Black Archives - Page 27 of 87

Start with Art: Revisiting Arlequin et Femme au Collier by Picasso

August 13, 2020 I Need to do WHAT??? Yes, she's missed 6 months in the office (although she has worked EVERY DAY...) and now she has to sit for a re-certification...

It takes 3 days. Away from home. In a hotel.

After being locked up with her entire family for half a year, she's really excited! The whole test thing isn't fun, but being able to eat room service and lounge around alone in the evenings has a certain appeal...

She starts with her favorite "travel inspiration" painting:

She knows that she could just wear sweatpants the entire time, but she actually feels more awake and more businesslike if she dresses a bit nicer than that. And she doesn't want to have to do much thinking about what she will wear! This is her ... View the Post

Building an Autumn Weekly Timeless Wardrobe using Clusters!

July 29, 2020

This is the wardrobe that I would be working on right now - although it's still a good time to find nice summer garments, late summer is the best time to find autumn clothes! (well, in a normal year...)

Remember this from 39 weeks ago?

These garments divide pretty neatly into 3 clusters; this isn't the only way the clusters could sort out, so if you have a different preference, go with it!

This is what the 3 clusters would look like - it's easy to see a ton of possible outfits from these:

So, with our color scheme from yesterday of navy and beige as neutrals, forest green as the accent (and white as the "spare" light neutral that keeps our heroine from having to wear beige shirts!), let's ... View the Post

Building Your Weekly Timeless Wardrobe by Clusters!

July 28, 2020

Yes, the series ended yesterday, but my ideas about it could go on for a long time...

The world's easiest flashback - remember these 13 garments from yesterday's post?

It's been pretty evident to me for a while that these 13 garments arranged themselves into 3 clusters pretty neatly. Actually, you could arrange these pieces in at least a few different ways, but for now I'm looking at this:

If you're not inclined to want to analyze your wardrobe on a weekly basis, maybe shift to a monthly basis, and look at clusters rather than individual garments!

Plus, this is a really easy way to pack - if you pack clusters, you know for a fact that you have garments that go together! (you do of course have to be sure ... View the Post

Accessories! Revisiting Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 23, 2020

Of course she's packing accessories!

Yesterday, she expanded her initial 8-piece wardrobe to a 16-piece 4 by 4 Wardrobe, since she and her sweetheart are going to be staying up at her sister-in-law's B&B for a few weeks...

Her inspiration?

Her clothes are all good to go - this is what she's taking (or what's already there...):

And these are the accessories that she's already got on-site:

To be sure that she doesn't miss anything, she assembles a handful of representative outfits that she has packed. And then she thinks about what she's going to be doing...

The photographers and other staff want to make it seem as if all of the guests are piled into the kitchen, helping with dinner. It's ... View the Post

Strategically Expanding a Capsule Wardrobe: Start with Art – Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 22, 2020

Well THAT went well... Yesterday, our heroine was caught off guard when she realized that she needed to pack and leave for the weekend in 5 minutes!

She managed, using this painting as her color inspiration; she felt that the swirling and diffusion in this painting accurately represented the state of her brain:

The photographer and crew from the famous food magazine LOVED her sister-in-law's B&B. They loved it SO MUCH that they're going to come back in a few days, and film a half-hour video about them for their You Tube channel.

Panic ensues. And our heroine and her partner and enlisted to come stay at the B&B for... well, for the foreseeable future!

They're both leaving everything that they packed ... View the Post

Start with Art: Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 20, 2020

She's been confused for a few weeks; nothing medical, or really an issue, but the inside of her head often feels like this:

Although it feels like chaos, at least it has a nice tidy color palette, which could easily be all neutrals!

Are You Ready to Go? "What???? Go where???" She just got off of a conference call with the rest of her department, when her sweetheart came by their guest bedroom to check on her...

"You forgot? We're going to my sister's B&B for the weekend." They're going to be photographing for a magazine spread all day Saturday, and they were invited to help, and to eat all of the food...

"We need to leave in about 5 minutes if we're going to beat the traffic...."

Dear oh dear... ... View the Post

Adding Accessories: Portrait of the Countess de Martel de Janville by Boldini

July 7, 2020

Our heroine needs to go shopping, again!

After she picked up a few more garments, she was left with just the accessories with which she had traveled. This isn't a bad bunch of pretty things, but she might want a few more things:

She sorted her wardrobe out into a number of outfits, and then decided to very methodically get accessories for each outfit in turn.

To start, she went completely off the rails for a pair of earrings that she could NOT resist:

Well THAT was fun! The next day was quite warm, and she realized that she wanted a good hat!

Masks! Even in a city that's beginning to reopen after the quarantine, one still needs a mask. She decides that she might as well get a few that look good ... View the Post

Expanding a Travel Capsule Wardrobe: Shopping with the Countess de Martel!

July 3, 2020

Okay, she's no longer living; for our purposes, our heroine is a fictional character who looks a lot like her...

When we left our heroine, stocking her pantry in Paris with the essentials, she was traveling with this wardrobe:

She has just learned that she's going to have to stay in Paris for at LEAST 2 weeks longer than she expected! (let's not get into the details of why - it's fiction, and a fantasy!)

She certainly could stay with just the 8 garments she has - a little bit of well-timed laundry would be really all she would need to manage. But since she's going to be staying there regularly in the future, she decides that she will very carefully buy more clothes...

Even though she can't ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting the Countess de Martel de Janville by Boldini

June 30, 2020

She really only planned to be in Paris for a couple of days....

yes, she's seeing more blue in this painting than is there, perhaps... but this kind of thing isn't regulated, and certainly isn't anybody's business but hers, and ours...

She was going to stock the kitchen of her pied a terre with the basics - vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, wine, wine, wine...

So she packed a good market bag, to leave there, and a couple of warm weather outfits. An extra cardigan is never wrong - she might leave it in Paris too...

She's happy with the clothes that she has with her, but....

Now she's found that she really doesn't want to go home! Paris is starting to gradually open up, and back home everything still ... View the Post

Start with Art: Pink and Black by Ed Clark

June 19, 2020

It really stuck with her, and so she decided to make it part of her life!

"It Might Not Even Happen...." They're talking about her spouse's annual corporate meeting. Always a weird few days for her, because she travels along just to attend cocktail parties and dinners... It's scheduled for late October this year, but of course that's subject to change or cancellation...

But she's going to go ahead and plan her travel capsule wardrobe because... um... why not? At least this way, she can have a good capsule wardrobe for staying home in the autumn, at a minimum!

She had planned to just pack black, white and grey, because she could NOT find any nice garments in her new favorite shade of pink, from her favorite ... View the Post

Start with Nature: Revisiting the Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

June 5, 2020

In the dead of winter, four years ago, we visited with this heroine when her friends invited her south for a long weekend to get out of the cold... I'm SO smitten with the color palette; if I were to start over, I admit that brown leather goods would tempt me!

Drive Down! Her friends have invited her back...

"We've on this kick where we have full-blown dinner parties every night. It's been the same gang of us for the last few months; we could use a new guest!"

"Since you've been quarantined for a couple of months, and so have we, can we assume that we're safe for each other?"

"My brother and sister-in-law are staying in the guest house, so you can take the upstairs suite; with the kids ... View the Post

Rescuing a Forgotten Garment: Print Sleeveless Tunic

June 4, 2020

Today's interesting warning - if you're wearing a mask frequently, be ABSOLUTELY sure that you're washing both the mask(s) and your face every 5 minutes or so. I currently have a really painful broken-out face from mask irritation. It's both ugly and sore...

But let's look at helping one of our friends get some good use from a beautiful garment, eh?

This isn't the exact tunic, of course, but it's sleeveless, and includes the colors royal blue, black and white, just like our friend's tunic. So I'm hopeful that any advice I can think of will be useful!

With a little bit of thought, this top could be worn for most of the year - I know it's odd to think of wearing sleeveless things in cooler weather, but stick with ... View the Post