olive green Archives

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

December 4, 2025

Maybe this isn't the most festive painting in the world, but it's still really beautiful... I find it kind of mesmerizing to imagine standing where the artist stood, looking at the lights across the river:

Our heroine took advantage of some serendipitous finds when shopping. She had whappage for a bright orange sweater, but then was very wise and measured when she decided that the green cabled sweater was going to be a core item in her wardrobe.

The striped top is a calculated experiment: she hasn't worn moc neck tops since she was a child, but she has liked the way they look when layered with a sweater. Further, the colors in this top just cry out to be part of her wardrobe. Therefore, she's going to try ... View the Post

Love Olive for Autumn? Start With a Scarf – Velour Garden Scarf by Artifact.

September 24, 2025

One last look at the fun of packing 10 simple garments, based on something really beautiful like this scarf:

There is enough blue in this scarf that you could include denim in this wardrobe; I haven't done that here, but it's worth remembering!

Maybe she's driving, and doesn't have to worry about getting her cool beige cords dirty...

The red tops don't have to match, unless you'd like to layer them together. Even then, a good strong dose of "similar tones" should work; I think that the two tops here could go together if that appeals.

This feels perfect for autumn, for those among us who don't wear orange or brown!

As with any wardrobe that includes a carefully chosen and edited ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

September 1, 2025

I don't know why, but I feel better now that it's September. It makes no sense.

Maybe because more travel is on the near horizon - London later this month! And - of course - I'm going to Paris in December. It's a tradition, isn't it?

Let's start with this most quintessential of autumn-hued paintings:

Our heroine has kept her color palette unchanged, although she hasn't yet been able to find anything in that avocado/peridot/lime green. Until now! This is how it happens sometimes - all of the sudden a color is everywhere.

And - if you've been planning to include this color in your wardrobe, you've got to be ready to strike while the iron is hot. Or, maybe, you'll reconsider, once you see the color in ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

May 2, 2025

You know, if you chose to build your wardrobe around this painting, you'd have more colors available that I show in this wardrobe. (I've got to draw a line somewhere, to avoid being completely overwhelmed!)

There's some lovely blue in the water here, for example:

This wardrobe would serve one well for much of the year, or for a range of weather conditions. I wouldn't want to go somewhere blisteringly hot with this, but anything short of that would be just fine:

With upcoming hot weather in mind (in the Northern Hemisphere!), our heroine grabbed a pair of shorts and another pair of sandals, as well as two summer tops. And a really cool sweatshirt, with a quilted cable pattern in it. I love a good ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

April 8, 2025 It's snowing in Chicago. It might just be "lake-effect" snow - I live within sight of Lake Michigan - but it's still startling, in April. But this heroine, big fan of the warmest, most intense colors, is ready for Spring! As has been true for all of our heroines, her 16-piece wardrobe from the end of March would be a great wardrobe for travel that included a range of temperatures: This heroine feels that her colors are hard to find, and she therefore grabs things that she sees in her colors as soon as they're available. I'm not actually certain that these colors are all that rare; I suspect we might find that we need to really stock up on olive and off-white at some stage. But she's right - who could resist this ... View the Post

The First of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 3, 2025

March! Even though we still have to wear winter clothes in Chicago, once it's March we pretend that it's spring. At least the days are long enough to go out for a quick walk after work - that makes SO much difference.

This month, I'm starting here, with a change/addition to our color palette:

This is the 12-piece wardrobe that our heroine has assembled through the first two months of her project:

Frankly, this wardrobe was feeling DARK. For a heroine with fair, freckled skin and hair somewhere in the red/russet family, it got to be TOO dark... So an executive decision was made to add ivory to this wardrobe. Well, you can call it bone, or unbleached, or off-white, but the effect is the ... View the Post

The Second of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 4, 2025

This will warm us up!

Our heroine is committed to building a wardrobe in these colors; her patience might be tried, finding clothes! Beautiful as these colors are, they're not ubiquitous...

At the end of January, this was our heroine's eight-piece wardrobe. It all goes together nicely, and includes a deeply beautiful scarf!

This month there wasn't any grouping of clothes, or complete outfit, that appealed to our heroine, so she instead found four garments that are perfect in her wardrobe, and pretty doggone lovely, too!

The scarf she found is relatively small - it's described as a bandana. In the warm weather, tied in her hair, or to the handle of her tote bag, or around her wrist, it will be a ... View the Post

May 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 2

May 3, 2024

I'm really quite happy with the way these three wardrobes turned out this month - as always, I'm eager to hear what you think of our progress!

First, this oh so elegant painting:

Her wardrobe at the end of April was practical and versatile, if a bit short on the color rust! I get infinite pleasure from that stack of four long-sleeved tee shirts...

It seemed obvious to look for rust - at least rust tops. A second pair of shorts (which could of course be a skirt, a pair of cropped pants, or long pants) and lightweight linen pants finish up her garment purchases. While we were in the "rust mode," Our heroine grabbed coordinating accessories too!

If you're not familiar with COS, I recommend them highly. ... View the Post

Long Weekend of Travel? Start with a Scarf – Sonny Ross Scarf by Echo

November 17, 2023

Suddenly, there are a whole bunch of new Echo 100 scarves!

For no good reason I can offer, this one really sparked my imagination - SO pretty, but also a wide range of color possibilities...

This scarf seemed like an obvious candidate for a core of denim, or ivory, or olive... But what if I just worked with the five visible colors in (more or less) equal quantities?

The Library Will be Open For the Holiday Weekend! The library at the gardens are seldom open, and when they are, you have to have reservations, and an assigned desk, and you need to tell the Preservation Society what you're going to be studying. It's a serious thing!

She's going! She loves working with heritage flowering plants in her ... View the Post

Accent Colors to Wear With Beige/Taupe or Olive Green – Pantone New York Autumn/Winter 2023

March 10, 2023

One last visit with these 10 colors - this time with both beige/taupe and olive green!

The first neutral grouping is mostly described as Cobblestone; Eileen Fisher regularly carries this color, and it's a consistent, excellent taupe. Other cobblestones may fall short, and look more beige... Sigh...

Conversely, olive green was simple to find; I'm assuming that this heroine isn't quite ready for warm weather!

From here to the end of this post, I'm just going to show you each of the 10 "Accessory Families," and then a couple of outfits using each of the 2 neutrals as base. I don't need to editorialize about what combinations I do and don't ... View the Post