Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 59 of 153

Introducing A New Accent Color into an Established Wardrobe – The Visit by Marie Laurencin

January 6, 2021

A new year, and our heroine has decided to incorporate a new accent color into her (already pretty lovely, I'd say!) wardrobe:

If you'd like to look back at the earlier posts based upon this painting, they are:

April 29, 2020

May 8, 2020

September 11, 2020

January 4, 2021

Before she impulsively wanders off into the world of all things green, she pauses to collect and sort her current wardrobe. First up, her cardigans, dresses, and "bottoms." (I just don't love the term bottoms - someone suggest a useful alternative, please!)

Frankly, although this looks like the motherlode of grey pants, they're all very different fabrics, and at least a few different silhouettes...

Now, her ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting (AGAIN!) The Visit by Marie Laurencin

January 4, 2021

I get happy just TYPING 2021...

We've visited this lovely heroine a couple of times already, last Spring in the early days of working from home, and then later in the autumn when she had to take a road trip to sign some legal documents...

Now, she knows that she's going to be working from home for the rest of the winter (at least), and she wants to be organized. Spending time each morning thinking about what to wear is SUCH a waste of time, and she wants to stop doing it!

This is such an enigmatic painting, when you look at it - why is the woman on the wee balcony handing keys to the woman on the horse? Is she coming in to visit them? What is going on here? Can't she just get off her horse and come in? Or is she ... View the Post

January 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

January 1, 2021

Amen and Hallelujah!

This year, I'm going to try to be a little bit more deliberate (from time to time) about how these wardrobes come together. There were years in which I just found the 6 most fun outfits every month, and watched the wardrobes either work or struggle. So maybe being just a tiny bit more practical is an interesting change...

First up, let's refresh our collective memories of the 6 scarves and the color palettes from them:

In choosing these first outfits, I referred back to the "Starting from Scratch" wardrobe building series that I wrote years ago. While the idea of starting with a nice pair of pants doesn't make a lot of sense for many of us right this ... View the Post

Start with Art: Soir de Neige a Terajima by Kawase Hasui

December 30, 2020 A Snow Sabbatical She adores snow...

She likes the clarity and simplicity of a landscape with snow! And so when she was planning her wardrobe for a quick weekend away, she decided to stick with clear, wintery colors:

She will be walking about town quite a bit, but she doesn't expect the weather to be bitter cold. And frankly, she's not concerned - she's one of those people who just does NOT get cold...

It'a gift!

In an ideal world, her sleeveless dress might be a heavier ponte knit, or maybe even wool. But she has her snowflakes with her, and her warm jammies, and slippers that she would cheerfully wear out on the street to breakfast...

She just wants a day or 2 to be away from the usual. ... View the Post

Start with Art: Honor by Elizaveta Egiazaryan

December 28, 2020

She's quite smitten with this painting:

So when they decided, at their family meeting, that they MUST turn down the thermostat and try to cut back their energy consumption, she wondered if the warmth of her flower painting could be translated into real warmth...

Her normal wardrobe is very strictly black and white, and has been that way for quite a while. She really doesn't need a lot of clothing these days, so she's been managing pretty well with just this:

She went back to her current favorite painting, and studied it carefully. Black and white are certainly here, but what makes the painting feel warm to her is the more cream and beige tones. And the luscious pink helps too!

So she created a color ... View the Post

Merry Christmas! A Sneak Preview of Next Year’s Six Scarves!

December 25, 2020

First, and most important of all, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas! Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, may your day be peaceful and full of love, and may your holiday of choice be delightful!

SO... I've worked quite a bit this year choosing scarves. I started with my tally of the color palettes that have been most requested, and then the scarves that have been mentioned to me the most often.

First up, these were the "neutral combinations" which you asked for most frequently in the last year:

So after choosing these six "palette cores," I went back to the list of the most popular scarves and made everything work together. I think...

First up was black and grey - and many of you wrote to me asking ... View the Post

Start with a Ruana: Echo Smoked Lilac Tweed Ruana

December 23, 2020

She loved the whole idea of a ruana, and when she saw this one, she was smitten:

She magnified the image as much as she could, and finally decided that these might be the colors that she would wear with it... if she decides to buy it!

But before she buys anything, she's going to sit down for a few minutes (maybe with a piece of paper and her favorite pen) and think about how she might wear this beauty...

Obvious 1st choice might be black pants and a pink sweater, but her pants will be her favorite velvet jeans, and the sweater will have some lovely textures. And fun socks - of course!

Now she stands for a good, long minute in front of her closet, thinking about the beige possibilities...

A ... View the Post

Start with a Ruana! Navy Lofty Plaid Ruana by Echo

December 18, 2020 She Knew Ahead of Time...

It's her favorite accessory - it includes all of her favorite colors!

So when she dressed up, rather more than usual, for the staff meeting, she knew that she wanted to wear it. As well as some rather... bold accessories!

Because when they announced that she had won the employee of the year award, which comes with an extra week of vacation, she was READY!!!

She had her suitcase stashed in her office; her boss already knew that she was taking the next week off. She's good at planning...

It's not mad cold where she's going - just cool enough to layer up sweaters and scarves! And walk, walk, walk, all around town...

The "normal" people in her office thought it ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Tiger in the Grass by Echo

December 16, 2020 Channeling her Inner Tiger This is her new favorite scarf:

She loves the colors, and the image of the tiger...

The tiger is going to be VERY important to her during the next couple of days; she's going to have to be quite... tough? Assertive? Imposing?

Suffice to say that she might encounter some acrimony, and she's going to have to stand up for herself!

She's only going to be there 2 days, possibly 3. But during that time, she is going to use all of the tools and resources available to her to represent herself as strong, capable, and decisive!

The night before she leaves, she grabs her tiger scarf and assembles a travel capsule wardrobe that is perfect with it. Sometimes she's more the ... View the Post

A Rainbow of Wardrobe Accents! (plus a few neutrals…)

December 11, 2020

While we're pondering using Echo scarves for our "12 Months, 12 Outfits" posts next year, I thought I'd dig into their site at some length...

What colors!

If I were forced to choose from among the 12 colors I show here, this might be my choice... Maybe...

Although moving into the darkest days of winter, a bright red could never be a bad choice!

If you like orange and look good in it - WEAR IT! It's just such a nice color, and we don't see enough of it.

Same with yellow - especially a really strong yellow like this. Such a lot of light and cheer you would bring to your home, wearing this...

Yep, you've seen this scarf before! But it's so lovely with this sweater, and this color is just ... View the Post

Start with a Bracelet – Winter Wonders by Fierce Lynx Designs

December 9, 2020

In a Sea of Green and Red... She's going to stand out! Not that we don't love green and red for the holiday season - where would we be without them? But she's going to take the train into the city for a couple of days of admiring decorations, maybe some shopping, and eating room service while watching movies!

And she won't be blending in, thank you!

The weather will be pleasantly cool - no blizzards this year! If she finds that she needs something warmer, she will stop into Uniqlo and pick up a down vest or jacket... But she expects to be very comfortable just like this:

She's really packing quite light - with a clear winter theme!

Looking over her wee travel ... View the Post

Choosing Accessories: Painterly Architectonic by Liubov Popova

December 7, 2020

Remember this most difficult group of colors?

Although it's a challenging work of art, it does include three easily-available neutral colors, and 2 really nice accent colors. Our heroine finalized her wardrobe with this, and it seems pretty practical:

But she wants, and needs, accessories! Let's accessorize a dozen outfits for her, and make some effort to use some things more than once. It would be sort of fun to have completely different accessories for each outfit, but that's not exactly practical...

First off, for those of us spending the majority of our time indoors, what's not to love about a pair of wool clogs? You could certainly dash to the mailbox, or around the block with the dog, wearing ... View the Post