French 5-Piece Archives - Page 6 of 6

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

October 5, 2016

Ah, you've seen this before, I'm sure:

But did you know that Rossetti was working with a model who really LOOKS like this? Her name was Jane Morris; she was married to William Morris, the textile designer... (see the teal and black scarf below for one of his designs!)

What do you do if this kind of aesthetic appeals to you TREMENDOUSLY, but you live a very normal, ordinary life that doesn't involve having 3 feet of madly waving hair, or standing around all day in swishy velvet dresses, brooding over a pomegranate?

A few small additions might help channel that feeling for you...

As I did yesterday, let's start with a very simple wardrobe of extremely neutral garments that ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Vase with Honesty by Vincent van Gogh

October 4, 2016

I'm going to take a rather different approach to working with art, for this week. One of the biggest concerns that you raise to me is that it's impossible to completely re-do a wardrobe from the very beginning. So I'm going to look at introducing accent colors and art inspirations into an existing wardrobe, and see how that works...First, let's start with our beautiful painting:

These were the colors that I saw within the painting. For the most part, they're nice neutrals, and thus should be easy to combine.

Here's where I want to change things, for now. Imagine that the above painting has become something of a fascination for someone; they've decided that, moving forward, they want it to be their ... View the Post

My French 5-Piece Capsule Wardrobe for Autumn and Winter 2015. I think…

August 7, 2015

So now that THAT is settled, let's move on to the really fun stuff - adding to and dressing up (or down) A Common Wardrobe.Just for reference, or if you still haven't printed it, this is the template from which I worked for my 12-piece Common Wardrobe.

And these are the core garments with which I'm working:

black cardigan - J. Crew; black v-neck sweater - J. Crew; black cashmere turtleneck - Saks Fifth Avenue, white cotton turtleneck - L.L.Bean; black long-sleeved tee - Three Dots; grey long-sleeved tee - L.L.Bean; white shirt – J. Crew; black slouch pants - Eileen Fisher; black trousers - Eddie Bauer; black jeans - Eileen Fisher; black skirted leggings - Eileen ... View the Post

The French 5 Piece Wardrobe, The French 10 Piece Wardrobe, Project 333, My Capsule Wardrobe

December 6, 2014 Everywhere you look, there's a "number" wardrobe that's recommended to make life easier! I am as guilty of that as anyone, because I like nice, tidy, finite wardrobes, and I'm crazy about numbers. But what do all of these number ideas teach us?

The French 10 Piece Wardrobe

To me, this idea translates into a core wardrobe with lots of versatility. It is the canvas upon which you demonstrate your personal preferences, whimsy, and style. Ten pieces of clothing is a pretty excellent number for those of us who are out in public 5 days a week, in that it provides a week of "tops" and a week of "bottoms".

If they're carefully chosen, these ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: One Special Outfit

October 17, 2014

This is a plan for someone who has the Common Capsule Wardrobe in grey and off-white, with a camel sweater, because they're moving away from wearing black. (more on this idea another day). This someone has a special occasion coming up, and they want to expend their ENTIRE French 5-Piece Wardrobe on a new dress and some accessories:

These purchases aren't "single-use", of course; the scarf and jewelry could be worn with almost any of the outfits in The Common Wardrobe. The pumps will go nicely with our grey skirt (or with the jeans, if that's a preference). And the dress is simple enough that it can be worn more casually, after the special occasion. Dark tights and flats or ankle ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Avoiding Boredom

October 16, 2014 Let's say you have A Common Capsule Wardrobe in black and grey, and you're happy with it. But you're concerned that you're going to get bored by wearing so many neutrals all of the time... So one day you're browsing through the internet, and you find a whole LOT of lovely, bright, good-quality blouses, shirts and sweaters at a good price. You might have always wanted to try these brands, but always been reluctant to purchase their items at the full retail price. (the site is The Outnet - lots of pretties at prices that still aren't small, but which are a ton better than the original retail!). After a bit of thought, you choose to, for one season, indulge your affection for every bright ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Shades of blue, with Black and Grey

October 15, 2014 We looked at using a variety of shades of pink as an accent in a capsule wardrobe (post here), and it was something that everybody either seemed to love or hate. So I'm going to see what response is to shades of blue - that very particular muted blue that you see in blue onyx. A note about this scarf - it's from Hermes, and it's in their usual amazingly lustrous silk twill, but it isn't a square - it's a very long rectangle with mitered ends. Per square inch of silk, these scarves are MUCH less expensive than the squares, and for many people, they're a lot more versatile style. If you've never been interested in a square scarf, then these (called Maxi Twilly), are at least worth ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: blue, green, and grey

October 14, 2014 The French 5-Piece Wardrobe is a great way to experiment with new color palettes, but it can also be used as a way to build upon The Common Capsule Wardrobe in your chosen neutrals. Adding in a neutral item or two can really expand the versatility of your core garments, while a new color or two keeps the boredom at bay. Let's see what these five items do for A Common Capsule Wardrobe:

Remember, this is A Common Wardrobe, in navy and grey, with which we're working:

First off, the beautiful green sweater actually would give you eight new possibilities (I only show four) - it can be worn with any of your pants, jeans, or skirt, and it can be worn with ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Shades of Pink, Navy and Grey

October 10, 2014 While the French 5-Piece Capsule Wardrobe is great for experimenting with new colors or trendy items, it can also be an opportunity to build your wardrobe around your favorite colors. If you like pink - all shades of pink - then indulge in a combination of beautiful items for the long-term and a few more spontaneously fun things for a season or two.

There are lots of possibilities here, from bright and cheery ensembles to more subtle and low-key ones.

Just a reminder that this is A Common Capsule Wardrobe upon which we are building.

love,

Janice ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Burgundy, Teal, Navy and Grey

October 9, 2014 Very popular colors - I often get requests for capsule wardrobes in these! And this year, this wine color is quite popular and readily available - if it's a color that you love, this is a good season to pick up a piece or two. This is an long-term sweater, a blouse that should last you a couple of seasons at least, and a cardigan that you can count on for a few years. Most scarves hold up well and can be counted on for the long term. But I think the stand-out item here is the great wool shopping bag - how clever is it to make a wool bag? I can just imagine how nice this feels...

In order to give you a fuller view of just how useful these few items can be, ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Meets A Common Capsule Wardrobe: navy, grey, electric blue, bright purple

October 8, 2014

There's a lot of talk in books and on the internet about the "French 5-Piece Wardrobe", which is a misnomer if there ever was one! The wardrobe isn't really five pieces; the concept is that you have a core of basic, neutral garments, and you then add FIVE pieces per season. I'm sure some people define a season as every 3 months, but it would certainly also make sense to just do this every 6 months. Whatever makes you happy, right?

But when I read descriptions about the "core" of neutral garments, I kept thinking that it sounded a lot like The Common Wardrobe... And that this philosophy might be an option for helping us build our wardrobes of basics, while at the same time introducing accent colors, long-term ... View the Post