cream Archives - Page 2 of 4

How to Pack for a Holiday in the Mountains: Navy, Beige and Warm Grey

June 14, 2017

I thought that this would be the easiest color scheme imaginable; that the clothes would virtually jump off of the screen at me... WRONG!

I thought I would start as I have been for a while, with the navy and beige neutrals. I swapped out the watch for silver, thinking that it would be better with the grey pieces to come...

And I found a pair of sandals that weren't quite as "warm" in hue, so that they might bridge the gap better also.

Then... I tried to find dark grey. And, after an honest 2 hours of looking for a lovely, rich charcoal grey linen, or a lustrous lead-grey raw silk, I threw in the towel. Some colors just don't exist in large numbers during some seasons, and at a point that only you ... View the Post

How to Pack Light for a Long Weekend? Start with Art: View of New York by Charles Sheeler

April, 26, 2017

Do you remember one of my very favorite all-time posts, where a woman went to visit friends to look at the stars? Her wardrobe colors were inspired by the colors of the common shelduck - brown, black, and white...Well, she's found a painting that she really likes, so this year, when she's going back to visit her friends again, she's in the same color scheme. The weather is warmer, but you might recognize a few of her accessories from last winter's trip...

Her color scheme expands to include cream and grey (earlier, she was pretty strictly black and white with brown leather accessories), and some day she's going to try something in sky blue. Some day...

She knows that it's going to be warmer in April than it was ... View the Post

How to Assemble a Warm-Weather Capsule Wardrobe – Bavarian Cream Tossed Floral Cardigan

February 3, 2017

I have no idea why it's called "Bavarian Cream." I had no idea that the cream there was in some way special...

Today is the last version of the "start with a patterned cardigan" idea, with more complete explanations of what I'm doing with these cardigans. (brace yourself - I get pretty carried away explaining my methodology here!) This cardigan was chosen because one of you who is contemplating the purchase on this one felt that the colors might prove to be too autumn-like...

For what it's worth, upon close study, I think that these colors are pretty safely seasonless; one might be reluctant to wear a pair of cream wool crepe trousers in February (nasty salt splashes = ruined garment!), but for the most part, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art Part 2: Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

September 22, 2016

Do we remember the veterinarian from the class reunion? She was the woman who used this as her style leitmotif:

And who had packed this eclectic mix for that trip:

Since she's an expert in the study of contagious diseases in free-range ruminants (someone's got to study these things!) she's been invited to an extensive symposium on lifestock health being held at a major university. Thus, she's going to be gone for a while, and is going to need some additional things to wear:

It's a college campus, so it's casual. But it's other animal health professionals, so she wants to look nice. And there will be at least a little bit of visiting of beasties in their various places of residence, so ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Khaki and Pink – Additions for Fall and Winter

July 27, 2016

You asked; you get! What does the woman with the "chocolate box" wardrobe buy for cooler weather in fall and winter? First off, let's remember that we left her (here) with this capsule wardrobe:

By the time August rolls around, even if you don't NEED warmer clothing, you're certainly thinking about it! A long-sleeved shirt can layer under anything, warm socks in pink are just plain fun, and a sweater that combines all of the chocolate, caramel and cream colors can be worn A TON...

For illustrative purposes, here are a few new outfits that result from the modest shopping excursion show above; There are certainly more combinations than these:

Next up, the weather takes a decided turn, ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

July 25, 2016

She was enjoying the shopping...Of course, she had to start with shoes. There are women in the world who don't need shoes, but that's not the general rule. So she started with something in her favorite dark chocolate brown:

She couldn't WAIT to get some earrings - she'd been wearing demure, tiny studs for years, and she wanted something more fun. And something PINK!

And a scarf, too! While she had been able to wear smaller, more traditionally patterned scarves for her job, she had never been able to just bust out with some big swishy piece of gorgeousness. And MORE PINK!

She wanted a new watch, too. She had been wearing a very lovely, small watch for work, and while she wasn't going to get rid ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories: Turquoise, Coral, Black and Ivory 1 at a Time

Yesterday's "1 Piece at a Time" capsule wardrobe is a great base for accessories - although trying to find turquoise and coral that are the same shades can make you a bit daft... This is our starting outfit:

Shoes are critical, and I thought that a simple ballet flat would be pretty with the swing and movement of the black skirt. A small-ish bag is my next accessory choice. I'm particularly smitten with that octagonal bag...

I love earrings, so they're next! While I'm not usually a big fan of "matchy-matchy" accessories, I think there's some wisdom to purchasing the earrings that were manufactured in the same batch as your necklace; you know that they're the same overall mood and color. You don't have to EVER wear them at the ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Turquoise, Coral, Black, and Grey: 1 Piece at a Time

What beautiful summer colors, and what exciting accessory possibilities!

Coral was a specific request...

Normally, I would build solid columns and suits, but just to show you a different way to go about building a wardrobe, I'm adding an accent tee shirt first. This can be a wonderful idea if you're still "on the fence" about a color scheme; if you buy an accent piece and find that you don't reach for it every couple of days, it might mean that you need to rethink your choice of colors.

Okay, NOW we're putting together the black suit. These kinds of monochromatic outfits really come into their own when the accessories show up!

Since we're fast moving into summer, I thought that a pair of light pants would be fun - and it gives ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Madame Paul Escudier by John Singer Sargent

March 5, 2016

This arresting painting lives just down the street from me - I go visit it frequently!

These colors are luscious:

Your Biggest Client Called... And you're pretty fortunate that they complained about the service they were receiving, rather than just pulling the plug on your contract! But you're headed to the service center for a couple of days of... encouragement....

The keywords are calmness and quality.

You have to be careful not to be too much the "Home Office Person" because that will just alienate everyone. But you do want to show them, through every gesture, and every word, that you insist on the best possible work they can do, in a way that's not frantic in any way.

The ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Lime, Coral, Beige and Cream: 1 Piece at a Time

This is a breath of fresh air:

And the one things that makes it ever "spring-ier" is the addition of clear bright green!

This wardrobe really requires a solid core of neutrals to support and balance these 2 strong accent colors.

With that solid core of cream clothes in place, your can then go just a bit crazy with accent colors!

After that detour through the world of green, it's time to put together a few good options in a darker beige/taupe...

This is one of those colors for which all pieces don't have to match exactly - toning things is all that's required.

I thought this was such a cute sweater, and I'm not one of those people who uses the word cute lightly!

When you've looked at all of the printed and ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Camel, Cream and Turquoise: 1 Piece at a Time

March 2, 2016

I decided to pull a scarf into this one, in order to illustrate the color scheme a bit - I think that adding the scarf lends a bit of validity to the possibility that this outfit could be someone's favorite:

I love the possibilities - dark chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, and.... I do NOT have anything except ugly artificially-colored sprinkles to offer in turquoise!

Normally, I try to start building a wardrobe with solid garments, because they feel more versatile. But sometimes, you see something that's just perfect, and you grab it!

Here's a case of "I love it in chocolate, I will probably love it in caramel." That's not at all a bad strategy for expanding your wardrobe with taking huge ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Male and Female Cardinals, in Warm AND Cool Colors

February 24, 2016

So I'm going to start alternating "1 Piece at a Time" Wardrobes with other fun things, so that we don't collectively burn out on the concept before I've addressed ALL of your color scheme requests. I am absolutely going to look at accessories for these wardrobes - those might be some of the "interspersed" posts. As much as I have an endless attention span for a single subject, I understand that a bit of variety keeps things fresh for us all.Someone suggested that the male cardinal wardrobe (here) and the female cardinal wardrobe (here) might be combined. I'm ALL OVER that idea!

Do these two look like they get along?

I've often thought that it's possible to build a wardrobe with 4 or 5 neutral colors and just 1 ... View the Post