Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
March 10, 2015 Another cold week, but I managed well! But my weight is shifting, and so I'm going to have to get some new clothes! My upcoming spring French Five-Piece Wardrobe is going to have to do a lot of hard work...
Yes, I wear my Munro boots a lot! They're amazingly comfortable, and I can walk a lot in them. Munro is known for making "comfort" footwear, but these don't look like mumsy marshmallows... love, Janice ... View the Post
March 7, 2015 A couple of days ago when I first worked with this painting, someone suggested substituting black for the brown that I used. Since black appears in the painting, this wasn't a misuse of the painting, and it produced some lovely ensembles. I kept the same sweaters and blouses, in order to use the identical accent colors, but I substituted everything else. The accessory theme today is flowers!
love, Janice
... View the Post
March 3, 2015 Another cold week...
love, Janice ... View the Post
February 25, 2015 Another week with incredibly cold weather. For those of you who live in warmer climates, you just have to take my word for it that this weather is exceptional, even for Chicago. Consistent lows below zero or in the single digits, days upon days of highs MAYBE in the teens. Dry dry dry air, wind to knock you over... just lovely! I actually love winter, but this is even more extreme that I would prefer. But we carry on, in style! As before, if I can link to my item, or something substantially similar, I will provide a link. The absence of any link means I couldn't find anything close enough...
I know I've mentioned it before, but these Bogs boots are the WARMEST I've ever owned. They're ... View the Post
February 17, 2015 Week #2 is an ongoing effort to dress when the weather is brutally cold. I find that I'm liking wearing dresses more and more, for the speed and the uncomplicated sleekness they bring. Someone asked me about tights... Tights should be as easy and as comfortable as leggings or yoga pants. (Yoga pants especially are considered the most comfortable garments ever made!) Keep trying different brands and sizes of tights until you find some that don't dig into any part of your body, but rather hug you warmly and softly. You will then be able to pop on a dress in a heart-beat and be read to roll! Some of you were interested in where my goodies were purchased, so I'm including a caption that shows brands. ... View the Post
February 16, 2015
Sometimes retailers can be so maddening! This is NOT an inexpensive scarf, but there's really no way to get a truly excellent photograph of it. For this much money, I would think that they could scare up two more photographs to show the entire scarf, as well as a 2nd close-up of the print. But nobody asked me...
That said, this is a beautiful scarf, and one of you has chosen to indulge in it, and wondered how I would put it together with clothes and other accessories...
Red - so easy, and so striking! In addition to working with the colors of the scarf, I enjoyed finding "flower-ish" accessories to tie it all together. Nobody may notice but you...
Something became clearer to me as I worked on ... View the Post
February 13, 2015
You clamored for leopard shoes - I hasten to respond! If these shoes were mine, I'd be seriously looking at one of these bags - there are LOTS of options...
As I so often find, these items look particularly nice when aggregated. Toss in a white shirt and maybe a black dress (as well as another pair of shoes!) and you'd be well outfitted for travel!
love, Janice
PS - For more in the Maximize Your ROI series, check out the following articles:
Maximize Your ROI: Orange Boots Maximize Your ROI: Black and White Houndstooth Check Flats Maximize Your ROI: Leopard Flats Maximize Your ROI: Estellon Striped Handbag Maximize Your ROI: St. John Collection scarf ... View the Post
February 12, 2015 From the very first moment I launched the original post about this painting, I KNEW that I was going to have to look at this again, and pay full attention to the beautiful blue and green at the top of the canvas.
I decided to make this really simple, and concentrate on the opulent feel of the painting as much as the luscious colors.
I pictured this as someone who has to travel overnight for a quite formal event, and then make their way home the morning after. This whole capsule is all about velvet, brocade, cabled cashmere, and ornate jewelry. Sigh...
It wasn't at all easy to find these colors and textures, but I'm ... View the Post
February 11, 2015
As I mentioned before, I've received a couple of questions about what to wear with a special pair of shoes. When I saw these, I KNEW I was going to have fun, given my abiding love of all things black and white:
A little fearless mixing of stripes is the perfect foil for these simple flats. And a classic black dress with just a hint of white would be madly useful through the summer.
Putting dots with the houndstooth of the shoes seemed like a fun idea, and the pleated shorts are a lot more forgiving than the super-short shorts that seem to be everywhere! The red dress is easy with the black and white shoes - and a bag in a MUCH larger houndstooth pattern keeps things amusing.
Any bright color works ... View the Post
February 10, 2015
Sometimes, I struggle to figure out what I want to wear. I know that's NOT something I probably should admit, but it's true nonetheless. So I've started keeping track of outfits that I like, that are comfortable, appropriate, and that make me happy... And since I love to make pretty pictures, and I love to share them with you, I've started keeping a visual journal of these outfits, which I'm going to update every Monday. This means that you'll be seeing them on Tuesdays for a while.
Normal people probably wear at least seven outfits in a week, but recently I've found that I either repeat an outfit during the week, or spend an entire day in gym clothes. (my workout schedule - especially my work with my ... View the Post
February 6, 2015 She has to travel for business, but it doesn't have to clutter up her mind... One of the reasons that she is so good at what she does is her ability to cut through the noise and focus on the essence.
love,
Janice ... View the Post
February 3, 2015
I love this painting... if this doesn't make you smile, I can't help you.
While I strongly suspect that these nuns are wearing black habits, the habits look very navy on my computer, and so my imagination was strongly drawn to working with navy, white and cool pastels.
I've talked before about the usefulness of having six garments that are the same color, that give you a basis for getting dressed on Monday morning without opening your eyes. That idea has really stuck in my head, so I've decided that I want to build on it a few times. Let's start here:
Even if you get dressed out of here every Monday, you still have LOTS of clothes unworn, so let's toss in a few extra goodies ... View the Post
