green Archives - Page 12 of 28

How to Personalize Neutrals in a Capsule Wardrobe – Start With Art: L’Encens by Ferrand Khnopff

March 15, 2017

I've made the bold pronouncement recently that it's the accents that make a capsule wardrobe personal - it's possible for any number of women to share a core of identical "base" clothes in neutral colors, and the overall impression that they make will vary, based on how they accessorize and accent those neutrals.

Well, I've been asked to flesh out that idea in some detail, so here goes! For the next 4 days, I'm going to feature 4 works of art that share a base of black and ivory, but which include a variety of accent colors. Each heroine will begin with the same 9 wardrobe Neutral Building Blocks in black and ivory, to which I will then add seven accent pieces. Then, after everybody's got their wardrobe set up, I'm ... View the Post

How to add Accent Colors to a Navy, Grey and Camel capsule wardrobe

March 10, 2017

Monday I added accessories to a very neutral navy, grey, camel and white; many of you requested in the comments that I go back to my reader's original accent colors of wine and forest green to see how they might look with this capsule wardrobe.

Changing up accent colors is one of the easiest ways to take a very classic capsule wardrobe and put your personal spin on things, so I was positively eager to get to this post!

First up, let's update the color palette that we were using, and update the style notes for a bit of guidance:

I didn't want to really disrupt the core of our original Four by Four wardrobe, so I chose the very easiest way to experiment with accent colors - tee shirts!

I just pulled ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe with Olive and Grey – Start with Art: Head of a Woman by Salvador Dali

February 16, 2017

I've been asked repeatedly to look at grey and olive together in a wardrobe, and I finally found a painting that put a really interesting spin on those 2 colors:

The colors in "Head of a Woman" by Salvador Dali are amazing - a huge variety of neutrals, including olive, grey, black, shades of brown, and even a bit of faded denim blue. But it's that pink that really sets this apart!

Just to give us a different look at how to go about building a 4x4 wardrobe 1 piece at a time, I'm starting with four of the grey garments that we've been using in wardrobes for the last few days. My thinking is that you might already own a pretty good core of one neutral, but be stuck as to the steps to take to incorporate your ... View the Post

Build a Whatever’s Clean 13 Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Dragonfly by Miro

January 18, 2017

Such an interesting email....

Say you live outside the United States. You're retired. The weather's always reasonably warm and nice. You only shop every year or two, when you visit in the US...

And THIS is your inspiration:

I'm really liking these colors, and this WHOLE scenario!

In the interests of establishing a solid basis upon which we can build, I'm going to assume that our heroine either owns or already plans to purchase these pieces:

Tee– L.L.Bean; cardigan – Lands’ End; capris– L.L.Bean; pants – L.L.Bean

At this point, we've got a solid starting point, and a lot of fun things to find!

I'm ALWAYS going to recommend that you buy the sweater or tee shirt or top that goes with ... View the Post

How to Choose Business Accessories, One at a Time – With a Navy Suit

January 11, 2017

Monday, we pulled together a wonderful business capsule wardrobe with a navy suit for the reader with a new job, but let's get her some accessories too!

Obviously, she had shoes on when she interviewed, but let's add a beautiful pair of black pumps, with comfortably low heels, to her wardrobe first:

And I always want earrings, sooner than later. I know women who never wear them and who look just fine, but I always feel more... complete? finished? when I get my earrings on...

While it's entirely possible to carry everything you need in your pockets when you're just banging around town, for work, a nice bag is essential. I didn't try to get navy leather goods for this ... View the Post

How to Build a Business Wardrobe One Piece at a Time: Navy, with Emerald and Amethyst

January 9, 2017

I got this email just before Christmas - one of my readers got a new job, and needs to build a new wardrobe to wear. This is a pretty special workplace - very elegant, with occasional clothing allowance cash awards given, and all laundry and dry-cleaning reimbursed! Pretty dreamy, at least from a wardrobe point of view...

I think the target color scheme is based on my reader's very russet hair, fair skin and freckles, which look GREAT with these accents...

Of course, I answered her email right away, and she's already purchased a bunch of things for her new position, but I thought that this was so pretty, so luxurious, and such a dream shopping adventure, that I wanted to share it with you all!

First thing - ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Femme au Col Blanc VERSION THREE

December 23, 2016 A Lengthy Get-Away... She traveled for the winter holidays, and she traveled to a much warmer destination. But now, she wants to travel from one cold city to ANOTHER cold city, and then take the train to a nice warm break in the countryside... Dressy and casual. Warm and cold. What's she going to do?

Stick with the plan!

Her favorite colors - dare she say her signature colors?

This travel outfit worked so very well for her at the holidays - no need to fix what isn't broken. And when she gets to the next city, she'll be ideally dressed for a leisurely lunch while waiting for her hotel room to become available. It's always wise to think about how your first hours will be spent when you've arrived ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Femme au Col Blanc by Marc Chagall VERSION TWO

December 22, 2016

Done with Winter (for a weekend, at least) Our heroine is ready for a couple of days of warmth. She'd like to see her toes... It's the same heroine we've been following all week; she's referencing her first color scheme, seen here:

Since she's leaving a cold climate, long sleeves, a sweater, and "real" shoes are essential: earrings – Stephen Dweck; scarf – Echo; cardigan– L.L.Bean; tee – Stella McCartney; bracelet – Vera Bradley; loafers – UGG; tote –Louise et Cie; jeans – L.L.Bean But once she's on the ground for the weekend, she's VERY hopeful that she's going to be able to wear capris, and sandals, and tee shirts, and bright ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

December 21, 2016

Autumn REQUIRES Travel...

She just wanted to see San Francisco again. There was really no better reason for her trip than that. And she had a long weekend off of work, so she thought the time appropriate. When a very attractive airfare appeared, and she got the email that her free nights at the hotel chain were soon to expire, she knew she was going!

(that airline credit card is brilliant...)

She's going to eat. The Stinking Onion, lots of seafood, some take-out focaccia, and anything else that strikes her fancy. Because she's going to walk - uphill and down...

Art... There's definitely a lot of art on this weekend's ... View the Post

Start with Art: Femme au Col Blanc by Marc Chagall

December 19, 2016

I saw a TON of art when I was in Paris, so you're going to be inundated with "Start with Art" capsule wardrobe for the foreseeable future! I think anybody who has met me can appreciate why this painting caught my eye immediately:

I loved the clarity and simplicity of this painting - the color scheme is a refreshing change from seeing black and white with red so frequently. (not that I'm going to quit wearing red any time soon, but I do understand that it's ubiquitous...)

She's NOT Feeling Christmasy... Some years, you just don't...

But she knows that she has to look beautiful for a couple of days, so she breaks out her favorite colors (no red, thank you!) to accent her best ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Navy-Based Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

December 1, 2016

Back in November, when we left this wardrobe, it was in pretty good shape. Eleven outfits had been collected into a pretty coherent, and pretty comprehensive, capsule wardrobe that would see most people through a great many of their activities:

As I've said before, no wardrobe is ever really finished. Clothes wear out, or get damaged. Our sizes change, and sometimes, we just plain get completely fed up with a garment that we've worn a lot, and feel the need to replace it. So it's useful to have a few different ways to really look at a wardrobe and determine what might be needed, or useful, or helpful, to add. I thought of a couple of different ways to evaluate things...

First off, I thought that ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: Little Harbor in Normandy by Georges Braque (Version 2)

November 21, 2016

Oh, this just gets better and better!Remember, we started with this painting:

Today, I've used the top part of the painting, and used silver in place of the gold from Friday's post...

I found new pieces for our Wardrobe Building Blocks, emphasizing grey. This is another small collection of pieces that work without limits - you could, again, literally get dressed in the dark...

Same four pieces - sweater, earrings, tote and scarf - but in silver rather than gold. Equally timeless, but a very different feel...

The only change I made here was the earrings - the others were set in gold... These earrings have a geometric feel to them, and a gorgeous fluidity that I really ... View the Post