous.
White is about 40% of the color palette but nowhere in the wardrobe. A single white T or buttondown would go with EVERYTHING and add a ton of options.
Yep – I don’t always get everything into the wardrobes! But you’re right – it’s so handy to know what you would add to a wardrobe if you want to be prepared for that extra day, or that spill, or the unexpectedly warm spell…
hugs,
Janice
CJ you are so right about adding one white shirt! Of course then I would add a pair of tennis shoes just for walking and the mileage in styling. I loved the earrings in this scenario and the handbags were perfect. So so pretty!!
I wish I had done a better job of pulling from my wardrobe for the 2 months of remodeling that I’m going through. I concentrated on the known events and kind of messed up on the day to day things. I always feel so prepared thanks to TVF but clearly I need more than 2 hours to execute successfully.
Love this idea and especially the cute bag and earrings. So much black seems a bit somber for a summery opera season. But maybe that’s what they wear in New York?
This heroine is pretty conservative – hence the head covering, and the black. I try to respect my readers!
hugs,
Janice
I love this!