July 6, 2026
I’m home from Paris. Well, I’m actually writing this the day BEFORE I leave, so I’m assuming that everything went swimmingly…
Let’s revisit our heroine who spends her work time listening to others. She draws her personal style inspiration from this painting:
She finished the first half of the calendar year with these 28 pieces of clothing as her work wardrobe. Most of us have a ton more than this, but I think we might be able to agree that this is pretty sufficient:
If you get bored with the clothes (although clothes maybe shouldn’t be a big source of entertainment!), the accessories can liven things up a bit:
When our heroine was looking for additions to her wardrobe, she was thinking of adding more of the warm reddish rust that’s prominent on the ground upon which the woman in her painting stands. She got lucky!
Faded redwood check shirt – L.L.Bean; necklace – Vintouch Italy; ivory cotton sweater – J.Crew; linen pants – Banana Republic; tee shirt – L.L.Bean; tote bag – Longchamp; sneakers – adidas
Our heroine had been using a 28-piece wardrobe template, through the end of June:
But as her wardrobe grows, so does her template!
Does anybody else REALLY like seeing the wardrobes arranged by color? For me, things seem to take on a different kind of coherence when arranged this way:
It’s not easy to arrange the accessories in a way that’s attractive and clear. What a fun project…
As with all clever heroines, this woman knows what she will do with her new clothes! Let’s imagine what she might do:
This is the heroine who is clearest in my mind. I wonder why.
love,
Janice
If you’d like to re-visit the earlier blog posts about this heroine and her wardrobe, they can be found here: Christmas Eve Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June
p.s. Five years ago, a different heroine was going back to the office after the pandemic. She’s going to be well prepared and “as mature as she can manage!”
Like this wardrobe? Save it to Pinterest!
I’m liking how this one is developing. The rust color is a great addition and works well, I think, with the ivory. A warm weather feel. And I’m going to admit, even though I’m borderline minimalist, I still regard clothes as a source of entertainment!
I’m with you. I’m a clothes minimalist too and I can entertain myself for hours/days with wardrobe planning. It’s like a puzzle to be worked trying to make choices for the least amount of items and maximum combinations. I get lots of inspiration here.
Oh yeh. I definitely like things arranged by colour. I couldn’t pack otherwise. I always like to look at a colour grouping now – after seeing your pictures arranged this way of course! Otherwise I can tend to get a bit samey/ repetitive.
I hope you enjoyed Paris. How could you not?
Yes to clothing arranged by color! In my closet, each category (blouses, jackets/blazers, trousers) are arranged by color- ROY G BIV. I use the shade of each color that best flatters my skin tone. I really can get dressed in the dark most of the time!
For the right woman, this is a soulful and peaceful wardrobe. I think it’s interesting that you envision the heroine as a professional listener. This is a wardrobe that speaks in peaceful and melodious colors and shapes. It does scream Autumn, which isn’t surprising given the title of the painting. I’m not really getting a summer vibe here…and while it’s entirely possible that this woman wears sweaters all year ’round in a controlled temp environment, I think she’d roast, going from her house to her car and then into her office, especially if she is wearing long pants, a long sleeved shirt AND a sweater. What does this heroine wear, I wonder, on days when the temps are in the high 90’s for more than a week? I’d love to see this!
My favorite piece of this month’s choices is the necklace. This would look amazing with many different wardrobes!
I was feeling the same way until I realized that she does have 3 tshirts and 3 sleeveless tops, plus a dress and a skirt. So if she leaves off the second layer & goes with lighter pants/skirt, she could probably avoid totally toasting…
This is such a soothing, melodic wardrobe. I think that a professional listener is exactly the right woman. You can feel the serenity rolling off these pieces, like waves. That being said, it is a very Fall atmosphere to this wardrobe, which isn’t surprising given the title of the painting. However, I can’t imagine but that our heroine would be roasting in long sleeved sweaters, with long sleeved shirts underneath, while wearing long pants. The colors are all lovely, but the clothes seem very heavy for early July. Even if our heroine walks to her car, and then walks into her office. She is going to bake during these 90 degree days, even if she’s in air conditioning. I’d love to see some true summer pieces that she can wear now, rather than in five months.
My favorite of this month’s additions is the gorgeous necklace. I can see that working for lots of women, who have many different colors in their wardrobe too. I’m not a fan of the sneakers….they look like a man’s shoe to me. But, I’ll bet they’re very comfortable! Yet, they feel masculine in my eyes….granted I tend to be feminine in my clothing, rather than unisex. There is nothing wrong with leaning in that direction, of course, but it just does not feel ‘right’.
I arrange my wardrobe by color. I find it soothing when I open my closet and everything flows together so nicely. But then again, I dress in low contrast so it might be easier for me than most.
Cindy, not being nosy just curious, are your colors cool or warm leaning? It sounds nice…
I don’t mind the question at all. My colors lean cool. Mostly blues, from navy to chambray (but no royal blue). I have a wee bit of white and rosy pinks.
Love the additions! I also love seeing the clothes grouped by color – but the all-time BEST way (to me) that I have ever seen a wardrobe analyzed was when you did an x-y plot and arranged items by level of formality (casual to dressy) on one axis and temperature (cold weather to warm weather) on the other. Mind blowing and fabulous – easy way to see if you’re underserved or overserved in any category. Also insanely useful if you have an accent color that you “prefer” for certain weather – have you accidentally been picking up pieces in your color scheme but for the wrong season? (definitely happens to me). Or material choice/weather… I hope you run all the full wardrobes through it again (I recall you usually do so in December).
Hope you had a fun time in Paris & welcome home!
Oh, I remember the x – y axis distributions. I thought those were brilliant.
Wow! I arrange my wardrobe this way, but had no idea it had a name. Super cool. Thanks for sharing.
Is this the FALL section of the capsule?
I love the way you organize by color. I can easily see the “warmer” colors that are best for me.
Love your blog!
Another yes for seeing the wardrobe arranged in colours. And I like the subtlety of this collection. However, while I’m enjoying seeing all the current capsules as they develop through the year, I wonder, Janice, if you would consider working on something for those of us who are retired but still want to look pulled together (in a good way!) each day? I find it more of a challenge than when I was going out to work. What do you all think?
I agree Maggie. I retired over 10 years ago and my wardrobe has completely changed. I am not in the twinset and pearls brigade yet!! I would love to be able to do “smart casual”.
I’m in the process of choosing my 12 paintings for next year (it’s going to be my pre-retirement gift to myself, focusing mostly on art) and I would be delighted to focus on a retirement wardrobe! But be warned, I’m not a really casual person… I’m sitting here work right now in a linen dress; nobody will see me until after 5 except Belovedest, but I dress for myself, more than anyone else!
love,
Janice
That would be great, Janice, thank you so much! I’m not a sporty/casual person either, and am also sitting here at home in a linen dress. After so many years of dressing appropriately for work, like you I now dress to please myself which is a bit quirky, colourful, and what I think of as ‘womanly’ :-) And of course I love scarves. Your blog is so cheering and inspiring, so I’m delighted to be looking forward to next year as well as the rest of this year. All the best xx
Welcome home! Hope you enjoyed yourself despite the hot weather.
This wardrobe is appealing to me more and more. I also arrange my closet in colours. Most of my long sleeve t shirts and blouses have been put away and Only the long sleeve linen blouses left out for hot weather cover ups. My summer tops are certainly very colourful compared to my winter tops lol. Maybe a review on the x-y axis, i think i missed that one…oops.
Yes, I am intrigued by the x-y axis and would love to see how that arrangement system works.
This wardrobe sings to me – I could live in these colors so very happily! I love seeing the wardrobe arranged by colors and that is how I hang my closet.
I’m so thrilled you are planning another year for us – these emails are the highlight of my day and I savor every one.
When I travel, I usually have a palette in mind. So as an Excel nerd, I put all the possibilities into a spreadsheet as in each color has a column and the rows are for tops, layers, bottoms and dresses in that order with as many rows as necessary for each category. I also add an accessory section for shoes, scarves and bags. Then I edit using a goal of x number of items based on the length of the trip, etc. Equal numbers of tops, layers and bottoms. Once edited, I’ll lay the clothes on the bed in the same grid to make sure each item mixes and matches. Creating that visual is really helpful. Overall, prints are the trickiest to be versatile, with the exception of stripes. Works best to limit prints to one category – either tops or layers.
As for my closet, many of my items are folded into cubbies. The first layer items – tanks and tees for warm weather, turtlenecks and light sweaters for cool weather – are sorted into warm, cool and neutral colors. With prints, I use the dominant color to determine what goes where. But when I do my semi-annual seasonal clothes swap, I’ll tweak my system, always room for improvement!
I hope you enjoyed your time in Paris and managed to keep cool. What “chic sightings” did you see of Parisians looking “cool and collected” rather than the sweaty mess most of us endure? We’ve got another heatwave building over the UK this week. 🥵
I’m drawn to this picture for it’s stillness. I’m loving the other comments too:
Soulful and peaceful
Soothing and melodic
Serenity rolling off… like waves
I’ve bought myself an ivory cardigan as a result of seeing this wardrobe. I have shopped my wardrobe and assembled a year round teal/aqua/green capsule. I’m still looking for ivory/white short sleeve blouse. My sister was wearing one, at the weekend, that she bought in New Look (British brand). It’s a shop that I rarely look in mainly because our local shop is small and dark. They closed the large and airey shop in another shopping centre. I’ve always thought New Look was aimed at teenagers. Perhaps I shall have to re-evaluate it.
I would like to see some more aqua green for August, though it might be hard to come by. All the dark browns in the shops look unseasonal even if the materials are lighter. I will be wearing grey or blue instead.
Oh, I have plenty of notes about what I saw in Paris; I will share my thoughts and observations after we’ve been through the Six Paintings! It was interestingly different than any of my other trips; the hot weather changed a LOT about how people dressed. I’m sure you can imagine…
love,
Janice
oooooo cant wait to see! it is VERY interesting how things change in the discomfort of extreme weather – at either end of the spectrum :)
Does anyone have a link to xy axis post? I’m now very curious
I love it
I am so glad you are going to be here next year. A lovely pre-retirement present to all your followers. This will give me the rest of this year to sort my wardrobe out properly. This year I have been trying on ALL my clothes, Sending unworn ones to a charity shop and only keeping those I love to wear. Still too many but I am getting there slowly.
I know you don’t do casual but I look forward to next year’s wardrobes. Thanking you in advance.