Capsule Wardrobe Plans Archives - Page 17 of 62

One Way to Get to Project 333

June 22, 2022

By this time of year, most of us should be easily able to whittle down our warm-weather wardrobe to a tidy 33 pieces. While this is NOT what Courtney Carver suggests for her Project 333, I'm pretty confident that she wouldn't be too upset with us starting at this point. So long as we look seriously at our wardrobes from time to time, she will probably approve!

buy her book and read it; trust me!

How to minimize what's in one's closet is a question that I am asked almost every day, and thus I keep thinking of different ways that someone could go about eliminating a big chunk of their wardrobe... Let me share one idea!

Let's start here - I think (but am by no means sure!) that there are 69 garments here... If all of ... View the Post

What is a “Temporary Wardrobe”? And How Might One Assemble Such a Thing?

March 23, 2022

Two emails, asking the same question from 2 opposite points of view:

"I'm going to have chemotherapy, and I'm going to probably lose enough weight to be 2 sizes smaller than normal. I expect to gain all of the weight back... What to wear?" "I'm starting a new medicine that I will have to take for 3 months; I will gain about 30 pounds during that time. I will lose all of the weight when the therapy is done... What to wear?"

Thus, I'm trying to devise a plan for all among us who might need a "Temporary Wardrobe."

This isn't just for those of us being whipped around by the whims of medicine; imagine living in Singapore and being sent to Ireland for 6 weeks to work! Or vice versa...

Of course, you could manage ... View the Post

One Way to Choose and Assemble Your Uniform

February 11, 2022

I've probably mentioned this before (20 times!), but since we've all moved into 1 apartment together, my ONLY real issue is that my closet isn't conveniently placed, nor organized.

And I, of course, really don't have buckets of time to work on it!

My plan is to get rid of things that are no longer appropriate for what I do every day, and to have a good plan for what I purchase.

I'm also moving more and more toward Urban Organic as a style mantra, so I'm trying to buy clothes with better fabric, with less synthetic content, and that are made somewhere humane...

Big goals!

Initially, what would be the most help to me is to have a solid Cluster of 9 garments (either 3 outfits, or 27, depending on how ... View the Post

How do you choose accessories for a LONG trip?

January 26, 2022

Okay, our heroine has a great color palette chosen for her quite long trip to Europe:

And all of her clothing is chosen too:

Because our wise heroine has already figured out what she wants to wear for travel, and what she's taking with her in her tote bag for that quick change in the airport, she has some of her accessories already chosen:

But she will need more accessories, almost certainly! (well, technically, she could get by with just these things...)

And there's so much to consider:

My favorite approach to choosing accessories when I travel is to pick out a LOT of outfits - making sure that I've included all of my garments at least once. Then I accessorize each of the ... View the Post

A Long Trip to Europe – in Navy, Beige and shades of blue

January 19, 2022

Some of you are planning travel, even though you might still be keeping a low profile to avoid viruses... Lucky people!

A few quite long trips are being organized, and at least 1 trip that I know of is from the Southern Hemisphere (in 4 or 5 months, which will be autumn?) to Europe. How exciting, after being kept close to home for so long...

A color scheme that has been requested TWICE is this general idea - navy and beige as neutrals, and any shade of blue to accent. I picture it like this:

My dying breath might be spent telling everyone how important their travel outfit is! But it's true; you're going to spend hours and hours and HOURS wearing it, and it will be the first impression that you make when you ... View the Post

How Can I Find My Own, Personal, Basic Wardrobe?

November 12, 2021

Ah, I'm going to need a second to remind you of the origins of The Common Wardrobe, and why I was so taken with the idea...

I'm sitting on the sidelines of a big party - about 200 people. These lovely young people (mostly) are my co-workers at an international advertising agency. We are in Madrid, or Berlin, or Chicago - it doesn't matter.

These people are creative. In big bright letters, they are the brightest, most imaginative people I've ever known. And when you look at them, you can tell; they wear sweaters that they knit in their spare time, or shoes made by a friend, or a jacket covered with wee patches that they did to cover holes...

But under all of this amazing color, pattern and print, they were ... View the Post

A Common Wardrobe in Navy and Ivory, accented with Potpourri pink

October 20, 2021

I'm been looking at the Pantone Spring 2021/22 colors; looking may be as far as I get with some of them - there are a couple of truly odd colors on this list!

But we can always start with a neutral wardrobe core, and then use one of the more accessible of the colors for accent, right?

This version of The Common Wardrobe is not a long way from the original, shown below. The jeans are unchanged, the knit pants, long-sleeved tee and cashmere turtleneck are navy rather than black.

For other garments, I tried to stick with the original role that the garment played - 2nd layer, top, bottom - and then looked for a navy or ivory version, in a "long over short" option.

Today's heroine has been wearing her navy ... View the Post

How Do I Make Wardrobe Guidelines Work for Me?

October 15, 2021

Maybe it's because I'm home almost all the time. Maybe it's because almost all of us have been home most of the time for MONTHS AND MONTHS...

But I'm looking at the essentials of a wardrobe. The core; the base; the springboard for all of the bright, memorable, snazzy things that we really love to wear...

And thus, I'm back to thinking about The Common Wardrobe - those 12 garments that I realized almost all of my co-workers owned, about 20 years ago.

These garments haven't gone out of style because they really aren't ever in style. They're available everywhere, at almost any price, and in styles that suit a lot of us.

And if you have these in your closet, you can get dressed. In an emergency, you can pack. You ... View the Post

Start with a Sweater: Sailcloth Fair Isle sweater from L.L.Bean

September 22, 2021

It wasn't a complicated request, but it has someone stumped: "Can I build a small wardrobe for going back to my office, using this sweater as the inspiration?"

My answer to most questions: Heck yes!

First things first - what colors are in this sweater, anyway?

A pretty straightforward color palette!

Let's start with a couple of outfits that our friend had in mind, and then a couple more that I imagined. You know that I'm always going to find a pair of ivory corduroy pants if at all possible:

Our friend very much wanted a light blue shirt - and I was able to find one that seems to be very close to the same shade as found in her sweater!

I love a grey shirt - I can't explain it at all! ... View the Post

A Step-by-Step Packing Plan in black and beige (with coral and light blue!)

August 18, 2021 They're FINALLY Going... And she's got to pack smart!

Their destination involves a lot of food and wine, but isn't overall a really dressy destination...

She's had a pretty clear color palette in her wardrobe for a very long time: black, beige, coral and pretty shades of blue, so THAT part of preparing is easy enough!

Her first impulse is to grab her "go-to" hot weather clothes:

And with that, she... is... sort of stuck!

But she starts thinking, and not just pitching clothes into her suitcase. Thinking is always a good way to get out of a packing "stall" like this...

How many pieces of clothing does she want to pack? Well, 7 days feels like at least a dozen garments, doesn't it?

Does she want to ... View the Post

Can You Pack Nothing but Your Personal Uniform?

August 4, 2021

Yes, I am going to do the "6 Scarves, 12 Months" post on Friday! I've sort of lost track of what month it is; maybe the delay will make it a little bit easier to find things for that "back to school" feeling I always have in August!

But first, let's think about this interesting question that I received...

The gist? Our heroine knows what she likes to wear, but she feels like she should "mix it up" a bit when she travels.

To which my reply is HECK NO - stick with what makes you feel best, and what feels most like you when you get dressed. We all, collectively, need to move away from this idea that we must have a widely varied wardrobe!

She dresses like this in cooler weather:

I'm hypothesizing that our ... View the Post

Start with Art: Courtesans Strolling Beneath Cherry Trees by Kitawaga Utamaro

April 30, 2021

This post is for those among us who are deeply smitten with a particular color for their spring and summer wardrobe; I think that one can wear quite a bit of their favorite color without sacrificing a coherent wardrobe!

OH, she's got cherry trees...

She's got all KINDS of trees under which she plans to sit; she has a STACK of books that need to be read this summer!

And she has her eye on a particular color that she wants to wear this summer; when she saw this painting she began to formulate her plan:

She eschews the almost green shade of beige, and she chooses to believe that the darkest kimonos are black (while it's possible that they're navy...)

This is what she's starting with:

And this is her ... View the Post