December 19, 2025
If all has gone according to plan for the last eight days, I’m flying back from Paris! Cross your fingers for my experience in the Charles De Gaulle Airport – it’s usually dreadful…
Many of you love your navy neutrals, and rely on it particularly when you’re traveling. That’s the role a dark neutral should play in your wardrobe – what to wear when you might get dirty, or spilled on, or just plan have to wear the same outfit for a really long time!
How about we start with William Morris as our inspiration?
Today’s wardrobe isn’t going to include red, but it’s worth remembering that it is a possibility:
Just as we did on Wednesday, we begin with a dark “suit” to which we add an accent top and our scarf:
cardigan – Alex Mill; earrings – Taylor Reese; scarf –The Met Store; corduroy pants – Alex Mill; teal tee – BP.; boots – Trotters
Our second outfit is a silk shirt and silk skirt, with a light neutral sweater. Both of these colors are prominent in our scarf, so it’s the perfect accent:
Heather natural cashmere sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Miranda Frye; navy silk shirt – Everlane; silk skirt – Everlane; scarf – The Met Store; pumps – Anne Klein; bag – COS
Our third outfit is a “column” in our light neutral, with an accent sweater over. Again, our scarf goes really well:
Dusty teal heather sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – Kurt Geiger; ivory turtleneck – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; scarf – The Met Store; sneakers – Jordan
What to add? I’m always going to want tee shirts in our two neutrals, as well as another pair of pants in any of the colors. The last thing to add is sort of hard to define; essentially, I looked for any second layer that included at least two colors from this wardrobe – one neutral and one accent.
This cardigan’s just about perfect, isn’t it?
Ivory and navy tee shirts – Lands’ End; earrings – Lauren Ralph Lauren; scarf –Bond & Grace; cardigan – Seasalt Cornwall; jeans – Alex Mill
And just like that, you’ve got a 13-piece travel capsule wardrobe! Assuming you wear a 3-piece outfit for travel, that leaves you with a “Perfect 10” wardrobe to pack:
But as is always essential when traveling, are you going to be able to create new outfits from your existing 13 garments?
Heck yes!
I think that this formula might be foolproof; I should play with it some…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, I shared with you the shop windows that I saw in Paris. Seriously, admiring the holiday decorations is a BIG part of why I go to Paris every December!
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This formula can go in many directions colorwise, to be sure. Seems as if you can revisit this as seasons change or specific events pop up. I think the skirt and silk shirt can cover a lot of events, right?
This is so me, both colours and styles. I’d take a dress instead of the skirt and blouse as I left my waist behind somewhere in about 1996, I haven’t seen it since, and skirts don’t know where to sit without it. I love William Morris, “have nothing in your homes you do not believe to be beautiful or know to be useful”. Could apply to our wardrobes too.
I laughed so much with this one! Thanks CM Burgess! Also, I searched William Morris and his ideas seem even more relevant today. I hope someone takes the baton soon…
Agree with AK too as in this being so well planned and beautiful. I like the 2-pieces silk set, but wouldn’t dream about traveling with it because I’m allergic to irons 🙈. That cardigan is wonderful! I would pair it with the skirt.
Hahahahaha! I left my waist around the time I turned 50. But, belts do give a nipped in look too…
I absolutely love this! I might need this scarf…it has so many of my favorite colors contained within. It’s just perfect for travel, by my reckoning. I was in Washington, DC two weekends ago and Providence, RI last weekend (thankfully, the events I attended were safe there) for holiday celebrations. I will tell you that this travel wardrobe would have worked perfectly for either destination, that had both dressy and ‘pulled together casual’ events. I can see this working for a variety of women in a variety of places.
That being said, I’d add in the red. It’s not because I dislike the light blue–far from it. But, for the holidays, I’m just still a weirdo about my red and green. I’d exchange the blue plaid ladylike cardigan for this one from Talbots: https://www.talbots.com/lady-jacket—cupid-tartan/P254019015.html?dwvar_P254019015_color=RED%20POP%20MULTI&dwvar_P254019015_sizeType=MS&dwvar_P254019015_size=010&sty_de_label=++++++stylitics-data-enrichment-test++++&cmp=dfc-TLB-google-pla-OG_GOOG_PLA_PLA_STND_REV_NewArrivals&ogmap=SEM|PLA|GOOG|STND||SITEWIDE||OG_GOOG_PLA_PLA_STND_REV_NewArrivals|{adgroup}|191349938600|23238502697|&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23238502697&gbraid=0AAAAAD68S1lPuFU-gyGMl429WPbTogxaF&gclid=Cj0KCQiAjJTKBhCjARIsAIMC448DZopS1dVsat-yRNhe5rGm2xh1D8D598BcfquvXGVauwl53N3Pv_caAnKiEALw_wcB
It still has almost all of the base colors and would work with the other pieces. I’d also exchange the long sleeved light blue tee for a red one in the colors of the lady jacket. I would also be open to a dress in these colors…the blouse and skirt gives a great deal of flexibility too.
I hope you are safely at home in Chicago when you are able to read all of comments.
You’ve pictured my closet, more or less! And that’s largely due to having had the Delaunay Eiffel Tower posts for inspiration this year.
I think this formula is just about foolproof. I absolutely love all of the “Extras”! I can see myself buying the set along with the teal sweater. I already own most of the casual neutrals.
Janice, your revised Clean 13 template makes so much sense to me! Packing for travel will be easier, and I will feel like all possible events will be covered, from dressy to casual. Thank you for this Christmas gift!
(This navy based wardrobe is right in my wheelhouse. )
OMG That blue plaid cardigan and the amethyst/emerald earrings! Be still my heart. I, also, Love William Morris. Hope you have a good/safe flight.
Perfection!
Navy-wearer here. I only own one black garment and that’s just because some of my tops only work with black rather than my preferred navy. This wardrobe is beautiful. I’m imaging the patterned cardigan with the navy silk skirt. Lovely!
Two navy-based floral prints of William Morris combined into one scarf – be still, my heart! The little bits of yellow and light brown in the print relate well to my golden blonde hair, which I find makes a print scarf or top even more beautifully harmonious looking. I’m not in the market for another scarf at the moment, but I am tempted!
The light teal is very pretty in this capsule, but for a December trip, I would definitely be leaning into the red as Ellen S has suggested. I would substitute another pair of jeans for the white pants (since I just don’t do white pants) with the goal of one dark wash (smart casual) and one faded wash (casual)…or if I wanted to punch things up, I’d go with red pants!
This is beautiful! The only thing I would change or add is swapping one or two long sleeve shirts for t-shirts. I find I like the choice of having both. If I’m cooking or helping with dishes at a relative’s home, I prefer short sleeves to not overheat.
Thanks to this blog I now have a small navy-based travel wardrobe, mostly from LL Bean. It’s not my absolute favorite neutral, but it works much better for travel than my preferred denim/indigo. It’s a relief now to pack my navy, green, and white clothes which match my tennis shoes and backpack. It seems so simple when Janice explains it, but it was hard for me to put together on my own! And a nice side benefit is that these colors look great in our family photos. This is a little too formal of a collection for me, but I do love the scarf and the silk dress pieces. Maybe someday I’ll wear silk!
What a fantastic travel wardrobe, Janice! You always put together things that work, but for some reason this one really resonates as especially wearable for me. Thank you!
I do like this but would lean towards a slightly darker teal for the season. Given the horrendously wet weather we’ve had in the UK for weeks, the teal trainers wouldn’t withstand the mud and wet leaves so they would be banished until Spring. I would add in something red as a nod to the season, perhaps a garnet necklace to add richness to Outfit 2.
The blue plaid cardigan is lovely but sadly not available in Seasalt UK. However Seasalt UK have a lot of lovely Fair Isle in teal and blue.
I love it when you create formulas for pulling together capsule wardrobes. I’ve been able to pack perfectly for many years now using a handy-dandy printout purchased and downloaded from this website. And it feels so good to be able to choose to travel with just a personal-size item these days as I squeeze in more trips to visit friends and family. I used to think traveling with a carry-on bag was freeing, but now that I’ve been traveling for more than a year with just a personal-size bag and not dealing with overhead bin storage – well, that’s a game changer!
What a pretty scarf!
I’d definitely have a red sweater in my bag.
Even without it, this is a beautiful capsule collection.
These earrings are fantastic.💎
Janice,
Love the formula, as I am clearly a “ formula person “ !
I would love to see another iteration of this with chocolate brown as the “dark color “ ,and tan or beige as the light neutral .
These were exactly my colors, with the addition of a little light blue, for my trip to Denver last summer! They worked out perfectly. I’m definitely looking forward to next year’s trip. I hope your flight hole is delightful!
I really like the colors & the pieces. With the white, it works well for winter in the South (when the cold front moves thru tonight). To me, white & slush/dirt snow don’t mix. I need to go thru my closet & see what I can pull together based on this inspiration.