August 12, 2026
Let’s visit the duck, shall we? I think she’s like a lot of us these days – calm on the surface, paddling like mad underneath…
Our heroine – the wildlife research statistician – is finishing up her stint at the very rural Vermont college…
At the beginning of August, this is the wardrobe our heroine has assembled:
And these are her most delectable accessories:
Maybe she’s exaggerating, but she feels like EVERY person working with her right now puts on white pants or white jeans after work! She decides that she’s going to look at how much white clothing she owns, and to think about making a bold wardrobe addition…
This is what she has right now, in white:
white eyelet tie-neck cotton – J.Crew; white tee – Lands’ End; white cotton cardigan – L.L.Bean; white oxford shirt – L.L.Bean; white tee shirt – Lands’ End; white sleeveless top – L.L.Bean; white linen skirt – Eileen Fisher
The other white thing that keeps cropping up in her mind is a simple white cotton turtleneck. She thinks of it as the garment for which she reaches when she really didn’t want to get out of bed! It’s warm, it’s soft, it goes with everything…
Earrings – Lily Charmed; scarf – Sandro; white cotton turtleneck – L.L.Bean; striped cashmere sweater – Boden; striped top – Lands’ End; jeans – Levi’s; sneakers – Vionic
The scarf could not be resisted. Why even try? And some stripes bright a fresh touch to a lot of outfits…
She diligently notes her new purchases in her 56-piece template…
And then she launders her new things and puts them into her closet. Yes, we wash new clothes – have you ever worked in retail? I think it was that which curled my hair!
Her accessories are so beautiful – her scarves! Her jewelry! Her cool woven handbags…
This is a heroine who makes her living working with numbers – figuring out which sudden increases in pheasant population are meaningful, and which are just random. Is a sighting of a bald eagle near a college campus important, or within the bounds of normal?
If you can do THAT, you can do anything, including planning outfits for your new purchases!
I’m not sure if I love this wardrobe because of the colors, or because the heroine does the kind of work that I really enjoy…
love,
Janice
If you’d like to go back to the beginning of this heroine’s wardrobe story, you can find all of her monthly shopping adventures here: Christmas Eve Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June, July
p.s. Ten years ago, the wardrobe colors were tan with accents of royal blue, orange and white. We started with two scarves…
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I think this wardrobe is the most practical so far. Great accessories. Classic color palette. The red really works.
Shell Duck! Shell Duck! Shell Duck!
Yes, I’m still cheering for this wonderful painting and this wonderful wardrobe. This could be my winter wardrobe very easily. I love the black, white, red and tan….it’s just so practical, especially for those of us who live in northern climates. While I do not often wear my white pants, or skirt, because having two large German Shepherds means constant mud and shedding, I do think every woman needs a pair in her closet.
These are my winter colors—but, I’m curious; does anyone else have two different wardrobe colors for the Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons? In the warmer weather, my colors tend to be navy, white, pink, orange and turquoise…so the Ruffled painting easily fits those months, but Shell Duck fits my cooler weather. In fairness, I do have a large wardrobe and am blessed that, when designing my new house, I did add in a very large walk in room for a closet. So, I have the space for two wardrobes…but previously, I would swap out ‘warm weather’ and ‘cool weather’ clothes during the change of seasons. But, I’ve always had two different color palettes.
I am another that has two seasonal color palettes. Black/cream dominate winter. Navy/white dominate summer. I am in a slow transition to wear more navy during the winter, but I have such a substantial black base, it could take years to transition over. Sometimes I question why I am even bothering to transition to navy in the winter. Did an influencer plant that seed or do I really look better in navy. I no longer know.
I would love a walk-in room for a closet (several of my friends have something similar and it is such a luxury). Instead I have a system involving plastic bins and seasonal rotations. Although more work, my system meets my needs. In a way, the size of the bins limits wardrobe size. The bins only store so much, and I only have room for so many bins. Like Kristi, when I swap out wardrobes each season, it is like having a whole new wardrobe. Different colors. Different types of garments.
I have never been happier with my wardrobe and, in a large part, it is because I finally learned to adhere to a color palette (thank you, Janice). I admire women who can have a coordinated wardrobe with myriad colors, but that is definitely not me. I looked to be a hot mess. Consequently, for the time being, I am incredibly strict with my color palette. The slope is slippery and it was not too long ago that my wardrobe was a chaotic mess of color.
That’s what I did, before building my new house. I had organized clothing bags and plastic bins in our cellar. I’m 60 now and this closet is a dream come true. I have it organized by color and type of garment.
I totally agree with you…if I don’t stick to my palette, I buy things that I end up not wearing. I might be attracted to a piece, but if it’s out of comfort zone, it just doesn’t get use. I know Janice adore purple. I generally don’t like purple, but I bought the cutest purple floral dress from Boden a few years ago. I wore it once and felt like “Barney” the whole day. The dress, hopefully, made someone at Goodwill very happy!
Ellen, in winter I switch to darker and cozier. Still the same neutrals, adding a few seasonal colors.
That’s what I do as well. More navy and red in the winter. Lighter, brighter blues and pinks in the summer.
I’ve been following you now for quite some time and enjoy your site. However, I wish I would see something that fits my cool soft summer wardrobe needs.
I used to switch my color palettes more, but my winter burgundy goes more raspberry in the summer and my navies come out to play more than my blacks. I do rotate my clothes by season and it makes me feel like I have all new clothes again. Then I can take a good look at what needs freshening up or fixing/updating when I’m swapping them out. It’s one of my favorite days!
I continue to be delighted by the dotted and woven items in this wardrobe. Definitely details I need to look out for!
The white pants are a refresher for these heated August days. The red peplum top, red shoes and red handbag are absolutely perfect with the white. You just can’t go wrong with that combination. We’re living in such relentless heat (and smoke 😱) that wearing dark colors is a mental struggle. Bring on the lights and brights! (And the soft summer pastels for the ladies who rock those colors.)
Bird nerd here.
This shelduck (male) has a very dark green head that looks mostly black in this painting. Sort of like male mallard ducks. You can see the green in his neck area.
I think with winter clothing hitting the stores, it would be interesting to add some dark green to this wardrobe. Maybe she wouldn’t wear it directly with the red, but it would work very well with all the other neutrals. And nature put those colors together anyway!
Testing for Andrew at Rockfort Media (I contacted them about trouble commenting since I couldn’t get your Contact form to work either).