Capsule Wardrobe Plans Archives - Page 32 of 62

A 36-Hanger Capsule Wardrobe Plan

It happens every year at this time - you would think that after living through 54 Aprils, I would know better. But we have a couple of warm days, and I start dragging warm-weather clothes out of storage... then the weather returns to normal (i.e. coats and gloves) and my closet looks like a I've lost all control. (because I HAVE let things get out of control...)So I spend quite a bit of time thinking about organizing my closet. You already knew that! And this is my latest thought:

Step 1 Look at everything that's visible, and that I can remember from storage, and pick the 18 garments that I know I will want to wear in the immediate (2 weeks or so?) future. This isn't designed to punish me if the weather changes radically - it's ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerite au Chat Noir by Henri Matisse

April 18, 2016

Yes, I saw this in Paris last week!

Aside from the charm and beauty of Marguerite, I was immediately attracted to the colors:

Quietly Rebellious

Cardigan – J. Crew; pants – Boden; tee – J. Crew; skirt - A.P.C.

She seems like the most conventional of women. Very pretty, always very nicely dressed.

Cardigan – Stella McCartney; jeans – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – A.P.C.

She's rather quiet, a bit shy, and well-suited to her work in the library...

Blue top – Part Two; ivory shimmer tee – Mint Velvet; soft teal tee – L. L. Bean; salmon sweater – Odeeh

And yes, she owns a cat!

Tie dye tee – ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Turquoise, Coral, Black, and Grey: 1 Piece at a Time

April 7, 2016

What beautiful summer colors, and what exciting accessory possibilities!

Coral was a specific request...

Normally, I would build solid columns and suits, but just to show you a different way to go about building a wardrobe, I'm adding an accent tee shirt first. This can be a wonderful idea if you're still "on the fence" about a color scheme; if you buy an accent piece and find that you don't reach for it every couple of days, it might mean that you need to rethink your choice of colors.

Okay, NOW we're putting together the black suit. These kinds of monochromatic outfits really come into their own when the accessories show up!

Since we're fast moving into summer, I thought ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Denim, Stone, Pink and Soft Blue: 1 Piece at a Time

March 23, 2016

This woman is one who really love denim, and a good sweatshirt, but who also has a side that wants a bit of the feminine, and the softly colored...Her starting "favorite" outfit:

shirt – Uniqlo; sweatshirt – H&M; jeans – L.L.Bean; scarf – Hinge

And this is the color scheme she has in mind. This is a really good scheme, in that the two neutrals are both typically available in a variety of casual fabrics, so they're a good "couple" to work together. And since both of the accent colors are equal in intensity and value, they will also be usable in the same situations, and very likely to appear together in prints and patterns. When your chosen colors have a certain "feeling" in common, ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Asiatic God by Paul Klee

March 19, 2016 This looks a little bit clown-like on my screen, but in person it's much more compelling, with a lot of texture. Almost mysterious, dark, and captivating, with amazing color highlights.

Asiatic God – Paul Klee

The frame is maroon and grey, and there are tiny accents of teal... the pink on the face is, in fact, the color PUCE! (I was searching around for the precise RGB combination to show the color on the color wheel, and learned this...)

This cried out for denim, to serve as a base for texture and a variety of accent colors...

Yes, the image of this skirt is TERRIBLE, but I really wanted you to see this skirt. It's a departure from a lot of denim skirts, in that it seems to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Cobalt, Black and Grey: 1 Piece at a Time

March 8, 2016

I knew that I had more black and grey wardrobe requests, so I thought I'd jump on another one right away and see how much difference a change of accent colors would make.First up, the hypothetical starter outfit:

It's a pretty somber outfit, but when you drape the scarf over the shoulders of the cardigan, or loop it insouciantly under the collar of the shirt, everything changes!

Although this outfit includes an Hermes scarf, I imagined that this was being put together for a woman who really needed some more casual clothes. First up is to consolidate a solid column of black, as well as build a sort of fake twin-set in black.

Here's where we start getting much more ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Grey, Blue, Lilac and Black: 1 Piece at a Time

I thought that this would be challenging, but I really enjoy the options provided by including both black and grey with these soft accent colors:

cardigan – J. Crew; shirt – Uniqlo;

scarf – Ted Baker London; trousers – J. Crew Factory

If you like florals, I can't encourage you enough to look at products from Ted Baker London. While not inexpensive, they are SO beautiful, and you really only need 1 piece to be the starting point, and the lynch pin, of a beautiful wardrobe.

cardigan – J. Crew; shirt – Uniqlo;

scarf – Ted Baker London; trousers – J. Crew Factory

While my first inclination was to buy the sweater to match the cardigan, I thought that instead I'd invest in another ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Camel, Cream and Turquoise: 1 Piece at a Time

March 2, 2016 I decided to pull a scarf into this one, in order to illustrate the color scheme a bit - I think that adding the scarf lends a bit of validity to the possibility that this outfit could be someone's favorite:

Shell – J. Crew; cardigan – J. Crew; scarf – St Petersburg Global Trade; pants – J. Crew

I love the possibilities - dark chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, and.... I do NOT have anything except ugly artificially-colored sprinkles to offer in turquoise!

Shell – J. Crew; cardigan – J. Crew; scarf – St Petersburg Global Trade; pants – J. Crew

Normally, I try to start building a wardrobe with solid garments, because they feel more ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Sea Seen from the Heights of Dieppe by Eugene Delacroix

February 26, 2016 What a gorgeous image, especially in late February, in Chicago!

As much as this painting suggests a wardrobe with a LOT of gold and yellow, I'm going to have to work around that, because those clothes are NOT easy to find! So I'm going to take advantage of the boat in the foreground, the beige clouds and distant sea, and the glimpses of blue sky. Some mother-of-pearl jewelry would be logical, no?

They Met on The Internet Not that it's unusual to date someone you met online - much the contrary. Many of her nieces and nephews dated people they met on the internet, and she even knew of a couple of very successful marriages that started there. It's just not something she ever ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Male and Female Cardinals, in Warm AND Cool Colors

February 24, 2016

So I'm going to start alternating "1 Piece at a Time" Wardrobes with other fun things, so that we don't collectively burn out on the concept before I've addressed ALL of your color scheme requests. I am absolutely going to look at accessories for these wardrobes - those might be some of the "interspersed" posts. As much as I have an endless attention span for a single subject, I understand that a bit of variety keeps things fresh for us all.Someone suggested that the male cardinal wardrobe (here) and the female cardinal wardrobe (here) might be combined. I'm ALL OVER that idea!

Do these two look like they get along?

I've often thought that it's possible to build a wardrobe with 4 or 5 neutral colors ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in beige, pink and soft green

February 20, 2016

I'd be happy to do more of these - suggest colors, and I'll give it a try!

Today, we're going into warm colors, starting with a favorite outfit of a woman who wears and loves warm, soft colors:

I can see the appeal of a comfy tee, broken-in chinos, and a cuddly cashmere cardigan! Although her "seed" outfit doesn't include green, she makes the deliberate choice to include it in her wardrobe plan:

I may have beaten this poor horse to pieces by now, but a great place to start to expand a wardrobe is to find pieces that are different colored versions of your current favorites. In this shopper's (now nicknamed TS) plan, a green tee shirt, just like her blush one, is a simple and foolproof place to ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: A Cardinal, in Warm Colors

So Wednesday I danced with the "cool male" cardinal; today, let's see what the "warm female" cardinal colors have to offer!

I'm going to use exactly the same red garments as I did on Wednesday, just to show how very different they feel when they're used with brown and camel.

Blazer – Emilio Pucci; pants – Austin Reed;

Blouse – Joseph; skirt – Austin Reed

Cardigan – Elder Statesman; trousers – J.Crew;

Tee – Sonia Rykiel; jeans – Austin Reed

V-neck blouse – Velvet; silk-trimmed top – Madewell;

Red sweater - Balenciaga; turtleneck – L.L.Bean

Camel sweater – J.W. Anderson; skirt – Adam Selman;

Space-knit sweater – Adam Selman; dress ... View the Post