Start With Nature Archives - Page 3 of 4

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Black and Yellow Broadbill Version 2

I hadn't planned to revisit this lovely bird, but someone wanted some yellow...

Without the green background, the colors seem more intense to me. At any rate, I brightened up the coral and blue, to be in a better balance with the yellow... No matter how good it looks here, I'm not recommending yellow eye shadow - there's a limit to taking inspiration from nature!

I thought I'd plunge right into the yellow... Note how the addition of the scarf with the coral and orange print keeps the ensemble from looking like a bumblebee, or a Pittsburgh sport fan. (for those out of the sports loop: I think EVERY professional sports team in Pittsburgh wears at least some yellow and black)

(I love the scarves from Abo London - they are REALLY ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Black and Yellow Broadbill

January 6, 2016 You've very possibly seen a Photoshopped version of this photograph, which made the colors really BRIGHT... and I'm not sure why someone would have bothered - this photograph is quite beautiful just as it is!

Weeks ago, someone asked me, on Facebook, to work with this photograph. It's about time I got around to it, because it includes lovely colors! I did NOT include the yellow circle around the eyes of the bird, except for a bit in one of the scarves, and the yellow gold in the jewelry. And while I don't always pick up the background color of a photograph, this one was really the perfect color, in the ideal intensity, for this color scheme...

Yes, I really, TRULY believe that if you find a ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Northern Flicker

August 4, 2015 When your wardrobe plan gets difficult When I received a note about building a wardrobe around the coloring of a Northern Flicker, I was really excited; taupe and black, with accents of orange? What's not to love?

But as most of us have found, it's one thing to choose and truly commit to a color scheme, and quite another to actually FIND the items that you envision. These beautiful shades of taupe are pretty straightforward to find in winter clothing, but to find them for summer was quite another story!

I specifically chose this photograph because it gives us two really great, and complementary, accent colors to mix in with the taupe and black. At this point in this project, I was filled with enthusiasm, and ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Stone: Unakite Jewelry

May 19, 2015 This was an intriguing request - one of you has fallen for jewelry with the stone unakite, and wanted to build their summer work capsule wardrobe (relaxed environment) around their jewelry! This was some of the jewelry I found:

One of the first things that I noted was that the accent color in the stone ranges from dark red and terra cotta to a much lighter and more delicate peach or apricot. While we could certainly go either direction, I opted for the lighter shade, to serve as a background for the design of the jewelry.

We wanted really simple clothes, so I found three "Cores of Four" in the three non-accent colors.

Here's where things got ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Bird’s Eggs photograph from Kevin Fleming Photography

November 3, 2014

Someone sent me this gorgeous photograph... I've flipped it sideways so that I could put up a bigger image...

This was my chosen color scheme:

It's hard to introduce "egg-like" elements into a wardrobe, but I did stick with rounded earrings, and I aimed for a sort of softness and subtlety that would honor the gorgeousness of the photograph.

I introduced the most subtle greenish color to blend with the warm beige, tan and brown already here. It's an amazingly effective combination, I think.

To me, these combinations are warm, gentle, and comfortable.

love, Janice ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Autumn Leaves, a Four Pack

October 29, 2014 Over the weekend, we had an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday - bright, clear, and warm enough to walk for miles. As we neared home, we passed this tree, and Belovedest took a photo of it for me.

In order to really hone in on the leaves, I've cropped down the photograph to a handful of leaves, and isolated just three colors. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you see something beautiful - focusing really closely on one small thing can help a lot to clarify which colors captivate you most.

This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to find a beautiful winter coat! A core of brown, simple clothes make a good base...

For an overnight business trip, ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Panicum Shenendoah, aka switchgrass… a Four Pack

October 28, 2014

So what do you do if your favorite color scheme includes colors that are just plain difficult to wear together? This beautiful grass (growing in the Lurie Garden, about a 10 minute walk from chez nous) includes some striking colors, but it isn't at all simple to find ANYTHING, clothes or accessories, that include the two colors...

But these are really pretty...

So you just have to accept that you might wear them separately most of the time, until and unless you find things that bring the colors together. As long as you stick with your neutral core, these kinds of "color conundrums" aren't really limiting!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Chrysanthemums – a Four Pack

October 24, 2014 Okay, some of these colors aren't easy to find, and they might be a little bit much for your entire wardrobe. But if you have a core in taupe (or brown, or navy, or black), these colors as an accent could be a lot of fun!

Just as a reminder, these are the Starburst Chrysanthemums I photographed a few weeks ago - they are now frozen and quite dead, but I will love this photograph for quite a long time.

Stumbling onto the scarf was really key! It has the accent colors of the deep coral, the softer rose, and the yellow - everything after that was relatively simple! Here you can see where having the core items of a coat, trousers, boots and a tote bag in your neutral ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Pigeons

July 23, 2014

I have to confess, I think pigeons are beautiful. Annoying little sky rats, yes, but beautiful; their shades of grey, with iridescent green and purple...

So when I was asked to build a wardrobe based on a photograph of a pigeon, I was happy to do so. But there's no way I'm addressing those red eyes!

I think this makes a lovely wardrobe...

love, Janice

... View the Post

Start with Flowers: Daffodils

June 10, 2014

Once the "flower-based" color scheme idea is set, there are lots of variations possible. Rather than the purple shades that I used with the delphiniums the other day, I am going to look at daffodils today, and include a couple of shades of yellow. One has to be careful when mixing yellow and black - there's always a danger of looking like a bumblebee, or a Pittsburgh Pirates fan! (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

I always like to start with the core of black clothes - if you look carefully, you can see my favorite "Core of Four" showing up here. While a solid black outfit seems boring in the midst of all of this color, it might be needed for evenings or a serious business ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Flowers: Delphiniums

June 7, 2014

I think these are delphiniums, but of course I live in the middle of a city, so my floral knowledge isn't exactly top-drawer! If you can give me a better identification on these flowers (photo taken in the Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina) send me a note or leave a comment and I'll update things...For this photograph, I imagined that someone has to go on a business trip, but they're going to be able to arrive early, and maybe stay a few days extra, so this is a dual-purpose travel capsule wardrobe.

These are the high-contrast colors that I chose:

For a couple of days of sight-seeing before the meetings have to begin.

Peplum top – Alexander McQueen, black ... View the Post

Start with Flowers: Cherry Blossoms

June 3, 2014

In an otherwise extremely unremarkable outdoor mall, we found this lovely tree (proving that if you look for beauty, you WILL find it):

I'm pretty certain it was an ornamental cherry tree - I'll check back later this summer to see if, in fact, it produces cherries! But what really caught my eye was the juxtaposition of the grey/taupe of the tree bark, and the surrounding pavement, with the green, white and yellow of the flowers. So (you know me) I thought of color schemes for travel and summer...

Lots of lovely options available here! If you have some nice floral photographs, send them on - [email protected]. I'll do what I ... View the Post