September 8, 2025
The last of the six paintings for September, and it’s always lovely:
Our heroine was very practical this month, adding items from her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, and then treating herself to beautiful earrings and the matching pendant! A scarf at the very darkest end of her spectrum finishes her shopping…
Byzantine cross tiger eye necklace – Kybele Studio; canyon camel tee – Lands’ End; shade teal tee – L.L.Bean; Byzantine cross earrings – Kybele Studio; Baltic blue cashmere sweater – Alex Mill; wool scarf – Elizabetta; dune brown corduroy pants – L.L.Bean
Her shopping sticks with her plan!
Her wardrobe is pretty evenly balanced, with 21 garments in the blue/white/light green family:
And 19 garments that are teal or shades of camel and brown. I suspect that another month of shopping for autumn and winter clothing will bring this more closely into balance, but you never know…
This heroine has the best scarves and jewelry!
She doesn’t have as many pairs of shoes as other heroines, but she has everything she’s needed, so far…
Honestly, putting together the outfits is the easiest part of these posts. For this wardrobe, these outfits are REALLY easy. If for no other reason, I could be tempted into all of this…
I guess the question isn’t “which is your favorite?” as much as it should be “did you learn anything that you can apply to your own closet?”
And I always learn something when I do these posts – do you?
love,
Janice
earlier posts that give links to all of the clothes in this wardrobe can be found here: Christmas Day Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
p.s. Ten years ago, we mixed nine really bright (red, cobalt and purple) garments with nine black garments. It’s fascinating how many options you have!
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It seems, with this set of paintings, you’ve demonstrated that we can grab an item when it’s available whether or not it’s in season. Also, if the palette we choose isn’t working, a shift in focus works.
Of course, these six paintings series are always a delightful way to learn about new artists. I’m definitely looking forward to our heroine’s choice of a warm dress and what she’ll find for holiday wear. Isn’t it fun to know we can attend holiday parties without wearing black? Or some version of red?
PS Using what I’ve learned from ten years of reading TVF, I’ve just packed a small carry on for ten days in Europe using the 5,4,3,2,1 method.
Please share what you packed and how it worked for your itinerary. I first found TVF when searching for packing. I’ve learned and used a lot of information. The 5,4,3,2,1 has never panned out for me, but I do pack lightly.
And yes, Janice , I always learn something. Thank you!
It is a pity that these shoes have another white in their palet. Otherwise I think they would be great if this heroine loved fun quality stuff.
https://www.camper.com/nl_NL/women/shoes/twins/camper-twins-K201425-018
I have learned that you can still extract very different looks from a capsule made with only four colors, that this concept makes things a lot easier, and that I can admire this on somebody else, but that I personality need more colors in my wardrobe.
Oh, my goodness. I love those shoes…and I believe they completely work with this capsule. What a great find!
I had a similar pair of shoes in the 1970’s. Mine were burgundy.
Wow! The real winner, for me, this month is the jewelry. What absolutely gorgeous pieces!
You have done a terrific job with this capsule. Although I love the camel/khaki, the other colors are just too muted for me. However, this capsule looks beautiful and cohesive for the right woman. I’m curious about the holidays in these shades. I would love to see a bronze velvet dress to go with this wardrobe!
I love how you take 6 paintings each year, and inspire us for 12 months. I can’t wait to see what next year holds…I’d love to see a wardrobe based on a brighter palette.
For me it’s the scarf! Lovely.
I have strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes so this wardrobe really appeals to me. I have never worn camel but it obviously works so well for this heroine. Hanks for the encouragement to try something new!
I am stunned at how much I like the blue mixed with white compilation. It speaks to me.
This is just so very pretty. I love the colors together. Thank you!
What I have learnt is that you need good basics as a foundation for a great wardrobe. I was lacking this and have been working hard to get my basics in order. I am thrilled as to how many outfits I can now build.
I was a bit overcome this weekend when my daughter told a complete stranger who stopped her on the street about what our 2 year old granddaughter was wearing and said it was a gift from her very fashionable grandmother. That was such a lovely compliment. So thank you Janice because we can always keep learning.
I love that! Those are the compliments that mean the most. My daughter just graduated from college in the spring and we gave her some money for “teaching clothes”. She asked me to help her figure out what she would need and plan outfits. I loved it and it felt like a compliment that she asked for my help.
Janice, I think I’ve learned that keeping things in color families makes it easier to mix and match clothes. Whenever I veer out of that I get myself in trouble. Sometimes it’s worth it but sometimes it’s just frustrating to have something that only goes with a couple of items even if I really like it.
Can anyone enlighten me – what is the 54321 ? I looked in the archives, but nothing showed up. Thanks!
AI tells us
“The 5-4-3-2-1 packing method is a popular, minimalist approach to packing a capsule wardrobe for a trip by selecting five tops, four bottoms, three pairs of shoes, two dresses/outerwear, and one accessory. This method simplifies packing by ensuring all chosen items are versatile and can be mixed and matched to create multiple outfits for a trip of varying lengths and destinations.”
I don’t use this method, because I couldn’t possibly live with just one accessory! I’m much more likely to try for a Six-Pack, or a 13-piece travel capsule wardrobe. There are as many approaches as there are human beings!
love,
Janice
The Baltic blue sweater is gorgeous.
This week, I’ve finally got round to sorting my clothes out. Firstly, I’m listing everything in the main colour groups that I wear: white/ivory/cream; silver/grey/,black; brown/taupe; teal green/jade green/aqua green; navy and shades of blue; shades of purple; shades of pink; burgundy/berry/plum. I am trying on things as I go so it’s not a quick process. Im only 1/3 of the way through and I have over 50 items.
Secondly, I’m going to fit the items in colour groups to your template thinking about when I wear certain colours/shades.
IpThirdly, I’m going to create outfits for particular occasions that I know work or I feel good in. If I have outfits in my wardrobe, I won’t feel overwhelmed trying to find something to wear. Fourthly, I’ll match scarves, jewellery and ccessories to outfits and might create new outfits based on colour combinations.
Wow Beth, I’m impressed by your organizational skills and thoroughness! My approach is to pull things out of my closet, mull over whether I want to keep it or not, and then put most of it back because I may need it some day. The antithesis of the Vivienne Files philosophy! I’m trying to do better though, and I’m going to try your method of slowly and thoughtfully listing items into color groups and using Janice’s templates. I always enjoy looking at the beautiful groupings here, so I don’t know why I never thought of trying to recreate them with my own clothing. Partly (I think) because I’m not starting from scratch, but have years worth of too-familiar clothing to sort through and look at afresh. Thank you both for the inspiration today.
I think organization is key, particularly if you are venturing outside a 2-4 color palette with your wardrobe – though I do this it’s useful for anyone. I have photographs of my items organized into color folders on my computer (as well as by garment type, e.g., skirts), which makes it easy for me to know what I have even when they’re stored in different physical places and/or if I fall behind on laundry (as if that would ever happen to any of us…hahaha). I do most of my shopping online so having my wardrobe information right where I’m shopping is convenient, too. I find it’s easy to generate outfit ideas from my computer this way, too – I can make my own outfit collages like Janice does in her posts as a first step in this process.
I really like the sweater.
I’ve learned that four colors a year aren’t enough for me.
…but that’s also because I buy a lot of secondhand.
If I used this template, I would have four items of clothing in 13 colors. All of them would be combined, of course. As Janice calculates, there would be over a thousand outfits. I’ve turned the 4×4 into a 5×5 in each quarter, with 10 bottoms and 15 tops. That’s over two thousand possible combinations.
Thanks
I’ve learned that I don’t think I can do this. Every time I try to limit color in my wardrobe, the fashion industry showcases a new color that I fall in love with. This makes for a very mixed up closet. In fact, when I try to organize the chaos, I get stuck. And I end up wearing my neutrals to avoid decision fatigue. How do you hold the line to just to three colors without FOMO. It’s frustrating. Wish I could toss everything and start over. by the way, this capsule is stunning. Wish I could wear it but my neon white hair precludes many soft colors.
As a fellow “love all the colors” enthusiast, I understand the challenge! I have gotten my large and diverse wardrobe well organized, but it does take time and effort, of course, as well as some thought. I’d encourage you NOT to start over from scratch since you’d likely end up right back where you are now at great expense!
Are there any color formulas that you like to wear? Such as inner column of color, outer column/”suit”, modern twin set (top + topper piece), etc.? I think there is a huge amount of wardrobe sense-making that can happen simply by figuring out what color formulas you can implement from your wardrobe based on matching/tonally matching/goes-with colors for your solid pieces. This is basically what Janice does when she creates her grids with rows of a single color across columns like top, 2nd layer, pants/skirt. You can use the same approach to organize what you have as she does to guide to your way to a capsule wardrobe.
I created a capsule wardrobe from my closet this way using 7 rows of color as an example in this post. But there is no limit on how many rows of color you create. I also demonstrate how you can go about creating outfits from the grid.
https://www.withinaworldofmyown.com/post/a-21-piece-capsule-for-winter-using-a-grid-of-color-based-rows
The genius of the way Janice uses a grid to organize is that it can used/tweaked for a wardrobe of any size with any number of colors. I do think it can be useful to consider what level of seasonal variation you have when organizing your grid. I live in a four season climate so I would create grids for various seasons (the same piece can exist on multiple grids of course!).
As if I read your post. I have an average of three items of clothing in one color, plus patterned ones.
I read your blog, Sally, and the outfit photos are the icing on the cake.
This also helps me: I take photos of myself in my outfits every day to see what I’m actually wearing.
Wow, Sally. I just reviewed your link and am amazed at the level of thought you’ve put into this. But your grid is genius. I do have a “uniform” of sorts with a neutral column and a different color topper. Sometimes a colorful scarf or necklace takes the place of the topper. I will probably never limit my colors to two or three. But I can put together a solid neutral base of items to begin with. Then I can limit the number of accent pieces to start. If I concentrate on well-made neutral basics, I think I can minimize my chaos. And thanks for the ideas.
These are not colors that work for me but this wardrobe especially “got” me. I love the way the colors and pieces work together, and ow practical and versatile it is. I keep coming back to it and imagining it in colors that look good on me. It’s not flashy or showy, but the number of occasions I have for stand-out clothes are very few. I could just buy a version of everything here and be happy!