August 13, 2025
Our ongoing inspiration:
Our heroine from Monday has another trip planned; she’s going to her college Homecoming!
She’s not planning to attend any of the more formal, dressy activities; her agenda is more the football game, and then hanging out at the home of one of her friends who stayed in the city after graduation. Much sitting around, eating, talking, and laughing is what she has in mind…
But she still wants to look nice, and she really wants to have that autumn feel when she gets dressed. Time for some brown!
Her color palette for the upcoming festivities is this:
She starts with a lovely brown tee shirt, her black cardigan, and a different pair of black pants – somewhat warmer than the linen ones she had been wearing:
rich ginger brown tee shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Nordstrom; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; black cotton pants – Alex Mill; black cardigan – Alex Mill; suede bag – Tory Burch; flats – Vionic
She packs her black tee shirt and black loafers, as well as her ivory jeans, and then fills in with a balance of brown, ivory and a fun striped sweater. On the off chance that the gang decides to go out for dinner one night (when nobody wants to cook!) she will easily be able to dress nicely…
Black tee – Lands’ End; ribbon scarf – Lost Pattern NYC; ginger flower earrings – Lonna & Lilly; ivory & pearl earrings – Pandora; black earrings – Kate Spade; rust wool & cotton sweater – Caslon; sweatshirt – Lands’ End; ivory barrel jeans – Lands’ End; striped cardigan – GAP; rich ginger brown pants – Lands’ End; black loafers – Vionic; bone sneakers – Ted Baker London
Before she packs, she lays everything out on her bed, both to check for completeness, and to admire what she’s chosen!
And as all clever heroines will do, she walks her way through a number of outfits, just to be certain that essential shoes, or the very best earrings, have been included:
It occurs to her that she could pull all of the brown items from this wardrobe and substitute in almost ANY other color. Burgundy? Gold? Forest green?
But we still have more wardrobes ahead for her, with just the four colors from her favorite painting!
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, we were spending quite a bit of time looking at a Common Wardrobe in warm colors; on August 13, 2015, our accent colors for the wardrobe were olive, wine and gold.
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It always makes me a bit sad to see autumn/winter attires being sold in the midst of summer. With the days shortening again, it is the first sign that the endless summer will end, whether we like it or not. But then to see a painting of the iconic Léon Spilliaert, a co-Belgian, makes up for it.
Next month I m visiting my family in Belgium, a good excuse to give this capsule a go!
Autumn is my favorite season and even though it’s still incredibly hot and humid, I love daydreaming about Fall! While I don’t have my homecoming this year (either prep school or college), I love going to either of my alma maters once each Fall. I live about 3 1/2 hours away from both, so it’s a great time to go, catch a game, laugh with friends and be able to enjoy the experience, unencumbered with alumni obligations. These clothes would be just perfect for that!
The color I am most attracted to in this grouping is the ginger brown. I adore it! It is so much more wearable than a dark chocolate and stands out nicely against the black, without looking as if it “almost” matches. But, I appreciate your suggestion..if one doesn’t have ginger, why not sub all the pieces for one that you DO have? Great work, Janice!
Amen on the ginger! I immediately thought that it would be great in the Klimt wardrobe instead of the chocolate… (Not that I don’t like chocolate, but there are times & places for everything, & the ginger feels more like an accent color to me.)
The chocolate could be leather goods!
I agree with Ellen on the ginger brown. Much more fallish, too. I love this whole idea. Can’t wait to see the whole package!
For some reason I prefer this wardrobe much more than the previous version. Which is really weird because I wear none of these colors. That being said, I love them together in this capsule.
While dark and light neutrals are often featured in capsule wardrobes, there are also the “medium” or mid-range neutrals like this ginger brown, similar to camel. Other examples of mid-range neutrals are denim, olive, light navy, light gray. This is the perfect palette to illustrate using all three types of neutrals, feels and looks balanced. Thanks, Janice! Now I am going to look at my wardrobe with different eyes.
Isn’t that striped sweater navy?
AGGGGH. Yes, of course you’re right. I will have to find a black & ivory one to substitute…
hugs,
Janice
I love the sweater but am always disappointed when the stripes are navy–because I’m a confirmed no-navy-in-closet person. Land’s end used to have black/white striped Bretons, but not lately. Aargh.
I found another one, and made the substitutions. There are a TON of cardigans right now that are black with ivory trim, or vice versa. Cheap ones, expensive ones, ones with too many gold buttons etc. etc.
hugs,
Janice
So glad to see ginger brown making its way back for this year’s fall season. Lovely wardrobe, looking forwards to seeing the rest come together.
Red! I would switch the brown to red, except for the pants. I’d choose either a gray pair or another black pair. Cobalt blue could work as another choice, again with gray pants.
As usual, the capsule delivers a long list of outfits. I usually substitute something else for black in my mind’s eye. The accessories are so perfect.
Same, I mentally transform the black into either charcoal or navy. I love this capsule, particularly the ginger colour, but goodness me, it doesn’t love me back. I remember having a jumper in this colour decades ago, & I persisted in wearing it for quite some time, to my detriment. It’s still in my house, but worn by someone with very different colouring, and she looks terrific in it 😊
I love the wardrobe! But since I can’t pull off a warm brown, I would switch to plum. I’ve decided my fall capsule will feature plum and green as my accent colors. I bought two long sleeve gauze tops in plum and green to use as transition to fall items. Their light weight will carry me through till November and can be added to a spring wardrobe with some lighter neutrals for my base.
Wonderful.Just assembled everything in my head, bec I have all these things except for a black/white cardigan. Looking forward to going someplace with them! Thank you immensely, Janice, for making choosing and combining clothes so much fun and so easy!
Yay! You found the ginger color at Lands End! It makes a lovely capsule today with the black and white. Perfect for our coming fall.
This heroine is going to be so stylish with ease. Love how these two wardrobes are working and yes one could easily sub in a beloved color.
I love this plan exactly as it is! These are my colors, so I plan to edit my wardrobe by comparing this ideal set of items to the pieces in my closet (substituting appropriately as needed) as I unpack in my new place this month.
Thank you, Janice!!!
Camille
Yes, those are my colors.
I also have a leopard-print skirt that would go well with it.
And I also really like the throwbacks with the warm basic and different accent colors.
I love how tasteful this collection is! Sometimes, simple is boring – but not here. Thanks for showing how a great tight edit can work.