October 2, 2026
OCTOBER! I don’t know why the very sound of the word fills me with relief – it’s not as if I absolutely hate hot weather…
Our heroine this month is travelling to New York two weeks out of four, for the foreseeable future. And those New York types do a LOT of dining out, so she’s thinking about hitting the holiday clothes early this year!
I’m almost nauseated by how much new clothing just hit the stores in the last two days; does EVERY store need to bring in literally hundreds of new garments each month? Sigh…
First and foremost, let’s admire, yet again, the beautiful painting that is the inspiration for our heroine when she goes shopping for clothes and accessories:
Our heroine’s current 40-piece wardrobe is this:
And these are her accessories:
Our heroine has been diligently looking – every month – for clothes in “her” shade of blue or green, and hasn’t been finding anything…
Combine that with the fact that she’s traveling a lot, and spending a lot of time in a big city, and we reach the point where she’s decided that buying versatile black things is her best option. And when she ran into a black velvet SUIT, she was set!
Velvet blazer – Boden; brooch – The Met Store; cashmere cardigan – Banana Republic; velvet pants – Boden; suede bag – Talbots; marled wool sweater – & Other Stories; embellished loafers – Boden
There’s a similar cardigan here, which is the one I own. Highly recommended…
Yes, our heroine bought two “second layers” this month, and when she updates her 56-piece template, all is back to normal! Of course, if you don’t fill in anybody’s template perfectly, you will be fine – these things are designed to help, not to boss you around.
Her wardrobe has now gotten big enough that it’s much easier to review it if we split clothes into tops and bottoms, and split accessories into jewelry and scarves vs shoes and bags. You may choose to do this any way that works for you.
Allowing more visual space for accessories is really useful – being able to see things in better detail makes it somewhat easier to see what you need:
But how does our heroine plan to wear her new purchases? You know she’s given this a lot of thought:
I’m really loving this wardrobe – it’s unfortunate that her accent colors are so scarce. But as those of us who love purple (or brown!) can attest, just be patient and some day you will be overwhelmed with choices!
love,
Janice
If you’d like to go back to all of the earlier posts in which this heroine is featured, you can find them here: Christmas Eve Preview, January 2026, February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026, June 2026, July 2026, August 2026, September 2026
p.s. Ten years ago, I started with Van Gogh, and a 9-piece Wardrobe Building Blocks set, and experimented with adding accent colors to an existing wardrobe.
p.p.s. I know, I never talk about cosmetics. Or nail products. Or any of that kind of thing… but I’ve started using Manicurist Blur on my nails, and this stuff is amazing. Miraculous. My nails look great, and I swear even my cuticles are improved. I couldn’t NOT tell you…
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This is one of my favourites this year. I agree with you about not finding accent colours. A walk through most clothes shops – black, brown, beige, khaki/olive green, grey, burgundy. Apart from the latter two, nothing is in my colours. Denim is the only blue. The only other concession might be a few items in baby blue or baby pink. This is one reason, I shop so much in charity shops or on line. It’s most dispiriting.
In my opinion, accent colors are overrated anyway…. This heroine could do quite well wearing just the black, ivory and denim. She has quite a few accessories with the accent colors, which is more practical.
I agree. I would probably have a couple of pieces of turquoise for the spring/summer and a couple of green items for the colder months. But so many people just love having color!
As someone who does loathe hot weather, I love seeing these more wintery pieces integrated. I swear that I must have been a polar bear in another life, because, unless I’m at the beach or floating in a pool somewhere, I don’t do well with heat. While we’re in the thick of Autumn here in Maine, it’s going to hit 82 degrees in my region. Blech! I am ready for sweaters and scarves!
That being said, I think you can stretch this wardrobe even further by pairing the chambray dress with the warm cardigan, if you can add tights and boots. I also think the black pullover would look adorable with the green skirt.
This is a very pretty wardrobe. Overall, the accents aren’t my colors, but I find them beautiful.
Argh! I think this website hates me. I wrote a big long post and poof! It vanished.
I’ll summarize:
Favorite new piece? Those gorgeous Boden loafers! I don’t need, but I loooooove them!
Hot weather? Bad. I loathe it. Bring on the sweaters and boots! (Even though it’ll be 81 today in my region of Maine).
These accents? Not my favorite, but I love the way they look in this wardrobe. I call them Sea Glass colors—they look great on people with different coloring than mine.
Have a great weekend!
The new autumn collection is in the stores, but you have to search for natural materials. I like that the velvet suit is made of cotton.
Perhaps this heroine will also find a black and cream-colored skirt.
In answer to the question “does EVERY store need to bring in literally hundreds of new garments each month?” Then answer is unfortunately, yes. This is an interesting article that addresses how fashion is going currently. https://www.instyle.com/clothing-quality-investigation-12069139. One of the things I appreciate about this website is your commitment to quality clothing!
I’ve been mentally scarred since I saw a photograph of stretch jeans that someone tried to compost. What was left was a substantial webbing of plastic, that will be with us for centuries! I’m delighted to have a legacy, but I’d prefer it NOT be in a landfill!
love,
Janice
Not my favourite colour scheme – selfishly because it wouldn’t work for me – but a very coherent collection of lovely clothes and accessories. I still covet the green loafers and bag. I must also be a bit dim, as until today I thought the artwork was titled Lonely Erika, which made me rather sorry for the heroine!
Absolutely love the idea of this. I would sub in Navy for the black and included quite a bit of darkwash denim.
I recently took the plunge and ordered the Blur polish from seeing an ad on YouTube. I was prepared to have been foolishly swayed, but it is amazingly good. I have thin nails that are prone to peeling and have a few ridges. This polish is like airbrush photo retouching for my nails! I just started using it so I can’t speak to the treatment claims, but I do love how it looks.
As a December birthday girl, I really want her to get an amazing pair of topaz earrings for the holidays.