bags Archives

Pantone London Autumn 2020/21 Colors – Some Accessory Families

July 8, 2020

I've wanted to look at some colors, and some accessory families, for a while! And if I'm not mistaken, Spring 2021 colors should be around soon? But I saw these colors - specifically for the London Fashion Week (go figure) and I thought I'd visit them....

Yes, some of these color are familiar; We looked at the New York version of these back in January!

This might be a good time for me to share with you a few of the things that I keep in mind when I'm putting together a blog post for you:

I try to avoid showing anything that isn't available in almost every size originally available; nothing's more irritating that seeing something that you really like, and finding that you can't have it! I try to never show ... 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

Raiding my French Books: Once in Your Life You Must Wear… from Une Femme Française by Catherine Malandrino

June 25, 2020

I don't know WHY I've waited to so long to share this book with you, because it's one of the best "French style" books around!

Largely, I consider it great because it spends just a few chapters talking about more superficial things like clothes and makeup, and quite a bit of time talking about music, and famous French people, and just general fun French things that will delight all lovers of Paris and France.

One of the things that, of course, is in this book is the list of things that we "must" try... uh huh... Let's take a look!

The first thing on her list? An Hermes scarf! And I of course don't agree... I don't agree with anything on her list, to be honest, but you know by now that I don't believe in bossing ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art – The Visit by Marie Laurencin

May 8 2020

I couldn't resist coming back to this painting, and to the wardrobe based on these colors!

First, let's look back at the spring wardrobe with a core of grey and white garments, and then a few accents in blue and pink (including that blue cardigan that keeps catching my eye!):

I'm looking for accessories that are somewhat "soft" in feel, to compliment the softness of the colors here, and also for things that will look good with more than one outfit...

For our blue dress, I wanted a scarf that our heroine could wear around her shoulders (although of course she has her white cardigan that will be perfect for that!), and some earrings that also were organic in theme. Silver sandals will be useful with pretty much ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art: Resting by Paul Klee

April 30, 2020

This heroine knows full well the degree to which the right accessories can make a TON of difference in an outfit! First up, she's starting with this compelling painting, and lovely color palette:

Our heroine is starting with this most wonderful wardrobe in soft colors and timeless styles:

She knows that she's going to want to wear very simple monochromatic outfits sometimes, and that on other occasions she's going to break out her accent colors. Her plan, then, is to pull together some representative outfits, and accessorize each of them...

All accessories do NOT have to be neutral - blue suede shoes tell you what you're going to be humming all day!

She wants to be able to look pretty in a dress ... View the Post

New (?!?) Colors – Pantone New York Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2020/21 colors

So after the fashion shows in New York end, Pantone get their heads together to choose 10 MORE "new" colors...

Humbug.

But this is always fun to look at, and to imagine updating a Weekly Timeless Wardrobe of simple neutral clothes with these pretty, and sometimes VERY noticeable colors. This is a great time of year to indulge in a few pieces that give your existing winter wardrobe some life, and that bring a smile to your face!

This first color, which I call ORANGE, would be nice any time of year - this would be lovely and warm with beige, grey or navy in the middle of the winter:

This next color is SO PRETTY. It's a notch off of a "true" red, or something warm and tomato-y. With the classic loafers, and the feminine ... View the Post

New Colors? The Pantone Colors for Spring/Summer 2020

Oh hurrah, new colors.... Which of course is absurd, but it always give us a chance to look at a whole bunch of French 5-Piece Wardrobes (which is also absurd...)

These are little ensembles of a sweater and some accessories, based loosely upon the colors that Pantone has chosen to feature for the upcoming Spring and Summer. The items that I've chosen do NOT match the Pantone colors exactly, because that's the road to madness!

First up - RED! Always available, and a color that you either love or just never wear...

Saffron is the "Color of the Year" for 2020. If you can wear it, jump in and stand out in the crowd - the rest of us will just stand back and admire...

This looks like a muted navy to me!

This might be ... View the Post

12 Accessory Families! The Pantone “New York” Colors for Autumn 2019

I have no idea why they have multiple color groupings for autumn... Pantone does things their own way, no doubt!

I love these posts, but they take ages to do; just because Pantone thinks that these colors are going to be popular does NOT mean that they're easy to find. But in all fairness, these colors aren't just intended for clothing and accessories - they could be for automobiles, decor, restaurants - whatever...

Still, these are lots of fun, and would be a great way to bring some personality to a Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, wouldn't it?

This first color is closest to what I would indulge in:

This darker red might be lovely with brown, wouldn't it?

If you like beige or grey, this peach would be ... View the Post

An Accessory Packing Miscalculation…

Remember this mostly neutral wardrobe? I'm going to revisit this with different accent colors on Friday, but today this wardrobe still needs to be accessorized! This is the scarf upon which I based this wardrobe:

And these were the garments:

So, to experiment a little bit, and to change up our normal system, let's just choose a bunch of great accessories, and see how it all works out...

(I'm going to fill in a 6 by 4 Accessory Grid, just for the heck of it...)

First up, earrings! Some neutrals, and a couple of pair that pick up 2 of our accent colors:

A watch and some bracelets, with the same balance of neutral and accent colors:

Necklaces, and (why the heck not?) a brooch! Brooches on denim jackets look ... View the Post

Choosing Accessories to go with a Blue and Grey Travel Wardrobe (for Ireland!)

It's all well and good to have your clothes sorted for a trip, but you really MUST pack accessories. Not necessarily all that much stuff, but some shoes are critical, as well as a few more odds and ends...

As a reminder, this is the photograph that was inspiring us, and the color scheme that we were using:

You've got to have shoes - there aren't terribly many places you can go and NOT need shoes... Even though the dress shoes aren't as important as hiking shoes, let's start here anyway!

If you're not going to do hard-core hiking, you might adjust your choice of hiking shoes to be something a little bit less rugged, but it always makes sense to have something very comfortable for lots of walking...

Being outdoors a ... View the Post

Daisies! The Birth Flower for April

If there was ever going to be a birth flower that we could all steal, it would be daisies! A few designers seem to have really embraced the entire daisy motif: Olivia Burton made all kinds of jewelry and watches with daisies, and Marc Jacobs went a bit nuts for them, too...

I think that daisies are popular for lots of reasons - in real life, they're a great cut flower to buy because they're generally very inexpensive, last a REALLY long time, and the buds will actually open after you buy them...

For ornamental purposes, they're simple in design, familiar to almost all of us, and for many people have associations that make us smile...

So if you want to add a daisy or five to your wardrobe, you have options:

If you don't want the ... View the Post

How to Pack Just Enough Accessories

So, while Friday's travel capsule wardrobe looked pretty good, it's really not complete! Without at least shoes (and maybe a bag) you're not probably going very far... (and yes, some people don't ever wear shoes; there are ALWAYS exceptions...)

Let's do some planning, before we add accessories to that wardrobe - first, by remembering and building on our color palette.

It's worth considering if these colors will give you sufficient guidance for your choice of accessories. I like to - at a minimum - add a metal color, so that I don't just willy nilly toss all of my jewelry into my bag! You might want to also be certain that you've got a dark neutral that's going to work for things like shoes and bags. With navy, many of us might want to ... View the Post