June 20, 2022 I’m finding it hard to believe (okay, maybe hard to ACCEPT) that tomorrow will be the longest day of the year. It feels like the weather here in Chicago just “hotted up” in the last 2 weeks… But let’s think of the Solstice as a chance for celebrating our extreme daylight (or […]
December 4, 2014 Since we had so much fun yesterday thinking about our “official” or self-determined seasonal palettes, I thought I’d pursue the idea a bit more today. While I’ve been quite lucky to have been told by trained color evaluations that I’m wearing the right colors, I can easily sympathize with those […]
September 30, 2020 Can You do the Tours? That would be the tours of the cathedral, that are a part of the upcoming anniversary celebration… Since she’s both an architect and an architectural historian, the tours would be simple for her – delightful, in fact… And frankly, she’s been looking for a good opportunity to […]
June 2, 2020 I think we could all use some peace, quiet, and timeless classic simplicity… Calm seems wise right now… And now that the weather (at least in Chicago) has become legitimately summery, it’s time to break out another skirt! I firmly believe in the merits of skirts for warm weather – they’re cool, […]
March 25, 2022 Are you getting ready to wear dresses again? Now that the weather teases us with hints of spring, I begin to ponder what dresses are lurking in my stored warm-weather clothes, and how I will wear them… I know some women prefer to wear dresses in colder weather, because they can wear […]
June 3, 2019 I’m sitting in a kitchen in Washington DC right now, where it is HOT!!! Putting together outfits with summer dresses felt just right… This just feels cool to look at, doesn’t it? I’m still smitten with this – maybe it’s all the stripes? While dresses aren’t as versatile as separates, there are […]
March 6, 2019 Remember this mostly neutral wardrobe? I’m going to revisit this with different accent colors on Friday, but today this wardrobe still needs to be accessorized! This is the scarf upon which I based this wardrobe: And these were the garments: So, to experiment a little bit, and to change up our normal […]
April 5, 2024 The second half – I hope you like them as much as you did the first three wardrobes! First is this subtle, somewhat muted painting… At the end of March, our heroine didn’t have much for olive in her wardrobe! This is excusable though, because she had had some good luck finding […]
July 3, 2019 Ah, finally we have warm weather in Chicago, which makes these choices look logical! This month, I fell warmly into the wonder of white shorts. I do not EVER get a tan, but I find that my legs tend to look reasonably good in white shorts. Don’t ask me how that works […]
June 1 2012 love, Janice
April 5, 2024 The second half – I hope you like them as much as you did the first three wardrobes! First is this subtle, somewhat muted painting… At the end of March, our heroine didn’t have much for olive in her wardrobe! This is excusable though, because she had had some good luck finding […]
October 10, 2022 Last Friday, about lunch-time, the temperature started to drop. Just like that – we went from “well, it may warm up later” to “don’t forget your gloves…” It could bounce back, but I have a hunch that autumn is really here! Are your options for layering warm clothes ready for this sudden […]
June 24, 2020 Another cry for help from my email – a question I LOVE to get… If I order these, how will I wear them? Okay, this is maddening, bordering on insane. The color, described on the website, for these shorts is “Deep Admiral Blue.” Unless I’m drinking something more amusing than coffee at […]
August 10, 2015 You remember these guys, right? They’re the colors that Pantone assured us would be the BIG colors for this fall and winter.Well, I’ve seen a lot of Marsala in the windows at Ferragamo. Other than that, I can’t say that, in my hours and hours spent each day looking at clothing […]
April 3, 2024 Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we’re still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific […]
June 3, 2019 I’m sitting in a kitchen in Washington DC right now, where it is HOT!!! Putting together outfits with summer dresses felt just right… This just feels cool to look at, doesn’t it? I’m still smitten with this – maybe it’s all the stripes? While dresses aren’t as versatile as separates, there are […]
May 24, 2021 This is timely – this morning when I put on my long linen tank top, and linen cropped pants, I realized that I was going to need a cardigan if I was going to go out for lunch, or to the grocery store, or almost anyplace indoors! Air conditioning around Chicago woke […]
November 2, 2016 I’ve been assured by my experts that, as much as WE all understand that “Start with Art” means “building beautiful capsule and travel wardrobes using the colors and styles found in fine art,” nobody else in the Google universe knows what we’re doing… and that keeps new readers from finding The […]
April 3, 2024 Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we’re still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific […]
March 17, 2023 This is pretty cheerful! And I always sense a feeling of the Eiffel Tower when I look at this… So I have FOUR heroines that I’m thinking of, right now… Each of them is going to start the spring with an 8-piece core of beige – lots of linen! And then […]
February 15, 2016 When we left this project, it was neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red meat, as they say…But that’s okay, because transition REQUIRES a period of “this and that.” Unless you’re going to throw out absolutely everything and start from scratch (which I don’t recommend, and actively discourage!), you’re going to […]
December 3, 2014 I’ve never been closely aligned to my designation as a Winter; I pretty much already knew that I was going to wear a lot of black and white, so learning that I was a Winter didn’t change anything for me. However, I know many people who are quite fond of using […]
April 3, 2024 Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we’re still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific […]
January 31, 2015 Fear not, I’m FAR from finished with Start With Art. (frankly, it’s a theme that I will never stop doing – it’s just too beautiful, and too much fun) But there are so many really lovely cashmere sweaters on sale right now – for those of us who are growing MADLY […]
May 17, 2023 I’ve never heard of Bror Lindh – what fun to find new (to me) artists! Our heroine chose to include the darker green of the grass under the tree, rather than the more yellowish green out in the sunlight. Good move, I would say! Garden Tour Weekend A group of her friends […]
September 4, 2019 My favorite post of the month! Although I love everything I give you, I must admit… For new readers, the thesis is this: in January I choose 6 Hermes scarves from the new season, and then, for a year, I add a new outfit each month to six gradually growing and developing […]
February 27, 2023 Let’s spend some time with the other 5 colors that Pantone identified as “important” for Autumn/Winter 2023/24… yes, I would definitely put a brooch over the logo on this cardigan; I just couldn’t resist this, because the color is so perfect! Of course, this color is lovely with navy: I think I […]
August 4, 2015 When your wardrobe plan gets difficult When I received a note about building a wardrobe around the coloring of a Northern Flicker, I was really excited; taupe and black, with accents of orange? What’s not to love? But as most of us have found, it’s one thing to choose and truly commit […]
May 5, 2023 Our heroines are branching out – their lives are different from each other, and their wardrobes will also be different… Seems obvious, except for those times when we’re all told to get a beige trench coat, or a little black dress… Our first heroine is experiencing some REALLY warm weather, interspersed with […]
May 19, 2023 A Wedding at the Lake She’s not convinced that she would want to drag a long white dress across the lawns, boat ramps, errant piles of discarded bait etc., but it’s not her wedding! But she will be beautiful, and just dressy enough to be festive! She’s one of those women who would […]
July 3, 2019 Ah, finally we have warm weather in Chicago, which makes these choices look logical! This month, I fell warmly into the wonder of white shorts. I do not EVER get a tan, but I find that my legs tend to look reasonably good in white shorts. Don’t ask me how that works […]
May 1, 2019 I was fascinated to see how much these wardrobes became versatile this month; when a wardrobe gets to about 10 garments or so it seems to be the critical mass… So this is your “dial-up warning;” there are lots of images here! Here’s the first scarf and color palette: As always, I’m […]
April 3, 2024 Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we’re still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific […]
April 19, 2021 It’s not quite summer yet – you don’t feel like wearing corduroy pants, or fleece-lined jeans, but you still need a “real” pair of pants… yes, I wore a cashmere sweater all day yesterday; we’re supposed to get snow on Tuesday!?!?!? These are the kind of pants that you can wear during Spring […]
May 17, 2023 I’ve never heard of Bror Lindh – what fun to find new (to me) artists! Our heroine chose to include the darker green of the grass under the tree, rather than the more yellowish green out in the sunlight. Good move, I would say! Garden Tour Weekend A group of her friends […]
May 7, 2023 A doctor appointment, a couple of long walks through the city and a couple more long walks through the parks near our home to admire the flowers. Maybe next week, with the promised arrival of warm weather, I will wear more linen and less wool… Not that I don’t like wool in […]
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 […]
March 31, 2023 Accessories make SO much difference; I think we’re going to see that pretty quickly! Remember this painting? And this wardrobe? Let’s work our way through a bunch of outfits, to see what accessories our heroine needs… First up – the all-beige ensemble! Some people make this look wonderful… For this next outfit, […]
December 16, 2020 Channeling her Inner Tiger This is her new favorite scarf: She loves the colors, and the image of the tiger… The tiger is going to be VERY important to her during the next couple of days; she’s going to have to be quite… tough? Assertive? Imposing? Suffice to say that she might […]
April 3, 2024 Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we’re still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific […]
July 6, 2018 Remember this beauty, from January and April? WHEN is the Signing? She’s leaving on vacation – literally leaving tomorrow – when the call comes… “Can you go to the signing, and then to the banquet?” Sure, heck, why not… “It’s the day you get back from vacation… We will pay for […]
May 1, 2019 I was fascinated to see how much these wardrobes became versatile this month; when a wardrobe gets to about 10 garments or so it seems to be the critical mass… So this is your “dial-up warning;” there are lots of images here! Here’s the first scarf and color palette: As always, I’m […]
April 14, 2021 She’s Been Cold… for over a year. Not really physically cold, so much as missing the “chaleur humaine” – the human warmth of society… So when she knew that she was going to finally go on vacation, this was her heart’s desire: okay, just feel free to pause right here and go […]
July 3, 2019 Ah, finally we have warm weather in Chicago, which makes these choices look logical! This month, I fell warmly into the wonder of white shorts. I do not EVER get a tan, but I find that my legs tend to look reasonably good in white shorts. Don’t ask me how that works […]
November 23, 2022 This is her favorite outfit, right now. She wants to build a small wardrobe for the upcoming couple of months using this as her starting point: Normally I would suggest her first garment should be a clean shirt, but that’s not going to look much different – her green sweater covers most […]
Elegant, vibrant, with an immaculate gray bob. Very striking!
April 7, 2021 This Year, She’s Going to Swim… She read last year on her favorite blog that these swimsuits were so flattering that any self-consciousness about being seen in public in swimwear will change forever! So true, and after a missed year at the beach house with her extended family, she’s not going to […]
September 2, 2022 I’ve realized that I really like doing these six wardrobes in 3 separate blog posts; I can spend a lot more time looking for things that strike my fancy! Let’s start with Chrysanthemums! As our heroine looked at her existing wardrobe, and began to think of what she might want for autumn, […]
June 2, 2023 One of my favorite days! I thought that before our heroines went shopping today, they should each take a good look at what they currently own. This might direct their shopping in some way… First, let’s look at this heroine’s wardrobe by showing all of her garments arranged by function: I frankly […]
October 2, 2019 This month, I looked deliberately at each wardrobe to try to make choices that would be versatile and fill in some of the holes that I could see… This first color palette still delights me: A simple outfit; most of these wardrobes could benefit from the addition of a white shirt… I […]
