Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 100 of 133

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art in Orange and Red: Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

September 4, 2015

This color scheme had to be revisited one last time, because there's an eccentric aunt lurking in the background who wants a bit of attention. (just for the record, I'm the eccentric aunt in my family's tree...)

She persists in believing that orange and red are meant to go together! They're side by side in the color wheel, they're both in flowers, and fruits, and lots of beautiful prints. Why not pair them - it's a singular style statement that you don't see every day!

You would see this woman... on a plane, train, you name it, she's going to be visible. Happily, her sunny personality is equal to the level of high-intensity color.

For reference purposes, and to give credit where artistic credit is due, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Egypt Drawing 9 by Susan Osgood

September 3, 2015 So beautiful... the depths of the black throughout the blue, the radiance of the red shining in the distance, and are those footsteps moving up off the top of the image?

A color scheme of clarity, but with dimensions of color:

Can You Play the Game? The rules are few, simple, but rigorously enforced:

Either participant can initiate the game. You must be ready to leave within the hour! You must be able to carry (not roll) your bag...

Blue cardigan – Eastex; tunic dress – Topshop; bracelet – Aoy; cross body bag – Cambridge Satchel Company; red onyx earrings – Bhavesh; scarf – We are Owls We Are Warriors; black tights – Topshop; boots – Jack ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2 of Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

We took a look at this painting a few days ago, and my result was a very dark and subdued mix of burgundy and black. THIS version is quite a bit brighter!This is the same general scenario: a lovely woman who has to make a quick overnight trip for a (possibly) dressy event - wedding, dinner party, etc.

I've kept the jewelry and scarf from the previous iteration of this project, and black pants are still on the menu. But a change of coat, sweater, boots and tote change everything completely.

coat – MSGM; boots – Munro; cashmere sweater – RED Valentino; trousers – Oasis; scarf – Sam Edelman; earrings – Kendra Scott; cuff bracelet – Alexis Bittar; tote bag – Lodis

Just to refresh our eyes, here's the ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: French Paisley Striped Shawl from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

August 31, 2015

For all of us who are art lovers, it's important to remember that we can indulge ourselves while supporting our favorite museums. Gift shops make a real point to find the most beautiful items available, and they always have a certain quality that you just don't see in every store...This beauty screams fall, doesn't it?

What really appeals here is the way that the strong camel and brown tones provide a perfect backdrop for the clear red, green and blue:

Under the Radar She wanted to travel. A lot. She has a project, and some goals in mind. So she wants to get out of town, maybe as often as every other weekend, through the autumn and winter...

There are LOTS of cities really close to her - ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

August 29, 2015

The wealth of colors in this painting lead me in all sorts of directions, so I thought I'd share with you my thought process as I finalized a color scheme for us to work with here.

My very first instinct was drawn to the fabrics in the background of the painting - the vivid blue was the first thing that I envisioned as a lead neutral for a color scheme, with accents of the white fabric, all of the red flowers, and the oranges.

But where this would make a great scarf, or piece of jewelry, I realized that there wasn't going to be any easy way to find enough garments in that shade of blue to put together even the smallest capsule wardrobe. (this is a BIG advantage to being able to sew - you could make your core ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with a Scarf: Silvie Shadow by Ted Baker

August 28, 2015 If you are a fan of floral prints, get yourself to the Ted Baker site... I stopped into his store in Chicago on Saturday, and it was an oasis of beautiful floral fabrics. His items sell out really quickly, so if you see something that really grabs you, it's worth acting quickly. The prints are intricate, beautifully rendered, in lovely fabrics, and very feminine without being at all prissy or twee. Gorgeous...

There are at least a couple more colors that I could have pulled from here - there are touches of apricot, and of course a soft white would be ideal - but this is what I'm working with:

You don't dress like a scientist... She has like flowers for as long as anybody can ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Light, Earth and Blue by Mark Rothko

August 27, 2015

A very special request! This is such an interesting color combination - distinctive, but calm and very grounded in nature. The woman who wears this is going to be very special...

Although the obvious neutrals here are olive green and navy, I gave each color equal weight in the color scheme to reflect the balance that I see in the painting. Your view may differ!

She Just has An Eye... Nobody else seems to ever get sent to the auctions - especially the big ones in Europe. But, in all fairness, after she found that Jasper Johns that NOBODY else believed to be authentic, nobody else can realistically expect to go. When it comes to spotting the overlooked gem in the market, nobody is her ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Understanding by Parscha Mirghawameddin

August 25, 2015 What a striking painting - a juxtaposition of colors not often found together. And they work so well... thus, the title is Understanding - these colors have found a way to live together with joy and beauty.

This is a great, uncommon color scheme - and it could easily be flipped to use a lot of the beige from the upper left areas as a neutral too!

Eyes the Color of Pond Scum Well yes, her family had always been a little bit... harsh when they teased her about her coloring. Green eyes and red hair were uncommon in her family - unseen for generations, to tell the truth...

But for decades, she's believed that her eyes held depth of beauty, and that ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with Art: Yoro Falls in Mino Province by Katsushika Hokusai

August 21, 2015 The turbulence of nature, in cool, calm colors, with a touch of gold...

A perfect office wardrobe color scheme, with unexpected accent colors!

Calm, relaxed... The place is a madhouse, everybody admits that. One would think that they were engaged in life-saving surgeries, or transporting of vital medicines, or something IMPORTANT. But no, they're just moving superfluous consumer goods from Point A to Point B...

Clearly, they need someone in charge who has control over their emotions, and who has a contagiously tranquil spirit!

She works in a very tall building, in a very... paved... part of the world. But in her heart, the sun shines, leaves flutter in the breeze, rivers ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage

August 20, 2015 French Realist painting at it's very finest...

And this suggests for us a color scheme using one of my favorite combination of neutrals: camel and grey!

Our heroine is going on a voyage, so this seems like an appropriate template around which to build her wardrobe:

Clarity, and Commitment She knew she was on the right track. Now she knew that she had to share what she knew.

It would require travel. It would require speaking to anyone who would listen. It would require unflagging confidence in the merits of her cause.

She can do this!

She knew that a pair of jeans would be handy when she was between meetings and speaking engagements; as she started to pack, this ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Chapter 2 of Still Life with Apples by Henri Matisse

August 18, 2015

The morning after the board meeting, they called her into the Manager's office for a conversation...An hour later, she was the first, and only, Commercial Relationship Coordinator in the entire company. It is a position with a somewhat nebulous job description, but one which is going to be PERFECT for showing her diplomatic skills to their best advantage!

Remember, this was her work wardrobe:

Which was based on this painting and color scheme:

She finally felt that this was the right time to break out a new, and heretofore unseen, facet of her personality. Within her there was a brightness, and a strength, which she had downplayed in the past, in order to fit into the organization. Glimpses of ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Still Life with Apples by Henri Matisse

August 5, 2015 As soon as I saw this painting, I knew we were going to have some fun. I really admire the juxtaposition of the very traditional navy and grey with the striking, almost shocking, colors of the apples. That Matisse knew what he was doing...

If I were to expand this wardrobe further, I would pull in more shades of grey, and a wider range of blues... so many possibilities just from this limited palette.

Just the slightest suggest of unplumbed depths...

The subject of her came up before the Director's meeting started. It wasn't anything that they could actually put their finger on; they agreed that nobody in the room had ever even seen her knees!

She was always dressed ... View the Post