travel capsule wardrobe Archives

Want Classic Patterns and Colors? Start With a Sweater – Fair Isle from Madewell

October 30, 2026

At least October is almost over! Although here in Chicago it's still been VERY warm... not even sweater weather yet. Sigh...

But one of you is looking for classic neutrals (navy and brown - cool & warm!) and classic patterns. This sweater was sited, and our heroine asked for plaids and stripes - let's see what we can do starting with this sweater:

The color palette is pretty obvious, although if our heroine wants to add a couple of additional tops, sage green and yellow would be nice. A couple of turtlenecks or shirts in those colors could go a long way...

One of the great gifts that this sweater brings to a wardrobe is the flexibility to mix all kinds of shades of brown!

This plaid shirt is ... View the Post

Looking for Casual and Bright? Start With Art – Winter Trees by Emma Talbot

October 28, 2026

This caught my eye instantly:

This painting also has plenty of black and some pretty pink...

Our heroine has a casual week planned, with only one or two days in which she will have to be out and about. She loves sweatshirts and sweatpants - especially this pair, which are comfortable but still have a bit of style. The pants - without elastic ankles on the pant legs - look much less sporty than an identical pair with the elastic. These little details matter!

When you're starting your weekly Domesticated Valise, it's important to think about what the week ahead will be like, for you. If you have four meetings, it may not be the week for sweats!

Jeans can look pretty nice with a strongly-colored ... View the Post

Must Have Denim? Start With a Scarf – Bookworm (in blue) by Echo

October 23, 2026

Does it seem as if October will never end?

So let's imagine a scenario - someone who's convinced that assembling her clothes for the week ahead is a good idea. Someone who is willing to try arranging a "Domesticated Valise" in her closet at the beginning of the week. (her plan is Sunday evening, for less than a half hour, get everything in one place).

But she MUST HAVE DENIM. It happens to most of us, from time to time...

How about starting here?

With this color palette?

Her favorite shade of green is hard to find, but if you get your hands on ONE great sweater, and some amazing accessories, you will be able to include this color in more outfits than you may expect:

If you're ever going to ... View the Post

Loving Brown, but Needing Pink? Start With a Scarf – Bookworm by Echo

October 19, 2026

So, in essence, this is the same post as I did on Friday. No clashing accent colors, but still starting with a scarf and wearing lots of brown. Many of the same garments and accessories. My goal here is to make it really clear that a handful of basic garments, and a handful of excellent accessories, can look distinctive, even if the clothes don't change a lot.

And I know it must feel like I show brown every other day, but this is the first winter in just about FOREVER that brown has been so widely available. When you start at the "home page" of Nordstrom, there's a whole happy family with their holiday gifts, and THEY'RE wearing brown! It's a thing.

I understand that this is a reflection of the poor economic ... View the Post

Are Your Favorite Accent Colors Incompatible? Start With a Scarf – Saffron Flowers by Silk & Soul

October 16, 2026

It's a question you send me more often than I would have ever expected, 16 years ago when I plunged into this adventure: "What do I do when my two favorite accent colors don't go together?"

WELL... I could, of course, launch into a diatribe about how "all colors go together - if they exist in the world, they are meant to be together..."

Which is small consolation when you still don't feel like they look right together!

Let's start with this gorgeous thing:

To me, the most prominent colors here are orange and purple! They look so good here; there's something to be learned from that.

And - again to me - it appears that there's both brown and black in this scarf, so we have two neutrals, as well as ... View the Post

I Love It But How Will I Wear It? Brown Striped Sweater from Seasalt Cornwall

September 18, 2026

I finally remember why Seasalt Cornwall ISN'T a strange brand to me - there's one on the main shopping street where my uncle lives in England! I'm occasionally crazy, but I'm not completely gone. Yet...

So one of you - at least - has a longing for this sweater, and isn't at all certain if it will work for her. My first instinct: if you have brown in your closet already, this sweater is going to fit in like it was born there!

THE LINK IS WORKING! AND YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT THE FIVE COLORS IN WHICH THIS SWEATER IS OFFERED...

Maybe our heroine is headed to Garrett County Maryland, for the Autumn Glory Festival?

At any rate, she's got a long weekend of "leaf peeping" ahead, and wants to build a tiny ... View the Post

A Pink & Brown Checked Suit – Is It Worth It?

August 26, 2026

One last suit, and WHAT a suit it is! The pants are 7/8 length, so your shoes get some attention, and the jacket is a snappy somewhat short style... The Boden site shows this suit worn with nothing underneath the jacket - would you do that?

You really have to get a close-up of the fabric to see what colors are here - I could have chosen a shade of rust, but I opted for the red that Boden was showing with these pieces.

Frankly, I think having the suit in your hands would be helpful before you started doing a lot of "outfit building" with this jacket and pants!

yes, I'm re-using quite a few things in this post - this is deliberate, and not just bone-deep laziness on my part! Good, classic items can be ... View the Post

Is a Navy Suit REALLY Useful?

August 24, 2026

Ah, some of you still need to dress conservatively... And there's a lot of struggle around the wisdom of owning a good navy suit.

If you don't like wearing navy, DON'T DO IT! But if you like wearing navy, and you're comfortable in a blazer, and you can envision needing a classic suit, you could do worse than this:

What can you do with such classic beauty? Well, let's start with a very conservative color palette and see what's possible!

I'm going to approach this the same way I looked at the striped suit on Friday - a half-dozen outfits, a few additions, and then another half-dozen "remixed" outfits from the 16 garments in our capsule wardrobe.

Let's start casual:

The wine shade that I'm ... View the Post

Year #3 of Start With a Suit – Boden Navy & Camel Stripe

August 21, 2026

This is the third year that I've started with Boden's autumn suit (it seems to be something they do each year) to build an autumn/winter capsule wardrobe.

The first one was here, and the second one was here. You could ABSOLUTELY justify having all three of these suits, if you're in a suit-wearing environment, you love these colors, and you're happy wearing bold prints!

Our heroine works for political campaigns. I feel for her...

But how about this suit?

I absolutely believe that this heroine could own all three suits, and pack two of the three for each trip. Return home occasionally, swap out one of the suits, back on the road!

This is the color palette I picture for this suit - there is indeed a red ... View the Post

Start With Art – A Third Look at Wall of Light Orange Yellow by Sean Scully

August 19, 2026

We've met this heroine twice - once in February, and then again in May. She travels every three months or so, so we catch up with her just in time to see what's new in her wardrobe....

Her inspiration painting is a winner - intriguing, and much more complex than one realizes at first glance. And what a range of colors!

Her next trip should be in weather that's a bit cooler than we're having right now! They want to go leaf peeping. Yes, it's kind of an irritating term, but it's a glorious and very rewarding way to spend a few days...

She's chosen the following for her wardrobe palette:

Let's take a quick flash back to see her earlier travel wardrobes - the first was for cool spring weather:

And ... View the Post

Unpacking after Dublin, or The Most Boring Travel Capsule Wardrobe Possible

July 29, 2026

I'm actually back from Ireland since Friday, but it takes a while to get caught up!

I debated about even sharing this wardrobe with you, because it's just not that fascinating or creative. But I get tired of coordinating outfits and accessories and all that stuff, so I gave myself a brain break and packed a fool-proof assortment...

But first, I highly recommend our wonderful hotel:

Interestingly, the hotel belongs to someone who ALSO owns one of the coolest little museums in Chicago - the Driehaus Museum!

The location of our hotel couldn't have been better:

In the summer, a measurable portion of the Dublin population is sitting on the grass or the benches in St. Stephen's Green. It's a ... View the Post

Start with Art – Tulips by Susan Jane Walp

July 24, 2026

She has room in her bedroom to hang 16 garments. Well, maybe 20, but certainly not more than that! Her clothes live in an ante-room off the main part of the attic. Old houses...

Her plan for the upcoming cool weather is to build a 4 by 4 Wardrobe of casual clothes; she wears a uniform for work, so this is the majority of what she will need for her personal life.

She wants this mix of colors:

She chose her color palette partly because she already has quite a few garments in these colors! One should always start a wardrobe (travel, seasonal, stress-dressing) with clothes you already have and like!

Our heroine is going to use the 4 by 4 Wardrobe Template to keep herself organized; it's easy to grab a ... View the Post