Perfect 10 Packing Archives

Cool Weather Travel? Start With a Scarf – William Morris Mixed Patterns by The Met Store

December 19, 2025

If all has gone according to plan for the last eight days, I'm flying back from Paris! Cross your fingers for my experience in the Charles De Gaulle Airport - it's usually dreadful...

Many of you love your navy neutrals, and rely on it particularly when you're traveling. That's the role a dark neutral should play in your wardrobe - what to wear when you might get dirty, or spilled on, or just plan have to wear the same outfit for a really long time!

How about we start with William Morris as our inspiration?

Today's wardrobe isn't going to include red, but it's worth remembering that it is a possibility:

Just as we did on Wednesday, we begin with a dark "suit" to which we add an accent top and our ... View the Post

Don’t Know What to Pack for the Holidays? Start With a Scarf – Snow Globe by kate spade new york

December 17, 2025

I should still be in Paris.... fingers crossed!

I've heard from quite a few people who just don't know what to do when they have to pack for a holiday-season trip. Some people want to go full-tilt festive, while others just want to pack sweatsuits and hide indoors...

I can't necessarily help you know what's best for your trip, but at least for me, I'm finding that starting with a scarf is a good option!

This Christmas content of this scarf is pretty subtle:

And there's nothing about these colors that identifies with any specific holiday:

scarf - kate spade new yorkI'm always going to suggest that you travel in either a "suit-like" ensemble, or a solid column. Why complicate things? Nobody's going ... 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

Prefer Navy for Your Travel Capsule Wardrobe Neutral? Start With a Scarf – Eon Silk Scarf by Artifact.

September 22, 2025

The world does not live in black alone - although if you saw my closet some days you might wonder!

Maybe this is a scarf that you want to pack...

There's a lovely shade of medium blue in there... but it's that lime green that our heroine finds most fascinating! Of course she could pack both of those colors as accents, but I didn't find anything that I loved in the light blue.

Comfortable, but still nicely presentable! Just because you're going to sleep on the plane doesn't mean that you MUST wear your pajamas...

This travel capsule wardrobe is exactly what I packed to take to London, except that it's all different colors! This is both classic and very current - that lime green isn't always ... View the Post

Always Wear Green? Start With Art: Helen Frankenthaler – Lush Spring

May 26, 2025

"But I ALWAYS wear green? I look great in green. Can't I wear it when we go to Dublin?"

Well, yes. Of course you can. Nobody there will probably even notice! Just don't say "top o' the mornin'" to anybody...

Our heroine loves this painting - the huge blocks of green, accented with the tiniest touches of blue, red, blush...

For the purposes of her upcoming trip to Dublin, our heroine has isolated these colors for her travel capsule wardrobe:

Her starting point is easy - comfortable shades of green, waterproof shoes, a pretty scarf and some classic earrings!

But NOW what to pack?

"You'd better be prepared - Ireland is cool even in the summer!"

So she packs these things; note that the sweatpants ... View the Post

Like to Change Your Colors With the Seasons? Start With Art – Blue Level by Lee Krasner

May 23, 2025

You often tell me that you don't much want to wear brown in the summer time, but conversely you're not really comfortable wearing bright colors in the winter. (it feels too '80s, for many of us!)

So what if your favorite painting offered you options?

You can assemble your color palette (I could have certainly included a touch of orange in here, couldn't I?), but just plain and simply ignore one or more of your colors when you plan for a season!

These are the obvious colors that come from this painting - I can't decide if the three vertical stripes are a shade of brown, or maybe plum...

This heroine is packing for an event - I believe she told me it was a first communion, followed by a church picnic. Great ... View the Post

Love Black & White, but Crave Nature? Start With Art – Green Forest by Natalia Goncharova

May 19, 2025

Maybe you're like today's heroine - you love your black and white, but in the warm weather you want to wear the colors of plants, and water, and the sky!

Our heroine has a wide range of accent colors available. Always remember that you don't have to match all of your accent colors to each other. I like to have them look nice together so that the images here look good, but in real life, you can be much more wide-ranging in your choices!

Our heroine is leaving from work, so she's wearing things that will be useful when she gets to her warm destination:

I'm going to pack this heroine's suitcase one piece at a time. The first thing I always start with is a top that can be switched out for whatever one is ... View the Post

Want 2 Very Different Accent Colors? Start With a Scarf: Petal Pop Silk Scarf by Artifact.

May 12, 2025

This was the other Artifact. scarf that was requested as the inspiration for a wardrobe, and I can understand why!

The possibilities here are many - there's camel in the upper left quadrant, beige in the lower left, and even a touch of denim blue in the middle of the bottom right flower! But I'm sticking with the same black and ivory that we used on Friday, to show the range of possibilities within just a couple of neutrals.

The accent color I've chosen couldn't really be more different - a soft pink and bold orangish gold. It's easy to feel like your accent colors have to go well together, but that's not the case.

I've kept quite a few of the pieces from Friday for this wardrobe. Maybe this is the same ... View the Post

A Different Take On Scarf Colors: Start With a Scarf – Fleur Royale scarf by Artifact.

May 9, 2025

The instant Artifact. came out with new scarves, I received emails about them. This scarf is particularly lovely and an interesting mix of colors. When I first looked at this, my eyes were drawn to warm colors: orange, marigold, and olive.

And the heroine who wrote to me? She wants to work with black and ivory, and pink and olive accents!

Hmm...

So I built us this color palette reference page:

My habit with Artifact. scarves has been to build three outfits, and then add four more garments. It's one of about a billion different ways to assemble a capsule wardrobe; there's no rule about how this can best be done!

These outfits are for Spring weather, or summer days that aren't blisteringly hot. A cardigan ... View the Post

The Least I Can Pack – Maybe? – For Ireland

March 17, 2025

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I was to have been in Dublin this week, but family emergencies have kept us in Chicago. I figured that I could still share with you what I'd planned to pack, since I took so much time pondering it! So here's the post, as it was originally going to be published:

I'm taking as small a wardrobe as I think I can tolerate; there are a couple of very good laundries near our hotel - one north of us, one south! No matter where we're heading out for the day, we can drop off shirts and anything else that's beyond the pale of wearing again. I'm happy to pay someone to do my laundry a couple of times a year.

Here's what I'm flying in - not showing a short black quilted jacket...

Please note that these ... View the Post

Need a Warm Break? Start with Bracelets – Winter Sky Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

December 13, 2024

They spend Boxing Day cleaning up. And on the 27th, they're in the car early in the morning, heading SOUTH!

She's dreaming of the Winter Sky, but the sunny winter sky where they go every year for a while - just to avoid the worst of the cold and snow...

This year, she's inspired by these:

She has some clothes down there already - no reason to bring them back north! But she has new colors in mind to expand her existing wardrobe of navy, beige, white and bright green:

It's not bitterly cold where they are right now, so she doesn't have to bundle up all that much the first morning... But she loves feeling cozy for the first day of the drive...

She packs some warm-ish things, and some ... View the Post

Packing For the Holidays by Starting With Art – Canyon Country by Georgia O’Keeffe

November 29, 2024

Not your usual "holiday colors," but how many of us really want to wear a ton of red and green? (I know at least one of you is absolutely delighted to wear red and green...)

When you look critically at the painting to isolate the colors, it looks more promising!

Okay, we're going to take that really yellowish patch and focus on the camel edge! If we revisited this wardrobe for warmer weather, we might go full-tilt into a bunch of yellow...

A key to this wardrobe looking festive is the accessories - but isn't that often the case, that you achieve the desired effect by adding just one or two little touches?

Our heroine is packing "outfit by outfit," and then we'll re-evaluate what she has, and see ... View the Post