warm weather Archives

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Beach Roadtrip Silk Scarf by Kate Spade New York

August 19, 2020

One of you has had a moment of serious whappage, and asked for my opinion...

This is the scarf in question - it's SO pretty that I might be tempted to buy it and figure out how to wear it later; THAT'S not the cleverest way to shop!

Oh my HEART - this scarf screams summer in so many different ways....

Our heroine has been invited to go along with her spouse to a fishing cabin that's walking distance to a very charming little town. While she won't be doing any fishing, she WILL be sitting outdoors reading, walking into town to browse about, and probably doing a bit of walking on the trail around the lake. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

My approach for her is to assemble 3 little clusters, based on the ... View the Post

A Navy-Based Summer Weekly Timeless Wardrobe – Adding Accessories

August 7, 2020

Let's look at summer accessories! I love this stuff...

First up, let's start with the core "Weekly Timeless Wardrobe" for summer that we've been studying for a while:

To this handy, tidy little wardrobe, let's add the bright blue accents we saw before:

So our Summer heroine is going to start choosing accessories by assembling outfits from this 20-piece capsule wardrobe:

First, why NOT wear floral canvas shoes?

This heroine got her sunglasses back in the Spring Accessories assortment, but she certainly could still use a good hat! (the crown collapses on this hat, so it can be packed - such smart people...)

And of course we all need masks... sigh...

A pretty dress deserves some nice ... View the Post

Adding Accessories to a Navy-Based Spring Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

August 6, 2020

Accessories! My favorite things in any wardrobe... except maybe a glorious sweater, or something velvet...

I'm going to use just the Spring Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, and 1 Cluster of accents, for this; I've got a reason, trust me!

Remember this amazingly useful bunch of stuff?

If we add these seven Accent and Extra garments, we will have a nice tidy 20-piece wardrobe. In my world, that feels a lot like 4 5-piece clusters! (or, of course, 5 4-piece clusters! you could find a few other combinations, I'm sure...)

These are the 20 Spring garments to which we will be adding accessories:

As has been my habit lately, I'm going to assemble six outfits from this fun little wardrobe, and then add ... View the Post

Adding Accents to a Warm Weather Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

August 4, 2020

Let's see what kind of fun we can have, now that the Weekly Timeless Wardrobes are finished!

It seems to me that during the Spring and Summer, you might just as well keep both seasonal 13-piece Wardrobes in your closet - 26 garments isn't going to fill any but the tiniest of closets. (I had a closet in Dublin that was pretty full when you got above 30....)

Of course, in the earliest months of Spring, you're probably going to want some Winter clothes still! But let's assume for our purposes that the following plan is for all of the warm weather months, no matter when they fall!

Remember, we had complete, if somewhat monochromatic, Spring and Summer wardrobes from earlier:

Let's put everything from these ... View the Post

A Spring Wardrobe! A Navy & Beige Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

July 31, 2020

One more season! The difference between the Spring wardrobe and the Winter is so pronounced - I thought that I was doing something wrong, until I stopped for a minute and remembered that... well... Spring IS DIFFERENT from Winter.

And I thank Buddha for that, every lovely April day...

You can clearly see that Spring is where my personal preferences shifted to pink WITH A VENGEANCE!

As always, there are 3 clusters here - these could be arranged in a different way if it works better for you! The whole point is that it should work for you...

This is what the original Spring wardrobe looks like when it's broken into 3 Clusters:

Am I going to be able to make this work in navy and ... View the Post

Building Your Weekly Timeless Wardrobe by Clusters!

July 28, 2020

Yes, the series ended yesterday, but my ideas about it could go on for a long time...

The world's easiest flashback - remember these 13 garments from yesterday's post?

It's been pretty evident to me for a while that these 13 garments arranged themselves into 3 clusters pretty neatly. Actually, you could arrange these pieces in at least a few different ways, but for now I'm looking at this:

If you're not inclined to want to analyze your wardrobe on a weekly basis, maybe shift to a monthly basis, and look at clusters rather than individual garments!

Plus, this is a really easy way to pack - if you pack clusters, you know for a fact that you have garments that go together! (you do of course have to be sure ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 52: Sleeveless Dress or Sundress

July 27, 2020

The END of this project! I'm feeling a bit wistful...

But let's look at summer dresses. I live in dresses (well, in normal times I live in dresses) in the summer, because they're cool, always appropriate, and so easy. Make sure you've got the right undergarments, and you're comfortable and good to go!

I'm starting with this dress because it's a great deal, and would be madly versatile. I see this worn over something, in cooler weather...

At this point in wardrobe building, there aren't many rules for choosing this dress! Something you love, something for which you have all of the right accessories, and something that will be cool in hot weather...

For those who are building wardrobe around our 6 Scarves, ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Paisley Skirt

July 24, 2020

Her email to me was urgent, but self-effacing. She REALLY wants this skirt - I mean really really really REALLY wants it... but she doesn't want to be a bother...

Such nice people you all are!

But who could resist this challenge? It's mid-calf, it's pull on, it's got some great colors:

Our heroine was thinking of this as the pivot piece in a travel capsule wardrobe - would that be possible? I say - resoundingly - YES!

Let's start with a couple of tank tops and a 2nd layer for freezing indoor temps, as well as cool outdoor evenings:

A couple of uncomplicated pink tee shirts, and some sparkle earrings! And yes, you absolutely can wear Keds with skirts; it's relaxed and brings the dressiness level of ... View the Post

Accessories! Revisiting Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 23, 2020

Of course she's packing accessories!

Yesterday, she expanded her initial 8-piece wardrobe to a 16-piece 4 by 4 Wardrobe, since she and her sweetheart are going to be staying up at her sister-in-law's B&B for a few weeks...

Her inspiration?

Her clothes are all good to go - this is what she's taking (or what's already there...):

And these are the accessories that she's already got on-site:

To be sure that she doesn't miss anything, she assembles a handful of representative outfits that she has packed. And then she thinks about what she's going to be doing...

The photographers and other staff want to make it seem as if all of the guests are piled into the kitchen, helping with dinner. It's ... View the Post

Strategically Expanding a Capsule Wardrobe: Start with Art – Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 22, 2020

Well THAT went well... Yesterday, our heroine was caught off guard when she realized that she needed to pack and leave for the weekend in 5 minutes!

She managed, using this painting as her color inspiration; she felt that the swirling and diffusion in this painting accurately represented the state of her brain:

The photographer and crew from the famous food magazine LOVED her sister-in-law's B&B. They loved it SO MUCH that they're going to come back in a few days, and film a half-hour video about them for their You Tube channel.

Panic ensues. And our heroine and her partner and enlisted to come stay at the B&B for... well, for the foreseeable future!

They're both leaving everything that they packed ... View the Post

Start with Art: Blue Major Elle by Marijah Bac Cam

July 20, 2020

She's been confused for a few weeks; nothing medical, or really an issue, but the inside of her head often feels like this:

Although it feels like chaos, at least it has a nice tidy color palette, which could easily be all neutrals!

Are You Ready to Go? "What???? Go where???" She just got off of a conference call with the rest of her department, when her sweetheart came by their guest bedroom to check on her...

"You forgot? We're going to my sister's B&B for the weekend." They're going to be photographing for a magazine spread all day Saturday, and they were invited to help, and to eat all of the food...

"We need to leave in about 5 minutes if we're going to beat the traffic...."

Dear oh dear... ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 51: Light Neutral Shorts or Capris

July 20, 2020

If I were going to start this list from start, I might put these shorts a LOT earlier in the summer list! But I don't think that retail inventories are normal this year, do you?

Since we're almost finished with the Summer wardrobe, and we still have all of the Spring clothes in our (imaginary) wardrobes, we can be pretty relaxed about any guidelines for this next addition:

It makes a lot of sense to have a pair of shorts that matches your favorite 2nd layer; it's like having the world's most casual suit!

If you have this "suit" in white, there's literally no color that you can't wear with it!

Remember that if you cant' find accessories that match your accent color, you can always choose ... View the Post