February 6, 2025
I love this painting…
And I think that this wardrobe is going to be fascinating; we start with the world’s most simple neutrals of black and ivory, and then add FOUR accent colors – one for each season. Yes, the idea of white as an accent color when we’ve already got ivory in the wardrobe is a little bit of a stretch. I’m interested to see what happens with this, since so many of us don’t wear mixed shades of white and off-whites as often as we could.
When we happily ran screaming from the end of January, our heroine had a wildly versatile, if not super-exciting, eight-piece wardrobe:
earrings – Bloomingdale’s; Gray cashmere sweater – L.L.Bean; shirt – Alex Mill; Cashmere cardigan – J.Crew; tee shirts – Lands’ End; silk scarf – Baby Boutique NYC; grey tee – BP; jeans – L.L.Bean; bag – The Sak; knit corduroy pants – L.L.Bean; scarf – Talbots; loafers – Easy Spirit; sneakers – Taos Footwear
It seems obvious to me that the coral/peach accent color makes a lot of sense for spring. Our heroine was particularly delighted then to find THREE tops in that shade, as well as the perfect scarf to tie the coral into her black neutrals. A classic black skirt, black flats, and (fake) moissanite earrings finish her February shopping:
Earrings – Kylie Harper; sunset coral pink oversized shirt – Lands’ End; small scarf – The Met Store; tiny striped tee shirt – Lands’ End; fleece quarter-zip – Lands’ End; black pleated skirt – J.Crew; ballet flats – Vionic
To me, this now looks like a just about perfect springtime travel wardrobe!
There’s no real way to dress badly from this small assortment of clothing, but let’s look at some outfits, just for fun!
This wardrobe fits more neatly into just a couple of seasons of The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe – maybe because these are the easiest colors to find? Or maybe it’s just random…
If this wardrobe turned up in a nice piece of luggage, sitting by my apartment door, I’m sure I could find someplace to go…
love,
Janice
p.s. Earlier posts about this wardrobe can be found at: Christmas Day Introduction, January.
p.p.s. Ten years ago, the art that started us was a painting of a bodhisattva from the Zhou dynasty. You don’t hear that every day!
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This is just so beautiful and practical. What a lovely and soothing capsule! I’d love to see jeans in the blush color for Spring and I’m excited to see how you incorporate the chestnut color. My favorite piece is the Met Store Tiffany glass scarf. I don’t know about everyone else, but museum stores are just my favorite place to find special pieces and gifts!
Yes, that scarf is my favorite piece too!
I have looked at that scarf numerous times. I just wish the edge and “leading” lines were navy. Does any one else, who doesn’t wear navy with black, feel weird with a scarf like this with a navy outfit?
Finding the coral peach might not have been as easy to find as black and white. Even grey isn’t as ubiquitous as it was six years ago. The rust/chestnut is likely to turn up with some frequency as the autumn 2025 clothing turns up in stores. The colors seem to cycle through trends. Not gonna lie: some color and style trends need to go away sooner rather than later. 😏 The simplicity of this wardrobe is its strength.
This is just beautiful. Love the painting.
Forgot I was going to mention I have a coworker that wears either all black or shades of cream/white. She has kind of ash blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She always looks just stunning.
I think the key to mixing the white and beige is the white has to be white, not dirty white, and the beige needs to be a little darker than dirty white. So that way the lighter piece doesn’t look old and ready to be replaced. Same idea if the mix is cream and beige. Significant difference in the two different light colors.
This is just a lovely wardrobe. How odd that my house is in whites and off whites but i do not think to dress this way. Cannot wait to see how this one progresses. This is beginning to be my new favourite so far. Thank you Janice.
I love this painting as well. And since this wardrobe is similar to the colors I am already wearing, I will start my long overdue paring down of my closet staying within those colors.
Now if somebody would just make a silk scarf from this painting – I would snap it up in no time. Thank you Janice for all your work – it is wonderful.
https://www.zazzle.com/hilma_af_klint_the_swan_no_7_scarf-256039353869995261
It’s not the same scarf, but you might want to contact this company to see if they would consider adding this painting to their (large) range of Hilma Af Klint products…
Wouldn’t that be fun?
love,
Janice
I’m not sure if a scarf would fall under the “private use” clause of the Hilda af Klimt foundation, but Contrado does do custom silk scarves… I used them for some ripstop nylon fabric for Christmas presents & was pretty pleased with the results.
This is such an interesting concept for a wardrobe with a different accent colors for each season. I always find myself wanting to change colors as the seasons change, so this idea is perfect for me. I will have to see if I can make it work with my autumn colors.
The scarf is perfection for this wardrobe.
This wardrobe really speaks to me! I don’t wear black but could easily pull equivalent navy, grey and white pieces from my closet. If I add the small cluster of pink, I’d be set to transition through the rest of winter and into spring. Thanks for all your work to pull these together
I am so glad you are doing these one at a time. I examined each of them very closely when you first introduced the paintings, but seeing them individually shows how much I missed viewing them as a group. Each is lovely in its own way.
I rejected this painting as my 2025 muse, and now I see that might have been premature. This painting is so amazing. The wardrobe is going to be stellar. In fact, all of them are going to be stellar, albeit in very different ways.
Back in December, I thought this would be my favorite wardrobe. That pinky-peach is my favorite color. Maybe it’s the style of the additions this month I don’t like? My current favorite is a the first one. The calm, comforting blues and greens. I suspect we are going to need calm and comforting in the coming year!
My favorite of these changes every few days! I have printouts of the six paintings hanging RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME on my gigantic corkboard which dominates our apartment – I study them often, and my preferences come and go. That’s why we have to be deliberate and very careful when we choose our core wardrobe inspiration. But once you’ve found it, you’ll know!
love,
Janice
I too love the idea of a couple core colors, for me navy, black and denim shades and then adding seasonal accent colors. This is more or less what I do but I have so many accents each season it’s a little crazy! :)
How I wish I had wall room for a gigantic corkboard with these paintings on it! This particular assemblage is my favorite, so far AND I HAVE STUFF JUST LIKE ALL THESE CLOTHES! WOW- That’s a first.
Thank you, Janice, you make getting dressed, and thinking about getting dressed, sp much fun!
I deduct part of my rent on my taxes as a business expense, so I “get” to have one wall for the International Headquarters of The Vivienne Files. This corkboard is massive – maybe five feet by three feet. I love it…
love,Janice
I love this wardrobe. So far it is the one I most see myself wearing. Thank you so much for your lovely site, Janice. I always look forward to your posts – they brighten my day.
This is another of my favourites this year. Pink and grey is one of my favourite combinations. For me it is shades of grey from charcoal to silver grey, taupe as the second accent and shades of soft pink. Having the WTW charts is handy for decluttering.