September 16, 2026
Oh, so MANY of us right now are seeing lots of things that tempt us – my email is full of queries about what to buy, what to ignore, and what’s not to be missed!
How did Monday’s heroine miss this cardigan? If it’s still around by mid-October, when she next shops, I suspect she may have to have it!
This particular heroine is heading to her college homecoming – just for Friday night arriving late, and then Saturday night, departing Sunday after brunch.
Yes, her college’s “colors” are black and red…
She knows she doesn’t need to pack much, and so she decides to go with a foolproof approach to packing:
She starts with pants and skirts – no jeans, but cotton twill pants, and corduroy pants, are good substitutes that are plenty casual. And she chooses to pack a skirt because she plans for a nice dinner Saturday night. Others may wish to go hang out at the college bar, and try to recreate their lost youth. She would rather have a lovely meal!
Cotton twill pants – Alex Mill; dotted scarf – Ralph Lauren; corduroy pants – Coldwater Creek; pleated skirt – Nordstrom; boots – Blondo
She doesn’t have any trouble picking tops – except she makes the wild choice to include a striped shirt in the same capsule as a printed sweater!
Of course she can wear them together. It’s not always guaranteed that two prints will look good together, but in this particular case, she’s on safe ground:
Black turtleneck – L.L.Bean; scarf – Echo; white tee – L.L.Bean; red striped shirt – J.Crew; sneakers – Vintage Havana
And finally, she chooses her last two “second layers.” I really like to mix-up the styles of theses three – a cardigan, a vest, and a crewneck or v-neck pullover give you a variety of looks…
Alpaca vest – J.Crew; red earrings – Ted Baker; black earrings – Donatello Gian; striped sweater – Eileen Fisher
When you put these 9 pieces of clothing into the slot machine template, you can see that our heroine has more different outfits possible than she could wear in a month! (that’s assuming that she would wear her cardigan with no top under it, and that she wouldn’t need to layer her striped sweater either)
Our heroine will, of course, do as all wise heroines do, and assemble (at least in her mind!) a number of outfits. There’s no harm in planning, and possibly much to be gained!
I’m pondering something very much like this if I go to Paris in December… hmm…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, we looked into the potential of wearing plum with a range of neutrals. There’s a lot of plum and purple around this year…
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