travel capsule wardrobe Archives - Page 4 of 32

Warm Accent Colors? Start With a Scarf: Monet’s Garden at Argenteuil from The Met Store

July 11, 2025

She's only going to be there two days - maybe three, if things go haywire.

And it's a legendarily relaxed and informal office. She's okay with that!

She decides to start with her favorite scarf:

She knows that she's going to be alone at a work station somewhere along a bench. Yes, someone will check in on her project, and they will certainly take her out to lunch, but it's not going to be strenuous, nor messy.

So she decides that the easiest thing to do is start with her favorite ivory wardrobe core:

A couple of tee shirts are all of the clothing that she will need. Some accent accessories and she's happy:

Her shoes are all so flat that - even with seven garments - this will all fit into ... View the Post

Love Primary Colors? Start With 2 Scarves – Lazyjack Press and Elizabetta

June 25, 2025

Sometimes, when you're packing, it's just easier to go back to the very most basic options. That's certainly true with colors; if you're packing core is navy, red and yellow seem like perfect accents!

So let's start with these two scarves:

Our heroine has made a few changes to her navy wardrobe core. This part of your packing can be as conservative or as relaxed as you need, of course!

To go with our red floral scarf, our heroine has chosen a timeless linen camp shirt, and a striped tee! She might wear the scarf with the striped tee shirt, if she's feeling in that mood.

Her yellow clothes make a sort of twinset, with the matching tee shirt and cardigan. And yes, she's got two completely ... View the Post

Like the Idea of Your Painting, But Having Trouble With the Colors? Start With Art – Pink and Black by Ed Clark

June 23, 2025

Another conference? (She did this before.) As the trailing spouse? What an absolutely horrible term...

But she's going, and she will be beautiful. She has the best inspiration; this is one of her favorite paintings, by her favorite artist:

But she's feeling uncertain... her favorite pink clothes are NOT this shade of pink. Does this matter?

After thinking for a few minutes, our heroine realized that unless she carried a big reproduction of the painting around with her and pointed out to people how badly the shades of pink clashed, nobody would ever know. She can put it out of her mind, if she tries!

So she's preparing for the "weird meet and greet/maybe go out to dinner with people they know" arrival. The ... View the Post

Love Pink and Green? Start With Two Scarves: Elizabetta and Jessie Zhao New York

June 18, 2025

Say your trip with your navy wardrobe core went well, including what you packed! But you'd like to try some different accent colors...

How about using these two scarves as your inspiration? Of course you NEVER have to wear scarves if you don't like them, but you can always use the images of them, and the colors included, to help you focus your travel capsule wardrobe:

To keep our comparison consistent, and to actually reflect how normal women wear their clothes over and over (as the planet asks us to do!), I'm using the same navy core that we used on Friday:

Our heroine found the perfect shade of pink at Lands' End, so she grabbed two different but very compatible garments. And her necklace is ... View the Post

Want a Touch of Brown with Your Chambray? Tullynally Castle Corridor & Window by Hector McDonnell

June 16, 2025

She goes away a LOT of weekends in the summer. Many of her friends have places on lakes or the seashore, or in a forest near a lake... And she must be an excellent guest, because she's always invited somewhere!

This is one of her favorite paintings:

She always feels like the window at the end of the hall is crooked!

Her colors that she's isolated from the painting are shown here; she doesn't include the tiny touches of red, but she does wear a good red lipstick sometimes...

She usually leaves for her friend's home straight from work - she's close to the train station when she's in her office! She dresses simply, but with a cardigan to battle the office air-conditioning.

She doesn't ... View the Post

Want to Pack In Two Moods? Start With Two Scarves: Frances Valentine and Kurt Geiger

June 13, 2025

Happy Friday the 13th to all of us intelligent people who are NOT superstitious!

Today's question is a pretty normal one: our heroine wants to pack a wardrobe that's mostly navy, but wants a couple of different options for accents. She'd love a pretty pastel, but she's also thinking that a bright-colored option might be nice too.

Okay! let's grab a couple of scarves that appealed to me, and that will work as a perfect springboard for our heroine:

Our heroine's only going to be gone for 4 nights, and she's not going anyplace horrendously dressy. She will have to attend a meeting or two, but for at least one day she will be able to wear shorts! This is a normal trip for her, and so she's assembled a navy travel ... View the Post

Building a Wardrobe Gradually? Start With Art – Abstraction Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

May 30, 2025

We've visited this painting twice before, with our heroine who has the lucky habit of dashing into the city for a last-minute date! Opera, or maybe ballet or orchestra - the opera season doesn't last all year, sadly...

First, she was headed to a ballet matinee on January, and then in March they were able to snag some opera tickets!

In all cases, she packs her tote bag full of beautiful things based on this color palette:

Back in January, she used a navy cardigan/skirt/pants trio as her core, upon which she added four tops:

When our heroine considered what she might add to her bag if they decided to stay in the city for a few more days:

In March, when they went to the opera, this is what ... View the Post

Pack and Not Think Again About Clothes? Start With Art: Donna Andrzejewski – Dante’s View Abstraction

May 28, 2025

Yes, this is a photograph. I consider excellent photographs to be art! And since today's heroine is a photographer, this seems like the perfect work of art for her:

Our heroine wants to pack and then not think about her clothes again! She will check the weather each morning of the long weekend photography trip, but she's MUCH more concerned with her camera gear than she is with clothes...

AND, she wants to be pretty "blend into the background" of the area of high desert where she's going. It will probably be cool much of the time - she's not going until autumn - but she will want layers in case it warms up.

All in all, these are perfect colors for her:

She's comfortable driving out in her lightest colored ... View the Post

Always Wear Green? Start With Art: Helen Frankenthaler – Lush Spring

May 26, 2025

"But I ALWAYS wear green? I look great in green. Can't I wear it when we go to Dublin?"

Well, yes. Of course you can. Nobody there will probably even notice! Just don't say "top o' the mornin'" to anybody...

Our heroine loves this painting - the huge blocks of green, accented with the tiniest touches of blue, red, blush...

For the purposes of her upcoming trip to Dublin, our heroine has isolated these colors for her travel capsule wardrobe:

Her starting point is easy - comfortable shades of green, waterproof shoes, a pretty scarf and some classic earrings!

But NOW what to pack?

"You'd better be prepared - Ireland is cool even in the summer!"

So she packs these things; note that the sweatpants ... View the Post

May 2025 Start With a Bracelet – Art Deco Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

May 21, 2025

Today's heroine has such a lovely inspiration:

She's particularly excited because she's about to break out of her navy and white routine. Her travel capsule wardrobes usually look like this or this.

So she's making just a little bit of a change; if you're one of us who've dressed in a monochromatic wardrobe for YEARS, you understand what a big change this is!

Our heroine's core wardrobe is based on her navy suit. When you buy a suit, you should assume that it's going to be worn a lot, in a variety of ways. (Suits are expensive!)

For short trips, during which our heroine might only have one "serious" meeting, this is typical of her travel wardrobe:

It's going to take our heroine all summer to ... View the Post

Unsure of the Weather? Start With Art – The Silbury Owl by Catherine Hyde

May 16, 2025

Lots of women artists this month; if you love this painting, prints of it are available from the artist!

Our heroine loves a good dark brown - or any of the autumn colors! And she's quite fond of pink and orange, together or separate. So her color palette is obvious and simple:

She's going away for a weekend event, and absolutely NOBODY can give her a hint of what the weather will be! She knows that it's cold where she is right now, so she's going to dress a bit warmly, even though it's May...

It might be warm enough to wear a slippy little dress. Or she might actually need a sweater! And for her spare time, she's even bringing a sweatshirt... Oh, weather keeps us on our toes, doesn't ... View the Post

Like a Base of Black and White? Start With Art – Variation on a Lighthouse Theme IV by Ida O’Keeffe

May 14, 2025

Yes, IDA O'Keeffe. Georgia's sister. Imagine how she felt, painting her lovely paintings... That had to be hard!

I quite like this painting. The colors are great, and I find the geometric qualities in it to be really pleasing. In the absence of her sister, maybe Ida would have been famous.

The color palette jumps off the painting at us:

This heroine is quite fond of a simple linen shirt, and with good reason. A linen or cotton shirt is one of the garments that you can literally wear every month of the year. It can be worn over a tee shirt and under a sweater in bitter cold, open over a tee shirt or tank top in scorching heat, or on its own (maybe with the sleeves rolled?) on all of the middling days.

Our ... View the Post