Start With a Scarf Archives

Rescuing Forgotten Accessories: Butterflies by Echo

April 28, 2020

She decided she was going to wear them ALL. One, every 3 or 4 months...

So she dug into the very bottom of her scarf drawer, and found this beauty:

She didn't worry about a color palette; if she bought the scarf for herself, she's going to assume that it must go with something in her wardrobe...

So her plan - wear her newly special scarf twice a month, with clothes that she already owns!

April has remained practically a winter month, this year, so she's wearing sweaters... and her butterfly earrings!

May, on the other hand, is all over the map, weather-wise! So she decides that cropped pants, with sleeveless tops and a cuddly cardigan might be her best option.

By the time June rolls around, ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: A Long Weekend with a Robin Scarf from Aspinal of London

April 16, 2020 Urban Heart... She misses the city. So much. Just to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the people walk by - the stories, the personalities, the style...

And she's tired. She wants to be able to get dressed without any exertion! So she pulled out her favorite scarf, and her favorite dresses, and started to pack:

Black. White. Gold. No muss, no fuss...

Her favorite dress is a bit roomy - she can easily layer a tee shirt or other shirt under it! In unreliable weather, this is SO helpful. And in a travel capsule wardrobe like this, it is really ALL about the accessories, isn't it?

She start packing - 2 more black dresses! The "fit and flare" dress is perfect with cardigans, or alone with a gold wrap for ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Working from Home with a Ferragamo Scarf

April 14, 2020 Daily Teleconferences... She's sick of them, frankly. But they're going to be the way business is conducted, for at least a while! And she knows that, even from home, she should try to look like she's in control, and in charge, and the boss...

So she went crazy and spent all of the coffee and lunch money that she hasn't spent for the last while:

This scarf will be perfect with just about anything that she's wearing these days - denim, black, and ivory. And those delicious hints of plum that she can't find right now, but when she has to go back to her office, she's going to treat herself (again!) to a couple of lovely things...

Most days she's been dressed like this:

And so she assembled another ... View the Post

How to Plan What Accessories to Pack – Cloud Rainforest scarf by Klements

April 9, 2020

Bright colors tomorrow, I promise! But I've got this scarf and it's colors on the brain right now, so I wanted to think about how I would accessorize this heroine's wardrobe for a longer trip...

First up, let's remember that she's starting with this scarf. It's SO intriguing...

Packing isn't easy - you want to be prepared for everything possible, while at the same time not lugging your entire home with you in 37 suitcases! You can't "get away from it all" if you take it all with you...

I've tried to think of a relatively logical, methodical way to look at what accessories to pack:

Let's start with the accessories that our heroine is already accustomed to packing for her long weekend trips; I'm assuming ... View the Post

One Way to Expand a Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Cloud Rainforest Scarf by Klements

April 8, 2020

I'm very infatuated with this scarf; it it were in my colors, it would be in my closet!

These colors feel like autumn, but in lovely linen this is a great palette for warmer weather:

You may remember back on the last day of March (which seems like it was about a year and a half ago!) our heroine was hopping on trains to visit new cities and towns, and was using these colors as the basis for her wardrobe. These were the clothes that she was packing:

Our heroine has decided to go on a longer vacation - there's no reason to hoard vacation time... She's been so happy with her tiny travel wardrobe that she chooses to use it as the base for her larger wardrobe. How can she make this work?

First, she ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe Starting with the Cloud Rainforest scarf from Klements

She Wants to Get Away... Now that she's free to travel again, she's got a plan. Pack the least she can possibly sort for a long weekend, generate a random number under 20 on her computer, and head to the train station...

This is her inspiration:

And this is her color scheme:

Every other weekend, from now 'til the cows come home, she's going to pack up her backpack on a Friday afternoon and head to the train station...

That random number? That's the train stop number at which she's going to get off the train and spend a long weekend! She wants to get to know a lot of new places, and spend her modest travel budget in some smaller cities and towns...

She spent a really long time trying to figure out what the ... View the Post

Start with Art: Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe based on Arara Azul by Victoria Ragna

This is a LOT like yesterday's post, I admit. Not because I'm inherently lazy (although I could be, given the right circumstances...) but more because someone asked yesterday about wearing accents of teal, aqua and soft blue with navy. I HAD to show how well many of these garments work just as well with a slightly different neutral.

(yes, grey would be lovely...)

This is very much the same color palette as yesterday, except the shift away from black...

After a LONG summer... They're free to travel again! She's been planning for months for this trip...

What kept her sane through the summer was the ability to go outdoors and watch the birds. It had never been a hobby before; they had had a bird feeder for a long time, ... View the Post

February 2020 Six Scarves, Twelve Months, Twelve Outfits

A new month!

I'm still quite smitten with this color palette; it's pretty classic, with the navy and camel, but the accent colors keep it from being too predictable:

I'm making a big change this year from the outfits that I included in previous years in February. I used to feel that this was a good time to include a dress - mostly because I'm a total Valentine's Day sap. But I'm going to try to be a LOT more strategic in my choices this year, and to me that means another sweater, another pair of pants, and another shirt. It makes a lot of sense when you see the January and February outfits on the same page.

I could NOT resist this shirt. I feel like it was made for this color palette...

Here's where I love the way ... View the Post

Should I Keep My Suit? A Perfect 10 Packing Capsule Wardrobe…

Answering a handful of questions in 1 post today! First - someone who has a lovely navy suit was wondering if she should get rid of it now that she's retiring. Heck no, unless the very sight of it brings back horrible memories!

Secondly, one of the scarves from Aspinal of London that I did NOT choose for the 12 month adventure is the source inspiration for today's post, AND

I'm addressing travel for a combination of business and leisure. This is the kind of adventure for which your suit can be madly useful!

The template that I'm going to use for this packing adventure is the Perfect Ten Pack. I'm seriously thinking about this, with a modification or 2, for my upcoming Paris adventure!

Our heroine's travel outfit looks a ... View the Post

January 2020 Six Scarves, Twelve Months, Twelve Outfits

I finally made my scarf choices - holy handbags of happiness, THIS was a project!

But here they are - I'll explain my choices after you've had a chance to look them over...

All but 1 is from Aspinal of London. I love Hermes scarves - but these from Aspinal cost 36% of what an Hermes scarf costs! That's a big thing for most of us, I imagine.

First up, I knew I had to include this scarf. This will be the "navy-centric" wardrobe, including that lion beige/camel color as the 2nd neutral. I suspect that there will be some rust accents in this wardrobe before the end of 2020, as well as a simple white shirt or tee shirt...

All of the outfits for this month are basic, as befits the start of a disciplined new year, and some ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Lion and Peacock Scarf by Aspinal of London, in navy and camel

She Decided to Branch Out...

She's worn navy with pastels for decades... And she's now ready for an update!

She's always felt drawn to camel. The richness, the warmth, and elegance. And she's been told repeatedly that it was a color that she could happily wear. But she starts small... something below the waist!

Success! But the real camel item that has always caught her eye is a lovely cardigan...

Now she's feeling positively emboldened! She looks closely and her scarf and sees a beautiful shade of blue; would a matching sweater and flats be wrong?

But she's not going to rely entirely new purchases - when she look in her closet, she realizes that her aqua sweater would be perfect with her new ... View the Post

I Love IT, but Will I Wear IT? Start with a Scarf: Lion & Peacock by Aspinal of London

I know, I should be showering you with holiday gift ideas and telling you about all of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. I'm NOT that blogger, though... sigh...

However, I firmly believe that those of us who are holiday shopping should treat ourselves to one really LOVELY thing for the upcoming season, and of course for the years to come. We don't buy something just to wear it once or twice, unless we're getting married or standing up in someone else's wedding!

So maybe a scarf has caught your eye, and kicked you in the heart... (I love the phrase coup de coeur...)

It's all the right colors - warm and cool, neutrals and accents...

But can you wear it? How will you wear it? You don't want something this beautiful ... View the Post