August 31, 2026
So Friday’s version of “what to wear with chinos?” focused on a pair of pleated, warm-hued pants, worn with neutrals. Today, I’ve found a pair of more grey-ish, taupe-ish pants – (they call it stone), and I’m pairing them with pastels and soft accents!
I love dressing like this – I can wear a sweater or top that’s distinctly pretty, but I don’t look twee, or over-dressed, because the chinos take the mood in a more relaxed direction:
The first thing I tried was putting these pants into the very LAST outfit from Friday – the one with the labradorite jewelry, and the perfect scarf and boots:
Scarf – The Met Store; earrings – st. Moran; faded sage cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; pants – J.Crew; labradorite bracelet – Satya Jewelry; boots – Söfft
After that, I just looked around for pretty scarves or sweaters! I love this mixing of shades of pink:
Tee shirt – L.L.Bean; twilly – Silk&Soul; cardigan – Boden; pants – J.Crew; velvet bag – Fable England; Mary Janes – Dansko
This next outfit is just so you can see the scarf, with the piano-playing panda, and the rest of the animals surrounded by the lovely flowers:
Earrings – Karine Sultan; sweater – Eileen Fisher; ivory shirt – Lands’ End; pants – J.Crew; scarf – Wenzi; sneakers – Söfft
If you don’t look good in straight pink, have you considered coral?
Merino cardigan – L.L.Bean; earrings – Ninemoo; Tee shirt – Lands’ End; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; pants – J.Crew; loafers – Spring Step
Or maybe you have a colorful necklace that needs to get out and about a bit more often?
Earrings – Elk & Bloom; necklace – Anthropologie; silver blue cashmere sweater – L.L.Bean; turtleneck – Lands’ End; pants – J.Crew; sneakers – adidas
Wearing a pretty sweatshirt doesn’t mean you have to look like you’re going to the gym….
Sweatshirt – Lands’ End; scarf – Lost Pattern New York; earrings – Bounkit; ivory tee – Lands’ End; pants – J.Crew; Mary Janes – Clarks Originals
It might be a bit early to think of snowflake motifs, but you could always be prepared for the upcoming holidays!
Scarf – RaluFineArt; earrings – Lily Charmed; lavender sky sweater – J.Crew; pants – J.Crew; bag – The Sak; boots – Gabor
I love this bright but not overwhelming pink – and I love this cardigan! (I have the purple one – I know you’re shocked…)
Ballet pink cardigan – Alex Mill; earrings – Swarovski; cream turtleneck – L.L.Bean; pants – J.Crew; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; loafers – Gentle Souls
When you struggle to find the right shoes, remember that metallics are a great possibility! Especially with a softly blue cardigan and a pretty scarf…
Oxford shirt – L.L.Bean; earrings – Quince; scarf – Jessie Zhao New York; pants – J.Crew; cashmere cardigan – Lands’ End; loafers – Anne Klein
Do you keep track of what you wear? Have you learned anything interesting from doing so?
I’m tempted to spend more time thinking about the possibilities of my favorite garments…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, we were looking at how to wear a simple navy dress – on the last day of August, we tried it with bright colors!
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Just lovely. These soft colors make me think of my mom who looks fabulous in them. Not that I don’t love them too! I’m just going through a phase of wanting more contrast.
I do keep track of what I wear, mainly to work. Helps me remember what I wore last week just not to look like a cartoon character! I do repeat many items and tend to do ‘Monday pants’ – which is wearing the same pants every Monday. So this exercise is right up my alley 😊, thank you Janice! I hope you do the same with navy and black pants. And then re do the 1 dress-13 outfits (or was it 14?).
Pretty combinations! I track. I discovered I wear many more neutrals and solids over patterns and colours than I thought.
I love this so much. This is truly how I dress..If I’m not in a skirt or dress. The colors are all great from this post, as well as the last one. The one caveat I have here are the shoes….I have most pieces in this wardrobe (or close swap-ins). But, the shoes you have shown the past two posts are off the hook wonderful. I want them ALL. I don’t NEED them all…but I want them. My shoes tend to be very boring for Fall. I wear lots of Dansko clogs (in brown, black or metallic). I do have some excellent wedge sneakers in black and tan. But, these shoes give off chic, rather than dull. Sigh.
If I didn’t just throw a fancy bridal shower for my daughter, a 90th birthday extravaganza for my mom and have my daughter’s wedding in one month, I’d be ordering many, many pairs.
Also…the scarves! Love them, as well as the shoes! Now, I want all of the accessories.
I don’t have stone chinos. But I do have white & cream jeans. And they’d sub nicely into these outfits.
Either of those are perfect with these outfits! I love the way you make it work for you…
love,
Janice
I love the column of neutral with the pants and shirt and then a beautiful sweater on top. I don’t wear light pants (just not me, for some reason) but this would be easy to replicate with jeans and a chambray shirt. All of your selections are lovely.
I love all of these colours so much! :D
I haven’t been tracking my outfits but I have begun digitalizing my wardrobe into Stylebook and it is so much fun! I am nowhere near done yet but so far my colour palette is 1/3 navy, 1/6 white, 1/6 pink, 1/6 grey, and then the rest is a mix of black, purple, green, burgundy, and brown. I am quite happy with this, and the colour statistics is the most fun statistic for me which I think is due to your influence!
I have a surprising number of trousers in cream and a darker grey-brown.
I’ve been photographing my outfits daily for two years now, and I keep reaching for my favorite pieces—rich colors and patterned items. Hardly any black anymore; the older I get, the less I wear it.
… I pair it with medium-colored shirts, as shown here.
I’ve wanted a turquoise sweater for a long time. 🤩
Gorgeous. I need stone chinos!
That panda scarf is stunning! I want it! I can’t afford it, lol. I love all these outfits and agree with Ellen, the shoe choices are outstanding. Does your purple Alex Mill cardigan fit TTS, Janice?
Hmm… white tee shirt, white button-front, purple cardigan… Yes it does! But I’m more likely to wear it with just a black tee shirt under it, and black pants, and a snazzy scarf. I think!
love,
Janice
Noted you’ve featured some Sofft boots. I haven’t tried them, but found two pairs of Sofft pumps and one pair of sandals. As age creeps in, I appreciate the comfort and style of this brand. The chinos are really an ideal choice if you live where most people lean casual to smart-casual. I have tan, navy, grey, apricot and red chinos. They get a heavy rotation in spring, summer, fall and early winter. I’m eying something flannel-lined from LlBean for the coldest winter months.
Couldn’t agree more! I already have a bajillion beautiful scarves but I want all of these too.
As my warm autumn color softens as I age these are the kinds of colors that I’m beginning to feel more comfortable in.
Neither a tan nor chinos kind of person – I’d only wear something like that on an African safari. But this post has given me many ideas on how to wear my wide leg cropped stone colored pants.
I’ve been tracking in Indyx since last November. It’s really helped me see that I have waaaaay too much, helps me integrate new purchases, helps me style better (print mixing/clashing – yes, please!) and is a wonderful tool for planning seasonal and travel wardrobes.
I’d be curious to know about other people’s core items in their wardrobes. I have no idea what mine would be – maybe my navy tshirts?
In winter, mine are wool skirts and wool cardigans; the neutrals are cool brown and soft teal. In summer, linen pants and skirts in navy or cadet blue. But I’m more dressy than anyone else I know, so I’m not a good example!
I’ve been tracking my outfits for more than two years with OpenWardrobe, and I use a spreadsheet to identify any holes in my wardrobe. If you’re a data nerd like me, I absolutely recommend digitizing your wardrobe so you can track what you wear and cost per wear.
Unlike the majority of women I know, I am just not a chinos (or jeans) person. I prefer skirts or wide-legged linen or wool pants. I’ve only just recently made peace with wearing cords for more casual wear, so I don’t foresee chinos in my future. But if they’re your thing, then these flat-fronted ones are the way to go.
This is so my colours! I don’t wear too lightly coloured bottoms, but I think a nice soft grey will work just as well.
And the scarves and shoes are so beautiful. I want them all, although I don’t wear scarves and those shoes will not fit my very wide feet.
A girl can dream, can’t she?