January 29, 2012 I've been tying scarves like this for decades, and I don't know that I've ever seen anybody else do this! So I'm sharing with the world...
love, Janice ... View the Post
Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 152 of 155
Maximize Your ROI: Bright Pants
Coral pants - Maxmara
Pearl & gold earrings – Lord & Taylor, brass & pearl bracelet – Alcozer & J, coral earrings – Roberta Chiarella, ring – Del Gatto, tee shirt – T by Alexander Wang, sleeveless tee shirt – Topshop, white sleeveless shirt – Joseph, flats – Modcloth, woven sandals – Monsoon, spectator flats – Circa by Joan & David
Aquamarine earrings – Lord & Taylor, tourmaline earrings – Amrita Singh, hot pink earrings – Asos, orange resin earrings – Amrita Singh, Blue bracelet – Alexis Bittar, green & gold bracelet – Rodarte, hot pink bracelet – Kate Spade, Blue tank – Splendid, green tee – Bruuns Bazaar, pink tee – Topshop, floral bag – Kelly & Katie, striped ... View the Post
Shopping: The Logical Flaws of the “10 Must-Have Items” lists
If you search on the internet for "2012 must-have items", you get more than three hundred MILLION hits. Even if you assume that most of these won't, in fact, tell you to buy something, that's still a tremendous number of people bossing you around about how to spend your hard-earned money!
And these lists are full of logical flaws:
If these are truly must-have items, why don't all of the lists agree? Or at least have a significant degree of overlap? After looking at the first handful of "top-ten for spring" lists, I saw at least 50 different items I absolutely have to buy if I'm going to be able to show my face in public. Why do all of these lists assume that you can't look around a store and make your own choices? ... View the Post
A Cool, Cool, Style-Defining Tool!
January 16, 2012
Above is a "word cloud" of my core wardrobe. I absolutely love this, because it sort of puts into a graphic image the key aspects of how I dress most of the time.
Doing this requires that you keep a list of everything that you wear for at least a few weeks... Or, you could just type out a list of everything you own - it depends on what you're trying to visualize.
Then get thee to wordle.net, and follow the instructions under the heading of "create". You can choose fonts, color schemes, orientation of the text etc. I found that my cloud really started to come into focus for me once I had a classic font, and a black and gray color scheme.
An interesting use of this for me might be (1) ... View the Post
Shopping: The Danger of the Alluring Assortment
I've seen it a hundred times, at least. Hapless shopper wanders into store, without anything particular in mind. And then... they see it. The shelf of tee shirts in 19 colors. The round rack of cardigans in 24 colors. OR the wall of socks in every color of the rainbow (yes, I'm talking to you, Bon Marche!).
When this shopper came into the store, their feelings about buying were "Will I buy?".
But then they see this assortment, and they automatically start to evaluate the various colors, mentally sorting them into piles of "yuck", "nice but I couldn't wear it", "possible", and (this is the fatal one) "my colors".
And of course, when you see something in "my color", it should therefore become "my garment", ... View the Post
Wardrobe based on 2 suits: Was Chanel right?
December 23, 2011 One of my favorite Chanel quotes is "One shouldn't spend all one's time dressing. All one needs are two or three suits, as long as they and everything to go with them, are perfect." So I thought about how this quote applies to the wardrobes that I build - let's try on Chanel's advice! First, two suits: one black, one taupe. Now, to me, a suit is a jacket, pants, a skirt AND a dress. (sometimes, nothing looks better than a dress and jacket). Yes, I'm taking the definitions very loosely...
Next, you need the things that go with the 2 suits. One twinset that matches a suit, and another twinset in an accent color. One turtleneck that matches one of the suits, and a ... View the Post
A warm brown, green and rust capsule wardrobe based on a painting by Klimt
Customizing the Classics: the black turtleneck
Black turtleneck - Dear
Brown turtleneck – Chloe, Gray turtleneck – Barney’s, navy turtleneck - Woolrich
crew – Diane von Furstenberg, cowl – Oasis, v-neck – Vanessa Bruno
Silk – Barney’s, Linen– Kain Frances, Cotton – Kelly Hoppen
Tweed skirt – Lanvin, Camel jeans – Moto, Brown silk pants – 3.1 Phillip Lim ... View the Post
A retail rebellion
I work in retail, and I'm quite grateful to have any job at all, right now. But many of my fellow workers are being mistreated, and you can change that.
The day after Thanksgiving is, in the US, a big shopping day - one of the biggest of the year. In a bizarre effort to increase the amount of shopping done on that day, retailers are opening their stores earlier and earlier each year. Now, the final straw, Target stores are opening AT MIDNIGHT on Thanksgiving evening!
If you're an employee, do the math. "I have to be in the store at 11 p.m., so I have to leave for work at 10:30 p.m... I'm going to work at least 9 hours, so I'll have to sleep before I go to work, so I realistically need to be in bed by... 2:00 ... View the Post
Maximize your ROI: leather skirt
Brown leather skirt – Ralph Lauren
Silk blouse – Hante Hippie, cardigan – Golden Goose, sweater – Ralph Lauren, suede pumps – Sergio Rossi, bow pumps – Clarks, gold disc earrings – Kenneth Jay Lane, necklace – Kate Spade, brown clutch – Maison Martin Margiela, gold bracelet – Citrine by the Stones, scarf - Missoni
Beige sweater – Oasis, gray sweater - J. Crew, ivory sweater – Isabel Marant, twist scarf – Hortensia, ombre scarf – Bajra, brown/gray scarf – Faiero Sarti, short boots – Madewell, backpack – Bothos, tall boots – SE Boutique
Turtleneck – Missoni, pearl jewelry– Kate Spade, watch – Debenhams, yellow sweater – Lela Rose, green sweater – Jack Wills, square scarves – Hermès, ... View the Post
Maximize your ROI: brightly colored pants
Pants - Sandro
Ivory sweater – Carven, teardrop earrings – Kendra Scott, plaid shirt – J. Crew, ankle boots – Common Projects, Beige sweater – Alexander Wang, blue & gold earrings – Amy DiGregorio, black & blue scarf – Diane von Furstenberg, beige flats – Thierry Rabotin, black turtleneck – Vince, bracelet – Kenneth Jay Lane, black suede loafers – Rebecca Minkoff
Beige cardigan – Zadig & Voltaire, scarf – Versace, blue silk tank – Kain Classic, lais pendant – Anton Heunis, tasseled necklace – Kenneth Jay Lane, black cardigan – Michael Michael Kors,, white tee – Paul Smith, white cardigan – Ralph Lauren, beige tee shirt – J. Crew, sandals – CO-OP Barneys, cap-toe ballerinas – AK Anne ... View the Post
Prepare to Party: Beaded cardigans
One of the most irksome aspects of this time of year, fashion-wise, is being inundated with glitter, beads, sequins and other shiny baubles that we are supposed to desperately need for our fabulously busy holiday party season. I'm always either intimidated, or feel inferior, because (a) I don't get invited to that many parties, and (b) the ones I go to aren't all that splashy!
But it's easy to get sucked into the idea that one should invest in a half-dozen party outfits...
My antidote: I bought a (used) beaded cardigan. These are readily available, at all price points, and are quite versatile. See some ideas below.
Cardigan – Steffen Schraut, earrings – Miriam Salat, tee shirt – Donna Karan, jeans – ... View the Post