Build a Capsule Wardrobe Archives - Page 45 of 88

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch: The Core Pieces, based on Lightning over Colorado by Joe Randall

Join me on this adventure! Someone wrote to me last week, after I showed this amazing storm photograph, asking if these colors could work as accents for a capsule wardrobe that is mostly grey.Well... maybe. I'm going to give it a try, to see how it works. But I have a real concern: all of the shades of pink and purple will be glorious accents to the grey wardrobe, and would be madly flattered by black leather goods and silver jewelry with pink, lavender or purple beads, stones or pearls. HOWEVER... introducing the warm browns and tans into the mix immediately makes me think that I need to use gold, rather than silver, jewelry. And I'm not at all sure where the leather pieces will fit in....

Nonetheless, we shall endeavor to make ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Femme au Col Blanc VERSION THREE

December 23, 2016 A Lengthy Get-Away... She traveled for the winter holidays, and she traveled to a much warmer destination. But now, she wants to travel from one cold city to ANOTHER cold city, and then take the train to a nice warm break in the countryside... Dressy and casual. Warm and cold. What's she going to do?

Stick with the plan!

Her favorite colors - dare she say her signature colors?

This travel outfit worked so very well for her at the holidays - no need to fix what isn't broken. And when she gets to the next city, she'll be ideally dressed for a leisurely lunch while waiting for her hotel room to become available. It's always wise to think about how your first hours will be spent when you've arrived ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Femme au Col Blanc by Marc Chagall VERSION TWO

December 22, 2016

Done with Winter (for a weekend, at least) Our heroine is ready for a couple of days of warmth. She'd like to see her toes... It's the same heroine we've been following all week; she's referencing her first color scheme, seen here:

Since she's leaving a cold climate, long sleeves, a sweater, and "real" shoes are essential: earrings – Stephen Dweck; scarf – Echo; cardigan– L.L.Bean; tee – Stella McCartney; bracelet – Vera Bradley; loafers – UGG; tote –Louise et Cie; jeans – L.L.Bean But once she's on the ground for the weekend, she's VERY hopeful that she's going to be able to wear capris, and sandals, and tee shirts, and bright ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

December 21, 2016

Autumn REQUIRES Travel...

She just wanted to see San Francisco again. There was really no better reason for her trip than that. And she had a long weekend off of work, so she thought the time appropriate. When a very attractive airfare appeared, and she got the email that her free nights at the hotel chain were soon to expire, she knew she was going!

(that airline credit card is brilliant...)

She's going to eat. The Stinking Onion, lots of seafood, some take-out focaccia, and anything else that strikes her fancy. Because she's going to walk - uphill and down...

Art... There's definitely a lot of art on this weekend's ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Paysage by Pablo Picasso

December 20, 2016

New Year's is MY Holiday... After the madness that was Christmas, our heroine decided that she's going to go away for a long weekend for New Year's Eve and Day... So she sends her core 4 garments to be cleaned (of course she washes her own jeans!) and starts making plans.

Because it's the new year, she's feeling the desire for a pretty spring flower pink, and lovely sky blues...

Dress – Lands’ End; tote – Louise et Cie; earrings – Stephen Dweck; scarf – Roberto Cavalli; bracelet – 1928; gloves – UR; boots – Sarto; coat – Ermanno Scervino

So she switches up just SIX things that she packed for her last trip (and decides to wear her amazing leafy-trimmed coat) and gets ready to set ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a A Black-Based Capsule Wardrobe – An Evaluation

December 7, 2016

Ah, this one is closest to my normal capsule wardrobe, and to what I would buy if I had to start all over...Remember, we left this wardrobe on the first of November like this:

You can see the outfit-by-outfit progression of this wardrobe here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.

Because this wardrobe is so close to my own, I wasn't really concerned that things wouldn't be reasonably well balanced. The easy assembly of a "Four by Four" capsule wardrobe supports my thoughts:

I wasn't quite as certain that things would be as well-balanced for seasons and dressiness - I tend to love cold-weather clothing more than warm, and ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Grey Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

December 6, 2016 Back on the first of November (which seems like it was YEARS ago...) we left this capsule wardrobe looking this way:

If you need to track back and catch up on how we got to this point, the earlier posts can be found here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.

I had a hunch that this wardrobe was in pretty good shape, and this is borne out by the way that the Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe fell into place so easily:

I noticed something sort of interesting when I graphed the garments on the basis of season and dressiness - the cooler weather clothes were more casual, and the warmer weather items skewed a bit more dressy.

This makes sense, when ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Beige-Based Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

December 5, 2016

This seemed like it was going to be a really impractical, too pastel, too feminine exercise... but upon analysis, it's turned out quite well!This was where we left it on the first of November:

If you want to go back and catch up on earlier posts, check here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.

Here was the first signal to me that this was a pretty well-constructed 11-month shopping adventure; I was easily able to pull out pieces to assemble a really functional Four by Four wardrobe:

This layout, on spectrums of weather and of dressiness, might suggest that this heroine could use something dressy for cool weather...

And when I arranged all of the ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Brown-Based Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

December 2, 2016 If you want to go back and catch up on how we've arrived at this point, the earlier posts are here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.The second of our six wardrobes looked like this when we left it in November:

As I did yesterday, my first project is to try to fit these pieces into the Four by Four template. It seems to me that this wardrobe still could use a casual skirt. She already has 2 skirts, they they're both pretty dressy - maybe khaki is an option.

When I look at the existing wardrobe in terms of weather and dressiness, I find the same thing that I did yesterday - a shortage of simple tee shirts. That bottom right ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Navy-Based Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

December 1, 2016

Back in November, when we left this wardrobe, it was in pretty good shape. Eleven outfits had been collected into a pretty coherent, and pretty comprehensive, capsule wardrobe that would see most people through a great many of their activities:

As I've said before, no wardrobe is ever really finished. Clothes wear out, or get damaged. Our sizes change, and sometimes, we just plain get completely fed up with a garment that we've worn a lot, and feel the need to replace it. So it's useful to have a few different ways to really look at a wardrobe and determine what might be needed, or useful, or helpful, to add. I thought of a couple of different ways to evaluate things...

First off, I thought that ... View the Post

What to Pack for Paris? The Easiest Answer, So Far!

November 29, 2016

Yes, I got back from Florida late Sunday night. And yes, I'm leaving for Paris on Thursday....Somehow, that got past me when I was planning these trips individually! But it's going to be fine.

When planning a travel capsule wardrobe for cold weather, it's critical to start with your outerwear. During the day in Paris, virtually EVERYONE is going to see me in my coat, and only the rare person in a restaurant and maybe a museum will see what's underneath. Thus, the coat is pretty important!

For this trip, I felt like I wanted to wear my red Barbour jacket. Partly because I want a break from black, partly because it's a wonderful jacket (with two big snapped pockets that completely obviate the need for a ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 5

November 11, 2016

It's tempting to say we've reached the home stretch of building this capsule wardrobe, but in reality, you're never finished building your wardrobe. Things wear out, or suddenly shrink, or you just plain can't stand the sight of that tee shirt EVER AGAIN... (after travel, you might need to find something new just to retain your sanity!)But for people who don't put all that much worry and fuss into clothing, this wardrobe is at a pretty good stage for a long time:

Here's where I like to stop and lay things out in an orderly fashion, to see where I've gone awry, and what needs to be supplemented, and what needs to be avoided, for the last little bit of shopping:

It's important to me to ... View the Post