August 9, 2024
One of our heroines fell instantly in love with a scarf, and had a business week travel vision…
scarf – Echo
She has a closet full of black dresses, but she’s never dared to pack JUST black dresses for a business trip!
Why not? She’s going to meet different groups each day she’s away, and she doesn’t care if she’s known as the woman who wears lots of black…
Here’s her color palette:
scarf – Echo
Her first dress is a mid-calf shirtdress… perfect with her suede belt, a red cardigan, and some other bits that pull everything together:
Earrings – Justine Clenquet; dress – Boden; belt – BeltBe; scarf – Echo; cardigan – GAP; bag – Brix+Bailey; shoes – Birdies
Her second dress is shorter, and has a small “moc” neckline. As much as she loves her golden yellow cardigan, she MUST have a brooch, so that she can conceal that annoying logo…
Marcasite earrings – Macy’s; scarf – Echo; brooch – Macy’s; cotton knit dress – Lands End; cardigan – Polo Ralph Lauren; pumps – Vaneli
Her third dress is a bit roomier; she’s saving it for the night they go out to dinner! A ruana worn with it will dress things up, and give her room to eat and eat and eat…
scarf – Echo; earrings – Main & Sterling; dress – Boden; crystal trimmed ruana – Echo; studded flats – Naturalizer
And finally, she decides to break the pattern just a tiny bit, and pack a black sweater and skirt! This may be what she wears the day she travels home, so she gets wildly casual and includes a beautiful denim jacket…
Earrings – Gemondo; scarf – Echo; sweater – L.L.Bean; denim jacket – Alex Mill; necklace – Gemondo; skirt – Boden; boots – Blondo
If she wears one of her dresses for the train trip to get to her meetings, she will only need the smallest of suitcases! She may toss in a pair of black pants, just in case she decides to stay the weekend…
She literally can’t go wrong with this wardrobe, unless she tries to wrap a dress around herself as a skirt, or she tries to stick her legs into her black cashmere sweater by accident…
But she still likes to consider how she might decide to change up her outfit plans!
The last time I went to Paris (four years ago!), I packed mostly black dresses. I’m thinking that I may do this again, when we go to England and Paris in November!
love,
Janice
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Janice, I’m SO happy for you having a lovely trip planned for the not-too-distant future!
This sort of wardrobe is perfect for so many situations – it offers variety yet it’s disciplined. I can easily imagine switching my preferences into this concept.
I noticed the dress in the first outfit comes in a fun B&W stripe and two other patterns (included a nice geometric pattern in blue and white).
While I don’t wear black, anymore, and I don’t wear dresses, anymore, I think this wardrobe is outstanding for its elegance and simplicity. All the accessories are wonderful, but to me the details of the shoes really make the outfits special.
I used to know a woman whose standard traveling wardrobe was 3 dresses, 2 cardigans (or a cardigan and a blazer). Colors, cuts, and formality could vary depending on the occasions she had to dress for. She could travel for weeks with a very small bag.
I’m such a pants girl. I’d have to switch the dresses out with maybe a couple of pair of pants and some tops. I think if you kept to the concept and used all black (or whatever color) with accents in the cardigans it would still work. The last couple of trips I took my packing was very minimal. I, too, am so happy for you about travel in your future. Would that I could. Thank you! Have a great weekend ladies.
Swap out the black for navy, and I could travel for weeks like this. Needless to say, that Echo scarf is winging its way to me … thank you, Janice!
I love this travel wardrobe just as it is, and have wished for more dresses/skits in your posts.
As I am retired, this wardrobe would not be related to work, but is nice ‘dressy casual….and, If I added1 pr. of blk. slacks and 1 pr. of jeans, I clould travel. for weeks, with lots of choices.
So I first learned about TVF from the comments section on Corporette dot com. And now to go full circle, here is a post I remember from Corporette where a woman did wear a black dress each day for a week and how she did it, if you’re interested. Love you both! https://corporette.com/what-to-wear-with-a-black-dress/
This is how I too found TVF! And still read both. Thank you, Janice, for TVF. It has made such a difference.
Dear Janice, thanks for this! I too have been wearing more dresses this summer and was thinking on how to keep rotating them more all year.
I’m also really happy to hear about your travel plans. We always get great eye candy as a souvenir!
Cheers and blessings 🫶.
I’m still giggling about the yellow brooch you’re including to cover up “that annoying logo”. Many times I’ve avoided purchasing clothing with large logos because they’re so annoying! Never thought of a brooch!
Ditto! And I’ve inherited a large collection of vintage brooches from older relatives, so I really have no excuse! Maybe I’ll not necessarily exclude anything with logos in the future…
Using a brooch to cover the logo on the cardigan is a great idea!
I quite agree. Why have I not thought of that?
Great ideas and could fit in a small bag. This scarf could work with many one color wardrobes. Your comments about only dressing “wrong” if she put her foot in a sleeve reminded me of Jeanne Roberts(I think that’s the name), a speaker and oh so funny. One of her monologues was about draping a big scarf for drama. She had trouble all night and didn’t realize until she was back at her hotel that in her rush she had grabbed black pants instead of her wrap.
Glad you have some travel plans!
Amanda, I remember that bit by Jeanne Robertson. She was funny without being vulgar. I will now have to go to You Tube and rewatch some of her videos.
Thanks for the reminder.
The brooch is sweet!
Well, I would have needed this post sooner.
On the day of the funeral it was so hot that I didn’t wear my only long black dress (instead I wore suit trousers and a stylish short-sleeved blouse).
I love the pops of color, but I’m not a fan of the yellow/black 🐝 combo… I prefer curry
So elegant. I also like the brooch idea to cover up a logo. As ever, a beautiful wardrobe and great ideas. Looking forwards to see how you pack for your fall trip.
There are times when I have purchased garments with “annoying logos” and used a seam ripper to pull them out. On any of my garments, I may have cut off leather tags, pulled out stitches, etc. just so that I am not a walking advertisement for some company. If I could remove the logo from my leather bag without leaving a hole I would do that. But alas … I just wear the logo facing my body so no one sees unless I put the bag down somewhere
I guarantee you no one will notice all the black dresses. People will be noticing all her bright, primary color accents.
I have got to say how much I have enjoyed the Echo 100 scarves project. It’s given you plenty of inspiration, I’m sure. So, readers, would any of you care to share your favorite scarf?