blue Archives - Page 2 of 35

Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Beige and Blue: Start with Art – Miyajima in the Rain by Tsuchiya Koitsu

June 30, 2023

She's got to stop at the home office for a few hours, but then she's spending the weekend in the city!

Unsure of what she wanted to pack/wear, she browsed through her saved collection of paintings on her phone, and found this:

Suddenly, she's inspired!

She can wear black and blue to the office (she often feels like she's been beaten by the time she gets out of there, so black and blue is appropriate!), and then pack a few things to wear for sightseeing and dining...

She expects that it will be pretty warm, but also that she will run into some brutal air conditioning - especially in museums!

Her wardrobe covers her for business (just in case she has to go BACK TO THE OFFICE on Saturday - ... View the Post

Expanding a Travel Capsule Wardrobe: Start with Art – Woman with Folded Arms by Picasso

June 12, 2023

Oh, let's look at this some more!

When we left our heroine on Friday, she had a lovely 9-piece travel capsule wardrobe all sorted out for long weekends this summer:

Wise people learn from their successes, and when your deeply-held preferences work out well, why not continue on that path?

Since the weather is warm, our heroine realized immediately that a few white garments might be useful:

And while she wasn't wild about the idea of adding denim to her wardrobe during the warmest weather, chambray is a good option!

Prints? Maybe? I admit that our heroine was strongly drawn to a couple of striped shirtdresses, as well as a plaid camp shirt and matching skirt in shades of blue.... Frankly, she ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Shades of Blue: Start with Art – Woman with Crossed Arms by Picasso

June 9, 2023

I had to try this...

Our heroine is quite a bit cheerier than Picasso's subject!

She committed to wearing blue. It feels right to her, and that's what is most important, right?

She knows that a painting that inspires you doesn't have to be copied identically - so long as you are true to whatever initially inspired you, you may interpret that inspiration any way you want!

A long weekend seems like a perfect chance to try-out the idea of wearing all blue... She won't be around a lot of people who know her, so she doesn't expect anybody to actually notice that she's always in blue...

The night before she leaves for her wee adventure, she takes a good look at her planned travel capsule ... View the Post

3 Capsule Wardrobes: Second Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – June 2023

June 5, 2023

I can't quite get used to the idea that it's already June! Time will pass, regardless of our ability to keep up...

As I've quickly learned, this wardrobe, as with all of them, is pretty well-balanced in terms of functionality:

And arranging this particular wardrobe by color is sort of fun, but again doesn't show any big gaps or problems!

So our heroine just went shopping for some useful summer garments!

Our heroine truly feels that she is comfortably prepared for most things she needs to do - what a nice way to feel about one's wardrobe!

I love the richness of these accessories!

When our heroine gets home, she gets onto Skype with a couple of friends to show them her new ... View the Post

Analyzing the Six-Pack – Start with a Scarf: Royal Tulips by Katchmagic London

January 13, 2023

She's going to be really methodical about this...

And we are going to listen in to her brain, to see what we can learn...

First, she chooses her current favorite scarf as her inspiration, and then isolates what her accent colors will be:

Hmm... packing six garments and wearing 3 on the train/plane/bus means that she will have a total of 9 garments with her on her trip. She pictures it like this:

Her first outfit is straightforward - dark pants to avoid the mini-drama of spills. A warm cardigan that's pretty bulky to pack, so she chooses to wear it. And a bright tee shirt to bring color and life to her face...

She will almost certainly wear her inspiration scarf too!

Next, she chooses the ... View the Post

Start with a Bracelet: Subtle Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

November 21, 2022

The Easiest Job Ever...

She arrives at the café as soon as they open - there's always a table by the windows available...

After she orders breakfast, she takes out her fresh new notebook and her favorite pen:

She eats her breakfast, stopping every now and then to note down something that she sees...

Some days, she orders a second cup of coffee, because she's going to be sitting there until about 10 a.m. Second cups of coffee aren't always "the thing" with breakfast, but she doesn't mind being different!

Around 10 or so, she pays for her breakfast, tips generously, and walks back to her hotel room...

She brushes her teeth, refreshes her sunscreen, and gets ready to go out for ... View the Post

Part 2 September 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

September 5, 2022

Has anyone else read Ruskin's "Stones of Venice?" I own a gorgeous antique set of the FULL THREE VOLUME painfully thorough books... They're beautifully bound in green leather, with gold tooling, and they're sized to be packed when going on the Grand Tour of Europe.

I confess that I took 1 volume with me a couple of times I traveled to Venice; it was amazing how little has changed there since Ruskin's time...

So, odd as he was, I'm a fan!

This heroine saw her friend's new blue garments, and was inspired to go back to her "source scarf" and take another look. Sure enough, she could easily incorporate more blue into her wardrobe, too!

And she found earrings that included "her" blue and olive green - those ... View the Post

Start with Art: A Mother’s Love: The Polar Bear Family by Jason Carter

August 22, 2022

She loved his art the first minute she saw it! The clarity, simplicity, beautiful colors - all of it!

And she knew that this painting would be useful in helping her focus her ever-shrinking wardrobe:

She knows that the core of her wardrobe will be black, white and denim - this painting seems just right!

She start her autumn wardrobe planning with A Common Wardrobe. It's not called "common" because the clothes are cheap or run of the mill - it's called common because these are clothes that a LOT of people have in common!

That's a good thing - you can easily find them, they fit in easily when you're not sure what to wear, but best of all, the serve as a neutral background for whatever accents you wish to ... View the Post

Another Way to Think About Closet Cleaning

June 29, 2022 Today's my birthday - I'm 62!!! The only certain treat today is a yellow cake with maple frosting, from Sweet Mandy B's... Sadly, I will NOT be able to have a blog post ready for Friday; between my birthday and other utterly unrelated errands I have to run on Thursday, it's just not possible! I will of course be back on Monday...

But on to more practical things - clearing out a wardrobe that's just plain and simply too full. More clothing than you need is confusing, distracting clutter, and clothing that you can donate could be a wonderful gift to a total stranger...

Here's our starting point:

I'm working (gradually and haltingly!) toward Project 333 for myself, and I'm trying to be sensible, by keeping clothing ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Golden Stairs by Sir Edward Coley Burney-Jones

June 24, 2022

Yes, you saw this painting a long time ago! That heroine was also traveling for a family celebration...

Let's take a close-up look at a bunch of these lovely ladies, and enjoy the color palette...

Our heroine is off for a quick weekend trip to a family wedding! She's taking Friday off of work, so that she will arrive early in the afternoon - certainly early enough for lunch with relatives, and possibly early enough for a quick nap:

Because the partying starts tonight, with the rehearsal and the following dinner, and then of course the wedding on Saturday! By Sunday, she just needs to drag herself to brunch before they run out of coffee, and then sleep on the train on the way home!

She wants to ... View the Post

Start with Art: Sunlight on the Road, Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

May 25, 2022

Self-Care

The medication changed her body. She's bigger now. But she's also better!

Now she needs a new wardrobe for the next few months; this is her plan:

She lives in a lovely part of the world, with a VERY temperate climate; it rarely gets below 29 degree F in the winter, and seldom above the mid-70s in the summer! Sounds like heaven to me...

Like all wise women, she start with her dark neutral, in basic but not boring pieces that can be worn and worn and worn...

Lovely light blue - a soft color like the sky full of clouds...

Green pants in the shade she envisioned were hard to find, so she just got another pair of grey pants! Why not...

And green... muted and beautiful...

Our ... View the Post

Version 4 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 18, 2022

There are so many different reasons to love one scarf:

Cerise Yes, her name means cherry! Sometimes, you will indeed see her wearing a cherry-printed dress, or wee cherry earrings...

But for her trip with her 3 friends, she is embracing her love of stripes, and challenging herself to an entirely red and white travel capsule wardrobe!

(okay, except for the blue pants in which she's going to travel; she's taking the bus, and she's NOT willing to sacrifice her good white pants to the whims of mass transit...)

If you're looking for a "weekender" bag that doesn't blend into the crowd, this Vera Bradley bag comes in seven colors...

Cerise is indeed the woman who seized the parrot theme of the scarf and ran ... View the Post