black Archives - Page 4 of 57

The Least I Can Pack – Maybe? – For Ireland

March 17, 2025

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I was to have been in Dublin this week, but family emergencies have kept us in Chicago. I figured that I could still share with you what I'd planned to pack, since I took so much time pondering it! So here's the post, as it was originally going to be published:

I'm taking as small a wardrobe as I think I can tolerate; there are a couple of very good laundries near our hotel - one north of us, one south! No matter where we're heading out for the day, we can drop off shirts and anything else that's beyond the pale of wearing again. I'm happy to pay someone to do my laundry a couple of times a year.

Here's what I'm flying in - not showing a short black quilted jacket...

Please note that these ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 5, 2025

Big news - my dear friend Scottie is having a sale on her scarves! Get thee to her website right now to see the possibilities!

A lovely, if deeply enigmatic, painting:

That wee geometric thingy on the breast of the white swan... Hmm...

At the end of February, this heroine had a pretty and very useful wardrobe:

This heroine decided to really emphasize spring clothes this month! Maybe she wears a size that's hard to find, or maybe she's been burned in the past by having things sell out that she really liked! And she decided to break out with a pure white top - she's not afraid of wearing white with ivory...

Her new additions make a big difference this month! Adding a pair of pants that aren't dark ... View the Post

Adding Accessories – Start With Art – Cow’s Skull: Red, White and Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 26, 2025

Of course, our heroine from Monday is going to need some accessories for her work wardrobe - shoes, at a bare minimum! And it's certain that she's going to be carrying a pretty big bag, since she has to carry her laptop, her mouse & mousepad, her power cords, and anything else she needs at her desk each day.

Here's the art which inspires her:

Here's the wardrobe with which we left our friend:

As much as our heroine would have loved to fill this part of her wardrobe with small sharp things, she (for the most part!) has stuck to normal, acceptable choices. If anybody asks about the skull earrings and necklace, she plans to launch into a lengthy Stoic philosophy speech about Memento Mori...

Her ... View the Post

Need a “Back in the Office” Wardrobe? Start With Art – Cow’s Skull by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 24, 2025

It's the most common question I've received since the first of the year - you've got to be back in the office FIVE DAYS A WEEK. And you don't have a clue what to wear, this time...

A specific question was from someone going back into a relatively dressy office, except for the "every two weeks Casual Friday." Our heroine doesn't want a big wardrobe for cool weather, since she only expects another 10 to 12 weeks during which she will need such things, so we're targeting a 4x4 Wardrobe.

She also has all kinds of plans to quit her current job, in favor of a place where she can continue to work from home. Much up in the air for this heroine; let's make her wardrobe simple and foolproof!

This was the color palette ... View the Post

Do You Love Timeless Style? The Neo-Classical Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

February 19, 2025

She likes to wear things for years. Decades, if she can manage it! So she's mostly interested in classic garments - those things that nobody can really date, and that always feel familiar, comfortable and easy to wear.

For an upcoming business trip - short, but demanding - she's starting with her new bracelets:

Although she could use gray as her dark neutral, this trip she's going with black!

Partly because she knows that she's going to be cold in transit, and she wants to wear her flannel suit:

She only needs one additional "business" outfit, after she breaks the ice and meets everyone the first day. So she opts for a skirt and sweater - still warm, still business appropriate:

As ... View the Post

Love Classic Prettiness? Start With a Scarf – The Wendy Hollender scarf

February 17, 2025

So if you didn't get all of the pretty things you wanted for Valentine's Day, take a look at this beauty:

I chose pink and green as accent colors, but you wouldn't want to miss the plum, or the orange...

Our heroine is off for a long weekend with someone she loves. They have some dressy things planned, as well as a day or two of just wandering and being together. No big, complicated, stressful agenda for our heroine!

So her dressiness level is all over the place, from classic chinos to a lace-trimmed top! Pretty jewelry and a lovely bag are coming along too!

The green top feels a bit like an outlier, as does the striped tee shirt, but our heroine really wants to avoid overdoing the ... View the Post

The Fourth of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 6, 2025

I love this painting...

And I think that this wardrobe is going to be fascinating; we start with the world's most simple neutrals of black and ivory, and then add FOUR accent colors - one for each season. Yes, the idea of white as an accent color when we've already got ivory in the wardrobe is a little bit of a stretch. I'm interested to see what happens with this, since so many of us don't wear mixed shades of white and off-whites as often as we could.

When we happily ran screaming from the end of January, our heroine had a wildly versatile, if not super-exciting, eight-piece wardrobe:

It seems obvious to me that the coral/peach accent color makes a lot of sense for spring. Our heroine was ... View the Post

Love Black and White with Pink and Purple? Lucinda by Sofia Bonati

January 22, 2025

She's a specialist in flowers. As they appear in medieval manuscripts, as decorations for big fancy capital letters, or inserted as a border, or a section break. Many people don't realize that the choice of flower in each location is important, and has meaning!

She's a rare person...

She's recently written a guide to flowers found in documents from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. It's not really a technical book - more of a guide for the layman who finds these sorts of things fascinating! Her publisher has invited her to New York for a couple of days for some final proofing of the cover design and the "blurbs" that will be on the back cover. Dinner will be an event, every night she's ... View the Post

Festive? Start with Art – The Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

December 11, 2024

I'm leaving for Paris this afternoon - and so is today's heroine!

Remember this most elegant woman - of the upswept and braided white hair, the immaculate red manicure, the lush jewel-toned accents in her black and white wardrobe?

We first met her when she was a university guest lecturer;...

In January 2018, she took a group of students to the Cloisters;

In August 2019, she was in Paris to help with reconstructing Notre Dame;

In December 2019, she was off to Venice;

She assembled a "work from home" wardrobe in May 2020;

which she accessorized in May 2020;

and we visited her in November of 2021, when she went to Dublin;

Oh my! I knew I loved this woman, but I never ... View the Post

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – 5th Painting, by Maurice Denis

December 5, 2024

I love this painting - I think I need to look at some other works by him!

As with all of our heroines, this lover of muted colors already has a pretty complete wardrobe. 48 garments should give just about anybody PLENTY of outfits, don't you imagine?

Her jewelry is great - and her scarves too! She's had quite a lot of luck this year finding things that suit her:

Her bags and shoes are great too...

After last month's plunge into holiday attire, our heroine thinks she wants one more "festive" top. She finds something that will be perfect with her velvet pants but can also be dressed down. The rest of her shopping allotment consists of three garments that can be worn together for a warm and soft ... View the Post

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Third Painting, by Mark Rothko

December 4, 2024

Still a favorite - maybe because it's based on black, or maybe because I find Rothko paintings fascinating. Seeing them on a screen does NOT do them justice; they are layered, and shaded in a way that no computer can replicate!

Coming into the shopping frenzy that is December, our heroine has a pretty well-stocked wardrobe. When we arrange a number of clusters, or outfits, or just dresses (which of course don't need anything else), we find that there are few things for which she would not be well-dressed:

Even after we pulled out all of the things above to show how many outfits she has, she STILL has a bunch of garments:

She also has what is (to my taste!) an enviable collection of jewelry and ... View the Post

Packing For the Holidays by Starting With Art – Canyon Country by Georgia O’Keeffe

November 29, 2024

Not your usual "holiday colors," but how many of us really want to wear a ton of red and green? (I know at least one of you is absolutely delighted to wear red and green...)

When you look critically at the painting to isolate the colors, it looks more promising!

Okay, we're going to take that really yellowish patch and focus on the camel edge! If we revisited this wardrobe for warmer weather, we might go full-tilt into a bunch of yellow...

A key to this wardrobe looking festive is the accessories - but isn't that often the case, that you achieve the desired effect by adding just one or two little touches?

Our heroine is packing "outfit by outfit," and then we'll re-evaluate what she has, and see ... View the Post