July 24, 2026
She has room in her bedroom to hang 16 garments. Well, maybe 20, but certainly not more than that! Her clothes live in an ante-room off the main part of the attic. Old houses…
Her plan for the upcoming cool weather is to build a 4 by 4 Wardrobe of casual clothes; she wears a uniform for work, so this is the majority of what she will need for her personal life.
She wants this mix of colors:
She chose her color palette partly because she already has quite a few garments in these colors! One should always start a wardrobe (travel, seasonal, stress-dressing) with clothes you already have and like!
Sage tee – Lands’ End; chambray shirt – L.L.Bean; fig cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; cotton & wool blend cardigan – Caslon; natural jeans – Lands’ End
Our heroine is going to use the 4 by 4 Wardrobe Template to keep herself organized; it’s easy to grab a 16-piece wardrobe of 14 sweaters, a chambray shirt and a pair of jeans… Easy, but not tremendously versatile!
Our heroine plans to spend a great deal of her free time at home – indoors or in her back yard, mostly. Trips to the grocery, or walks around the neighborhood, are also on her agenda. But it’s all quite relaxed…
Ivory tee – Lands’ End; fig hoodie – L.L.Bean; sea salt cotton shirt – Duluth Trading; soft sand sweatpants – Lands’ End; jeans – Alex Mill
I’m always amazed to see how fast this template fills up!
Yes, you’ve seen some of these garments before! I do that on purpose to demonstrate how versatile, and really how neutral, a lot of basic clothes can be…
She gets wild with a lace-sleeved sweatshirt. Why in the world not?
Sage lace-sleeve sweatshirt – Lands’ End; coral red quarter-zip – Lands’ End; striped cotton sweater – Lands’ End; sweatpants – Lands’ End
I love how our two accent colors are similar – shades of red – but how they’re VERY different!
A couple more top are never a bad idea…
Our heroine’s complete wardrobe for Fall Casual wear looks pretty good – versatile, a surprising range of moods, but consistently relaxed:
Pictured in a more unstructured arrangement, it’s easy to see how our heroine will get dressed each day!
I’m sure everyone here could assemble a dozen outfits from this pretty easily, eh?
I could see this idea being very useful if you have a couple of garments that you’re just not SURE you want to keep. Build a solid, versatile 4 by 4 Wardrobe including those pieces, and then wear ONLY that for a couple of weeks.
If you don’t pull out a garment from your closet when you only have 16 pieces TOTAL in that closet, then maybe it’s time to find a better home for said item. This does NOT, of course, mean tossing in the garbage…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, the painting was by Klimt, and the heroine was taking a break to visit some trees. Not as crazy as it sounds, and a beautiful wardrobe based on grey…
Capsule wardrobe inspired by Tuli[s by Susan Jane Walp – Pin it!
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