ivory Archives

January 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

January 14, 2026

Ten years ago, her friends invited her for the weekend. A bit of bird-watching, sitting on the veranda... Just a relaxing time in a warm climate with people she loves...

After spending so much time admiring these birds, she decided to take her wardrobe very much in this direction - with the addition of the snappy red accent!

Well, her relationship with birds has taken on a whole new meaning! First thing - when she left her morally bankrupt corporate job, she almost immediately found a position helping coordinate worldwide bird censuses.

It requires both a knowledge of data base administration, and bird species! Who ever knew that SQL and birds could co-exist?

She does get to travel from time to ... View the Post

Want a Complete Capsule Wardrobe? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 21, 2025

After all of this traveling, our heroine is starting to realize that she has a LOT more clothing than she needs. She's already quite disciplined, in that she makes all of her purchases within this color palette:

Our heroine's first trip this fall was to see her alma mater play women's basketball:

Her second trip was to an office that she'd never visited before! It's always a challenge to pack for these kinds of unknowns...

Her third trip was also for work. For many of us, the majority of our travel is for work - at least mine was, for years! It gets to the point that if you're in the office for too long, you feel like something's gone wrong.

And her final trip this year was for the THREE ... View the Post

Want to Pack Only Neutrals? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 19, 2025

Our last travel capsule wardrobe for this heroine - although I am going to accumulate all of her wardrobes together on Friday to see where she finds herself, clothing-wise. I may even see some additions that she could use...

Here's the painting with which she always starts her planning:

Her overall wardrobe palette includes four core colors:

Her recent numerous travel adventures have included travel capsule wardrobes based on these four related, but all slightly different, palettes:

A Dressy Long Weekend It happens every few years - ALL of the work-related holiday parties to which they are invited fall within a few days of each other!

Their solution is to find a hotel room that's centrally ... View the Post

Want to Skip Brown? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 17, 2025

Our heroine is back to business travel... but no matter why she's packing, or where she's going, she always stick with her inspiration:

Her complete wardrobe is mostly these four colors:

And she has realized that if she omits one color from these four, she has four ADDITIONAL palettes that are ideally suited for small travel capsule wardrobes:

It's business travel again, but to an office that she knows pretty well. This trip is not particularly dressy, but there are excellent restaurants near them, so she still wants to be able to dress appropriately for that!

And her last trip, when she wore her velvet blazer, was full of excellent customer service. Thus she's wearing it again! Get ... View the Post

Can’t Live Without Denim? Start With Art – Prunus by Kees van Dongen

October 31, 2025

One last tour through the potential of "The Four T's" in dark chocolate brown, starting today with this lovely painting:

There's no way I will be able to match this blue exactly, so I'm just going to work with a soft, faded denim/chambray...

There's a little bit of pink in this painting; would this be a good piece of art to include in next year's "Six Paintings"?

First off, let's not forget our core of brown clothes and accessories:

The simplest four garments in denim blue - I was pretty thrilled to find both the sweater and tee shirt!

And finally three tops in ivory!

And of course, I'm going to find some accessories!

Now, our heroine's wardrobe looks VERY different than it ... View the Post

A Pretty Brown Wardrobe? Start With Art – Flowers in a Crystal Vase by Edouard Manet

October 29, 2025

This is the third post in a series; the initial post with just brown in it can be found here, and the second post, which was a brown, black and white wardrobe, is here.

Maybe you like brown, and maybe you think of it as an infinitely feminine color. Seriously, hear me out!

It's the color of soil. Which is the source of all things green, growing and fertile. That would be us, ladies...

And I'm offering up this beautiful painting to inspire us:

Of course, this wardrobe could easily include green... I'm considering this painting to include in next year's "6 Paintings" posts, and I would absolutely include a range of greens...

First up, let's get our brown clothes and accessories ready:

I was ... View the Post

Want to Extend Your Wardrobe Cluster into Autumn? Start With Art – Book Illustration by Goyo Hashiguchi

July 14, 2025

She's loving her 5 piece of ivory clothing. It's easy, it's elegant (in a casual way!), and she wants to wear these things well into autumn.

Can she?

Let's start with some inspiration:

Her accent colors are clear:

Her ivory core wardrobe is pretty well suited to extend into cooler weather:

As soon as our heroine starts looking at clothes, she realizes that for Autumn, she's going to shop in the very darkest versions of her accent colors. Maybe in the Spring we'll revisit this heroine to see if we can find her some pretty pastels...

But these additions are pretty delicious!

Nine pieces of clothing doesn't feel like a lot...

but it's almost impossible to put a foot wrong in this ... View the Post

Warm Accent Colors? Start With a Scarf: Monet’s Garden at Argenteuil from The Met Store

July 11, 2025

She's only going to be there two days - maybe three, if things go haywire.

And it's a legendarily relaxed and informal office. She's okay with that!

She decides to start with her favorite scarf:

She knows that she's going to be alone at a work station somewhere along a bench. Yes, someone will check in on her project, and they will certainly take her out to lunch, but it's not going to be strenuous, nor messy.

So she decides that the easiest thing to do is start with her favorite ivory wardrobe core:

A couple of tee shirts are all of the clothing that she will need. Some accent accessories and she's happy:

Her shoes are all so flat that - even with seven garments - this will all fit into ... View the Post

Uncertain Weather on Your Long Weekend? Start With Art – Study for Spring Madonna by Mainie Jellett

May 7, 2025

A favorite artist featured at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin? She's on the train for a weekend visit!

She's studied this painting SO MUCH - she knows the colors by heart:

Ireland's been having record warm weather recently, but this heroine is far too wise to fall for THAT! She's making certain to have a jacket and warm shoes; she doesn't have to wear these things again on her trip, but she's certainly not traveling without them.

A dress and three very summery tops, but a pair of "real" pants, and a cardigan - this give her options for unpredictable weather. And her olive jacket will look great with her stone chinos and ivory sweaters...

The night before she leaves, she takes a look at ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 5, 2025

Big news - my dear friend Scottie is having a sale on her scarves! Get thee to her website right now to see the possibilities!

A lovely, if deeply enigmatic, painting:

That wee geometric thingy on the breast of the white swan... Hmm...

At the end of February, this heroine had a pretty and very useful wardrobe:

This heroine decided to really emphasize spring clothes this month! Maybe she wears a size that's hard to find, or maybe she's been burned in the past by having things sell out that she really liked! And she decided to break out with a pure white top - she's not afraid of wearing white with ivory...

Her new additions make a big difference this month! Adding a pair of pants that aren't dark ... View the Post

Denim and Ivory: Three 13-Piece Travel Capsule Wardrobes

September 20, 2024

I can't believe that September is 2/3 over! You'd think I wasn't awake every day...

Our heroine has looked at her wardrobe with cores of denim and black, and then with cores of denim and brown. Today, we're going to see how EVERYBODY'S favorite of denim and ivory looks...

This is our heroine's starting point - 27 garments in three "neutral" clusters, and then three "accent" clusters.

First, let's take a last look at her hard-working core of denim garments, with yet ANOTHER group of accessories. Wearing things every week is the fastest way to get your "cost per wear" for garments down; you can buy exceptionally nice clothes and still get good value if you wear things consistently!

The ivory ... View the Post

Need a Foolproof Travel Capsule Wardrobe? Start With a Scarf – the Kendra Scott scarf by Echo

August 12, 2024

For a heroine who loves ivory and shades of brown, who loves turquoise and coral accessories, who wants to just pack four outfits and then not think too much about clothes...

For autumn travel, she immediately sees her color palette:

She will probably travel in this outfit - these are the darkest pants that she's taking with her, so it might be a good idea!

She doesn't have much turquoise clothing, but for travel, she doesn't need more than just a sweater that goes with everything:

Her vacation isn't going to be particularly dressy, but she's not going to want blue jeans... IVORY jeans, on the other hand, might be just right!

They don't have any very formal plans, but a casual skirt ... View the Post