Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
February 13, 2023
This week, I wore the same grey yak wool sweater every day - even on the day when I didn't put on "real" clothes! I pulled my sweater on over my pajamas and wore it rather than my robe, which felt too cumbersome...
I have to share with you the fabric shaver that I've found that doesn't get all tangled and stalled every 5 minutes - it's rechargeable with a UBS cord, and it's VERY reliable...
love,
Janice ... View the Post
February 5, 2023
Yes, I'm wearing a lot of the same clothes over and over - and part of the reason is the way our apartment is furnished!
In our main room, we have THREE dining tables! Our table is behind the sofa, with the leaves dropped, and with candles and a lamp on it - it serves well as a "sofa table."
The second, which belonged to my mother-in-law, has the leaves dropped, it's pushed up against a wall, and our (ridiculously huge) collection of alcohol is on it. The pandemic lead to a cocktail challenge with one of our friends...
The third table is my mother's - it's the one at which we eat our meals!
All of this is to indicate just how FULL our apartment is. Which, for me, translates into a closet that is only maybe ... View the Post
February 3, 2023
I must mention this: to me, this first heroine MUST be living somewhere warm, or at least warm-ish. It's hard to picture someone wearing this much ivory in a place where slushy streets are an issue!
Adding both the pink tee shirt AND the pants to her wardrobe this month gives this heroine a VERY pink wardrobe, but it's wise to grab things that match (or in this case - tone). Skipping 1 of these 2 pink garments because it feels like "too much pink" makes sense in the short term, but in the long term, having both pieces makes life easier...
Yep, this heroine likes pink. And she looks amazing in it!
Her 3 new garments give her lots of new options, although her wardrobe doesn't have a wide variety of ... View the Post
February 1, 2023
I'm already at the point where it's better to break this post into 2 posts; it's a lot to digest (or to produce!) at 1 time!
The order of the paintings is different this month; I'm hopeful that I can remember to re-order them each month to keep things fresh...
First up - the train station!
Maybe it's the single-digit temperatures today, but I realized that all of our heroines could probably use a jacket (although these are NOT the jacket one needs for the dead of winter)... Another tee shirt is pretty important at this point, and jeans or other pants.
This heroine is due for something in beautiful soft green (called "eucaluptus steam" - it feels like a humidifier when you have a cold!), and a pair ... View the Post
January 30, 2023
Just to refresh our memories after the weekend, our current heroine is working on a Project 333 wardrobe based upon this painting and color palette:
Her plan is to include 16 garments and 17 accessories in her 3 month plan; the clothing that she's chosen is here:
She's going to be logical about this, and work her way through an assortment of outfits, making certain that she includes the appropriate accessories for each...
Finding both earrings AND a scarf in her favorite dusty green is a small victory, I'd say!
She's going to slightly dress up with her vest - a stunning pearl brooch, and some pretty loafers will do the trick:
Something warm and casual is always useful!
Her favorite ... View the Post
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
January 25, 2023
Plenty of Firewood... She agreed to go up to the cabin for the weekend, with the understanding that (1) they would stop at the deli on the way out of town and get enough food, (2) there is enough firewood up there for at least 5 days, and (3) there are NO chores for her to handle!
Oh yes, and there are birds about...
In all fairness, she has 2 books she really NEEDS to finish in the next few days (for work!), so it's not all just hanging about reading gossip magazines...
She will, of course, walk outdoors from time to time, to catch some sun (if it's out!), visit with any animals that are about, and take a break from her work.
In addition to using a favorite painting as her inspiration, ... View the Post
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
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
January 4, 2023
Flexible...
After watching the travel chaos over the Christmas holiday, she decided that she was going to be flexible with her plans...
If her plane doesn't depart in time to get her to her destination for dinner, she's going to go back into the city and take the train...
If she can't get the train for some reason, (it could be full!), or if it doesn't run at all, THEN she's going to go over to the docks and catch a ferry across the Sea...
All she wants is a long weekend away - she's not terribly choosy about exactly WHERE she goes. There are a lot of lovely destinations within an hour or 2 of where she lives!
She can carry her bag wherever she needs to go - she has NO intentions of checking ... View the Post
January 2, 2023
Well THAT was weird to type...
Our six heroines all decided that they wanted to go shopping to augment the TWO garments with which they started our year-long adventure.
If you have something specific in mind that you want to buy, this is a difficult time of year to shop; lots of stores are sold out of all of the really nice things, and much of what's left is only available in a limited number of sizes.
But our heroines know that places like L.L.Bean will ALWAYS have a good assortment of timeless, classic garments. When you have very few clothes, buying trendy things is silly!
Let's visit our heroines and see what's up!
First up she thought that a black jacket would make sense. Being the ... View the Post
December 30, 2022
Happy Birthday, you down in Georgia!!!
You Have to Choose...
She's a judge. She has to pick. Every time.
Now that she's packing for a few winter days away, she will NOT choose between warm and cool colors. She doesn't want to, and she doesn't feel that she needs to either!
She's heard it all - "it's not right to wear gold with grey," "Olive is only for women with a certain coloring," "shades of green can't really be worn together - especially cool greens and warm greens."
Humbug, she says.
It might not always be easy to find the right things.
It might not always look like what others are wearing.
It might draw a 2nd look.
She loves the subtlety and nuance of these colors ... View the Post
