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Home » One Navy Sweater – A Dozen Ideas

One Navy Sweater – A Dozen Ideas

November 28, 2025

I love this sweater, you can tell! Cables give a sweater a texture and richness that’s appealing, and far from boring…

sweater – J.Crew

I was about to start working on this, with hunter green as the second major color, and gold as the jewelry and accessory metallic. But then I saw all of the comments about the red sweater, and made the changes:

sweater – J.Crew

Why yes, I’m still following the same overall structure from the first two sweaters…

sweater – J.Crew; brooch – Talbots; striped shirt – Lands’ End; white jeans – Alex Mill; bag – The Sak; loafers – Bandolino

This skirt is dressier than it looks at first glance – it’s metallic! And the pendant is actually a wee magnifying glass. The Met Store has a bunch of pendants that are magnifying glasses – why don’t I have one of these? Heaven knows I could use it…

sweater – J.Crew; earrings – The Met Store; magnifying glass pendant – The Met Store; bag – Olga Berg; shoes – Jewel Badgley Mischka; metallic pleated skirt – Caslon

Burgundy is such a lovely color for accessories…

sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Savvy Cie; scarf – Elizabetta; corduroy pants –L.L.Bean; backpack – Betsy & Floss; boots – Gentle Souls

You can – of course – wear any denim skirt you have with a navy sweater! But I chose a dark-wash version, because it looks better on these images. The strange things I encounter putting these together…

sweater – J.Crew; earrings- Chico’s; pendant – Chico’s; bag – Baggallini; boots – Easy Spirit; tights – Swedish Stockings; skirt – Banana Republic Factory

I can vouch for these Lands’ End shirts – I have a few of them, and they hold up well. They also don’t have to be ironed, although I like to run the iron over them just a bit. But I like to iron, so don’t go by what I do!

sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Macy’s; brooch – Macy’s; shirt – Lands’ End; ponte knit pants – Boden; shoes – Paul Green

I don’t feel like this outfit reads as patriotic… and if you’re looking for scarves in these colors, it’s worth the effort to look in the Men’s Department. Nicer quality and less expensive, in many cases. That said, I couldn’t resist this Eiffel Tower…

sweater – J.Crew; horseshoe earrings – Spero London; oxford shirt – L.L.Bean; velvet pants – J.Crew; scarf – Longchamp; shoes – Josef Seibel

This would – again – make a good start for a travel capsule wardrobe. Maybe drop a couple of pairs of pants, and a couple of shoes, and add in a navy vest and maybe a cardigan:

As is always the case when your wardrobe color palette is tightly edited, it’s hard to put together a really bad outfit from these clothes. Here are six more ideas that I had:

When you read this, I will either be eating Thanksgiving Dinner at a Senior Living Center, or putting up our Christmas Tree!

FWIW, we can already see TEN Christmas trees from our apartment window. Given that we can see… 500 apartment windows, maybe? – you can tell that it’s early days!

Next week, we dive back into the “Six Paintings – 12 Months” for one last time. But should I re-visit this navy sweater after that, with some holiday green?

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, we considered accent colors for navy! Nicely parallel to our post today, eh?

p.p.s. Brace yourself – pointed toe shoes and boots are coming back with a vengeance. If you want something with rounded toes, you may want to start looking…

One Navy Sweater - A Dozen Ideas

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11.28.25 23 Comments

Tags: burgundy, cool weather, holidays, navy, Start with a Sweater
<<One Heather Beige Cashmere Sweater – A Dozen IdeasDecember 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Of by Elizabeth Magill>>

Comments

  1. vicki from nz says

    November 28, 2025 at 2:24 am

    Navy & green, yes please :) Love this cabled jumper with the pleated skirt.

    Reply
    • Sles says

      November 28, 2025 at 3:54 am

      I second the plea for the green!

      Reply
      • Kim says

        November 29, 2025 at 7:18 am

        I third it!

  2. Carol S says

    November 28, 2025 at 2:38 am

    Beautiful collection as always.
    Those magnifying glasses are gorgeous – decorative and useful. When out & the fine print is just too fine.

    Reply
  3. Beth T says

    November 28, 2025 at 4:59 am

    I used to carry a magnifying glass pendant in my handbag. Now I use a jewellers loupe that has x10 magnification.

    The brooches are lovely, especially the Macy’s pearl and CZ brooch in a swirling design reminiscent of the Belle Epoque era. I wonder what our ancestor heroine would have made of our modern dress? A

    The subtle sparkly skirt is lovely for adding shimmer without all over sequins. On the Caslon website, it is paired with a navy tweed jacket which looks lovely.

    I was in M&S yesterday and saw navy tweed jackets and waistcoats embellished with sequins and silver thread . They are now discounted – perhaps too much glitz for your average M&S shopper? I quite liked the jacket as I do like to add a bit of sparkle and shine to everyday outfits.

    I’m looking forward to the last outing of Six Scarves.

    Reply
  4. Ellen S. says

    November 28, 2025 at 5:36 am

    This is an OUTSTANDING collection and wardrobe. I could honestly make a very close facsimile of each outfit based on the clothes I already own. Navy is my go-to base color from more than half the year…and pairing it with burgundy was inspired. I’m debating whether to wear the navy sweater with a denim skirt today or my burgundy cords!

    Thank you for helping me get dressed today—I’m still in a bit of a food coma this morning.

    That being said, I’d love to see this with hunter green too!

    Reply
    • SewLibrarian says

      November 28, 2025 at 9:07 am

      Thank you for the heads up on pointed toe shoes. I hate them! I will see if I need anything before they take over the shoe department! As for green with this navy blue, I would like to see that. I think green and blue paired together is a lovely combination. Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to the final installment of the six wardrobes of 2025. Thank you, Janice for everything that you do.

      Reply
      • vicki from nz says

        November 29, 2025 at 10:39 am

        Never will I ever again wear pointed toe shoes. Too much respect for my feet!

  5. Mary says

    November 28, 2025 at 6:25 am

    Oh yes! Please revisit the navy sweater later in December.

    Reply
  6. Diane says

    November 28, 2025 at 7:11 am

    Yes, please continue your sweaters! Especially navy and red, even green!
    LOVE this!

    Happy holidays, Marie-Anne. Bonne fete!

    Reply
  7. Mama Squirrel says

    November 28, 2025 at 7:36 am

    Also looking forward to next week’s windup!

    Reply
  8. Jennifer Bohnhoff says

    November 28, 2025 at 8:12 am

    Please do the navy and green! When you featured the bracelet with navy, burgundy and green earlier I bought it and I’d eto build a wardrobe around those colors.
    I’d love it if you could find a scarf with those colors and spend a year looking at them.

    I’ve been following you for decades now, and I’ve learned so much.

    Reply
  9. Dee says

    November 28, 2025 at 9:11 am

    I always love red and green with navy. Thanks for the tip about shoes. My aging feet cannot get into pointed toes any longer lol. Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

    Reply
  10. Kristi says

    November 28, 2025 at 10:34 am

    I would still love to see a couple pairs of jeans with the next group. Maybe a medium wash and a dark wash. I know there was a denim skirt today (which was fun!), but I rarely wear skirts. It’s jeans almost every day unless I have to teach (I teach part time) and even then, jeans on casual Friday. I do wear them with my colors of navy, burgundy and teal/green. Although this weekend I will change my wardrobe over to the Christmas items I have in red and green! :)

    Reply
  11. Lisa Laree says

    November 28, 2025 at 11:43 am

    Love love burgundy and navy. One of my favorite color combos. So pretty together.

    Reply
  12. Raj says

    November 28, 2025 at 12:20 pm

    Janice, it’s the 50th anniversary of Ingeborg Day’s “Cost Per Wear” theory. The very first fashion icon that invented not only C.P.,W., but also created a Minimalist wardrobe of classic black for winter and white for summer.

    I will quote her winter wardrobe from an article on her. ” In the winter I wear black. Two pairs of black pants, a black shirt, a black wool turtleneck, a fisherman’s sweater, and a pair of black evening sandals and Italian boots.” She also owned a YSL black skirt that she wore year round, and a black trench coat.

    I have asked this before, could you do a post on her as a cameo heroine, the first Minimalist, and what she might wear today for the holidays I have always believed that she made fashion history in NYC with her friend, Andy Warhol, but she is always overlooked by fashion authors

    Reply
  13. Erin Roy says

    November 28, 2025 at 1:14 pm

    I, too, would love to see a nay and hunter green version.
    My two neutrals are navy and white.
    My accent colors are light blue, red and green.
    I like the colors and get lots of compliments, but I have to be careful not looking “patriotic “ or “ Christmas” during the year.
    I have been organizing capsules like you have with the last series of groups of 3. That helps to maximize my pieces but not look like a holiday.

    Reply
  14. Raj says

    November 28, 2025 at 2:12 pm

    Love the Burgundy with Navy. Burgundy often gets lots of compliments for me at Holiday parties, due to the fact that comments are made that everyone else is wearing red.
    It looks good with silver accessories and silver brooches.
    Green with Navy is very Jackie O. (New England), but can be to Preppy at times. I prefer the Burgundy, which is more eye catching. To each his own.

    Reply
    • Raj says

      November 28, 2025 at 2:14 pm

      How about Marionberry with Navy. That’s almost a Purple Burgundy in colour.

      Reply
  15. Raj says

    November 28, 2025 at 2:32 pm

    A simple question. Do you think that your friend, the original Vivienne would wear green for the Holidays with Navy. I can picture her in Burgundy or Red with Black/Navy
    But would she wear green? Just a question to get back to the original roots of Vivienne, which started this for us, so many years ago.

    Reply
    • Janice says

      November 28, 2025 at 2:41 pm

      Oooof…. it’s been literally decades since I’ve seen or been in touch with her, but I don’t picture her in green nor navy. She was VERY disciplined with black and white with red. I can certainly see her in a beautiful red dress…
      hugs,
      Janice

      Reply
      • Raj says

        November 28, 2025 at 3:41 pm

        Thank you, Janice. Have a wonderful weekend.

  16. Sandy b says

    November 29, 2025 at 9:54 am

    Love the navy. And burgundy. But the best in this post is the quote, “As is always the case, when your wardrobe color palette is tightly edit, it’s hard to put together a really bad outfit.” I have it on my Quotes Sheet, and it has saved me already this morning, lol. So, Thank You, Janice!

    Reply

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The Vivienne Files is a unique personal style blog with carefully-selected capsule wardrobes based on color palettes drawn from works of art, nature, and more. It helps women buy less clothing, and to love what they buy. Read more...
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