Start With a Scarf Archives

Version 4 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 18, 2022

There are so many different reasons to love one scarf:

Cerise Yes, her name means cherry! Sometimes, you will indeed see her wearing a cherry-printed dress, or wee cherry earrings...

But for her trip with her 3 friends, she is embracing her love of stripes, and challenging herself to an entirely red and white travel capsule wardrobe!

(okay, except for the blue pants in which she's going to travel; she's taking the bus, and she's NOT willing to sacrifice her good white pants to the whims of mass transit...)

If you're looking for a "weekender" bag that doesn't blend into the crowd, this Vera Bradley bag comes in seven colors...

Cerise is indeed the woman who seized the parrot theme of the scarf and ran ... View the Post

Version 2 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 13, 2022

Why yes, many of you got a lengthy preview of this post on Thursday! My domestic responsibilities managed to do a distract me from my normal organizing skills (ahem...), and I neglected to put an appropriate scheduling time on the release of this post. Sigh...

Love,

Janice

They love this scarf for very different reasons...

And they will all find something different in it...

Clary Yes, they all suspect that her real name is Clara. She publishes historical romance novels, and that soft, flowery, ruffled aesthetic seems to permeate much of her life!

She's the woman that you see walking along the beach in a long skirt - perfectly, winsomely tied to keep it dry! She has these ... View the Post

Version 1 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 11, 2022

All 4 of them loved the scarf, for very different reasons!

They all decided to treat themselves to it!

Their next weekend together was interesting... Sunny Yes, Sunny has lots of friends!

As soon as she saw the vivid gold in her new scarf, she was smitten. Packing for her weekend get-together with her friends was so easy:

This is a VERY casual weekend - a lot of time outdoors...

It doesn't look like a lot of clothes, but she won't lack for what to wear, in cool weather or warm!

I suspect that her friends will all have a bit of beige or indigo in their travel capsule wardrobes, but their accent will be QUITE different from each other!

love,

Janice

p.s. Three years ... View the Post

May 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

May 2, 2022

Let's visit our gradually growing wardrobes, based on beautiful scarves from PJ Studio Accessories!

This month, it was SO easy to shop for this wardrobe! I can't imagine how I personally would get through the summer without a shirtdress in a light fabric...

Each of these wardrobes now includes 19 garments - pretty much enough to get through the summer! If you're inclined to participate in the "21 Garments, 21 Days" challenges, any of these wardrobe plus a couple of tops would get you through the next 21 days pretty easily. Yes, some of these garments are skewed a bit toward cooler weather; some substitutions might be needed...

All the shoes you might need - from boots to sandals!

How might ... View the Post

Version 4 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 13, 2022

She's An Actress...

She's been a star of a daytime drama for years, playing the good twin and the evil twin...

Part of the fun of being friends with her is that her expressions and emotions can run the gamut from intellectually serious to hysterically funny in a matter of moments...

So nobody is surprised that she has included ALL of the accent colors in their "scarf-centric" wardrobe, nor are they amazed to see that SHE bought the kimono, and not the scarf!

It's still a pretty versatile wardrobe:

Rumor has it that the writers on her show are about to introduce a long-lost triplet...

love,

Janice

p.s. Approximately seven years ago, I shared with you my shortcut to calculating ... View the Post

Version 3 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 11, 2022

They all seem to have chosen the same scarf...

Executive Coordinator of something or other... She came directly from a training visit to one of their branch offices...

Her company's name is just a long list of letters, with an ampersand in there somewhere; her friends can NEVER remember...

And they could not BEGIN to explain what it is that she does. What they do know is that she's important, travels a ton, and has the bold confidence of a pride of lionesses!

She has been packing for 2 or 3 day work trips for years, so going from meetings to friends and then BACK to meetings doesn't faze her in the least...

9 garments is plenty for her - options for operas and dinners with friends, ... View the Post

Version 2 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 8, 2022

The Soccer Coach...

Green eyes, and an auburn pixie hairstyle... But a serious Division A college soccer coach. Her friends from childhood never doubted...

They often joke that she chose the University at which she works because their colors are green and white! When she got the gig, they all chipped in to get her a pair of emerald earrings, which she wears almost constantly...

What might be most surprising about her is that she manages to get dressed up for some of their get-togethers without sacrificing a smidgen of her personal style!

She knows that her friends love to see her wear green, because they so admire how it flatters her - so she packs to oblige! In all fairness, she does have ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 4, 2022

She's Always Rather Dressy... She always has been - they've all known each other since school, and she was always the most dressed-up of them all at any event! Not that she was ever inappropriate - just a notch or 2 fancier than them..

So when they make plans to get together for a long weekend in the city, they look forward to seeing her, (of course!) and seeing how she is dressed!

For what it's worth, she's hysterically funny, very generous, and an all-around great friend...

This weekend should be particularly interesting; they've got tickets to Orchestra Hall, and dinner reservations another night at one of the new, "fancy" restaurants that has recently opened...

They haven't all been together ... View the Post

Building on a Successful Travel Wardrobe: Start with a Scarf from Jessie Zhao New York

March 11, 2022

The travel wardrobe worked well...

When she got home, she decided that it would make good sense to assemble a small but versatile summer capsule wardrobe in the same colors!

Here's what she has when she went away for the weekend...

Being a fond reader of The Vivienne Files, our heroine decided to be somewhat organized as she planned her warm weather wardrobe, so she assembled all of her garments (so far!) into a 20-piece grid. There's no labels here; she's using it for visibility and to keep from being distracted by her accessories!

The first thing she sees is that she does NOT have any navy; can a woman live through the entire summer without a dark neutral in her wardrobe?

So she starts with ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Blue Rural Landscape by Jessie Zhao New York

March 8, 2022 It Just Felt Right...

She knew that she wanted a fresh color palette for spring and summer this year - this year when she was finally going to be able to get out and do some things...

When she saw the scarf, she knew that THIS was what she wanted!

She and her sweetheart are going away for a weekend, and she thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity to try out her new color palette...

Their activities will be mostly city-type things - museums, window-shopping, café-sitting and DINING... Nothing insanely dressy, but she wants to look pretty!

When she takes a look at her travel capsule wardrobe, she just feels happy; these colors are built for happiness!

But of course, because she's a ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Sunflowers by PJ Studio Accessories

March 4, 2022

Those of you looking for a bright yellow and blue sunflower scarf to wear as a visible sign of your support of Ukraine - get thee to Etsy.com and search - they have TONS of them. But make sure that you're looking at vendors based in your home country - specify in the filters where you want your items to be located!

Love, Janice A Small Gesture...

She would be a lot more comfortable staying home to watch the news, but she really needs to go on this little trip...

So she grabs her Sunflower scarf to get her started with her packing. It doesn't really look like what one expects from a sunflower - nothing big and bright gold.

But it's the thought that counts...

She's been pretty ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Louis C. Tiffany Peonies Neckerchief

February 4, 2022

After I showed you this neckerchief last Monday, the 31st, more than a few of you asked me to expand upon it's lovely colors...

I have just the heroine for this color palette! Mature Plant Salvage Nobody really understands what her landscaping company does, until they really need her help!

Like the University that added a number of classroom/research buildings to their campus ALL AT ONCE, and now have a bare eyesore of land, interspersed with lovely structures...

"It will be beautiful in 100 years, when everything grows up around it and softens the edges..."

Well, that's NOT what she sees! She sees places to put trees that she saved from a condo development site on the north side. Corners of ... View the Post