khaki Archives - Page 3 of 5

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Macaws over River, Peru by Frans Lanting

A truly breathtaking photograph:

The most straighforward of color schemes:

Freedom

She just needs to be free. Mostly free to sleep late if she wants to... to eat what she wants, when she wants... to get dressed without thinking about it...

She she settled on khaki. ALL khaki. Mostly from 1 store. With bright colors. Tee shirts and scarves. She walked into 1 store and bought all of her jewelry. She wants bags that keep her hands free. It's all about FREE...

She's not even sure where she's going, yet. But she knows that it's going to be someplace where she doesn't know anybody, so she will be free to be as quite or as outgoing as she wishes...

And she's going to find a place that's not too warm, because she wants to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories, 1 at a Time: Beige, Sage and Blush

Adding the accessories is fun - I'm going to do a few of these in a row, so we can all see the system, and the cumulative benefits that accrue when you get a nice core of accent pieces, growing bit by bit. Here's where this second "1 at a Time" started: (you can see the original wardrobe post here)

Shoes will ALWAYS be the first thing to make sure you have, for obvious reasons. It's entirely likely that you already have the shoes that you need, but it's always wise to be absolutely certain.

A bag is, to me, the second most important accessory to have. This time I've put the tote bag first...

From those two essential pieces, everything after that becomes much more discretionary! I love a small pair of earrings to give a ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time in beige, pink and soft green

I'd be happy to do more of these - suggest colors, and I'll give it a try!

Today, we're going into warm colors, starting with a favorite outfit of a woman who wears and loves warm, soft colors:

I can see the appeal of a comfy tee, broken-in chinos, and a cuddly cashmere cardigan!

Although her "seed" outfit doesn't include green, she makes the deliberate choice to include it in her wardrobe plan:

I may have beaten this poor horse to pieces by now, but a great place to start to expand a wardrobe is to find pieces that are different colored versions of your current favorites. In this shopper's (now nicknamed TS) plan, a green tee shirt, just like her blush one, is a simple and foolproof place to start.

As much as TS loves her ... View the Post

Wearing Unflattering Colors: Khaki

Khaki turns out to be another one of those colors that means absolutely NOTHING, in absolute terms. I saw things all over the spectrum that answered to my call for khaki jewelry, bags and shoes!

This, in my mind, was what I expected when I started searching for khaki; I really quite like this with black; it's unexpected, a bit earthy, but rather sophisticated, too.

And then I saw this more brown-ish color, which I think looks glorious with the brown outfit. Again, it's not an expected choice of accessories, but it has a richness that is quite nice.

The very lightest shades that answered the "khaki call" were my choice with grey. I wouldn't have normally put these together, but I think one could wear this ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Blue Pool by Augustus John

Wow...

A color scheme that just cries out for some cotton khaki, and some turquoise...

This felt to me like a quick weekend away to the lake - leaving the office early, and doing nothing more strenuous than maybe rowing a canoe... (and I'm not telling you that those cute little moccasins come in 11 colors, and are less than $50...) The prevailing feeling that I was looking for was outdoors, active, sunny and relaxed.

The jewelry looks great with your outfits, but isn't terribly expensive, so you can wear it without being obsessive about it. A little clutch is handy in case you dash into town for drinks or dinner.

If it's cool, you have your cardigan and trousers from work; if you want to be "dressy-ish", ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: White Ship by John Singer Sargent

That time of year is fast approaching when the lucky ones among us get all kinds of great invitations for weekends! If you have friends with a lake house, you know what I mean - lots of time in the water - in a canoe, a kayak, or an inner tube! Chilly evenings, cooking out, laughing 'til your sides hurt... The last thing you want to worry about is what to pack!

Sargent's painting put me very much in the right mood for this scenario:

Maybe you're driving to the lake, taking the train and being met, or taking the Jitney, but under any circumstances, you want to look nice - casual, but still pretty, with attention to detail.

Two swimsuits might seem like overdoing it, but if you're going to wear one for twelve hours a day, it's ... View the Post

Color and Proportion – Step 2: Adding Shoes, and the Occasional Solid Scarf

For this 2nd step in my pondering about proportion, I want to introduce some shoes into the equation, as well as a solid-color scarf. I didn't find that I felt the scarf was "necessary" as often as I had expected - sometimes a pair of shoes made enough difference in the proportion of the outfit that the scarf, while fun, might be superfluous.

And, for what it's worth, this $24 scarf is available in 26 colors...

For these first two outfits, shoes that matched the cardigan lent enough "gravity" to the outfit that I didn't really reach for a scarf. Out fit 3 is more problematic - in screaming hot weather, white sandals might work, but white shoes made this look really "uniform", in the medical profession sense. Maybe the beige scarf and ... View the Post

How to Choose an Hermes Scarf: Le Songe a la Licorne

This isn't a question I get every day: a reader has decided that she wants to buy this particular design of Hermes scarf - Le Songe a la Licorne. (it means the dream of the unicorn - I have no idea why...) She stated that she wears a lot of camel/tan/beige, and was leaning toward a winter coat in either blue or rose. Whew...

But this is really an interesting question - how DO you choose from among a variety of colors (for anything, not just an Hermes scarf), when there's a wide variety available?

My suggestion is that you think about what the other items AROUND the potential purchase might look like. Do you already own the jewelry, or shoes, or whatever, that will make the outfit all come together? If you ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch – The Wardrobes, Finished (for now…)

Remind me, when trench coats are back in stores, that we want to revisit these capsule wardrobes and make some additions. If you think of anything else we should address (December holiday attire?), send me a note at theviviennefiles at gmail dot com.

I broke everything out into two pages; I might have been able to fit everything on one page, but we wouldn't have been able to see anything - the earrings would have been teeny little dots on the page!

And I think the links are working - let me know if you find some that are broken and I'll look into it...

thanks, as always!

love, Janice

PS - For more color inspiration, you can find the latest Pantone Color Planner and other documents in the Planning Documents section of the ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 17: A Few Finishing Touches, for now…

Many of you have written to me to ask how this capsule wardrobe compares with my earlier 24-piece wardrobe - excellent question!

Just as in the 24-piece wardrobe, this Starting From Scratch includes to two core "Four by Four" assortments in your neutrals, it works with two accent colors and a light neutral, and it includes the concept of the "bridge" garment, which is something that incorporates both of your neutral colors and allows you to wear piece from both neutrals seamlessly.

So I decided to look at each wardrobe one last time (for now - I'm sure we'll be back to revisit this concept when trench coats hits the stores, and when there are other requests/needs), and see how things stacked up in terms of a 24-piece wardrobe. I ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 16: Evaluating and Balancing our Neutrals

BIG BIG BIG EDIT: THIS IS ONLY STEP SIXTEEN...

If you are going to make a typo, make a really big one!

I had medical tests this a.m., and have been asleep all afternoon; I am so sorry for the delay in fixing this inexcusable error!

We're very close to wrapping up our capsule wardrobes, but there are a couple more things we need to do to make sure that our choices will work as well for us as possible. So far, we've added pieces within our color scheme, but we've not been particularly rigorous in making sure that we have a balance between our neutrals.

To address this, I've looked at each wardrobe and tried to find the "Core of Four" (two tops and two bottoms, that will make 4 outfits) in each neutral. For ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 11: A Complete Outfit, for Balance and Accent

This is the step in which each capsule wardrobe is going to start taking on a distinct personality, based on personal needs, preferences, and desires. I'm adding a complete outfit to each of the various wardrobes, based on a variety of scenarios that might be possible.

Starting with Madame Grey and Navy - she's starting to feel that navy is under-represented in her wardrobe, and moreover, she'd like to get a gorgeous, versatile cardigan and a luxury skirt into the mix. Nothing overly dressy; simple and beautiful are what she wants...

And now her wardrobe is this:

Conversely, our Lady Caramel and Black is longing for something edgier - a leather jacket? A simple turtleneck and jeans let the jacket really stand out, and ... View the Post