Navy Blue Archives - Page 48 of 60

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Brown, Green and Beige

August 20, 2014 While these are the same neutral colors that we saw yesterday, these accent colors are much more subdued and much more frequently seen along with the neutrals. Therefore, this capsule wardrobe came together much more quickly and with greater ease.

This was my color scheme:

And this is our familiar brown Core of Four:

I've changed up the jeans for a skirt, since I'm going to swing this wardrobe a little bit more toward a work environment. If you don't need skirts, you could certainly keep the jeans.

I found ONE more sweater in this color combination - equally blindingly expensive... And I opted for a more tailored ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe STRUGGLE in Brown, Navy, Leaf Green and Bright Pink

August 19, 2014

I know from my emails that some of you who are working on Four by Four capsule wardrobes are running into some challenges, and so today I'm sharing with you the hardest wardrobe (so far) that I've done. As we get to each step of the process, I'll tell you what (hair pulling) issues I encountered, and what my adjustments and accommodations to the normal process were.First up, let's console ourselves with the final product:

The more I look at these four, the more I like them...

And these are quite nice too - although the blouse is silk, it's a quite casual style. Thus far, eight really good, classic, timeless items.

But let's be serious - I had NO IDEA that finding ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Grey, Teal and Burgundy

August 13, 2014

The Four by Four capsule wardrobe - in which you focus on four garments at a time - is a great way to move toward a complete wardrobe when you can't face a ton of shopping at one time. The fours can easily be pulled from your Step by Step Capsule Wardrobe; this is sort of Step by Step with lots of resting in between steps!

One of the great beauties of Four by Four is that sixteen garments, plus accessories, is a great quantity of clothes for travel...

While these sixteen items could be purchased in any order or combination, I've got to admit that I would be VERY tempted to get all of the solid navy pieces at the same time, and maybe even from the same place. Navy is not a color that can just be ... View the Post

Starting From Scratch Summer Office Wardrobe in Navy and White

August 12, 2014 Yes, it still exists: the office with the strict dress code. Pants only on Fridays. No visible knees, nor underarms. Absolutely no HINT of cleavage... This is even more challenging in the summer, when it can be sweltering outdoors, but the office will invariable be quite cool. The rules are made, and the thermostats are set, by men in wool suits, long-sleeved shirts, and an undershirt. (why, if they dress like this in the heat of summer, do we let them run the world?) But you can still have a great, fun, spiffy capsule wardrobe!

Remember this color scheme? A few weeks ago, I showed a very casual summer wardrobe using these colors. ... View the Post

Common Capsule Wardrobe Colors: Teal

July 26, 2014

Sometime very soon I'm going to HAVE to do a capsule wardrobe based on mallards or some other duck that shows this color in a natural palette. I'm beginning to believe that I can't go wrong looking at nature for ideas. In the meantime, this is a great color to transition into the end of summer/hot days of early autumn. As much as we'd all like to start wearing fall clothing the first day of September, it's sort of insane to really consider it (at least in Chicago) until the last week of the month. A color like this at least lets you FEEL a little bit autumn-ish!These earrings are silk, and the bracelet is leather - what WILL they think of next?

By now you of ... View the Post

Common Capsule Wardrobe Colors: Coral

July 25, 2014

Coral comes in a range of tints - there are more "pinkish", less "orangish" versions out there too if those would be more flattering. But any of them will look completely appropriate and attractive with all of our neutral color usual suspects. And as we move into August, and what is for many of us the end of summer (my great-nephew goes back to school IN 10 DAYS!!!), this might be a good wardrobe refresher, as well as a low-commitment way to test drive a new accent color for your wardrobe. Please note - this tunic-length top is going to be "iffy" with some cardigans; I personally can wear a top hanging out below my cardigan without worry, but you might want to bear this conundrum in mind when ... View the Post

How to Build a Summer Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch in Navy and White

July 19, 2014

Someone specifically requested a Starting From Scratch capsule wardrobe in these colors, and many of you have expressed concerns about how to implement this plan if you're dealing with scorching hot summer weather. I really felt like I wanted to go through an entire wardrobe in one post, just to clarify and illustrate one more time how I see this project working. So here you have it! Please note - the white garments here really ARE white - they just show up looking sort of beigy/grungy against the background. I generally don't promote the wearing of mungy clothes...

The first three steps are pretty straightforward: pants and shoes, then a cardigan and tee, then a neutral top and ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 18: One last review, considering Whatever’s Clean, and A Common Wardrobe

July 16, 2014

Many of you have been following the concepts of A Common Wardrobe, or a Whatever's Clean wardrobe, and you've expressed great curiosity about how those ideas work with this much larger capsule wardrobe-building concept. So let's see if we need to make any last tweaks to our wardrobe to be as inclusive and versatile as possible...First off, remember this bad boy? This was the original Common Wardrobe - garments that I saw day after day on my co-workers from international advertising agencies. These garments and accent items were combined in all sorts of different ways, and accessorized like mad:

I threw my analytic brain at this, and defined each of these garments functionally, i.e., the first is ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 17: A Few Finishing Touches, for now…

July 15, 2014

Many of you have written to me to ask how this capsule wardrobe compares with my earlier 24-piece wardrobe - excellent question!Just as in the 24-piece wardrobe, this Starting From Scratch includes to two core "Four by Four" assortments in your neutrals, it works with two accent colors and a light neutral, and it includes the concept of the "bridge" garment, which is something that incorporates both of your neutral colors and allows you to wear piece from both neutrals seamlessly.

So I decided to look at each wardrobe one last time (for now - I'm sure we'll be back to revisit this concept when trench coats hits the stores, and when there are other requests/needs), and see how things stacked up in terms of a 24-piece ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 16: Evaluating and Balancing our Neutrals

July 14, 2014 BIG BIG BIG EDIT: THIS IS ONLY STEP SIXTEEN... If you are going to make a typo, make a really big one! I had medical tests this a.m., and have been asleep all afternoon; I am so sorry for the delay in fixing this inexcusable error! We're very close to wrapping up our capsule wardrobes, but there are a couple more things we need to do to make sure that our choices will work as well for us as possible. So far, we've added pieces within our color scheme, but we've not been particularly rigorous in making sure that we have a balance between our neutrals. To address this, I've looked at each wardrobe and tried to find the "Core of Four" (two tops and two bottoms, that will ... View the Post

Agnes, or a Work Wardrobe from the ’80’s

July 12, 2014

Back in the early 1980's, I was in graduate school, and I was the manager of one of the departments in a large department store. (I'm still catching up on my sleep!) One of the more interesting and educational responsibilities I had was to "ring up" all purchases made by staff in my department.

I'm telling you this story, because I want to tell you about someone named Agnes. I'm not sure what we can learn from her example, but I still remember her so vividly after 30 years, and I'm quite sure that she was nobody's dummy... Agnes was probably in her mid 50's, employed 40 hours a week (remember the days when retail could be a career?), qualified for 3 weeks of vacation, health insurance, life ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 15: A Versatile Dress and an Accent Cardigan

July 11, 2014

Many of you have pointed out that we really need something dressy in the capsule wardrobe that can be worn in warmer weather, and many of you have asked specifically for a dress, so that's what we're doing today! These dresses are paired with accent cardigans, which dramatically pull together all sorts of looks... Very neutral, comfortable sandals will be wardrobe workhorses - make sure that they're appropriate for more than just one dressy occasion...Can you see turquoise jewelry here? And this dress with the simple beige cardigan and gold necklace would be lovely.

If you're not mad for sleeveless, just look for a dress with an elbow or bracelet sleeve.

No, this dress and ... View the Post