capsule wardrobe Archives

Second Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – May 2023

May 8, 2023

Let's see what our second trio of heroines has been up to!

The first has decided that she would like to own something sort of like a suit, so she finds a cardigan/blazer and pants that match. She can't resist the Liberty print shirt - it goes with so much of her wardrobe!

This is her wardrobe now; it might not suit many of us, but I can see this on the right woman...

Her accessories are a soft and feminine delight:

Her new outfits show that even an unusually light and delicate wardrobe can be versatile:

Our second heroine made a pretty big decision about her wardrobe this month!

The main character in her inspiration painting is wearing what appears to be a pretty dark purple coat. ... View the Post

First Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – May 2023

May 5, 2023

Our heroines are branching out - their lives are different from each other, and their wardrobes will also be different... Seems obvious, except for those times when we're all told to get a beige trench coat, or a little black dress...

Our first heroine is experiencing some REALLY warm weather, interspersed with days when it pours rain and is chilly!

She decided to just forget about the cool interludes, and jumped onto a beautiful warm-weather outfit in soft shades of green and blue:

She doesn't have a third of her wardrobe in each of the 3 colors, but this still feels balanced:

And her accessories are spot-on! How fun to find the perfect light blue sandals...

As always, her new clothes bring her ... View the Post

First Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – April 2023

April 3, 2023

I know a lot of us are doubtful about this wardrobe, but I'm still really liking it...

Our heroine realized that there's a simple navy shirt that matches her navy skirt - that seems like a really logical purchase! And while she's stocking up on obvious basics, she has neither an olive tee shirt NOR an olive cardigan...

Toss in the world's most amazing scarf, a tote bag and some ballet flats to wear with her new navy "dress" and she's all set!

Her wardrobe is very disciplined, but still has plenty of possibilities:

And her accessories are lovely; a couple of beautiful scarves can make so much difference to a wardrobe:

Her 3 new garments, as always, give her at least 6 new outfits - ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Flowers by Sir Cedric Morris

March 15, 2023

Beware the Ides of March...

Or maybe not! Maybe the Ides of March bring flowers to you...

This palette is particularly good for someone who wants variety in their wardrobe - it would be possible to find maybe 10 accent colors in this painting!

Our heroine starts with beige; you can do a lot and go a long way with a simple beige outfit!

Next, she indulges in olive green...

Before she forgets, she tosses in her favorite blue spring sweater, and a pair of jeans in a very light beige...

She wants shorts! So it makes sense to stock up on olive - some accessories will be useful...

Now let's get to those accent colors! A beautiful cotton sweater in a delicious shade of purple? Don't ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: (Country Doctor) Night Call by Horace Pippin

March 13, 2023

She is ready to simplify. The recent report "Unfit, Unfair, Unfashionable" recommended that people living in 4-season climates should have a wardrobe of no more than 85 things - garments and shoes...

For winter, she's going to start here:

If she's going to have 85 items, that means 22 per season, with a bonus item; she's already decided that her bonus item will probably be a wool dress than can be worn all year!

The colors:

She's going to go outfit by outfit - 3 garments and a pair of shoes... And she's starting with jeans!

Next she starts with her black knit pants...

A simple grey and white outfit with jewelry:

And black jeans too! Her life is pretty casual...

She ... View the Post

Second Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – March 2023

March 3, 2023

Let's check on our other 3 heroines!

Boy do I love these colors...

This heroine felt like she was in a pretty good spot for pants - she's got black jeans, and another pair of black pants; those of us who wear black could go for weeks with just these 2!

AND... she found 2 cardigans she loves, as well as 2 scarves that are perfect with the cardigans. So she grabs a black tee shirt to give herself that "column of a neutral color" that is so versatile, and away she goes!

Her wardrobe now has 11 garments - enough for a week-long trip, if she so chooses...

It's pretty easy to see how versatile this wardrobe can be!

If someone magically put all of this into my closet, I could certainly look pretty ... View the Post

First Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – March 2023

March 1, 2023

I'm somewhat gobsmacked that it's already March...

Let's see what our heroines are up to!

Our first heroine is a pretty casual person - she would like to add some olive green to her wardrobe, in separates that she can wear with everything else in her wardrobe.

This is what she finds:

Oh, she now has so many possibilities! Relaxed, warm, but nicely pulled together...

She obviously can wear her new clothes together as 1 outfit, but she has other possibilities:

I love the autumn-y feeling that seems to permeate this wardrobe. This makes sense, once you look at her favorite painting!

Our next heroine has decided that she wants some dressier garments - not necessarily an outfit, but ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Flourish Floral from Talbots

February 17, 2023

It can happen. Floods, fires, landslides, earthquakes, eek!!!

And your wardrobe is gone. Completely.

It recently happened to one of us...

She lives somewhere with weather that's already warm-ish, so she wants to start with a Spring wardrobe.

It's a nightmare, and a dream, all at the same time.

She wants to start here:

And the colors that she wants to include are thus:

We discussed how to go about doing this - the Start from Scratch Wardrobe didn't appeal to her, so I suggested we try to look at the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for Spring:

I was able to assemble suggestions for this reasonably quickly. The accent of soft green showed up most often at Lands' End, where it is called "light ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Morris Graves/Rain by Kay Russell

January 27, 2023

This is her favorite painting:

She wants to tackle Project 333 for February, March and April! So she's starting with her favorite outfit, and with colors that she's drawn from her favorite painting.

Of course she can't include ALL of the colors in the painting; that would be overwhelming!

These were her choice:

And this is her favorite outfit, right now:

She tries to think of things that she ABSOLUTELY must wear through the rest of the winter - dark pants, and a denim shirt come to mind immediately:

Jeans? Heavens yes! And she really loves sweater vests, so she wants to include the vest that matches her blue cardigan:

There's no way she can omit her favorite outfit for outdoor ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition by Ernest Mancoba

January 18, 2023

She had always liked to wear ivory, bone, stone - those light, neutral colors.

And denim. ALWAYS denim...

So when she saw this:

She saw her color palette for the rest of the winter, right in front of her!

Although her favorite colors are lighter and brighter, she will include her black pants, at a minimum! Sometimes, you need dark pants...

To start, she pulls her 3 favorite outfits from her closet:

She realizes early on that she's not going to have a "Whatever's Clean" wardrobe - some of her clothes just aren't going to go together. That's fine, so long as the majority of her garments play nicely together and give her options...

An excellent pair of black pants are so ... View the Post

Part 3 December 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

December 7, 2022

Our last 2 heroines! I grow attached to these projects...

First, let's visit our heroine with the Chrysanthemum scarf:

This heroine isn't planning to dress up much this season - she's more interested in warm and casual!

Her wardrobe of 40 garments looks coherent and very versatile:

And her accessories are wonderful - accessories make so much difference...

Her new garments can be worn more than 2 different ways (each), but she makes certain that she has at LEAST those options...

And now to my favorite heroine - the one who figured out that wearing brown and black together is magical!

THE BLAZER. Oh great shiny chocolate-coated Buddha on a bagel, THE BLAZER...

If I could wear ... View the Post

Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year

April 25, 2022

When I started working on this post, it was pouring rain in Chicago. I mean pouring buckets and barrels and VATS of rain...

The next day, the temperature is over 20C, and quite lovely. If the wind doesn't (literally) blow you over...

Which made me realize yet again that there are really more than 4 season in the year; they've apparently always know that in Japan!

So I'm very intrigued by the idea of 24 Seasons - which are divided into 72 wee mini-seasons! I'll stick with this 24 for now, but I never rule out doing something fun with 72 seasons!

My thinking, at this early stage: an outfit for each mini-season, 3 garments. That would be a 72-garment wardrobe - considerably smaller than what I currently ... View the Post