Navy Blue Archives - Page 30 of 60

Daffodils – the Birth Flower for March! How perfect…

After watching the Six Nations rugby yesterday, and seeing daffodil hats, and lots of daffodils pinned to coats, it seemed only perfect that today we look at them as the March birth flower...(Daffodil Days are a Cancer Society fund-raiser...)

For many of us, yellow feels like an inherently difficult color, but never discount the impact (and the fun!) that you could have with a yellow pedicure, or yellow sandals... but you can always wear the image of the daffodil in silver - no worries about unflattering yellow!

And I'm convinced that the flower in the middle of that very bright scarf is a narcissus...

Disclaimer - Yes, I'm using the same pants and shoes for most of these outfits. This is NOT because I'm bone-deep lazy (although ... View the Post

Revisiting the Red Tulip Scarf, and some Unpredictable Navy

February 22, 2018 You might remember a travel capsule wardrobe for a brave (some might say daring) heroine a couple of months ago...This was her inspirational scarf, her style guidelines, and her color palette:

A Conference, Alone.... After the lecture that she attended before the holidays, she joined a group that did a lot of research in the subject that she found so fascinating. So now, they're getting together for a weekend conference to discuss their finding and their next steps. She's VERY excited...

It's just a couple of days, so she won't need a lot of things. Mostly they'll be sitting around a conference table talking, taking notes and sharing ideas... There's 1 nice dinner planned, and as usual she's going to take ... View the Post

How do I Know That I Have Enough Accessories?

February 6, 2018

Our heroine ended yesterday's adventure with a color scheme that felt right, and a spring capsule wardrobe that she found really comfortable; it gave her great pleasure, every time she opened her closet door...

But she still needs to wear shoes! And carry a bag. And maybe wear some earrings, or a bracelet, from time to time. How to plan THAT?

Well, I pondered this for a while, and I think that she should think about what outfits she's going to wear, from her wardrobe, and then make certain that she has the accessories that are right for each of those outfits. What else would she want, if she knew that she had a dozen outfits ready to go?

To keep choices balanced, I'm going to see if I can fill in this ... View the Post

“Fixing” a Wardrobe that Just Doesn’t Feel Right…

She's worn navy forever, and really, legitimately loves it. She also really feels comfortable with bright colors - she doesn't mind the high contrast. But, for some reason she can't quite put her finger on, she's not quite "right" with her wardrobe...

This is what's she's got for spring:

She really doesn't know what to do to feel more comfortable with these pieces, so she just started getting dressed as normal, but changing 2 small things:

She pulls out and wears what she really "feels" like wearing, rather than trying to carefully rotate everything in her wardrobe. If she focuses on what she most likes, it might help her learn something, and She keeps careful track of what she wears.

After three weeks, she sorts ... View the Post

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

I'm still not sure why I always add a dress in February - a long-standing affection for Valentine's Day? Or just a desire to make sure that I'm well prepared for dressy spring events?

It's not quite expected to accessorize a classic black dress with bright spring green...

I didn't find a beige dress that appealed, so I thought that this delicious cocoa brown would be perfect with this scarf, or with a grouping of blush pink accessories.

The red is probably the most expected accent color with a navy dress, so I ignored that and chose teal instead!

This green isn't as yellow-ish as the greens used last month, but since it's a dress, it doesn't have to be "dye-lot matched" to the other neutral in this wardrobe... And ... View the Post

Violets! The “Birth Flower” for February

My favorite flowers, possibly... (in the real world, I refuse to choose!) While violets weren't as easy to find as carnations, and while the actual COLOR violet is subject to massive dispute, there are still lovely and tempting things for those celebrating birthdays in February - or for those of us who just simple love violets!

I need a dressy blouse like a bad headache, but that black blouse could be just LOVELY with my velvet pants...

Does violet go well with various neutrals? I've chosen a dead-plain, classic tee shirt to use for our illustrations. And yes, I've kept the same pants from last month, and many of the same accessories - just to show how versatile a core of neutral items can be.

Van Gogh socks and green-eyed ... View the Post

Ultraviolet? or is it ultra violet?

January 29, 2018

I have to admit my age; when I hear the word (or words) Ultra Violet, I think of her...

She was the only one of Andy Warhol's gang of friends to really capture my imagination...

But of course ultraviolet - is it all one word?, with no capitalization - is the "color of the year" for 2018! Which usually means that you can't find a garment in that color for love nor money... but this year, the always lovely Eileen Fisher came through!

I could be VERY tempted by that dress... and if the idea of a deep red appeals, the tunic and the dress are available in "claret," as well as muted teal and a lovely electric blue...

But back to my practical thinking - how might one actually WEAR this color with ... View the Post

What Accessories do I Want for a Trip to Bermuda?

January 26, 2018

Not just a trip to Bermuda, but a trip in March, when the weather is still cool, and the crowds aren't pressing...We're working with this color palette:

And these are the accessories that our heroine has already chosen to pack for her romantic get-away...

And this is her wardrobe that she's planning to have with her - 3 pieces to wear and a lucky 13 to pack:

Here's the accessories that she has included with her two core outfits... With the exception of shoes, she could of course travel with just these pieces and manage just fine. But in the interests of fun, let's expand her options...Please note that I'm not suggesting that this is going to be all of the accessories that one owns - unless ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Wardrobe for a Vacation to Bermuda in March

January 25, 2018

This is similar to the very recent wardrobe about traveling to Italy, but sufficiently different that I thought it was worth a look...First off, I'm going to take a clue from yesterday's thoughts about accent colors and include some muted, pretty colors with the same navy and beige that we've already used... (navy and beige are on purpose - I'm pretty sure that this reader is a navy/beige person; if I'm wrong, I apologize!)

This is the easiest possible way to dress for travel - a "suit" in your dark neutral, with a contrast blouse, shirt or tee shirt, and a pretty scarf to tie everything together! I'm re-using a lot of the accessories from the earlier post to show how versatile they are... I changed the ... View the Post

Do All of Your Accent Colors have to Work Together?

Until the last year or so, this is something that I wouldn't have brought to the blog - it would have just been something that was floating around in my brain, bugging me. But knowing how thoughtful and intelligent you are, I thought I'd share...

Yesterday, I was looking at the jerseys worn by the rugby team Stade Francais (yes, they're from Paris) and the colors in them got me to thinking...

It's important (at least my opinion!) to have a core wardrobe neutral color, and a handful of accent colors - typically including a light color for tee shirts and blouses. Having this palette of 5 (approximately) colors makes shopping and coordinating your wardrobe a ton easier.

But should your accent colors ALSO work together? Do they have ... View the Post

How to Focus and Refine a Pretty Good Wardrobe

I am asked this question more frequently than I might have expected - it goes kind of like this: "I really like my wardrobe, for the most part, but I feel like I don't really have a good focus or defined style...."That's tough to address, but I'm going to give it a try!

Let's start with this wardrobe; frankly, it looks pretty nice just like this!

My first thought is to sort all of the clothes by function, to see if maybe our heroine doesn't have enough pants, or needs a couple of tee shirts - that sort of solution would be pretty straightforward! But this wardrobe seems pretty well-balanced for functionality...

My next thought is to see if we can gain some insights into our heroine's preferences by sorting her wardrobe by ... View the Post

What Accessories Should One Pack for an Italian Vacation?

On Friday, I pulled together a wardrobe for one of you who has a fun trip planned with adult children:

This was the color scheme with which I was working:

There are already some accessories in her wardrobe...

So let's start with my new template for accessories, and plug in the pieces that we already have:

For me, earrings are VERY important - I'm choosing an accent pair in aqua, and then a really simple pair of gold studs that can be worn for days without thought... Similarly, both an accent striped bracelet and some classic gold bangles are being added to her accessory wardrobe...

I ALWAYS believe in a good brooch! And necklaces don't take up much space, but can really change the feeling of an ... View the Post