red Archives

Have You Gone Overboard? Start With Art – Tulips in a Vase by Leo Oosthout

April 20, 2026

We're going to start with the painting, although this is NOT where today's heroine began her spring wardrobe adventure:

As soon as she saw this painting, she saw this color palette...

Which is a good thing, because she just recently went a bit overboard on a new accent color. I mean CRAZY. And she's already run everything through the laundry, so nothing is getting returned.

It happens. Most of us have done it - when Eileen Fisher releases purple, I go off the deep end...

But this is a lot of red:

She's going to try to make lemonade out of this... First thing is to check what's already in her closet that she plans to wear a LOT this spring and summer:

The white things are wonderful. ... View the Post

One Red Sweater – a Dozen Ideas

November 24, 2025

Many of you are wondering what - if anything - you want to purchase to wear through this holiday season. I'm fortunate, in that I never have to do anything even remotely dressy at any point in the holidays...

But if this was my dilemma, and I wanted to treat myself to one REALLY nice item that I could keep and wear for the rest of my life, it might be this:

There are quite a few different colors that go well with red, but for this iteration, I'm starting with black, white, and accents of gold:

If you're in a cold but dry spell, don't forget that your white jeans are still fabulous in the late autumn...

If you are called-upon to show up with the full dressy thing working, a matching skirt is the ... View the Post

What Can You Do With a Plaid Suit?

September 17, 2025

We did this last year, and by popular demand, I'm taking a look at this year's Boden plaid suit. Our heroine still works in politics, and her red plaid suit from last year became sort of a signature! She's seriously thinking about getting this suit too, and really leaning into the signature of plaid!

This is a great suit, and from the photographs, it seems to be relatively well constructed. At least the plaids seem to be matched:

There are not a ton of colors in this plaid, but red and white are easy to spot, even at a distance. The more outgoing or creative among us can certain include the brighter blue, or something yellow! A yellow sweater... hmmm...

The first thing this heroine mentioned to me was ... View the Post

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – First Painting, by Georgia O’Keeffe

December 2, 2024

Our last visit with our six heroines! First, let's take a last look at our heroine who wears a stunning amount of red. Her art inspiration is from Georgia O'Keeffe; any painting by her has the potential to spark the ideas for a great wardrobe. Her lines are simple, her colors few, but stunning...

Before this powerhouse of PR and communications goes shopping, let's look at her existing wardrobe, in a slightly different way.

She has plenty of outfits already; when you look at your own wardrobe, outfit by outfit, you might find that you already have most of what you need...

A dozen outfits, and still seventeen more garments. For many people, this would be sufficient; for others...

She also takes ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Second Painting, by Georgia O’Keeffe

November 4, 2024

I think I'm going to do a post each day this week, and finish the six paintings for the month of November. It seems to me that any kind of distraction might come in handy right now...

Ah, this most exuberant of heroines! Not just anybody could pull off a wardrobe in only three colors, when one of them is RED. But it's possible. There are lots of women, and lots of wardrobes...

This wardrobe feels pretty complete to me - when you remember that you can only wear one outfit at a time (at least in theory!), own this much clothing feels pretty complete...

In all fairness, if this was my wardrobe, I'd need a few more summer dresses! But still, I don't think I'd ever really struggle to get dressed...

I ... View the Post

Love the Primary Colors? Start with a Scarf – the Rufai Zakari Silk Scarf by Echo

June 24, 2024

Okay, I think this is spectacular:

And I know the woman who wears this scarf - she embraces the primary colors, with black and white, and lives with a wardrobe that's truly foolproof. This is her palette:

Packing is simple for her, as is getting dressed every day - reach into closet (in dark, with eyes closed - why not?) and get dressed...

But she does want to be sure that she doesn't pack four dresses (well, maybe...) or four pairs of shorts! So she start with complete outfits. More and more I'm thinking that packing outfits that are part of the same family is a great way to assemble a travel capsule wardrobe - do you agree?

An outfit that can span moderate to warm temps is sensible:

Something ... View the Post

Part 1 – Do You Need Accents? Or Neutrals? 6 Paintings, 12 Months April 2024

April 3, 2024

Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we're still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific order...

Our first heroine feels like she needs to add some navy and white to her wardrobe. As we enter April, with 16 garments, only 37.5% of her clothes are her accent color - that might not be a troubling ration for many of us. But she's ready for more neutrals!

Let's pause for just a second to enjoy her favorite painting:

This is her wardrobe at the end of March; yes, there's certainly quite a lot of bright blue ... View the Post

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

March 4, 2024

First three paintings can be found here...

Let's visit our other 3 heroines, and their paintings! It's funny how much I love these paintings when I come back to them after almost a month...

At the end of February, our heroine had a cheerful and very practical 12-piece travel capsule wardrobe:

I fully expected to be adding white to this wardrobe at this point, but then I stumbled onto some lovely light grey, and decided it was wise to grab it! Gray in the summer can be really difficult to find, so avail yourself of it when it's around.

Her wardrobe now looks more like she wants to include a range of shades of grey - up until now, she's been pretty dedicated to charcoal... And the red is ... View the Post

Tote Bag Travel that Starts with a Bracelet: Dazzling Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

October 23, 2023

Yes, she's starting early. She knows full well that her friends will start planning holiday events, and she wants to be prepared. She's particularly eager to be able to pack just a few garments in a tote bag, for those overnight, 2-party weekends...

She's not crazy - there are lovely holiday things available right now that are selling out quickly. Nobody seems to be keeping deep inventories these days!

She's starting here!

She's one of those women - we all know one - who seems to carry her own illumination system with her! She walks in the door and people start to smile...

For years, she's kept her color palette VERY limited; it gives her lots of opportunity to find things that are amusing, ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Beige and Red – Start with Art: Black, Ochre, Red Over Red by Mark Rothko

July 3, 2023

I love Rothko - it's hard to understand unless you've seen one in person... Even then, his paintings may not be your thing!

"Skills Enhancement" A fancy way to say "we're sending you to the main office to take a cram course in new software."

The main office is somewhat dressy... So our heroine is planning...

She's starting here:

She knows that starting with a suit - even if she wears the blazer separate from the pants - is always smart for business travel:

She's pretty sure that she's okay wearing a cardigan, if she wears a skirt with it...

She's hopeful that tales of the formality of the headquarters have been exaggerated, but she's not taking any chances! If your company is willing to spend ... View the Post

Version 2 – Start with a Scarf: The Ghan by Un Poco

August 10, 2022 Back to School, Indeed!

That morning, when they got up to load the car, it was pouring...

Happily, anybody old enough to go to college is old enough to pack their many worldly good into the car!

But she wore boots, just in case...

She was even able to delegate the driving to her eager (and very competent) child! The boots came in handy when they stopped for coffee...

She's really looking forward to seeing her friends again - meeting up with them and having a lot of fun takes away the sting of leaving a dearly loved child far away...

She heard that a really nice restaurant opened during the summer, so she took the initiative to make reservations for the 4 of them. They always go out for nice ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Red Maple at Lake George by Georgia O’Keeffe

July 11, 2022

The Best Laid Plans... She was planning to spend the autumn photographing leaves, and hiking, and enjoying the brisk air...

But instead, she's going to be touring with a political candidate whom she supports. It's a long story!

She doesn't want to pack much; she frankly doesn't want to think about clothing at all once she closes her suitcase. She's going to have quite enough on her mind!

So she's thinking that she will have room to pack 10 garments in her medium suitcase... Maybe a "Whatever's Clean 13" Wardrobe is what she needs, eh?

Realistically, she might be able to stop at home from time to time, but she wants to be as self-sufficient as possible when they're driving from small town to ... View the Post