cardigans Archives

Part 2 August 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

August 3, 2022

Have any of you done enough shopping that you can see the trends for this autumn?

I've seen tons of clogs. Literally tons. I know that they're very comfortable for people who work in hospitals, so I would assume that everybody might find them comfortable... Maybe if you need shoes, they are worth trying?

And someone, somewhere, put together a million miles of smocked fabric! Not the traditional smocking, like we used to do on gingham fabrics, where you would join together certain squares in the print with stitching to create beautiful patterns...

Nope - this smocking is machine stitched fabric that is gathered with elastic thread. There's nothing inherently wrong with this fabric, except that you can't swing a ... View the Post

Part 1 August 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

August 1, 2022

We're going to have to do the "Six Scarves, 12 Months" posts in segments this month, because it's just THAT difficult... I hate not finishing in 1 post, but I have to admit when I can't finish in time!

This is a great lesson for how to handle shopping when everything in the marketplace seems to conspire against you.

In a "normal" year, I could easily expect to see piles of cashmere sweaters in 30 colors all OVER the retail world - but not this year...

Websites should be chock-full of cabled sweaters, and corduroy pants, and tweed blazers, and all of the traditional garments of autumn. But not this year!

It might be reluctance to stock merchandise that may not appeal - nobody's really sure how people are going ... View the Post

Starting with a Black Column (or a Grey Column!)

July 13, 2022 Self-Esteem She's among the many who have to be back in their office - 10 days a month... (who's going to be counting these days, eh?)

She has completely changed clothing sizes during the pandemic, and she's changed her attitude toward work. Since she's been saving her clothing budget since spring of 2020, she's going to be a little bit extravagant (okay, really extravagant!) and make a personal statement of confidence when she gets dressed!

So she's already reserved the best office available (the entire place is now running on a "hotel desk" system...), and she's going to start looking and acting like she should be in charge...

She's starting with 2 simple pieces of black clothing that are VERY comfortable. ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #46: A Neutral Cardigan or Blazer

January 31, 2022

A blazer or a cardigan? Or a "sweater-blazer," which seems to be the best of both worlds? You get to choose, but I think many of us agree that a classic second layer is pretty important this time of year!

Why yes, these ARE the same pants and shoes as last Monday's post; this is about building a wardrobe, not starting from scratch every week!

If you were only going to have just ONE second layer garment, you could do worse than this:

If you've wanted to introduce some camel into your wardrobe, this is a great way to do it! You don't have to wear it right next to your face, you can brighten up the look with a scarf and earrings...

If you wear lots of shades of grey and struggle to find something to ... View the Post

January 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

January 5, 2022

Let's GO!!!

First up is black...

Last week we started with 5 essential garments (well, essential for most of us!):

As soon as I saw this "rust red" - I know that this was where I wanted to start! To me, this color is very close to the color of warmly brown leather... maybe brown earrings would have made sense here but I didn't see any that impressed me, so I opted for these timeless black ones!

These 6 additions to the original 5 garments give you something that can legitimately be called a wardrobe! It's not huge, but for a long weekend, this would serve you well:

You've now got at least a few outfits...

Next is our soft, warmly-colored wardrobe:

Since I couldn't find 5 beige ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #33: A 2nd Layer

November 1, 2021

This was good timing - after being out for a couple of lunch dates last week, I was seriously thinking that my next "Chic Sighting" would be blazer-sweaters!

I'm curious - those of you who are back in your offices, or are back in business environments - are you seeing people more dressed up than before the pandemic? My limited view of what's going on in Chicago suggests that we are taking advantage of the chance to look a little bit nicer, and wear those lovely things that have been hanging in our closets for months (and months and months...).

I saw a LOT of this kind of look, when I was out last week. It was dressier than I was used to seeing - lapels do a great deal to elevate an outfit! And why not wear ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #24 – A Lightweight 2nd Layer

August 16, 2021

Ah, let's continue to ponder what essentials we might want in our warm weather wardrobes!

Many of us are going back to our offices - reluctantly, I might add. If you're like most women, you find the office to be bitterly cold, and then when you walk outdoors you melt immediately! So a 2nd layer is essential to stay warm indoors, while something relatively light and cool underneath is important to be able to survive the commute, or the walk to lunch...

This might do the trick!

One of the many beauties of the cardigan above is that it could easily be worn through the winter with something heavier underneath...

This next cardigan, on the other hand, is pretty strictly a hot-weather garment:

When you ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #19 – Dark Neutral Short-Sleeve or Lightweight 2nd Layer

July 19, 2020

Time to check in on our neutral, timeless wardrobe pieces; today we need something to wear on those freakish days in the summer that turn cool, or for the air-conditioning that turns normal places into meat lockers!

First, a simple column of white (or any color, really) can take on a ton of different looks with an overshirt and some accessories:

For me, this is the quintessential summer 2nd layer - a black cardigan that's warm enough to do what needs done, but sheer enough not to look like it's October!

It's kind of a suit... And here again, you could use a LOT of different accent colors!

A black "suit" can also be worn in a million different ways - some days you just want some silver and onyx, and a ... View the Post

July 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

July 2, 2021

I've got a special treat for us today - the kind people at Echo are offering a FREE scarf (of your choice, of course!) to one of you...

How to win? Leave a comment, and I will choose a random number on Monday morning; the reader who left the comment that corresponds to that number will have a new, beautiful scarf!

And if they let me know which one they choose, I will do a travel wardrobe based on it, too!

Pretty nice, eh?

And if you're an Instagram person, DEFINITELY follow Echo Scarves there, too...

Let's get started!

It occurred to me that these wardrobes do not yet have a dress! What is one to wear to the weddings and other festivities of summer?

How about a simple dress, with a sparkly ... View the Post

I Love It But Will I Wear It? Bright Patina Green cardigan

March 17, 2021

Yes, I used to live in Ireland. And I'm married to an Irish citizen. And I don't own a STITCH of green clothing!

But one of you has been very tempted by this classic cardigan in this very lovely color:

I was specifically asked about wearing this with beige, so I was able to avoid trying to find camel clothing at this "almost spring" point. Hallelujah for that!

You can see that the olive is going to be an interesting issue...

Are we all convinced that owning a simple white shirt and classic jeans is a good idea?

This was a specific question, and I personally think that this color looks lovely with beige. The earrings and scarf are sort of perfect with this, I think.

And the bag is quite a few ... View the Post

March 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

March 1, 2021

Hurray! February is OVER....

Let's check back with our 6 heroines who are assembling wardrobes loosely along the guidelines of Start From Scratch, and trying to stick to color palettes suggested by 6 scarves.

The guidelines in Start From Scratch suggest finding a core outfit in the 2nd neutral in our wardrobes, as well as an accent top and scarf...

Starting here!

This heroine has neither grey pants, nor a black cardigan! And a tee shirt that almost matches her pink oxford will give her a chance to layer the 2 together. Filling in those gaps gives us something that's not really an outfit, but more a group of useful wardrobe additions:

It makes more sense when you see the 8 garments, plus ... View the Post

January 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

January 1, 2021

Amen and Hallelujah!

This year, I'm going to try to be a little bit more deliberate (from time to time) about how these wardrobes come together. There were years in which I just found the 6 most fun outfits every month, and watched the wardrobes either work or struggle. So maybe being just a tiny bit more practical is an interesting change...

First up, let's refresh our collective memories of the 6 scarves and the color palettes from them:

In choosing these first outfits, I referred back to the "Starting from Scratch" wardrobe building series that I wrote years ago. While the idea of starting with a nice pair of pants doesn't make a lot of sense for many of us right this ... View the Post