February 17, 2025
So if you didn’t get all of the pretty things you wanted for Valentine’s Day, take a look at this beauty:
I chose pink and green as accent colors, but you wouldn’t want to miss the plum, or the orange…
Our heroine is off for a long weekend with someone she loves. They have some dressy things planned, as well as a day or two of just wandering and being together. No big, complicated, stressful agenda for our heroine!
scarf – Echo; earrings – Swarovski; rose pink tee – Lands’ End; sweater/blazer – J.Crew; black pants – Lands’ End; socks – Old Navy; tote bag – Moda Luxe; loafers – Marc Joseph New York
So her dressiness level is all over the place, from classic chinos to a lace-trimmed top! Pretty jewelry and a lovely bag are coming along too!
Brooch – Ellie Vail Jewelry; onyx & pearl earrings – Vintouch Italy; green earrings – Nasi Silver; green top – Boden; black lace top – Anne Klein; striped tee shirt – A New Day; bag – Fable England; rose pink blazer – Lands’ End; chinos – L.L.Bean; black chiffon skirt – Lands’ End; ballet flats – Anne Klein; stone loafers – Minnetonka
The green top feels a bit like an outlier, as does the striped tee shirt, but our heroine really wants to avoid overdoing the pretty pinkness. And the green top does have ruffles…
Her options are certainly abundant – she can dress casually during the day, dress up at night, and still not exhaust the possibilities:
This prompted a fun day dream for me – a heroine with a black travel wardrobe core, who chooses a different scarf each time she packs! Mix up those accent colors and have some fun…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago was week two of my Clothing Diary. I found that by doing this for a while, I learned some interesting about my wardrobe, and about how I get dressed.
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
Very pretty wardrobe that I can’t stop looking at. I love the different options for dressing up or down. I don’t own any pink but I like it grounded by the black. Thank you, Janice.
Love all of this! These are among my favorite colors and I would be thrilled to take this travel capsule anywhere. I love that the blouse and skirt can be worn together to make a dressy dress, or separated to be a pop of fun with a more casual pairing. I could see these outfits going to museum, then for a long walk and finally to an elegant dinner and a show.
One thing I have to say is that I rarely wear scarves, but I love the ones you find so much I’d be tempted to frame them as art!
I followed the link to the old clothing diary. I laughed because in the last 3-4 years, I’ve really gotten into LL Bean because of you! I see the outfits you put together and have purchased several of the items. I love their comfortable sweaters, and have 3 pairs of perfect fit drawstring/stretchy chino like pants. Maybe I am frumpy now, just turned 64! I love those pants for when I need something a little nicer than jeans but want an elastic waist. You also turned me back into a Talbots shopper. I live very close to one here, so easier than LL Bean to purchase and exchange. Thanks for all the outfits, I love it when you’re in my inbox.
Janice,
This is so lovely ! Especially that lacy top and that fab handbag ! In trying to see how I could make this work me, I intently explored all of the items on the scarf and found an almond on the left side, by the sliced peach , along with some other tan seed pods, so — eliminate the black and go with cores of stone, tan, and one of the greens, with accents of warmish pink and/ or peach, plum, and the red of that apple or those cherries. Hmmm, why am I suddenly craving fresh fruit ?
Shrebee, I had this same thought! Stone and green neutrals with the fruit colored accents. I love this scarf. Rose family fruits are my favorite foods.
It’s such a great scarf, and many of us could make the colors work, one way or the other! I like the way you’re thinking with the stone, tan and green. There’s a LOT of green in the middle of the scarf…
Fresh fruit is good for you – especially in the bitter cold winter!
love,
Janice
Janice, I love your fun day dream! I’m usually on a few planes every month–I’m going to ponder your idea. (Black is always my capsule’s core.)
All you ladies get me thinking–such creative work here, so refreshing!
Camille
P.S. LL Bean has a big sale today.
As a gardener, I love this scarf. While my style leans more sporty rather than pretty, I would happily work with this scarf and its color possibilities.
BTW, both links to the scarf navigate to J. Crew, but it was easy to find this scarf on the Echo website by doing a search of the artist’s name – Wendy Hollander.
Dear Debra,
Thanks for letting me know – I think I’ve fixed those links. I think…
love,
Janice
Thanks Debra, had the same problem with the link going to j crew. Love this scarf and so many ways to work with it.
Why are we so afraid of pink? Why do we try to avoid “prettiness”? Pink is such a flattering colour to our skin. There is a variation in tone of pink for every taste. I think it is a pity that such a lovely colour is not enjoyed more often in wardrobes. I heard that pink is the “navy blue of India”, worn by both sexes often. Janis, you have often featured capsule wardrobes with a pink accent colour, mostly with a black or white core of basics. Does a pink wardrobe always read as “too sweet”? Can pink ever be “sophisticated”, “elegant”, “chic”, “modern” or “edgy”?
The whole stereotype around colors bugs me a ton, but I’m often told that pink just won’t work for a woman who works. I’ve never experienced that, but I try to respect everybody’s various opinions. To my mind, pink is just about the perfect accent color – it looks good with black, grey, navy, beige, brown… I’m not sure about olive!
love,
Janice
I remember you did a capsule wardrobe of olive/ army green basics and used a pale blush colour as an accent…I was surprised at how lovely the two looked together. I had not heard that maxim about pink not working for a woman who works…not a “power colour”?
Give me all the pinks, all the time!
F50 VP here. I’m WFH now and on the casual side of business casual these days. But I’ve worn plenty of pink over the course of my career. Admittedly, never pink head to toe, but a pink blouse? Absolutely. Without a second thought.
Olive + pink is one of the greatest color combos using olive! I especially like a light dusky pink with olive since the two colors share a grey/”tone” quality, but that spectrum of magenta to burgundy/wine is also magnificent with olive since yellow-green and red-violet are opposites on the color wheel.
Hi, Susan. All styles can be pretty, I should have called the style romantic which to me includes floral prints. Yes, there are many flattering shades of pink for us to choose. One of my signature colors is pink coral, always get compliments when I wear that color. And I think pink can be all the descriptive words you used. For several years, I lived in an apartment that had a pink bathroom – fixtures, tile, walls – and I loved it!
Hi Debra, I think my questions came from Janis’ assertion that her heroine would want to avoid the prettiness of too much pink in her capsule wardrobe. I suspect that pink, more than any other colour, is emotionally and socially loaded with meaning or feminine connotations, at least in North America? I would love to see how Janis would make a work wardrobe look edgy, modern, elegant and sophisticated in pink….not pink accented but pink. Can it be done?
This is just lovely. What a great way to start off a Monday.
I loved this Echo 100 scarf from the launch. Lately I’ve been craving pretty things. I bought a lace blouse over the weekend. Too cold to wear it here, yet. Slightly off topic, Janice features so many pretty earrings, but I can’t wear pierced earrings. Has anyone found options that are comfortable, pretty and aren’t for pierced ears?
I’d love to have this as a picture on the wall. I love these colours, though the green is a bit too yellow for me. Pink does go with olive but a more coral pink.
I spent this afternoon helping my daughter assess her wardrobe. A lot of the clothes she wasn’t wearing was mainly down to the ‘wrong footwear’ or they needed mending/alterations. The wrong footwear is a problem. Having moved house, she now has a long walk to work. Her shoes/boots need to be low heeled, stylish for work but comfortable enough to walk several miles. I left her a copy of Style Statement by Carrie McCarthy and Danielle LaPorte. You mentioned it once and I bought a copy.
This artist is an illustrator – she may have done some things that are frameable!
love,
Janice
As a caveat, I don’t much like beige chinos to begin with, but I really didn’t like them in this capsule! (Even just to look at, let alone wear.) Color- and style-wise, they stuck out like a sore thumb for me, and none of the outfit options with them worked for me. I think some people view beige chinos as a totally neutral, goes-with-anything option so it’s a no-brainer to add to a capsule, but for me, they really do have to fit well with the other pieces to earn their place. But I could readily substitute a pair of blue jeans (a light to medium shade of blue) and different shoes and be happy with this capsule.
This is not to say there is anything objectively “wrong” with the way Janice built this capsule, of course! It was instructive to have such a strong reaction to the beige chinos, and it made me realize how much blue jeans are my goes-with-anything neutral pants option while the standard beige chinos have a very, very specific vibe for me. The chinos feel too utilitarian and not a great color addition for the capsule, but jeans work, which is funny because jeans are also utilitarian in their roots. But I have been culturally trained to see jeans as an easy dress-up-and-down piece that can be mixed readily with other styles. Beige chinos (particularly this very LL Bean pair) don’t have that kind of flexibility for me.
I interpreted cutting the “prettiness” to mean cutting the femininity of the capsule by mixing in some less feminine pieces. I personally like to mix feminine with a bit of edge rather than…outdoorsy utilitarian, I guess you could call the beige chinos. A striped T is just a classic that works with a lot of different styles, and the soft green blouse is definitely feminine in style (and to me, the color is just a part of the “flowers and leaves” vibe from the scarf).