camel Archives

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

June 4, 2025

I love this painting - I imagine living somewhere with changing seasons, but nothing too drastic. (maybe Ireland?) Soft knits and soft colors...

This heroine has a pretty good handle on her various seasonal garments, but she's going to try to stick to filling in her template. As always, I remind you that this list is a guideline and NOT a rule. For example, if you never wear dresses or skirts, you're going to have to change at LEAST the bottom row of garments...

And that's as it should be; you should personalize any guidelines to suit what you most love. It's YOUR wardrobe, after all.

A tank top and shorts in one of your neutrals is always a wise purchase for hot weather! A perfect accent color polo shirt is ... View the Post

The First of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 3, 2025

I've already reached the point at which I really want to look at these painting one at a time! It's possible to focus better on just one painting at a time - at least for my limited capacity...

This month, the top of the heap is this beauty!

When I look at this painting on different screens, the dark neutral color varies between camel and a dark olive green. I'm sticking with camel, although it's lovely to have a second option...

Our heroine comes into February with this compact but pretty excellent capsule wardrobe:

This month, our heroine decided to lean into the chambray blue in her wardrobe, as well as grab a good pair of loafers and a handbag:

With these additions, the overall feeling ... View the Post

Building a 12-Piece Winter Wardrobe in Camel and Charcoal Grey – Start with Art: Damp Autumn by Ivon Hitchens

August 25, 2023

This painting is about as far as you can get from Chicago weather right now; our heat index is over 100F, and we are NOT leaving the building...

But we still have to prepare for autumn and winter; one thing we can be certain of is the eventual arrival of bitter cold and wind!

Hurrah! /s

Our heroine has always believed that shades of grey belong in an autumn wardrobe - where would beautiful trees be without their trunks?

She's onto something...

She pulls winter clothes out of boxes, and garment bags, and other odd places, and starts to sort, steam (the clothes, NOT her!), and prepare things to donate...

First - charcoal grey!

And then camel - THIS scarf is so perfect for this ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet: Winter’s Dawn by Fierce Lynx Designs

January 16, 2023 It was a beautiful sunrise...

The colors that they saw were subtle but stunning...

They turned to each other and agreed that if they saw ONE MORE sunrise over snow, they were going to lose their minds.

They don't want to go to the beach, just someplace where it's warm enough not to wear boots and a parka!

It's a romantic long weekend - a bit early for Valentine's Day, but they are NOT people to be bound by that kind of thing!

Museums, some shopping, some nice but not posh dining. Maybe a movie...

Mostly, just time together. A chance to see their ankles on a regular basis. No hats!

Are you ready for a break from winter?

I - personally - would LOVE to see some real ... View the Post

May 2022 Start with a Bracelet: The Liberated Lynx Bracelets

May 27, 2022 Every Other Friday...

She packs up her travel wardrobe - the SAME wardrobe - and heads to the train station...

She always has a different destination - she's becoming QUITE the expert on all of the interesting attractions of her area!

When she arrives, she always gets herself a lovely lunch, somewhere that lets her people-watch and get a feel for the town or city. After that - there are all KINDS of possibilities!

Sometimes she goes to a sporting event; you can't get to know a small town better than to sit in the stands with people and help them cheer for the home team...

Or she goes to a museum or other similar place; if the weather is bad, that's the place to be!

Saturday might be the day that ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Mumbai Paisley silk scarf – Echo

November 17, 2021

Yes - ANOTHER SCARF GIVE-AWAY!

This lovely object is 36 inches square, and SO lovely... Leave a comment and it might be yours! Creativity Requires Discipline At least that's what she believes. Years ago, when she committed to designing jewelry, she made the very startling choice to limit her work to silver, gold, black onyx and pearls. Well, she will use mother-of-pearl if it is truly ivory...

Over time, her wardrobe came to reflect the same colors that she cherished in her work...

When it's time to go to the annual One of a Kind show in Chicago, she knows exactly how she will pack!

She deliberately packs a column of charcoal grey, as well as wears her black column. These small choices can make ... View the Post

Accessorizing a Camel, Ivory and Brown Capsule Wardrobe

November 5, 2021

Remember this lovely wardrobe from last week? I could be so tempted to just chuck everything I own and wear these colors, if I was feeling crazy and reckless...

I thought that I would try to start with 4 pairs of shoes - as I have done before. Simple flats can be worn with your skirt, or in somewhat warmer weather with pants. Loafers go with everything; leather athletic shoes are GORGEOUS and look lovely with pants, and of course short boots can be worn with everything...

Does anybody else remember back in the day when we would NEVER have worn boots that didn't come up to meet the hem of our skirt? That gap was SO off limits... Things have changed!

For my view of life, a small clutch, a cross-body bag, ... View the Post

Start with Art: Construction by Max Weber

October 13, 2021 Difficult...

Very early in her career, she became instantly famous (at least in architecture circles!) for her innovations in combining unexpected construction materials. She discovered new synergies of strength and flexibility that changed the industry...

Since then, she has deliberately cultivated a reputation for being a difficult partner in projects. She's actually a lovely, kind woman, but she finds that she is treated with more respect if everyone approaches her with a certain... trepidation?

Her wardrobe reflects her interest in combining things in unexpected ways; she might show up for a project summit dressed in a soft, approachable way:

But she knows that she's going to want to surprise ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Black Column with Warm-Toned 2nd Layer

September 29, 2021

Autumn's arrival is still sort of iffy, here in Chicago, but I am seeing more women wearing lovely fall clothes on the cooler days! What a nice break...

One thing that really jumped out at me a few days ago was seeing lots of women wearing a column of black - often a black dress - with something over it that was ivory, beige or camel.

I think a lot of us who live in black (or navy, or grey) tend to think that we can only wear cool hues with our neutral. But that's not at ALL true - what about a woman with dark brown hair with no hint of red or warmth, but clear amber eyes. (I'm looking in the mirror for this...)

And what's a woman to do when you're thrifting and you see a gorgeous camel blazer or sweater, but ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It: Camel Silk Skirt

September 15, 2021

You asked, and so I will try to help! One among us is having a serious internal conversation about this skirt - it seems to check all of the right boxes for her wardrobe, but she's still hesitant. Are there really that many ways to wear a camel skirt?

Frankly, the answer is HECK yes...

This is the culprit:

This skirt has a LOT going for it - a classic color, in a pull-on style which can be worn as dressy or as casual as you want, in silk, which can be worn every day of the year. (yes, you might want a warm slip and some heavy tights...) It's lined, it has pockets, and IT'S MACHINE WASHABLE! What the heck else could we ask for - someone to come over and iron it for us?

Just off the top of my ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Camel V-Neck Cashmere Sweater

March 3, 2021

A surprising number of us are hankering for a touch of camel in our wardrobes, and who could blame us? Warm, rich looking, not seen every 15 seconds in a crowd...

And when I saw the teen-aged girl at The Art Institute wearing a simple sweater with a classic white shirt and blue jeans (not distressed, thank you!) I knew that I had to address our longing! She looked wonderful, by the way...

So let's look at this sweater with a handful (okay, seven) different colors...

Let's start with denim, and my re-creation of the outfit my Chic Sighting was wearing:

One of the great joys of a v-neck sweater is that you can wear it with something under it, and then 2 days later wear it on its own! That makes a ... View the Post

Acessories! Adding Balance and Interest to Start with Art: Meadow by Mainie Jellett

February 24, 2021

This may or may NOT change your feelings about this wardrobe; I suspect that I'm going to revisit this at least twice! Maybe once use darker brown and olive to balance the red, and a second try to incorporate the mauve pink in place of the red...

This is where we started:

I already feel like the wheels are coming off - the red accessories that go so well with this outfit won't be worn with any other outfits except maybe an all camel ensemble...

This outfit screams "reading on the sofa for 5 hours" to me...

If you haven't had a haircut in a REALLY REALLY long time, a pretty hair clip might be smart...

The green puts our heroine in the mood for 4-leaf clovers, and who could blame ... View the Post