warm weather Archives - Page 26 of 33

Start with Art: White Ship by John Singer Sargent

April 23, 2015 That time of year is fast approaching when the lucky ones among us get all kinds of great invitations for weekends! If you have friends with a lake house, you know what I mean - lots of time in the water - in a canoe, a kayak, or an inner tube! Chilly evenings, cooking out, laughing 'til your sides hurt... The last thing you want to worry about is what to pack!

Sargent's painting put me very much in the right mood for this scenario:

Maybe you're driving to the lake, taking the train and being met, or taking the Jitney, but under any circumstances, you want to look nice - casual, but still pretty, with attention to detail.

Two swimsuits might seem like overdoing it, but if ... View the Post

Packing for a Weekend in the City

April 22, 2015

So often, you live just a quick train ride from a big city, but you don't make the time to visit! But there's a new exhibit at the big museum that you REALLY want to see, and a new restaurant... So let's cash in a few of those hotel loyalty points, and go downtown for a quick weekend away.

But what to take? How about starting with your favorite shawl, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art? It's a perfect reflection of your preferred color palette of autumn colors, and you know you will want it with you - at least on the train, for drafts, and in the restaurant, too...

scarf - Metropolitan Museum of Art Shop

For the trip, break out the saffron cardigan! There's never a bad time to wear it. ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe for a Long Weekend in Paris, with a Blue Jacket…

April 15, 2015

It was pointed out to me that this lovely nubuck suede jacket (thanks, House of Fraser!) would also look lovely with navy... so I'm taking us on an imaginary long weekend in Paris this time...

love, Janice

Looking Back:

2014: Chic Sightings: Dots! 2013: Project 333: My First Week in "My" Uniform 2012: Packing: Brown and Turquoise ... View the Post

My French 5-Piece Capsule Wardrobe for Spring and Summer 2015

April 11, 2015 This spring is a festival of Eileen Fisher! There's an Eileen Fisher Company Store in Schaumburg, in the west Chicago suburbs, which is a wonderful place to shop if you have both a plan and some discipline! Couple that with being able to get Eileen Fisher clothes at every department store in Chicago, and the canny shopper can often scare up some good deals! So, for this upcoming warm weather period, I've got a new red twinset-ish sort of arrangement, as well as a pewter cardigan, a GORGEOUS silver silk jacket, and my engineering-striped dress. (the black dress I bought in New York qualifies as a neutral, if anything ever did...)

I'm just going to work with five simple black ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe for a Long Weekend in Chicago, with a Blue Jacket

April 9, 2015

I clearly am doing something wrong in the blogging world, because after blogging for 4 years, I just NOW have received my first "swag" i.e. a gift from a retailer! Other bloggers seem to be swamped with gifts, but that's not my experience... sigh... But the lovely people at House of Fraser sent me this gorgeous item, pictured below! It's nubuck suede, which is the best stuff available! Well-made, too... When I lived in Ireland, I remember that when you absolutely wanted to buy clothes, your best option was to hop onto the LUAS tram, and take it south to the Dundrum Shopping Center, where the only House of Fraser in the area was located. Their store was like an oasis of nice things in an absolute SEA of ... View the Post

Start With a Bag: Longchamps Tote

March 13, 2015 Sigh... The happy owner of this lovely bag wanted me to style it with bright colors. Believe me, I've been working toward that goal for a few days, and it just never looked good... But this bag is ideally suited as a way to integrate earth tones and black into a lovely warm-weather travel ensemble. And of course... the bag's no longer available. But you really should check out the Longchamp site from time to time, because they always do special editions that are wonderful. Some day, they might have something perfect for you!

Yes, the earrings are bamboo styled. You don't want to overdo that kind of thing, but I thought a bit of matching would be sort of ... View the Post

Start with Art: Still Life with Bottle by Samuel John Peploe

March 11, 2015 Ah, this made me think of warm weather, leisure, simplicity, being outdoors...

Yes, it's a cardigan, but it's relaxed, and it's linen! When choosing loafers for this trip, I would make sure that they were low enough cut over the foot so that they would look nice with shorts, worn without socks. I'd even travel without socks, although I think I'd want some sort of little socklet/footie for in the airport. Barefoot in the airport gives me the willies!

If you're only going away for a few days, a Six-Pack is the perfect way to pack. These clothes would fit into the smallest tote... (No, this dress has not been made to measure for someone - the brand name is ... View the Post

Start With Art: Peripheral Vision 2 by Elis Cooke, or How to Pack for a Casual Vacation in France

February 23, 2015

A recent request prompted this capsule: lightning up burgundy/grey/forest green into brighter cranberry, light mossy green and grey - specifically for a 3-week trip to France this spring. A lovely trip, and beautiful colors with which to work! Just for fun, I searched (and searched) until I found a painting to complement this idea:

For our purposes, I isolated these colors, but there's also clearly an opportunity for white, cream, and a gentle blue, as well as a touch a deeper charcoal. This painting could generate a palette with which one could live forever.

As always, our travel outfit includes closed-toe shoes, a cardigan, and a scarf. But this ... View the Post

Start With a Scarf: Le Voyage de Pytheas by Hermes

February 20, 2015 A couple of days ago in this post, I included this page:

And someone asked if I could build a wardrobe around this scarf. Since I already had a clear vision about the details of the scarf, and the color scheme was familiar, it was pretty straightforward!

Maybe because I'm freezing my toenails off, or maybe because I've received lots of questions about seeing some warm-weather travel capsules, but I pictured this as a long weekend to a warm destination. (PLEASE notice that I included starfish earrings to go with the fish mosaic border of this scarf; it's details like this that keep me amused!)

This would keep you covered for a few days, ... View the Post

Start With Art: Wildlife near the Gosse Range – Albert Namatjira

January 29, 2015 There's really no question that I'm going to be looking at warm weather clothing!

Although the overall look of this painting is very light and bright, I always feel more comfortable anchoring a wardrobe with a few pieces of dark neutral, so I took advantage of the birds to work a dark brown into the scheme. The rosy beige of the sky is my 2nd neutral, and after that, the sky's the limit - pastels taken from the grass, the trees, and the distant mountains are all possibilities. What lovely colors...

I would start collecting pastel, bone, earthy accessories...

love, Janice ... View the Post

White Capsule Wardrobe with Grey, Turquoise, or Celadon Green Accessories

January 24, 2015 For now, I'm finishing up this idea of monochromatic outfits and "accessory families" with some summery white linen items. (yes, they look sort of beige or ivory on the page, because white on white would be an incomprehensible blizzard...) Since the available linen white shoes are limited in January, I decided to grab some shoes that match or tone with the accessories - always a fun option! And for the elusive celadon, I chose some gold sandals; metallic are always worth remembering when you're struggling with a shoe color choices.

I'm starting to work on some more "Start With Art" wardrobes - anybody have some ... View the Post

Start With Art: A Shelf of Books -> a Summer Wardrobe

November 7, 2014 You really, seriously, can get inspiration anywhere, if you keep your eyes and your aesthetic heart open to what's out there. This absolutely wonderful picture was sent to me - what a delightful mix of softly faded colors.

It wasn't at all hard to come up with a color scheme. Many of you ask about how I build color wheels - I use the graphing gizmo in PowerPoint. I use PowerPoint for all of my vignettes, because it does everything I need. Just insert a graph into a slide, and then change the colors and sizes of the various wedges to suit your preferences. You have a new, beautiful mnemonic for your wardrobe colors, AND you have a new skill to put on your ... View the Post