cardigans Archives - Page 2 of 4

How to Assemble a Warm-Weather Capsule Wardrobe – The Dandelion Cardigan

One of you has fallen in love....

With a cardigan! And you're somewhat concerned that you won't wear it enough to make it worth the purchase...

This is the winsome object of her affections:

She assures me that she really loves the yellow, but has never worn it. And she's very devoted to her black and white neutrals:

I don't think she's going to have any problems at all - realistically, I think she need to maybe buy 1 thing for each of these outfits to pull everything together.

In these first 2 outfits, she'll want to grab those delicious sandals, and the bracelets will be essential... (and they come in SEVEN colors, including turquoise, a gorgeous fake tortoise, and a lovely green)

Another pair of yellow sandals might be ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – January 2017

Yaaaaay!!! It's that time again... The new scarves are chosen (FINALLY...) and the first outfits for this year's capsule wardrobes are assembled!!!!

First up, the scarves:

I looked at LOTS of scarves, from literally dozens of sources, but in the end, I came back to Hermès, because of the richness of the patterns and the creativity of the color schemes. This is a little bit self-defeating on my part, because if you DO buy a scarf from Hermès, I get no commission. I still think they're the best scarves for our illustrative purpose, thought!

For what it's worth, these can sell out REALLY fast, so if one of these captures your heart, please don't hesitate. I prepared this initial file on a Wednesday, and when I went to post it TWO DAYS ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Muted Accents

One last adventure with this dress - this time, with muted accent colors like olive, burgundy, and mustard! (I have been hungry 24/7 for a week...)

You might notice more or less immediately that I'm reusing a TON of accessories from the recent post with the grey dress. I'm not doing this because I'm lazy, (well...) but because it all fell into place, unexpectedly.

When I put together posts like this, which are variations of previous posts, I reuse the original PowerPoint file. For this, I went through each page, deleted the original grey dress, and pasted in the navy dress. Then I changed the color of the divider stars... It was only when I went to the next step - changing the accessories - that I realized that I really didn't need to ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Pastels

This is a great dress - it appears to be fairly trimly cut until it reaches the hips, and then swish!

I took a little bit different approach to this dress - I found simple, classic navy shoes that I've included with all of the pastel colors. And there's a pretty straightforward formula for these - I looked for scarves, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and bags in the accent color, and then chose the pieces that I liked the most! My criteria were pretty much that the accessories should be as close in color to the cardigan as reasonably possible, and that they share a feeling or aesthetic. (that last part is hard to define, but I know what I like when I see it!)

This is an obvious color scheme, if you spend a lot of time studying the color ... View the Post

One Yellow Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

One of you recently bought a yellow dress... It wasn't this one, but it was an equally simple, beautiful dress...

What to do with such a nice dress, in such a statement color? Work your way through every color in the rainbow, and test them in your mind (in a PowerPoint presentation, or on Pinterest?) to see how they'll work...

First up, knowing that the purchaser is a woman who wears "cool" colors and accessories, I thought I'd take a look at putting some black with it. Some people might feel that this is too much bumblebee, or University of Iowa, or Pittsburgh Pirates, but I think that it's a striking option.

In the first example, I used a bit of white (or of skin, showing through the sandals) to unify the accessories. And the 2nd ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Navy Columns with Shades of Green in the Capsule Wardrobe

I had a few of these ideas lingering in my head, and I've FINALLY figured out how to present them in a somewhat unified manner. What unites all of these outfits is that they're based on the simplest navy "core," either a dress or a matching tee shirt and pants. The key, to me, for wearing accent colors successfully is to give them a sense of looking intentional, rather than just grabbed at the last minute. While you might not want FOUR pieces in your accent at one time, wearing 2 or 3 green items - shoes, jewelry, bag, or sweater - makes it look like the green was a purposeful choice on your part. Plus, it lends a sense of balance to your ensemble!

Using a hoodie and canvas shoes gives your dress more mileage than it might get if ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Black and Pink in the Capsule Wardrobe

Everybody says that a little black dress (LBD - it even has its own acronym!) is a capsule wardrobe essential... and for me, that's certainly the truth! But of course I'm not going to tell you to wear black, NOR am I going to tell you that you must wear dresses. That said, I've seen a lot of black dresses recently in downtown Chicago, and some of the freshest looks have paired their black with pink!

If you own an amazing handbag, it's well worth building at least one entire outfit around it! And if you're going out after work, a few pink touches make your work-wardrobe black dress more than appropriate for a romantic dinner:

Maybe you feel like you want to straddle that fine line between wearing a dress and NOT being too "dressy." A ... View the Post

What to Wear with a Navy Cardigan and White Skirt

This is just a "flipped over" version of the white blazer and navy trouser, but quite a bit more casual and relaxed. And I chose all button-front shirts, just to show the range of possibilities available!

Our very simple starting point:

You can wear any possible shade of red, pink, coral, blush, or whatever else the fashion people name these colors:

All kinds of orange are equally lovely:

If you like yellow, this is a good, classic base with which to wear it!

I really like the looks of both the mint and the dark olive here - very different colors, but equally at home in this ensemble.

Turquoise, because... well, most of us really love it!

Chambray works really well here, as does a softer blue. An oxford cotton ... View the Post

3-Dress Packing for a Business Trip

You asked, you get!

I Felt Like the Secret Weapon...

Everybody else traveling for the presentation was male. Wearing a suit, white shirt, and a tie... I felt a little bit conspicuous, but since I knew that I was key to the success of the enterprise, I didn't really mind! (let's not even mention that I was carrying exactly the same amount of luggage as everyone else in the group, despite what they expected...)

The first part of every presentation to potential clients is always the same story - the whole "background, boiler-plate" part of our presentation, which couldn't really be left out, but was certain NOT interesting. Nor was it convincing...

During this first part of things, nobody in the room seemed to even ... View the Post

A 2nd 3-Dress Travel Capsule Wardrobe

Unprecedented

They were always really nice about it; her nephew always sent her the "Annual Beach House Room Reservation Worksheet," just as if she was going to be there for at least a weekend or two.

But she never went. Until now.

When the email arrived, she took the single room, for the Memorial Day Weekend. Shock waves reverberated around the extended family!

She realized that the things that kept her away weren't really "deal-killers" after all!

It's possible to have a perfectly nice beach vacation without actually swimming...

Nobody is contractually obliged to wear shorts at any time in their life...

And you can walk in the surf while wearing shoes. In fact, one does not EVER have to wear sandals...

She might be ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in 6 Capsule Wardrobes: May

Warm weather's coming! (I type, as I'm sitting in fleece running tights and a sweatshirt...) When I was pondering what we needed to add to these capsule wardrobes for May, I kept coming back to the idea that we need to be prepared ahead of time for the first warm days. Even if it's no more of an event than going to watch your neighbor's kids play soccer, you don't want to be caught off guard and unprepared. That's how badly conceived impulse purchases make their way into your closet! First up, a reminder of the 6 scarves that we're using as our unifying themes for the capsule wardrobes, through the 12 months:

If you'd like to refresh your memory about the first 4 outfits, and how we got to this point, you can find January here, ... View the Post

How to Wear A Navy Cardigan for Spring – 8 Outfits!

This started out as a Chic Sighting post, but after I saw the first woman, I didn't see ANYONE else... But I really like the idea of buying a new cardigan for spring and summer wear (counter-intuitive as it seems, a lot of us that are in and out of buildings during the hottest weather have to carry a cardigan or jacket at all times, to keep from freezing to death!). Here I'm working with 4 different possibilities for below the waist - white linen pants, beige linen pants, navy linen pants, and dark-wash denim pants. This gives choices that range from cool-ish spring days, to pretty doggone hot dead of summer!

I've still got lots of "1 at a time" color schemes to explore, and I've ALWAYS got a stack of art to study and love, but ... View the Post