warm weather Archives

Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year – Shōman, Grain Full

May 23, 2022 2-Lane Roads, Top Down

After the main crops are planted, a lot of farms open to the public on weekends for visits, tours, and even a bit of shopping!

Our heroine is a particular fan of old barn architecture, of driving in the country, and of buying fresh produce!

And she takes this as a chance to dress nicely - she already knows that she's going to need a scarf in her hair, so wearing a dress isn't overdoing it. It's not like SHE'S the farmer, right?

I like to think that all of these heroines have a pair of driving shoes in their car (these come in about 20 colors!) - they kick them off when they park, and slip on their sandals... Better for driving, better for their sandals, and safer too!

Yes, people who ... View the Post

Things to Remember to Pack When the Weather is Impossible to Predict

May 20, 2022

It happens every year; May is cold cold cold, with high temperatures in the teens Celsius, and then BAM - the temperature goes up to the upper 20s... (For North Americans - we've been from LOW 50s to upper 80s with HIDEOUS humidity, within 12 hours, and then back down again 12 hours later...)

Pity the tourists... they seem to generally be prepared for the hot weather, and then we get down into the 50s and they freeze.

So every year, vendors here in Chicago sell tons of sweatshirts. But still, without other appropriate clothing, knees turn blue, toes lose feeling... It really spoils a vacation.

And of course, this happens to the rest of us who live here; we think that summer is finally here, and we pack away our ... View the Post

Version 4 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 18, 2022

There are so many different reasons to love one scarf:

Cerise Yes, her name means cherry! Sometimes, you will indeed see her wearing a cherry-printed dress, or wee cherry earrings...

But for her trip with her 3 friends, she is embracing her love of stripes, and challenging herself to an entirely red and white travel capsule wardrobe!

(okay, except for the blue pants in which she's going to travel; she's taking the bus, and she's NOT willing to sacrifice her good white pants to the whims of mass transit...)

If you're looking for a "weekender" bag that doesn't blend into the crowd, this Vera Bradley bag comes in seven colors...

Cerise is indeed the woman who seized the parrot theme of the scarf and ran ... View the Post

Version 2 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 13, 2022

Why yes, many of you got a lengthy preview of this post on Thursday! My domestic responsibilities managed to do a distract me from my normal organizing skills (ahem...), and I neglected to put an appropriate scheduling time on the release of this post. Sigh...

Love,

Janice

They love this scarf for very different reasons...

And they will all find something different in it...

Clary Yes, they all suspect that her real name is Clara. She publishes historical romance novels, and that soft, flowery, ruffled aesthetic seems to permeate much of her life!

She's the woman that you see walking along the beach in a long skirt - perfectly, winsomely tied to keep it dry! She has these ... View the Post

Version 1 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 11, 2022

All 4 of them loved the scarf, for very different reasons!

They all decided to treat themselves to it!

Their next weekend together was interesting... Sunny Yes, Sunny has lots of friends!

As soon as she saw the vivid gold in her new scarf, she was smitten. Packing for her weekend get-together with her friends was so easy:

This is a VERY casual weekend - a lot of time outdoors...

It doesn't look like a lot of clothes, but she won't lack for what to wear, in cool weather or warm!

I suspect that her friends will all have a bit of beige or indigo in their travel capsule wardrobes, but their accent will be QUITE different from each other!

love,

Janice

p.s. Three years ... View the Post

Preparing for Warm Weather – Stress Dressing Clusters!

May 9, 2022

Years and years ago, I shared with the world my secret for how I get dressed on those mornings, when everything goes wrong and I don't even want to THINK about clothing...

Right now, our weather is madly uncertain - it's been a cold and wet spring, but I think that in the next few days, summer is going to arrive with a vengeance.

How to prepare? I can't just open my closet door and hope to make sense of a complete change of seasons...

So I've sorted out a wee wardrobe cluster, all pressed, hanging in 1 place, and ready to go!

You can choose any 6 garments that work well for you, but I would always suggest that you include a 2nd layer, like a cardigan, and a pair of long pants. This is the perfect ... View the Post

Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year – Rikka, the Beginning of Summer

May 6, 2022

Yes, for those of us still shivering in VERY cool temperatures, this is aspirational. I think we all have to accept that these 24 Japanese Seasons probably don't conform to what we're currently experiencing...

Nonetheless, aspiring to a warm summer day is a lovely daydream!

Shopping, Cooking, Celebrating Summer The Farmers Markets are back! And she's ready - tote bag in hand, shirt with a bit of a sleeve to keep sunburn off of her shoulders...

Never was a woman so thrilled to be going shopping!

Does she wear lots of olive and denim-ish blue?

Of is this our heroine from Wednesday, dressed for a casual day?

A couple of hours later, she's got her work cut out for her! Some freezing, some ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha

May 4, 2022

Wear Your Colors She always took it to heart - auburn hair, ivory skin, lots of golden freckles...

So when she was invited to her friend's country home for the weekend, packing was easy! These weekends are basically a lot of eating, a lot of laughing, and a LOT of napping...

After dropping by her office for a few hours, she catches the bus; she will have to walk a bit when she arrives, but she will be nice and hungry when she gets there... Dinner is always late on Friday nights!

Many of the friends assembled there will sleep late - although there are always a couple of ambitious people who get up before dawn to go hiking!

Brunch will last for HOURS... followed by naps for most of them. If you're not ... View the Post

May 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

May 2, 2022

Let's visit our gradually growing wardrobes, based on beautiful scarves from PJ Studio Accessories!

This month, it was SO easy to shop for this wardrobe! I can't imagine how I personally would get through the summer without a shirtdress in a light fabric...

Each of these wardrobes now includes 19 garments - pretty much enough to get through the summer! If you're inclined to participate in the "21 Garments, 21 Days" challenges, any of these wardrobe plus a couple of tops would get you through the next 21 days pretty easily. Yes, some of these garments are skewed a bit toward cooler weather; some substitutions might be needed...

All the shoes you might need - from boots to sandals!

How might ... View the Post

Start with a Detail – The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 29, 2022

She wasn't sure that she loved the painting, but she saw something in it that REALLY spoke to her...

She's Always Been a Towhead She violated all of those pieces of advice about looking at art, and she got up REALLY CLOSE to the painting...

THIS is what she saw, that called to her:

Her hair was turning from blond white to just plain (amazing!) white. She avoided the sun, as all wise women do. And she embraced the soft, the pale, the subtle muted colors that suited her so well...

if I didn't already have a white summer cardigan...

Beige is the core of her wardrobe - winter, summer, no matter! And light grey wool, in the cool weather...

She's excited to add some light green to her wardrobe! ... View the Post

Revising a Wardrobe Plan: Start with Art – The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 27, 2022 Our heroine felt... unsatisfied with her initial wardrobe plan. It was perfectly practical, and many women would have been delighted with having black, beige and pastels available to them... So our heroine went back to her inspiration painting, to try to identify what about it really appeal to her!

She loved the contrast between the trees and the pastels in the water... She wasn't mad about the color of the sand, or pavement, or whatever that mungy greenish beige was supposed to be! ..... Walking to work, she saw a very nicely dressed man, in a navy suit, a light blue shirt, and dark tie... NAVY! Navy and pastels are classic. And then she saw a lovely woman wearing a simple white tee shirt with a navy ... View the Post

Start with Art: Vocal Fabric of the Singer Rosa Silber by Paul Klee, and French 5-Piece Wardrobes

April 20, 2022

We visited this fascinating painting a few years ago, and I've never forgotten about it!

So when someone asked me about having a couple of accent colors for summer, and after we looked at the possibilities of 1 scarf for 4 women, I got to thinking.... (as my mother would say - "we knew you were thinking; we smelled the smoke...")

The last time we looked at this painting, I only isolated 3 accent colors, but today I'm choosing four!

So my plan is this - I'm going to start us out with a core summer wardrobe in light colors - white and beige. Then I'm going to scare up four French 5-Piece Wardrobes - one in each of the accent colors...

Let's start here:

I'm not going to run through how many outfits ... View the Post