February 5, 2025
I often ponder what I would do with my wardrobe if I had to start from scratch. I mean ABSOLUTELY from scratch – I got out of my apartment in my moose-print pajamas and nothing else!
Well, THAT’S a nightmare, but I have to admit that I would be very tempted to go this direction:
These colors are timeless, and so appealing. And I think it’s one of Delaunay’s very best paintings…
As we very happily left January, our heroine had this eight-piece capsule wardrobe. It’s small, but you could get dressed for quite a bit of the cold weather with just these:
teak earrings – Capucine De Wulf; leaf earrings – Milou Jewelers; dusty teal sweater – L.L.Bean; ivory cashmere sweater – J.Crew; cardigan – L.L.Bean; tee – Lands’ End; ivory tee – Lands’ End; brown shirt – Alex Mill; navy pants – L.L.Bean; silk scarf – Artifact.; bag – J.Crew; jeans – L.L.Bean; loafers – Cole Haan; bronze sneakers – Ecco
Our heroine could certainly use a brown cardigan, but I didn’t see one that really suited. But at least we’ve put her in a really good position for a “neutral core” in brown – a tee shirt AND a shirt, with both a skirt AND pants. Four neutral cores in brown! The flannel shirt was an obvious, easy addition given that it includes navy and teal, as well as just enough white/ivory to make her ivory cashmere sweater a good match.
And the dress? Sometimes you need a dress!
This heroine really REALLY didn’t need another handbag, but I was smitten with this one…
teal flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; labradorite earrings – Heather Hawkins Jewelry; striped dress – L.L.Bean; brown skirt – Lands’ End; brown corduroy pants – Lands’ End; ballet flats – Naturalizer; bag – Dragon Diffusion
I understand that her bag is sold out! But it’s available in other colors at this link:
https://dragondiffusion.com/search?q=pompom&options%5Bprefix%5D=last
Her updated wardrobe would be so excellent to pack for a late winter trip – so long as she has a toasty warm coat, hat and gloves with her too!
How can she wear these things? Pretty much by just grabbing clothes and getting dressed! But it’s always helpful and illuminating to look at potential outfits:
This grid for the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is something that’s NOT carved in stone – where you need to make adjustments, you should do so! But I suppose we should all try to stick with the original idea behind the plan – a core of building-blocks, and a few accent pieces, that will not age, and that are almost infinitely versatile. Everyone has to find that core wardrobe for themself, and it can take some iterations and a couple of mistakes!
This is how I pictured this heroine’s twelve garments within our current version of the grid:
Do you ever ponder what you would do if you had to recreate your entire wardrobe? I’m in the process of losing some weight, but that’s NOT going to require a complete rehaul. For one thing, I’ve still got ALL of my scarves…
love,
Janice
p.s. Earlier versions of the wardrobe can be found here: Christmas Day Preview, January additions.
p.p.s. Ten years ago, I considered the merits of buying something “heart-shaped” for Valentine’s Day, and of course for the rest of the year. Don’t rule it out – there are lots of possibilities!
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ooooh I love the dress and the flannel shirt, and labradorite is just my favorite. My DIL bought me a beautiful pendant for Christmas. I tend to stay away from brown, but I agree, were I to start all over, this would be very tempting and I love the painting.
Because I have family and friends who lost homes in the fires in the Los Angeles area, the thought of losing everything I own is one I’ve pondered as I’m packing up boxes of aid for them. These loved ones need EVERYTHING, particularly clothing. As I was packing a box for a cousin with whom I share taste and size in clothing, I realize how little I *need* and how happy I am to share things that will work for her beautifully. She still has a job to go to (which is lucky) and she can’t wear her sweatpants every day. She cannot order things as she no longer has an address. Her usual shop? Gone. So I have tried to curate, from my things I know she’ll be able to use, a capsule wardrobe that will work for southern California and her legal practice.
Despite knowing how much I don’t *need*, I will still always *want*, sadly. That bucket bag is too fabulous for words. I wish it wasn’t sold out!
My step daughter came home from honeymoon – in a hot climate – to find that her house in Northern England in cold November, had suffered an extensive fire and she had lost nearly everything. I simply cannot imagine how heartbreaking it must be to lose literally everything.
For different reasons I have come to the conclusion that I too need very little indeed and in future am going to be very very disciplined. But yes, I too was so disappointed to see the bucket bag had sold out; it was the first thing I spotted!
You are so good to share your own wardrobe! But I know you…
love,
Janice
Unfortunately I have pondered losing everything often since our terrible firestorms in 2017. While I was spared, I know soooo many folks who lost everything. Every spoon, every bit of clothing, spices, furniture, roll of tape… For months after, as you are ry to put your life back together, you are reminded of all that has been lost. From the big to the minutia. It is utterly overwhelming. And then to have to inventory it all for the insurance companies. Sorry if this is too heavy. The LA fires bring all of this back. And I didn’t even lose my home. I know I can’t even imagine what my community is going through over and over again. Now so many in LA will be in this same position as they try to put their lives back together. Love to all.
It’s excellent advice to take lots of photographs of your home and all of the things in your life – otherwise, proving to the insurance companies that things existed is impossible. Park the photographs in a digital something or other in the “cloud,” or put physical pictures in a safe deposit box. This is something none of us should neglect!
love,
Janice
This is the “start with art” wardrobes that I am most looking forward to seeing built up further. The colours are intriguing. I think for me I would tone down the brown into taupe, even a bit of grey, but otherwise it’s close.
very pretty capsule, like all of them this year. (especially these labratorite earrings)
If I lost my wardrobe, I would limit myself to a small wardrobe. I have collected some of the current treasures for decades.
I didn’t lose my wardrobe through tragedy, fortunately. I lost it as I lost 58 pounds, slowly and intentionally.
I kept buying smaller pants, but kept wearing my shirts and sweaters as I figured they were fine being what I thought of as “slightly” oversized. Then I took some pictures of myself wearing them and decided it was well past time to replace them.
I’ve found it easiest to stick to a limited color palette. The mistakes I’ve made on this path have been related to looking for bargains. I end up with something that doesn’t fit right, is not quite the right color, or doesn’t go with the rest of my closet.
So, onward. Navy blue pants and dark denim jeans. A few dresses in shades of blue for things like weddings, though I don’t wear dresses most days. This time of year, sweaters in shades of blue, dark green, and ivory. That’s it.
In warmer weather, button front shirts made of cotton and linen in shades of blue and white have coordinated well with the same navy blue pants and jeans.
I’m much more casually dressed than I used to be, mainly because I don’t have to work in an office anymore, but offices have changed too. I like my uniform, and it makes things very easy! I keep a couple of blazers and easy blouses for the occasional in-person meeting or important zoom, but even with that small upgrade, I’m overdressed compared to the people I’m meeting with.
We have a local charity that helps people in crisis with clothes, toiletries, emergency supplies and toys/books for children. Crisis can be losing your home through fire, having to evacuate because of floods, escaping an abusive situation etc.
Flooding is becoming more frequent near me because there are three rivers going through our town, one of them being the River Thames and the other two feed into it. The land is still saturated from the heavy rain in the autumn. Several storms in quick succession this winter have caused more flooding, the rivers are running dangerously high and the drains can’t cope. It doesn’t help that houses have been built on the floodplain and our thousands more will be built.
This is doable with my wardrobe but brown would be lighter. The look-back is timely. I found a heart-shaoed piece of sandstone.
I have been in Australia for the past decade or so after living most of my life in cold, or even very cold, climates. I have kept some heavy garments for visits to family and friends in the cold months, but I now have to think about seasons differently. The Indigenous people on whose country I live identify six seasons rather than four (for example, we have first summer and second summer). I am thinking of adapting your template for our six seasons, with maybe ten garments per season rather than thirteen. It will be a useful exercise for focusing on what I really need – if winter is mostly quite mild and only two-ish months long, I hardly need all the wool dresses that tempt me. I like seeing how the pieces can be classified across several seasons but could be wearable now.