travel capsule wardrobe Archives

Start with Art: Involvement Series by Wanda Pimentel

March 31, 2020 You Don't Have to Wear the Polo Shirt and Khakis... She's the only woman going to the trade show. She plans to sell rings around the rest of the delegation.

But they want her to wear red, black and white every day. Oh my...

Since she's the only woman going from her company, she will get her own room. That's ideal - she will leave the ironing board up the entire week. She wants to be crisp and fresh every morning, knowing full well that by the end of the day she will look like a crumpled tissue!

So she's going to be inspired by this - except for the enigmatic and faintly menacing toes behind the ironing board:

Her color scheme is going to brighten up the beige to a more true white (to match her employer's ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Revisiting Tiger in the Grass by Echo

March 26, 2021

She's going back for another long weekend, after she set everybody straight back in December...

This is still her favorite scarf - she's not so fickle that she would find a new favorite in just a few months!

But she's changing her color scheme to something softer and more approachable; after her last visit, she doesn't need to be as assertive as before!

For the first meetings when she arrives, she's going to be positively quiet, and let everyone else air their opinions, grievances, and silly ideas:

The balance of the long weekend is going to be casual - informal conversations and projects, so she packs an assortment of relaxed clothes that all still echo the colors of her scarf, albeit in a lighter ... View the Post

March 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

March 1, 2021

Hurray! February is OVER....

Let's check back with our 6 heroines who are assembling wardrobes loosely along the guidelines of Start From Scratch, and trying to stick to color palettes suggested by 6 scarves.

The guidelines in Start From Scratch suggest finding a core outfit in the 2nd neutral in our wardrobes, as well as an accent top and scarf...

Starting here!

This heroine has neither grey pants, nor a black cardigan! And a tee shirt that almost matches her pink oxford will give her a chance to layer the 2 together. Filling in those gaps gives us something that's not really an outfit, but more a group of useful wardrobe additions:

It makes more sense when you see the 8 garments, plus ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe = Guide to a Garde-Robe du Mois

February 3, 2021

Yes, this is confusing...

But I'm trying to find a way to use the core 52 garments from The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe to help anyone who has to keep 2 separate wardrobes in 2 locations (or those of us who wear 2 completely different seasonal wardrobes as the weather comes and goes...)

Last week, I looked over the 52 garment list, and chose 10 to be the "core" wardrobe for this heroine. An example of one of the 10-piece wardrobes is this lovely grouping:

As useful and versatile as this wardrobe is, most women will want to add something to it! In order to stick to our plan, I went back to the list of 21 garments that remained AFTER I removed the 10 "core" pieces from the list. (and then split the list into warm ... View the Post

Perfect 10 Packing? Start with Art: Untitled (Acrylic #1) by Ed Clark

January 29, 2021

I've been thinking a lot about 10 garments in a Travel Capsule Wardrobe, like in the ones that I'm positing for the heroines who are managing wardrobes in 2 homes...

And I thought that maybe it was worth revisiting the Perfect 10 template that is one of my personal favorites!

Calm is still in short supply, so let's look at more calming art, eh?

Such lovely colors, and such a relaxed and stable feeling to this...

So let's imagine a heroine who has to make a 3 or 4 day trip - fairly often - but never with any sort of advanced notice. A morning phone call could mean "out the door and on the road" by lunch-time...

Thus, she keeps some things ready for this adventure, starting with a travel outfit ... View the Post

Revisiting the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe – Living in Multiple Homes

January 27, 2021

Remember these?

I've been meaning to come back to this list, and just in the last week I've received the same questions a few times:

What should I keep packed for emergencies? and

How do I split my wardrobe between 2 homes?

These are related questions, from women who are now having to maintain a business in 1 area, and do a lot of export marketing in a 2nd area, and are thus going to maintain 2 households.

First off - this is NOT glamorous. This isn't going to be like "oh, let me jet off to my home at St. Bart's for the weekend..." 2nd home.

This is more like "I can no longer just ship things from here to there, so I've got to fly (or take the train) and carry merchandise..."

This is a question ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Summer Palms Silk Square by Echo

January 11 2021 Feeling Summery in the Winter

Yes, the weather is cool, but she can still think about palm trees and warm breezes...

So she starts with a palm-printed scarf, and isolated the colors she loves:

Let's pause for a moment to think about the math behind a really efficient Six-Pack travel capsule wardrobe:

Well, enough of THAT technical stuff!

Her long weekend away is pretty casual - mostly family activities. But she still likes to look nice, and feel like she's made an effort!

Spills are possible. (both the liquid kind and the bodily tumbling onto the ground kind!)

Some relatives keep their homes... very warm, shall we say.

She's prepared!

If 1 or even 2 garments are soiled, torn, ... View the Post

Start with FICTION? Fulvia Morgana, from Small World by David Lodge

November 11, 2020

I've never tried this before! But when I read this description, I knew I had to share it, and to fantasize about what she might have packed.... So let's meet Fulvia Morgana from the book Small World by David Lodge.

Isn't she fascinating? There's no hint of how old she is, or how she's built, or what her coloring might be!

But I'll warn you, she's not the nicest person in the book...

For our purposes, though, I'm thinking about what she changes into when she arrives at the ghastly literary conference...

note - this character is super-wealthy, so I've completely ignored prices on things in this post; it was interesting...

For the first night, she wants to sit quietly on the sidelines to see who's there, ... View the Post

Start with a Sweater: Boden Fair Isle Crewneck

October 23, 2020 I'm the ONLY Person Available?

She knows the answer... When the tech who works at the clinic finally took a few days off, there would have to be someone on-site in the data center, and there really isn't anyone else who knows how to repair things. ("Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?")

So she's going to suck it up and wear her new sweater! In fact, she's going to build her entire travel wardrobe around the colors of her sweater. Why not? She's going to either be in the data compound or quarantined in her room at the visitor's center...

She starts with 3 outfits that she knows she wants to take with her:

They've already seen snow, so she's wearing her serious boots for the ... View the Post

Start with Art: Adding Accessories to a Wardrobe – Poem by Bunya no Asayasu by Hokusai

October 19, 2020 She Chooses LOTS of Accessories! She has her inspiration:

And her clothes are all chosen (as well as 1 scarf!):

So she heads into the kids rooms with a handful of garbage bags, and duly loads ALL of their clothes into the bags.... It's what they wanted, and she's so happy that they're going to be away from civilization for a few months that she's NOT going to quibble about odd wardrobe requests....

And then, she walks into her bedroom. She needs to pick up some shoes, and whatever other accessories she might want for the next few months. Her first inclination is just to grab her loafers and a pair of slippers and call it a day, but then she pauses, to take the time to think about this with herself and her ... View the Post

Start with a Bracelet – Shine On by Fierce Lynx Designs

October 14, 2020 We Want to Record Your Acceptance Speech...

Well... it's one thing entirely to win an award in the middle of a pandemic, but quite another to be invited into the city for the weekend...

But they offered a hotel room for Friday, Saturday AND Sunday night, if she could come into the recording studio for an hour or so and record a video that they could use when they announced all of the winners. So into the city they go!

Her original plan was to use 2 accent colors, but she struggled and STRUGGLED to find a good "bridge" garment or scarf, so she finally just threw her hands up in the air and decided on a full-tilt pink and black weekend!

Sometimes you have to know when you aren't going to find the right ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Church Tower in Zeeland by Piet Mondrian

October 12, 2020 It Didn't Take Long...

When she was initially invited to the cathedral for a long weekend of leading tours, she carefully chose her color palette...

and she packed a very pretty travel capsule wardrobe. She has a bit of a crush on the Choir Director, and is happy for a chance to spend a few days hanging about...

Well... it was wonderful. The tours were among the best that she's ever given - the participants were all VERY interested in what she was teaching them, and there weren't an excessive number of "know-it-all" guests...

And dinner with the Choir Director was... magical. Amazing. Better than she could have hoped...

So when the members of the Congregational Committee asked if she ... View the Post