navy Archives

Adding Accessories to a 20-piece Navy and White Spring Wardrobe

February 20, 2023

Let's revisit the friend who has lost her wardrobe; she wants to start to rebuild with this scarf as her inspiration:

For reference - this was the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe 13 garments that she is wearing for Spring:

And these are the bonus garments that will round out her wardrobe:

But accessories! She still has a pair of sandals, and her sunglasses, as well as the earrings she was wearing when they were away and their house was destroyed...

I don't have a clear plan - I'm going to assemble 10 typical outfits from this wardrobe and make certain that she can wear those outfits with appropriate extras. Most important are certainly shoes and a bag or two, in my thinking...

First up, a spring bag, ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Flourish Floral from Talbots

February 17, 2023

It can happen. Floods, fires, landslides, earthquakes, eek!!!

And your wardrobe is gone. Completely.

It recently happened to one of us...

She lives somewhere with weather that's already warm-ish, so she wants to start with a Spring wardrobe.

It's a nightmare, and a dream, all at the same time.

She wants to start here:

And the colors that she wants to include are thus:

We discussed how to go about doing this - the Start from Scratch Wardrobe didn't appeal to her, so I suggested we try to look at the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for Spring:

I was able to assemble suggestions for this reasonably quickly. The accent of soft green showed up most often at Lands' End, where it is called "light ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet: Transformational Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

February 15, 2023

She's ready for a big change, and she's going to use this bracelet as her inspiration:

For decades, she's worn navy with pink, or light blue, or pale yellow... It fit in with her office and her job. But now...

She started with the bracelets, and THEN she saw the coat! She was wearing sneakers with green stripes, so it seemed fated... A divine brooch, the perfect scarf, and some wee earrings were all she needed:

Gradually, she added a few things to her wardrobe, while she held onto her favorite work skirt and pants:

Suddenly, she finds that she's prepared to present her new color palette at almost any activity in her social life:

She's excited about the options of soft lavender or deep, ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Signature Peacock Print Scarf by Luna & Avery

February 13, 2023

Our heroine didn't even TRY to resist this scarf!

She knew, with a long weekend trip ahead, this would be a great inspiration:

For travel, she mostly wants to be comfortable! She chooses to wear her short boots, rather than try to pack them. And her scarf is the perfect accent for her navy "suit" and lavender tee shirt...

She knows that she wants to bring jeans, and her favorite navy cashmere crewneck sweater. Then she hesitates... her lavender cardigan and shirt? They will be perfect with either jeans or navy pants, and the cardigan can also be worn over the tee shirt in which she is traveling.

Hmmm, what else? She knows that she is going to a dinner that's going to be crowded and noisy - she ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Story! Travel Capsule Wardrobe inspired by The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

February 6, 2023

Hercule Poirot receives a letter from France, begging for his assistance. He tells his friend Captain Hastings that they can pack "a small suitcase each" and be on the way to France within an hour!

This is my dream life...

The oddest things will cause me to ponder what I might pack...

Of course, Captain Hastings is a man, but I've made the mental adjustment that I would want to appear conservative, somewhat unobtrusive, and appropriate for a range of activities - including lengthy conferences with incompetent police, attending inquests, and swimming in the Channel off the north shore of France...

I am in no way being guided by the cover of the book! But I'm making sure that our heroine has a suit - ... View the Post

Accessories! Project 333 based on Morris Graves/Rain by Kay Russell

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

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Morris Graves/Rain by Kay Russell

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

Analyzing the Six-Pack – Start with a Scarf: Royal Tulips by Katchmagic London

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

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Photograph: Infinite by Mikko Lagerstedt

January 9, 2023

Yes, it's been a lot of green this last few days, but I couldn't resist this photograph!

Perfect for this time of year:

Our heroine saw her color palette for an upcoming trip:

Bringing Light to the Darkness... Well, the darkness of a room full of navy suits!

She is tasked with being the presentation coordinator for the entire 2nd day of the conference. Which means introducing each presenter, sitting on the stage during each presentation, and then coordinating the questions that follow.

She doesn't mind - she's got zero stage fright, and she would watch all of the presentations anyway!

But she's quite well-enough established in her career that she does NOT need to wear all navy, or all ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Mountain Lake by Dorrit Black

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

Start with a Bracelet: Legendary Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

December 19, 2022

It Was - Literally - Decades Ago... It was her debut novel, and it was a blockbuster. She really never needed to write another book...

Of course, she keeps writing. And winning awards. (oh, she wins awards...)

And appearing at book conferences, and signings, and literary conventions and all that sort of thing!

She tries to keep a pretty low profile. She dresses in her usual "writer who lives in a little house on the edge of a little town near a big city" style, in subtle, neutral colors...

She rather likes her chosen style! Comfortable styles in slightly dressy fabrics...

But she's not kidding anybody - her fans will find her!

She has to admit, in her deepest heart, ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Leshy by Ilona Tambor

December 14, 2022

There are six different "Leshy" scarves...

It Happens Every Year, at This Time... Everybody who celebrates one of the "Winter Solstice" traditional holidays starts complaining that we should celebrate on the 21st... or that we should only decorate our trees with things that birds can eat...

And every year, at this time, there's a major academic conference somewhere that is centered around all of the forest deities and Druid-like ceremonies that are in season...

She's one of the world's authorities on Leshy, the legendary forest creature. Sometimes cruel, sometimes kind - he's pretty complicated! And he's NOT a brown bear; she's still going to wear the scarf.

For some reason, these conferences ... View the Post