October 20, 2025
One additional look at the camel sweater, for a heroine who wants to wear camel, but her entire wardrobe is cool colors…
Her favorite neutrals and navy and grey, and she wears white shirts regularly, so our color palette will look like this:
Jeans? Yes!
sweater – Vince; earrings – Little Sky Stone; jeans – J.Crew; striped shirt – Lands’ End; small bag – Aimee Kestenberg; sneakers – Sam Edelman
A great navy metallic skirt!
sweater – Vince; earrings – Saachi; scarf – Liberty London; navy metallic skirt – Caslon; bag – Nina; flats – Birdies
And OF COURSE navy cords….
sweater – Vince; scarf – Elizabetta; shirt – Lands’ End; pinstripe pants – Alex Mill; bag – Betsy & Floss; suede loafers – Birdies
If you want to introduce a warm color into a cool wardrobe (or vice versa), don’t overlook the possibilities of “two-toned” jewelry. That combination of gold and silver can do wonders…
sweater – Vince; earrings – Banana Republic Factory; flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; iron grey cords – L.L.Bean; bracelet – Fashnzfab; loafers – Gentle Souls
The right scarf can go a long way, too!
sweater – Vince; earrings – AllSaints; scarf – Echo; skirt – Max & Co.; tote – Brahmin; boots – Circus NY by Sam Edelman
And the same lovely charcoal turtleneck and wool pants that we saw on Friday are perfect with our heroine’s new sweater:
sweater – Vince; earrings – BaubleBar; scarf – Bloomingdale’s; pants – Aritzia; turtleneck – Eileen Fisher; boots – Sam Edelman
If, for example, one were going to pack all of these things, it would certainly make sense to include a navy blazer, or a gray cardigan. Maybe a long-sleeved tee shirt or two?
But I find again that it’s very simple to assemble six more outfits, just using the clothes and accessories from the first six outfits:
I think we can clearly conclude that buying a single classic, timeless sweater can be a good purchase – assuming that you live someplace where one wears sweaters frequently!
In Chicago, you can have all the sweaters you want…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I shared with you the extremely simple formula for what women were wearing in London. Still a good wardrobe plan…
Sweaters are a uniform five months of the year where I live.
Camel is a rock star neutral, isn’t it? I think it’s as sophisticated as any other neutral that you’ll see on the fashion pages,
As one who loves a pop of color, I’ll wear camel with: tangerine, terracotta, coral, flamingo pink, Apple green, kelly green, bright blue, violet or anything in the aqua-turquoise range.
I love this colour combination. So calming to me.
Loving this combo….i have several camel sweaters..definitely my go to…where I live sweater weather is upon us…and your post is a timely inspiration.
I will definitely be incorporating these ideas into y wardrobe this fall
Ps I wear a lot of black….this also could work by replacing the blue/grey for black.
Once again thanks for all you do!
Regina
This is my favorite post ever! Like many people, I do tend to mix warm and cool colors…not because I feel like I’m rebelling against my Autumn coloring, but because I simply wear colors I like…navy blue and gray are two of those. I think this is such an incredible cold-weather capsule that be very special for a trip, for a woman who lives in a Northern climate or for a heroine with limited closet space.
The two pieces I plan to order, as soon as I’m in my new house, are the Echo scarf with the circles and the gray jersey skirt from Harrod’s. When I lived in Europe (from 1988-1991), I always loved perusing Harrod’s. I was young and didn’t have enough money to shop there at the time, but it just always inspired me. Thank you for including this wonderful store in your rotation.
I would never wear camel but I do like these combinations especially dark grey. It is quite difficult to find dark grey in women’s wear. Charcoal suits me as “black”. I do like the charcoal tote bag.
The skirt is similar to the style I wore in the late 1980’s. The older I get, the more I see styles of my youth back in fashion.
I second “charcoal as black”!!! Absolutely love that color. What a pity it is so difficult to find consistently!!!
I totally agree – I’m hoarding charcoal sweaters & pants from ages ago, but it’s high time the fashion folks brought it back to womenswear. In the meantime, I’m buying more casual pieces out of the men’s dept, where proper dark charcoal is a hardy perennial!
What a lovely color mix. The grey skirt is wonderful
I love my cashmere hoodie from Quince and wear it frequently! I never thought of mixing it with gray, but it looks lovely.
Beautiful combinations Janice – love it! I will note, this camel seems to be a “cooler” camel, I think that is part of why it blends well. Camel is an interesting color, there seem to be “warmer” shades and “cooler” shades (kind of like grey!). matching the undertones may help folks enjoy a wider diversity of colors/neutrals they think they cant wear… but watch out when ordering online!
Ezzy, I agree that the “coolness” of this particular camel was striking to me. I think of classic camel as a warmer color than this so I was pleased that this one was not as golden or orange-tinged…more neutral in tone. Janice did a great job finding other “camel” pieces that blend well with this cooler tone.
So glad you two mentioned the undertones!
I think one could make this capsule in warmer tones as well, with a warmer camel, warmer grey, warmer blue and warmer white.
Janice once explained the different tones of grey, but I am not sure if I can find it.
Love the mixed metal jewelry and especially the Echo dot scarf. The Lands’ End striped shirt is also nice.
Because of my light coloring, I have to be careful about wearing camel close to my face as it can wash me out. But the right scarf and/or a charcoal turtleneck does the trick. I also do a “flip” of this wardrobe by wearing the charcoal gray on top and camel on the bottom. A few years ago, I bought a pair of Lands’ End Sport Knit pants that has a herringbone pattern of black, gray and camel on a cream background. Fits right in with this palette.
This colour palette would make me look deader than a dead fish but I love it anyway. There are so many items here that inspire. The long grey skirt is so elegant – a “Must-Have”! I love the little heart purse though I wish they would show what’s going on in the interior. I also LOVE the big alligator tote bag. And then the beautiful short grey boots. It’s all swoon-worthy. Thank you always.
Yay! I substituted navy into the first wardrobe using this sweater in my mind’s eye so this is wonderful to see in actual images. I do think this shade of camel could work for me because the tone seems quite cool. Camels that lean very yellow are horrible on me. I think I’d choose the green or burgundy first though. When I get to the cold frozen north…….I’m mowing the lawn today. T shirt and shorts. Sweating buckets. Haha. Now if you could just turn on the giant fan up north and blow some of the cold air down to us it would be very appreciated!
I went to college in Houston and am now living in Minnesota, so I hear you! I never owned a sweater living in Houston. I had a couple long-sleeved t-shirts and a lightweight jacket made out of t-shirt material, and that was plenty for “winter.” I wish we could send some of our coldness down your way – it would do you a favor and maybe keep our own temperatures above 0 F this winter :)
This so works for me, yay, I love the contrasts here! Camel and navy/camel and gray, both with a white shirt. Some of which I will don tomorrow morn. Prob gray jeans and camel cardigan, both from Quince, Land’s End shirt. Think also a camel/black/white scarf. Thank you for your inspiration. Isn’t it fun getting dressed?
All beautiful capsules. Janice, I loved your idea of gifting yourself a nice sweater every year. I’m curious, anyone have this Vince, the JCrew or Alex MIll classic cashmere crews. Quality? I detest pilling!
This is the color scheme I used when I went to Scotland for 10 days in 2016. But I used the camel for my skirt and a pair of corduroy jeans. On top I had a grey wool pullover, a navy cardigan, a black cashmere cardigan, white and blue shirts, and a few other items. I managed quite nicely with the smallest suitcase of anyone in our little group of six. I can’t wear camel near my face, but I like the color and its versatility.