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Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Petrol, Black and White: A Twelve-Pack for Uncertain, Mostly Cool, Weather

December 14, 2013  

 Yesterday we packed six garments, for a short week or long weekend, and for uncertain weather.

 Today, I'm assuming that we know our trip is going to be longer - up to two weeks or more, and that we know that most of our weather exposure is going to be colder. So in addition to the original six garments we packed, I'm adding six more carefully chosen items, and a few accessories.  The clothing items are chosen in pairs - sort of like adding outfits, but with an eye to being sure that we can use each item in a variety of ways.

Another pair of pants is very important in cool weather, so black jeans are my first addition. With the black cardigan, it's a long line of black that can have ... View the Post

Petrol, Black and White: A Six Pack for Uncertain or Changing Weather

December 13, 2013   Maybe the question I am asked most frequently - how do I pack when I'm not sure what the weather will be, or when I know that I'm going from cold to warm (or warm to cold) temperatures?   Things to keep in mind:

Avoid any garment that's overtly "one climate" - like a bulky cable knit sweater, or a filmy linen tunic. Try as much as possible to choose what you pack from that middle-ground of transitional clothes.  Consider:

merino sweaters (or cotton, or silk, or a blend of these), cotton blouses and tee shirts, pants in flat finish fabrics like crepe, twill or gabardine, and dresses that can be layered under a sweater or worn alone.

Plan around a color scheme that will be ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Scarves, Part 1

December 11, 2013  

As much as I love to use a scarf as an accent to an outfit, once the weather starts to get cold, I find that I often turn to my black, black and white, or grey scarves.  A little bit of texture, a subtle print, or a pattern can lend a lot of interest to a monochromatic outfit.Tomorrow, I'll show you scarves from the other 8 neutral colors - I'm now including rust and teal as neutrals!

  love, Janice ... View the Post

Scarves for a Six-Pack – Grey, Pink and Black

November 15, 2013

 

Cardigan – Uniqlo, skirt– Uniqlo,  watch – Movado, tee shirt – Uniqlo,   opal earrings – Novica,  boots – Vaneli, scarf – Alva-Norge, tote - Tumi  

Bracelet – Novica,  Black and grey pants – Uniqlo, grey sweater - Uniqlo,   skirt – Wunderkind,   dress – Emilio Pucci, shirt – John Lewis, pumps – Isaac Misrahi, pink sweater - Jil Sander    

  love, Janice   ... View the Post

Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

October 28, 2013   I found, after a few days of travelling, that the shirts and sweaters that I had packed gave me a lot more options than I had anticipated!  A reminder: these are what I had in my bag:  

  Of course, I could wear any of these except the cardigan on their own.  But as the weather, and my location, shifted, I began to experiment with different ways to layer these 5 garments.  I discovered that, ultimately, I had a DOZEN options.  In the coldest weather, I was able to layer three tops together for maximum warmth, and thus the Triple Top Secret was born!    

But I quickly realized that, if I had chosen JUST a little bit more carefully, I could have had even more ... View the Post

How to Pack for Changing Weather

October 26, 2013  

My recent adventures took me from decidedly summery weather to something more in keeping with gloves and scarves.  As usual, I was limited to just a carry-on bag... But I was really delighted with what I took with me.Nobody around you is going to be fooled into believing that you have a vast and limitless wardrobe at your disposal, and you're going to need to be able to do some laundry occasionally with this little ensemble. I found, however, that I was covered (or uncovered, as the case may be) for everything that I encountered.

AND!!!  I deciphered the reason that all of this worked so well, and next week I'm going to explain the secret, and show some other ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Scarves

October 8, 2013   Who am I kidding - I will wear more than six scarves before the winter is over - there will be WEEKS during which I will wear more scarves than this. But these six scarves represent the critical categories into which my scarves seem to fall.  None of them is still currently available - and I can only remember buying two of them at all clearly.  I DO remember buying my pink scarf the first time I visited Paris (1998?), and being absolutely horrified with myself that I spent so much on a scarf.  Now that I've worn it about 500 times, I no longer remember the price...  

    Mostly pink/blush colored scarves:

Halogen,  La Fiorentina,  Nordstrom, ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Shoes

October 7, 2013  

Lots of people have been interested in where I purchased my various Project 333 items, and what designers or brands were represented.  So I'm going to break down the whole show, by category, and review what I have.  Better yet, since so much of my stuff is no longer available, I'm going to source out reasonable facsimiles or replacements.Starting with shoes:  I have 2 pair of loafers included in this assortment, and 2 pair of oxfords.  If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably only get one pair of each.  But here are the autumn shoes, shown in order of absolute criticalness in my life.

 

My loafers are from Stuart Weitzman, the tall boots are from Eddie Bauer, the athletic ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: The Full Lagerfeld

Yes, Karl Lagerfeld wears the same outfit every day.  And I'm going to be getting close to that point...I can see how people who are continually immersed in fashion all day, every day, can get completely burned out on making clothing choices.  For every garment or accessory that I show here on my blog, I estimate that I look at over 100 items that get rejected.  Sometimes, I can say with confidence that I looked at over 500 pair of pants, or 700 bracelets, before I found what I really wanted to include here for you.  

After I've written a blog post, I want to wear absolutely simple, plain, easy and uncomplicated clothes. I don't need to have more than a dozen discrete, discreet outfits, so this upcoming Project 333 ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: A Simple Black Dress, a Cardigan, and SNAZZY shoes

October 2, 2013

 

Cardigan – Chinti and Parker,  Grey pumps – Everybody,  teal cardigan – House of Fraser, teal-trimmed pumps – Carolinna Espinosa    

Black & brown pumps – Softspots, brown cardigan – Paul & Joe Sister, camel cardigan – Burberry,  Camel and black pumps – Enzo Angiolini  

Grey cardigan – Massimo Alba, Floral slingback – J. Renee,  maroon cardigan – Sonia Rykiel, pumps – Marvin K.  

Dress – Stefanel   ... View the Post