May 29, 2026
One last look at a bunch of matching garments – unless more things turn up in the next month of clothing “releases.”
I remember when pretty much EVERY clothing company released new garments once a month. A few still do – I know that Alex Mill, J.Crew and Eileen Fisher stick to that schedule. Some companies have new releases on their site every day. Literally. Seems excessive…
Anyway!!!! Let’s say you’re a heroine with a good core wardrobe in navy, camel, beige and white. You’re longing for an accent color that’s not obvious. For warm weather, you’ve considered pink, Kelly green, and true red. All of them feel too bright for you, and you think you’re just eschew an accent this year.
Then you see Sundried Tomato!
There are actually quite a few more garments available in this color, but you keep thinking about HOW MUCH you could wear these four pieces…
This is what her palette looks like with the addition of this accent:
It’s a big investment – pretty much all you’ll buy for summer. Will you regret your choice?
I have to jump in here to share that I bought FOUR pieces of Eileen Fisher Petunia a couple of months ago. It matches the highlights in my hair! I bought a tee shirt, a linen shirt, a sweater and a linen dress. Yes, I can’t buy any more clothing until late this year. Yes, I’ve already worn everything repeatedly. Yes, it’s linen, and should last the rest of my life…
Linen should last you forever. Archeologists find linen garments in tombs and other sites that are over 1,000 years old. Yes, if you bury something it doesn’t get worn very often, but still – linen is much more durable than one might expect.
And these four garments are really versatile!
An obvious place to start – a summer “dress”:
tank top – Eileen Fisher, headband – Machete; earrings – Mint & Lily; necklace – The Met Store; crossbody bag – Mandrn; skirt – Eileen Fisher; sandals – Sam Edelman
Then one of those weirdly “cool in the morning, swelter by the time you go home from work” days. The Sundried Tomato layers perfectly:
Carnelian earrings – The Met Store; William Morris scarf – The Met Store; navy cardigan – L.L.Bean; Tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; tote bag – Longchamp; shoes – TOMS; pants- Eileen Fisher
Her next inspiration comes from a hot day, spent in freezing air conditioning:
garnet earrings – Little Sky Stone; tank top – Eileen Fisher; white cardigan – J.Crew; bracelet stack – Mint & Lily; white linen pants – Caslon; gold sandals – Beek
Our heroine realizes that she will easily be able to wear her pants well into autumn. They’re dark, they’re a legitimate “autumn color” and unless someone comes up and feels your leg (in which case you respond appropriately!), they won’t necessarily know you’re wearing linen. There’s no rule about only wearing linen in June, July and August, you know…
Cotton sweater – J.Crew; freshwater pearl earrings – J.Jill; tourmaline bracelet – Karma and Luck; backpack – Longchamp; sneakers – Puma; pants- Eileen Fisher
A warm autumn day when you need to look like an adult? Two pieces that equal a dress give you a perfect option:
Tee shirt – Eileen Fisher; earrings – Ana Luisa; necklace – Ink+Alloy; belt – Nordstrom; woven bag – Madewell; slingbacks – Calvin Klein; skirt – Eileen Fisher
This color is so versatile that it could easily be worn into the winter. Yes, you’ll have to keep an eye on needing to launder your cardigan, buy you would do that anyway, right?
Yes, this scarf is a men’s scarf. Why, I could never possible explain. Sometime when you’re in Chicago, we’ll have a cocktail or two, and I will theorize…
tank top – Eileen Fisher; earrings – Janus Edinburgh; cardigan – BP.; chinos – Lands’ End; scarf – Elizabetta; boots – Blondo
Of course most people aren’t spending this much on wardrobe additions, but you can find matching garments in LOTS of places. The next time you’re tempted by the pretty tee shirt color, don’t discount the possibilities of the pants, or the skirt, or the tank top…
love,
Janice
Love all these items and how they add versatility to a capsule wardrobe. However, I prefer softer items that drape well and wonder if linen jersey from a brand like Eileen Fischer will hold up as well as other linen garments that are considered investment level. Anyone have experience they can share about including a linen jersey t-shirt in weekly rotation over multiple years? It would be nice to own a comfortable t-shirt that doesn’t need to be replaced every year.
This is such a beautiful wardrobe. While sundried tomato reads as burgundy or merlot to me, it’s a gorgeous color. My own brain has sundried tomato as far more orange-red….but I digress. I love every piece of this wardrobe. It definitely reads as more transitional (spring to summer or summer to fall), but I can see this working in a northern climate for summer. While I’m a California native, I have lived on the Maine coast for most of my life. I could easily see this on a heroine who doesn’t like to swap out her neutrals and her accent for colder months.
A note about linen….good linen is expensive, but so worth it. I bought a few less expensive (but not cheap) pieces a few years ago and they were super scratchy and fell apart after a few washes. My advice is to invest in a few good linen pieces and not fall for less pricy ones. My best advice is to find them on sale in the off season! I found a few Eileen Fisher and Ravella at Nordstrom a few years ago. Quince’s are “okay”….I’d steer clear of Uniqlo, Old Navy and H & M. They’re great for fast fashion in other areas, but they just are not comfortable or well made for linen.
I appreciate this information. Thank you.
Great list. I bought several pair of linen pants from Athleta this year and really like them so far. I haven’t washed much yet, but the fabric seems very good. I’m looking at getting a few of the matching tops in the same fabric.
I have bought the Old Navy linen/rayon blend pants several times but after a few years they do start to wear through in the thighs. Their sizing fits me really well though and I love the feel of the linen blended with rayon.
Alright, I’m not a red person much, but now I’m stalking the Quince site for the tank that goes with the silk skirt I got from them a while back… it’s their winetasting red, which I suspect won’t make it back before fall clothes come out, but thankfully they do seem to be keeping a consistent palette over time, so fingers crossed. Now if they would only realize that the global average woman is a petite, not a tall….
Very nice wardrobe!
Love this Eileen Fischer collection! Also love that you’re featuring this brand, it is an industry pioneer in sustainable and ethical fashion.
Love the concept and love the clothes. The colour is one I wear a lot (with cream and blue denim) especially in autumn/winter, but it works so well through the whole year.
Right, now back to unpacking boxes (we moved home three days ago, on the hottest UK day, so catching up here has been a welcome respite!)
This is a color palette I like to wear in any season (though often my version of the red is more dark red than the brown-ish “sundried tomato” maroon color), so I could see a heroine bridging into fall with this quite easily. (Whether linen feels insane to you in fall will perhaps depend on your climate, but even in Minnesota, summers seem to be getting longer every year).
I find that accessories can make all the difference in making this color palette feel summery. For example, idea 1 with the brown leather feels heavy to me so I would opt for metallic shoes/bag and consider a necklace or scarf that brings a brighter/lighter feel. Idea 2 could work well with blue denim/chambray in place of the navy to lighten it up (the scarf is kind of leading the way there). Idea 3 with just that one bit of maroon with so much white might be very heroine-specific; I would skip over this one due to my own coloring/preferences (though I would wear the white with a lighter red). Idea 4 is lovely, and the sneakers are perfect here; could I resist adding a scarf though? Idea 5 is classic and great for a darker (hair and/or skin) heroine. Idea 6 is a nice transition-to-fall outfit and shows that for me, the maroon pairs more harmoniously with the beige than the white.
I also wonder about how the linen jersey fabric will hold up – I love the idea of it, but it doesn’t seem as durable as woven linen for some reason.
I love this series and hope that the coming months offer more matching sets for our consideration!
Scratchy linen shirts that were not cheap but never softened up, GONE! I do like jJill linen blouses. They wear well are soft and usually come in a darker shade later in the summer. I also own a number of their linen dresses. Workhorses in the TX heat. Weirdly I’m not as much a fan of their linen pants. They often have some blend in them that I personally don’t like. Anyway imo they are worth looking at. They offer both petite and regular in quite a good range of sizes.
That’s what happened to me…I bought a few from Old Navy and H & M during my short term of living in Scottsdale. The scratchy fabric made me even more miserable in the unrelenting hit…I tried washing them in hopes they’d soften…but they got no softer and just fell apart. I learned my lesson!
Last summer I bought a cheap linen/cotton tee shirt that turned out to be quite scratchy. I was about to toss it, but looked online for hints on how to soften it. What I ended up trying was soaking it for 24 hours in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, and this did indeed make a noticeable difference. The tee is now comfortable to wear, whereas before I found it irritating. Just a thought for anyone else encountering this problem.
I bought a very cheap linen shirt from a local warehouse, and having started out soft, it only got softer, and has worn well for two years so far. I did have to put better buttons on it. I haven’t subscribed to the philosophy that a higher price equals better quality for quite a while. I think it’s more the luck of the draw.
I like this idea! My reds are a tad brighter, this looks too dark, but beautiful for the right person.
Vicky and profpe, I’m another fan of cheap linen, if it’s 100% linen or blended with modal. I have uniqlo trousers (the onea with elastic waist) that look as new and were heavily worn las summer, and other shirts that have laated at least 4 summers. The most important thing is to read the tag, I suspect those very itchy items had polyester blended in the fabric.
Happy weekend!
Is this color “cool” or “warm”?
This looks burgundy/maroon on my screen. I do like it but wonder if it is just too dark a colour for summer? These are the garments to wear in an unseasonable heatwave in late summer just on the transition to autumn.