Navy Blue Archives - Page 28 of 60

A Start With Art Project 333 Wardrobe – Kameido Bridge by Yoshida Hiroshi

It Was Love at First Sight When she saw this print, she immediately knew that she was going to limit her Project 333 for autumn to just pinks and blues... Simple, but versatile, and really pretty!

She has always intended to build her Autumn Project 333 Wardrobe around navy, because it's been her favorite neutral for years. Thus, the first part of her wardrobe plan was simple:

For her second Core of 4, she looked for soft fabrics like rayon and velvet, and also thought that a touch of floral print might be nice:

She wanted to make sure she didn't get TOO dressy, so she made sure to include a couple of classic tops in pink, as well as 2 relaxed sweaters in muted blue:

For her last 4 garments, she got a little more ... View the Post

Poppies! The Birth Flower for August

August 17, 2018

Why yes, I did INDEED loose track of the beginning of August... At least the rent got paid on time!

This is a banner month for flowers - poppies!!! There are LOTS of poppies in garments and jewelry, as well as "poppy" being a great color for both nail and lip colors. So if you like poppies, or a clear, vivid red, you're in luck! Topshop has some sleepwear with poppies on them, and Dorothy Perkins has tops, pants, skirts and dresses in a poppy print. It's a veritable treasure trove of flowers...

So what did I find?

Really LOTS of beautiful goodies this month... This brooch cries out to me... but then brooches often do!

One of the great things about any shade of red is that it can be worn - really easily ... View the Post

Blue by Kinuko Imai Hoffman, Revisited for Summer 2018

August 8, 2018

Remember our friend the educational consultant, who visited schoolrooms to help find ways to make things work better? She traveled for work back in January, and then again in April, wearing her signature navy blue and white wardrobe...

Her wardrobe inspiration, and all-time favorite painting, is this:

Yes, THAT Music Festival... The really big one. She's going.

She spends her work life in classrooms, and she always hears students talking about their favorite bands. She's open-minded, and can tolerate a lot, so she's decided that she's going to drive into the city for a couple of days and go to hear just a few of the bands that she has heard about the most.

It's a relaxed trip into town:

Of course ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – August 2018

August 1, 2018

Oh, THIS caught me off-guard! Somehow, I managed to forget that a new month was coming... But I did manage to get this done in time - taking care of my readers are a really important part of my life! Still, if these links are a complete hash, or if this just doesn't make any sense at all, let me know and I'll work on it some more...

This is the time of year to look for the perfect outfit for the upcoming cooler weather. Maybe it's that "back to school" feeling that I get this time of year, but I like looking for a nice skirt outfit for each of our 6 wardrobes...

While this outfit might feel a little bit "Pittsburgh Pirates" to some, putting the scarf on with these pieces breaks up the black and gold, and brings ... View the Post

Shallow Deep by Kandinsky, Revisited for Summer 2018

July 27, 2018 Who Knew? She's the school teacher who loves to take her students on field trips - even really complicated-to-organize, spending-the-night-in-hotels field trips... She took 20 6th-graders to New York after Christmas, and she's also done quite a bit of traveling on her own...

So when she found the job posting for a field-trip coordinator at the STATE Board of Education, she applied so quickly that she's still amazed that she didn't mess up something in the application process...

Now she's going to the Capital to be interviewed! Happily, as a woman ideally qualified for this kind of position, she has no trouble getting packed. She bases her wardrobe choices on her favorite painting and color palette:

The weather ... View the Post

Study in Verticals by Frantisek Kupka revisited for summer 2018

July 18, 2018

Our friend the meeting moderator has been traveling for work a LOT - back in January she was thrown into a really difficult negotiating session, but she was able to take a break to go to the beach in the spring...

Now she's been told that they FINALLY got those dinner reservations that they've been queued up for since about a gazillion years ago! They're only going away for the night, but it's a really special occasion - a once in a lifetime meal at a landmark restaurant...

Happily, it's really easy for her to pack, because she has clear wardrobe guidelines:

They're going to drive - it only takes about 2 hours. She wants to be relaxed and pretty, as well as warm enough! (some people absolutely adore ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – July 2018

July 2, 2018

It's hard to believe that these wardrobes are more than halfway completely - where does the time go?

For July, I'm going to assume that summer is in full swing, and that our heroine could use a couple of easy outfits to wear in the heat. Of course, if you don't wear shorts, a skirt, capris or a pair of lightweight pants could easily be here instead!

And I love simple tee shirts. It's fine to get something with writing, or with lots of bells and whistles and geegaws and thingamahoochies, but that kind of top isn't going to be as versatile as a plain round or v-neck tee shirt. I particularly liked finding these 2 unusual accent colors, which are clearly present in our scarf inspiration:

This is her wardrobe, so ... View the Post

Cleaning Out a Closet Full of Impulse Purchases

June 25, 2018

Our heroine is pretty loyal to her favorite store... Every time she goes in, she just feels happy; she loves the outdoor equipment, and the feeling of love and pleasure in nature that the company really encourages. And it seems that most times she stops in, she walks out with something!

So her warm-weather closet looks like this:

She doesn't really struggle to get dressed, but she feels vaguely... uneasy... when she looks at her closet. She would like more focus, and maybe a clearer sense of personal style than she currently has.

Where to begin? The fastest, easiest starting place is to sort everything by color and see if she can learn something:

Oh. Dear. An equal number of navy and black garments ... View the Post

Planning Your Accessory Travel Capsule Wardrobe

June 18, 2018

Let's look back at another recent travel wardrobe, and choose some accessories to be packed along with the clothes...

This wardrobe was all about colors of sky and sea; here's the original clothing color palette:

It's never necessary to have a plan for anything you do, but I think when you're packing, having some structure and some limits in mind can help a lot. If I don't set some clear guidelines when I'm packing, I'm likely to just toss in everything that I like (which is just about all of my wardrobe!) and then get somewhere and struggle to make sense of things...

Silver would be the obvious metallic choice for navy and shades of blue... but since we're talking about warmth and sun and summer, I thought ... View the Post

Revisiting Van Gogh, and Using Cool Sky Blue to Accent Navy and White

July 11, 2018

Someone wanted another visit to this painting, someone wanted some navy and sky blue together, and someone wanted to see another French 5-Piece wardrobe. Here, I present ALL of that, and more. First, let's enjoy this painting, and the idea of the shore...

Warmth, salty breezes messing up your hair, reapplying sunscreen... The stuff of a million dreams!

And although this painting seems pretty monochromatic at first glance, when you look carefully at it for a while you find a whole BUNCH of different shades of blue and green, as well as dark brown, and warm orangish-tan. (I'm ignoring the red signature, except for lips and nails!)

I start a LOT of my blog posts with a core wardrobe of classic, neutral, timeless ... View the Post

Can You Dress the Way You Decorate? A Tote Bag Travel Wardrobe based on William Morris fabric

June 8, 2018

It's a good question... Maybe you're not inspired by a painting, or a scarf, but you're really happy with the way that you've decorated your home. Could that be the basis upon which you build your wardrobe?

Heck yes! It's particularly easy if you have your key colors chosen, and if you have a few keywords that you use to describe your "home style."

For example: maybe this is the wallpaper in your bedroom? Or curtains in your dining area?

For many of us, summer is for traveling to graduations, and weddings, and anniversary parties etc. etc. Usually these trips are only for a long weekend, so there's no need to pack everything you own; you should be able to manage with just a tote bag...

You can ... View the Post

Wear a Uniform and Simplify your Summer Wardrobe – Using Navy as Your Neutral

May 25, 2018

I wanted to share one final experiment into uniforms for warm weather. You don't necessarily have to dress like this every day (although you're sort of losing the whole "ease of a uniform" idea if you don't wear it... uniformly...). Still, if you have these pieces in your closet, you're never going to really be stuck finding something to wear... Unless you're going to something really outside of your normal activities, your "uniform" capsule should be perfectly chosen to help you get dressed in a flash for the activities that take up most of your time.

So let's visit some navy! What's nicer than a bit of navy for warm weather?

(a note about matching navy garments... when I was in Ireland last month, I saw LOTS of men ... View the Post