Navy jacket – Jaeger, white tee – Uniqlo, bracelets – She-Beads, silver flower earrings – Marc by Marc Jacobs, navy trousers – Jaeger , scarf – KathKath, Pink loafers – Dansko, tote bag – Filson
white sleeveless top – Topshop, fabric necklace – Saako Design, stone drop earrings –Nina, pink pearl earrings – Buana, beige linen cardigan – East, navy wrap top – Topshop, beige sleeveless top – Hallhuber, blue bead bracelet – Lonna & Lilly, navy long-sleeve tee – Uniqlo, white jeans – Current/Elliott, beige shorts – North Face, navy sleevelesstop – Acne Studios, beige cotton skirt – Gerard Darel, beige capris – East, jeweled sandals – Coral Blue, floral shoes – Re-sole
The clothing is very simple, timeless and classic. You could put ALL kinds of accessories with these clothes! Bright red? Emerald green? Subtle animal prints? Your mood and your preferences can dictate…
Everything, including the accessories. You can see now that there’s a wide range of accessories, but a very clearly unified core of clothes.
As always, you have lots of outfit options:
Should I re-visit these clothes with different accessories? What kinds of things would you like?
love,
Janice
Hi these are excellent basics. I would love to see them with some animal print which would be my dream combination. Thanks Margo
Good idea. Leopard prints with navy and caramel would be amazing.
Navy/beige is the core of my wardrobe, and this is an excellent example. I love the way it can skew either warm or cool, and like Natruss above I'd like to see a version with warmer accessories. (I'm not keen on white, so would replace the white basics with another 'neutral' such as pewter or grey-green)
Please do lots more in this series!
Alice
I think natruss and Alice have a wonderful idea with reworking this as a warmer wardrobe – but I vote for keeping the neutrals white in your next example so the focus is solely on how the accessories alone can change the group to simply 'read' warmer, or to adapt this group in a way that will work for those who look best in warm tones.
(If one changes both the clothing and the accessories at the same time, I think it is harder to learn the underlying principles. Using a single variable helps me recognize causation and correlation vs simply enjoying "Janice is so good at this!" and/or copying your patterns in creating my own wardrobe. I don't have the style chops to learn more than one lesson at a time. lol)
And yes! Please do lots more in this series!
my two cents, Sue G
Love this series – navy/beige with coral accents?
I love this series! You could definitely pick anything and it would go together. Thanks for the ideas! It might also be nice to see these clothes with bold/graphic prints.
Yes, please. I find this series very helpful and thought-provoking. For a sewist, it means we can make all these basics and have fun with accessory collections, perhaps with those does from Shoes of prey. I am very tempted by that concept but would really like to read a renew from one of your readers. I am interested in seeing an indigo and cream combo for this series. I find navy is too "cold' and dark for my warm coloring.
Correction: I meant shoes from shoes of prey!
Anonymous at 9:26, my Shoes of Prey are being stitched right now. I'll send Janice an email with my thoughts on them when they arrive. I ordered the smoking slippers , and I was able to try on a pair of test flats at a Nordstrom store. I'm hoping for an excellent result!
I have just received my first pair of ballet flats from Shoes of Prey and was so pleased have ordered another pair. Their customer service is excellent as is the quatity of the shoes. I would highly recommend them. Margo
I love neutrals so much…these items are lovely, Janice!
Striped accessories could be fun with these neutrals!
Oh yes, please! Until you asked, I did not know this is something I have been struggling with forever!!
Although I always dress conservatively, I would like to learn how to accessorize toward some extremes that I can apply by mood and occasion…and I am tired of having different wardrobes for different purposes. Having the skills to accessorize a Whatever's Clean 13 wardrobe toward the far edges of our personalities and lifestyles seems like a series of GREAT lessons!
For example: I would love to see this wardrobe done with edgier, sharper looks vs more natural, bohemian-ish accessories — perhaps 'city-nightclub polished' vs 'coachella-beachparty casual' because those are two mood/situations I find myself in quite often…or some other pair of extreme moods/situations. The ladylike pretty collection you have shown here with a rough sporty collection. That sort of thing.
Love this and this whole series. I'm envisioning pieces of my wardrobe here and I wear lots of warm colors, however this wardrobe reads more cool to me, so I would love if you could revisit this with warmer color accessories either coral or a green. I'm thinking more mint than emerald for warmer weather. thanks for all you do.
I have trouble choosing neutrals. Every item (except accessories) in this combination is neutral and looks so great! Ok. I am going to try focusing only on neutrals for a bit!
Wonderful post. The beautiful scarf from KathKath seems to have a black background. Is it?
And yet you paired it with navy. How closely do you try to match the base colors of the scarves
to your neutrals? Or does the eye just "read" this as dark scarf and dark pants….okay they match! (??)
Dark denim can fill in nicely for navy.
This template intrigues…might one replace "cool to warm" with "casual to dressy"?
I really like "casual to dressy", it would give us some great business travel options.
Could you please do a capsule for a very casual workplace where everyone can wear jeans every day, and there are no blazers in sight?? I usually do a cardigan most of the time (cool climate), but it's hard to get away from solid colors and into patterns.. white bottoms are also out, not an area of my body t that I want to call attention to…I'm so boring, and big bold jewelry is so not my style……any inspiration would be welcomed….
Thanks, Sue
Love those Floral Canvas Shoes!
Love this! I've been contemplating moving to navy as my dark neutral (instead of black), but I was having trouble seeing past the usual navy & white combo. I'd never even considered navy & beige, but these combos are gorgeous!
I'm moving to navy, slowly – its definitely a good move! It's often paired with white or grey, but I much prefer beige, especially 'nude' (i.e. pink-beige), and deeper versions such as pewter, cocoa (i.e. light browns, not too yellow). And it pairs well with just about any bright colour.
Alice
I often pack navy cores for travel year round – generally pairing it with 'nude' beiges in spring, sharp whites in high summer, pewter in the fall, and warm deeper/heathered greys in the winter (for northern hemisphere seasons).
I love your idea of trying it with cocoa, Alice, or dark seal brown – any brown with no golden undertones seems interesting and is rarely seen. It must also depend a great deal on the shade of navy.
Sue G
Such good ideas, Alice & Sue! I am definitely adding some navy to my wardrobe.
I would love to see a casual to dressy set too!! That is what I need almost every time I travel. Casual days with dressier nights. Would love that!! I also rarely wear dresses. I would also like to see warmer accessories. Great ideas ladies!!
I would love to see a casual to dressy set as well, please!
This wardrobe would be great with yellow and teal or aqua accessories, too, I think.
What a beautiful navy with cool beiges/white wardrobe. Soft and soothing yet easily accessorized with intense colour accents or softer tones as needed. Love it.