a Scarf Archives

Analyzing the Six-Pack – Start with a Scarf: Royal Tulips by Katchmagic London

January 13, 2023

She's going to be really methodical about this...

And we are going to listen in to her brain, to see what we can learn...

First, she chooses her current favorite scarf as her inspiration, and then isolates what her accent colors will be:

Hmm... packing six garments and wearing 3 on the train/plane/bus means that she will have a total of 9 garments with her on her trip. She pictures it like this:

Her first outfit is straightforward - dark pants to avoid the mini-drama of spills. A warm cardigan that's pretty bulky to pack, so she chooses to wear it. And a bright tee shirt to bring color and life to her face...

She will almost certainly wear her inspiration scarf too!

Next, she chooses the ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Gabriella by Elizabetta

December 30, 2022

Happy Birthday, you down in Georgia!!!

You Have to Choose...

She's a judge. She has to pick. Every time.

Now that she's packing for a few winter days away, she will NOT choose between warm and cool colors. She doesn't want to, and she doesn't feel that she needs to either!

She's heard it all - "it's not right to wear gold with grey," "Olive is only for women with a certain coloring," "shades of green can't really be worn together - especially cool greens and warm greens."

Humbug, she says.

It might not always be easy to find the right things.

It might not always look like what others are wearing.

It might draw a 2nd look.

She loves the subtlety and nuance of these colors ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Leshy by Ilona Tambor

December 14, 2022

There are six different "Leshy" scarves...

It Happens Every Year, at This Time... Everybody who celebrates one of the "Winter Solstice" traditional holidays starts complaining that we should celebrate on the 21st... or that we should only decorate our trees with things that birds can eat...

And every year, at this time, there's a major academic conference somewhere that is centered around all of the forest deities and Druid-like ceremonies that are in season...

She's one of the world's authorities on Leshy, the legendary forest creature. Sometimes cruel, sometimes kind - he's pretty complicated! And he's NOT a brown bear; she's still going to wear the scarf.

For some reason, these conferences ... View the Post

Part 3 December 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

December 7, 2022

Our last 2 heroines! I grow attached to these projects...

First, let's visit our heroine with the Chrysanthemum scarf:

This heroine isn't planning to dress up much this season - she's more interested in warm and casual!

Her wardrobe of 40 garments looks coherent and very versatile:

And her accessories are wonderful - accessories make so much difference...

Her new garments can be worn more than 2 different ways (each), but she makes certain that she has at LEAST those options...

And now to my favorite heroine - the one who figured out that wearing brown and black together is magical!

THE BLAZER. Oh great shiny chocolate-coated Buddha on a bagel, THE BLAZER...

If I could wear ... View the Post

Part 2 December 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

December 5, 2022

Sometimes, heroines don't need sequins or beaded trim to dress up!

I think that it makes sense for most of us to have a beautiful blouse or top in our favorite accent color, though!

If you want to look luxurious and elegant, but NOT frou-frou, these tops might be just right for you!

Although relatively few of her garments are frilly or lacy, this wardrobe still has a pretty feel to it...

And her accessories are lovely... I'm always smitten with accessories!

Such a fun range of outfits are possible from this wardrobe:

This next wardrobe is finally starting to look coherent, to my eye. Sometimes it takes a while!

Our heroine stumbled onto a few pieces in her favorite shade of ... View the Post

Part 1 December 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

December 2, 2022

I always think of "finishing" these wardrobes for the December posts - but I'm realizing (after a TON of these posts!) that there is never a finished wardrobe. You might well be at a point that you have everything you need for the foreseeable future, but things will wear out. You will change your tastes. Your body will change. Oh, how things wear out...

So for this last post, I'm adding jeans to EVERYBODY'S wardrobes, as well as a couple of tops...

This wardrobe has been a lovely study in a couple of things:

How you can bring an accent color into your wardrobe without matching every piece (both the green and the pink here have garments that don't match!) How many pairs of pants you can have in your ... View the Post

Part 3 November 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

November 9, 2022

Let's see what our last 2 heroines are doing...

The first decided to do her shopping at Nordstrom; she figures she's got a ton of choices there!

Here's where our heroine starts:

With Daylight Savings Time giving our heroine a big dose of gloomy darkness, she decides to get a few tops in lighter, brighter colors...

When she gets her things home and into her wardrobe, she's pretty pleased with how they seem to bring a bit of light to everything:

She's not 100% sure about a pink scarf, but she always can re-gift it to a family member or friend if it really doesn't work out!

Before she starts washing and ironing and putting her new things away, she pulls together a couple of ... View the Post

Part 2 November 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

November 4, 2022

I think this is my favorite...

This imaginary heroine had the exceptional good luck to wander into Banana Republic to do her shopping this month!

One might say she went a bit overboard, but if she's reasonably careful, she should have some of these things for the rest of her life! (I would buy a black suede shirt...)

Everything she's purchased goes beautifully with her existing wardrobe:

And her accessories are gorgeous:

Camel and black look wonderful together, as do camel and ivory. This heroine is going to love her new pieces:

Let's look at our next scarf:

Today's 2nd heroine had the equally good fortune to be in J.Crew when she decided that it ... View the Post

Part 1 November 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

November 2, 2022

What do you do when you've got a real longing for some new clothes?

What about when you're in a store, and you decide you're going to shop?

That's what I'm thinking about this month... Our first heroine wanders into Boden, and wander out with some interesting things!

Remember, her inspiration is this scarf:

Our heroine was pretty disciplined - she stayed with green and pink accents for her purchases... The sweater, though...

When she brings her new things home (or when they are delivered, more likely!), she can see that the pants blend in perfectly, her green silk top goes with a lot of things, and the paisley sweater... is lovely.

Maybe this is the time for her to remember that her entire ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Vintage Blooms scarf by Lost Pattern NYC

October 17, 2022

Sometimes, It's Hard to Decide...

It's a trip that they make a few times a year - pick a city, pick a concert, or an art exhibit, or something interesting, and take a long weekend vacation!

But she's struggling to pack - she knows that black is the neutral, but what is her accent color?

A close look at her current favorite scarf suggests to her that maybe she could pack more than 1 accent color. Maybe more than 2. Maybe MORE THAN THREE?

Honestly, why not? Once she has her core of black items, adding just 1 gold sweater isn't a crime - so long as she has a plan for how to accessorize...

Her dream is always that some event will force them to stay for longer than 5 ... View the Post

Part 3 October 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

October 7, 2022

I've been thinking... This year's wardrobes are lovely, but I'm finding that a lot of them share the same accent colors - green and various shades of orchid or pink...

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

But what if we base next year's 6 wardrobes on SIX PAINTINGS that we've visited before. JUST the paintings and the color palettes - not the original story lines...

That way, before we start getting too far into the wardrobes, we will know what our best accent colors are going to be! I will propose six that I particularly like in the next few days, so we can get an idea of how this might work.

But for now - let's look at the Chrysanthemum scarf!

At this point, the orchid color in this wardrobe has ... View the Post

Part 2 October 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

October 5, 2022

What do you do if your planned color scheme needs to be edited in some way?

EDIT. Move on!

You'll notice that Ruskin's Meadow color scheme has received a necessary update...

Mauve was the request; mauve is the addition! It's interesting to see how 3 tops and a pair of earrings bring a very different look to this wardrobe:

It's all much brighter now, which means that our heroine has new options for getting dressed:

Her accessories are still mostly green, but she's now got those lovely pink earrings...

How might this heroine wear her new mauve tops?

Now on to what might be my favorite scarf, and is growing to be my favorite wardrobe!

I wore this scarf last week; it's ... View the Post