The strain of looking well: essentials and the capsule wardrobe
Was equipping a wardrobe simpler back in the day? Sometimes I long wistfully for the bygone era of the four-dress wardrobe — one for Sunday best, one for second-best, one for everyday, one for mucky jobs. Then I remember the exhausting amount of dressing and undressing involved in some Victorian ladies’ lives and thank my lucky stars I have it so easy. From Judith Flanders’s excellent The Victorian House:
Many women expected to wear different dresses for different times of day… [One woman] married and moved to Guernsey, where she kept to the style she had been accustomed to in the prosperous town of Guildford:
“For breakfast she had a pretty flowered dressing-gown. At ten she put on a simple business-like tailor-made costume for shopping in Peterport. On returning she changed into a workaday dress and an overall for kitchen operations. The overall was removed for lunch, and then, for the afternoon, a really good dress was put on for paying calls. When we came back a little exhausted from the strain of looking well and being polite, a loose tea-gown was the thing, and this remained on until it was time to dress for dinner.”
Seven different outfits of clothes for an ordinary day.
The book goes on to discuss how common this kind of dressing, minutely differentiated by function, actually was (not unheard-of, but by no means universal). She concludes that it was mostly for those with aspirations to fashionable life and that, even among the more affluent classes, a wardrobe of five dresses or so could be made to serve all occasions.
Those ladies didn’t have the endless mix-and-match permutations of the modern wardrobe of separates to contend with. But then, nor did they have to lug their own groceries home, stir-fry dinner, sprint for buses, cycle to work, interpret “business casual” or run marathons. Modern women’s lives contain such a variety of activities and personae that it’s hardly surprising that our wardrobes have expanded accordingly.
Your capsule wardrobe is inadequate.
Due to Fashion on the Ration, I’ve been a little overwhelmed lately by the strategy involved in making/buying the minimum amount of clothing to liberate the maximum possible number of viable outfit combinations. (FWIW, I also suck at chess.) But I’ve been heartened by how many participants in Zoe‘s brainchild Me-Made-May have said that the challenge has opened their eyes to how few garments they actually need.
I also found this article on capsule wardrobes at YouLookFab to be enlightening. Instead of aiming for the One Wardrobe To Rule Them All (where you turn up to all occasions in a trench and LBD) the author uses the concept of multiple wardrobe capsules to help you break down “what to wear” into a series of manageable, function-focused chunks tailored to your lifestyle. Seems obvious, but I found it useful.
As with nearly all other advice on what clothes to put on, Step 1 is appraising your current situation (weight, measurements, age, budget, lifestyle) truthfully. This has been a major stumbling block for me, as for many others. Until recently, my wardrobe would have allowed me to spend a week going to the opera, masked balls, dark and musky clubs and historical re-enactments with relative ease, but I struggled every morning to find something to wear to work. It’s an interesting comment on the differences between how I see (or would like to see) myself and my life and the reality.
*Wardrobe may not actually lead to Narnia.
Fantasy Wardrobe Susannah:
- Still lives in a climate with four well-defined seasons and no sudden, drastic temperature changes.
- Doesn’t have to do a lot of walking.
- Still spends quantities of time sipping cocktails in glitzy bars or getting down and sweaty on the dance floor.
- Only goes to work occasionally, mainly to show off sexy-librarian outfits.
- Possesses a time machine, rendering Victorian, Viking and Regency clothing practical everyday wear.
I’m all for dressing the princess inside, and this is a big part of what I love about the vintage/historical sewing community, but I do need something to wear to the office, you know?
Chaotic wardrobe tendencies are further complicated by the way clothing and accessory retailers (in London, at least) encourage “magpie shopping” by favoring statement pieces spangled with gewgaws over stylish, mixable essentials. Hunt for an elegant black turtleneck, a classy pencil skirt or a sleek, simple pair of strappy sandals and you may hunt in vain. It’s entirely possible here to have a bulging wardrobe and no actual outfits.
Do you suffer from fantasy wardrobe syndrome, buying or making clothes that don’t tie in to your actual lifestyle at all? Are you now or have you ever been a magpie shopper? How is it possible to change these habits?
The word in my youth was to “buy the basics first, then add the fun things”. You were supposed to buy “the best quality you can afford”, and “nothing trendy or faddish”, so the pieces would last for years, and eventually you would have enough basics to splash out a bit to satisfy the inner princess. It worked, sort of. I was spending my extra cash on travel or saving to go back to school, so the princess always had to wait, but the basics did get me through the work week respectably if not trendily, when I worked in an office.
Some years ago I read a book about wardrobe capsules and was very taken with the concept. I can’t remember the title or the author, or I would credit them. The idea was to get two suits, each consisting of jacket, skirt, and trousers. Each suit was in a basic colour that coordinated with the other one. For instance, a black suit and a gray suit. The jacket of one worked with the skirt and pants of the other, etc. They didn’t have to be neutrals. Red and yellow might be okay if you could fit it into your lifestyle. One pair of shoes and one purse was supposed to cover every contingency. This wasn’t meant to be a year’s worth of clothes, but only to cover a few months. You would have your spring capsule, your fall capsule, etc.
The kingpin of the capsule was a matching top and skirt in a print that coordinated with both of the basic suits. The two print pieces could be worn together so they looked like a dress, or separated to wear with the suit pieces. This was the weak spot in the capsule plan for me, because I like prints but I’m very picky about them. The print has to be just right before even thinking about how it matches with two other outfits. Of course, I never found one I wanted to use, so no capsule for me. I wasn’t working in an office anymore, anyway, so had no real need for dressy clothes, but I still liked to play with the capsule idea as kind of puzzle.
Years later, though, a well-dressed friend lost some weight and gave me all her fat clothes, and lo and behold they were a capsule. The print was a beautiful paisley with a gold-orange background, and prominent splashes of eggplant and dark green. The print top was more like a jacket than a blouse, so the outfit looked more like a suit than a dress. There was an eggplant suit and a dark green one, with extra pants and tops in those colours, and it really did work very well. (This was when those colours were in style.) I wore it to shreds. Ever since then, I’ve been looking for another good print.
All that being said, I think you could do worse than use beige for a summer office neutral. Beige pants or skirt with a white top and a great leather belt is a fresh, timeless look, very cool and efficient looking. I suppose it hints of the military. Beige with black is just so chic. And beige goes with almost any colour, and will take you well into fall, and back out in spring, where it works great with navy.
When it comes to shoes, if you have serious walking to do, you really ought to get proper walking shoes, either athletic shoes or big old clunky brown leather, and carry your pretty ones in a tote bag. If it’s just a matter of a block or two, go ahead and wear your pretties.
If you can stand to hear me hark back to my youth once more, I was taught to buy good (“as good as I could afford”) leather shoes and take them straight to the shoemaker for half-soles and lifts. I used to walk a lot in those days, and getting those extra pieces on the soles and heels meant the shoe itself never touched the pavement. All the wear was in the added-on bits, which could be cheaply replaced. Well, it’s hard to even find a really good shoe anymore, with all the imported crap in the stores, and then it’s even harder to find a shoemaker, so maybe it’s just as good to wear your pretty shoes and throw them away at the end of the summer.
God, do I suffer from fantasy wardrobe syndrome. FWS. I envision myself in elegant black turtlenecks, pencil skirts and strappy sandals. With a cute vintage bag to go with. But reality is grubby jeans, a t-shirt that is usually inside out and hair that looks like wild shrubbery. Long way from elegant outfits. But, hope springs eternal!
I’m fairly good at planning my wardrobe in general – I look it over twice a year to identify the gaps. My problem is with shoes. It’s amazing how many times I’ve managed to fool myself that I’ll actually start wearing heels more! I have one pair of summer and one pair of winter shoes that I wear every day and replace when they wear out, and about ten pairs of fabulous heels that I wear less than once a year each.
“My wardrobe would have allowed me to spend a week going to the opera, masked balls, dark and musky clubs and historical re-enactments with relative ease, but I struggled every morning to find something to wear to work.”
phew! Talk about being cornered.
Up to 7 outfits a day! They must have spent hours each day just changing clothes. Thank you for this very interesting post.
The ladies would’ve had maids to help them, don’t forget!
I am a woeful dresser but trying to pick myself up. I just loathe the whole shopping/trying on/nothing fitting experience. So my work wardrobes tend to be very boring and I wear the same things to death, usually black pants/black skirt and various tops/blouses although I did make myself a houndstooth check tunic once. Recent weight gain has meant I’ve had to find new clothes but restricted budget has driven me to the discount dept stores and thrift shops. I’ve discovered I like pottering around thrift shops and on my first thrift store visit, the new work wardrobe palette was decided by finding a cute red handbag. So that prompted me to go for black/red/white/grey but recently I branched out by adding a beigey-tan skirt. I’m also trying to improve my sewing skills so having to alter the thrift store finds is good practice for me.
I remember reading a wardrobe advice article as a girl which recommended you only needed 3 skirts – a straight black skirt, a tweed skirt and a floral one. That advice was from the 70s. Would it still apply today?
I think your post hit why I haven’t been able to do the “strategic wardrobe” plan yet–I’m no good at chess, and absolute rubbish at anything that requries a deep strategy! rofl.
Joking aside, I have tried being more spartan with my wardrobe and plan things out a bit more. It does, and doesn’t work for me. Partly because I have Fashion ADD, and also because I suffer from bouts of “Fantasy Wardrobe”. But, then again, I am comfortable with a certain amount of looking completely out of place and theatrical. In theory I like the idea of building a core wardrobe, and have tried to at least aim for that (summer is core colors of red and blue, while winter is gray and berry–obviously I like shades of red!). Right now I’ve been beefing up my summer stuff with more blue pieces, and introducing some supporting colors/prints (pink, green, white and occasional splashes of yellow). It takes a lot of work for me to figure these things out, and I’m sure I’m doing something wrong! lol. Whether it pans out in the end, or I go down in a fireball of wardrobe confusion and frustration, who knows?
♥ Casey
blog | elegantmusings.com
http://www.dressaday.com/2006/05/plaid-joy.html
I’ve been pondering your post the past day, trying to remember how I figured out how to plan a wardrobe. Part of it was a stack of fabric and patterns that made me feel guilty so I joined the PR wardrobe contest (there’s one on now…). Part of it was that post on Erin’s blog. She really opened my eyes and encouraged me to dress for joy. I think it is important to have a few basics and to explore your own personal style through other pieces that coordinate with those basics. Someone mentioned a black pencil skirt- a must. They’re easy to make and go with everything. You’ll always look put together. Several of her archive posts helped me figure out how to pursue my own style and enjoy it, how to make it all work together (more or less, I still have heaps to learn).
I struggled with this for years. Finally, I looked at the men. They wear basic pants/suit and a different shirt/tie every day. 15 years ago I adopted a work uniform. Black or neutral skirt or pants (I have 4 or so to rotate around) and a nice top (number varies by season, but 5 -7 usually) and 2 work jackets, one black, one light colored. This works for whatever color you prefer and with this basic combo you can toss on whatever vintage scarf or jewelry you feel like wearing. I make most of my clothing and make sure that everything fits me perfectly.
Getting my butt out of bed in the morning is hard enough without having to stress about what I wear. Oddly, since I adopted this theory I constantly get comments from other women about how I manage to look pulled together every day. The secret is not to re-create the wheel every day. Now I can enjoy my fancy dress “off work” clothing more because I don’t worry about work clothes.
I call it uniform dressing. It’s possible I read about it somewhere long ago and ran with the idea, I just don’t remember anymore!
Hah, fantasy-wardrobe me is a genius remixer with bohemian flare and the ability to rock wild ensembles. Real me reaches for the simplest possible garment in the closet every single day, and when I’m out of dress pants in natural fibers and short-sleeve blouses will sometimes branch out into sensible dress skirts in natural fibers and long-sleeve blouses.
I TOTALLY understand you! I too have hardly anything to wear! (Although I don’t have anything particularly fancy or historical reenactmenty either…) I looked in my wardrobe the other day and I discovered that I only own 4 tops, only 2 of which are suitable for winter. This is OUTRAGEOUS! I often wear the same thing 3 times a week and it’s getting REALLY EMBARRASSING.
I am very guilty of not being able to put a decent outfit together. I always buy/make something then never get around to making/buying something that goes with it. And I only want to make things that I LOVE so I make fabulous things (that are short and/or cleavagey) which are not suitable for work.
Ridiculous.
You can definitely create a wardrobe with lighter neutral colors. Tops can be light color or bright color. In a fashion magazine recently I read about mixing more bold colors to pair with neutrals: red with gray, purple, white or navy; orange with tan, olive brown or navy; turquoise with brown, white and gray.
Though I did not officially participate in Me-Made-May, I did challenge myself to wear one item that I’ve sewn each day. As a bonus challenge, I could not repeat an outfit. I have lots of separates, but tend to wear the same things together all the time. This was a great opportunity to make some new outfits for my regular rotation.
I have a hard time with “fantasy” sewing. The clothes that I want to sew (beautiful silk tops, flippy skirts, nice dresses) are not really appropriate for my SAHM lifestyle. I’m trying to be more realistic with what I need on a daily basis. One of these days I’m going to make some fancy clothes and make my husband take me some place nice where I can wear them!
Thanks, that’ll help a lot. Kitty
Hmm. I think my fantasy wardrobe *is* my everyday wardrobe, at least in summer. I wear calico dresses and white cotton underthings, and handknit cardigans. Sometimes I feel a bit odd, but you know, this Little House on the Prairie crap really is well adapted to the prairie climate. What am I supposed to wear when it’s 95F and humid, polyester from Target?
I’ve pretty much given up shopping. I bought some tanks at Old Navy when I had a gift card, and I still look at Goodwill but never expect to find anything in my size. Retailwise, bad engineering and bad taste continue to plague the plus sizes.
My solution to the different situations and seasons that require clothing is: separates and layering. I know the joy of a nice dress, but in reality it’s much easier to combine the same 20 or so pieces differently than to have a dress for every occasion. My staples are: wide-leg pants in wool, cotton and denim, knee length skirts in wool and cotton, lots of tops from t-shirts to silk blouses, and cardigans. That’s what I wear 80 % of the time.
Regarding the magpie: I have this tendency not when buying, but when sewing. Making a special dress is so much more fun than sewing basics in neutral colors! I don’t necessarily see this in the shops though. I’m a big H & M shopper (when I do shop), and while they have extremely trendy stuff, a lot of my staples are from them. You just need to dig through the rubble. BTW, I love your quest for the perfect, frugal wardrobe. Very interesting.
I’m currently sitting in the office wearing self-made blouse with Elvis collar, protruding cuffs and a front bow that constantly needs readjusting, teamed with a Joan Holloway-tight high-waisted skirt which is cutting off the blood supply to my brain. I may have felt super stylish as I dressed this morning but, as I soon remembered, the outfit isn’t suited to running to the tube (I can only move my feet about three inches in front of each other), avoiding Soho commuters or sitting at a desk all day. All day I’ve been wishing I’d just worn jeans and a t-shirt like everyone else. But I will have forgotten this lesson come Monday and the process will repeat all over again. Sigh…
What is an Elvis collar. At first I was thinking wide collar, wide points, but then I got to wondering if you meant a collar that was turned up in back?
My work is in a coffee shop with a dress code; I don’t want to ruin clothes there, which happens easily, so I have two weekday shirts, two weekend shirts, a pair of pants and a skirt. All black. That’s done then.
Otherwise, I suppose I suffer from this “magpie” syndrome you speak of although not the high street version but the thrift version. Thrifting provides me with tons of amazing skirts for example, or shirts, but…all patterned! For $3.00, who is gonna say no to an amazing blue plaid pencil skirt with lining originally from an expensive German shop….regardless of whether or not I have a thing to wear it with. I suffer from “If I buy it, matching things will come.” Only it appears they DON’T. The amount of solid coloured clothing I have has gotten smaller and smaller over the years, while in high school solid colours were all I wore. This will need to be remedied eventually I know.
As for fantasy things my collection is slim. I have some vintage dresses I have yet to wear but moreso due to lack of getting around to ironing them or they are now to small instead of lack of occasions.
I can totally commiserate! I bought a super cute patterned Banana Republic skirt from the thrift shop for 99 cents – I have only worn it once and was completely unhappy with the ensemble I created. No more!! I am setting up some capsules very soon!
I’m in the midst of (successfully!) losing about 40 pounds, and this complicates the wardrobe even more. I am taking great glee in removing things that are now too big, but it’s sometimes hard to justify replacing trousers or skirts that I know I’m only going to be able to fit in for a month or so before it’s down to the next size. The thrift store is my friend right now.
However, it’s also making me realize that no, I probably don’t need ten crazily-patterned skirts, no matter how much I love them. I probably only wear one or two a week, and I do tend to wear two or three more than the others. So what I need is two or three, not ten.
Great stuff to think about! Thanks!
Jessica, one thing you might try is sticking to skirts while you’re losing, esp if you only have a few more pounds to loose since skirts are more forgiving of a looser look while you are losing. also you can take in a skirt and have it still look nice, but pants are a lot harder to alter. you’d probably have to take off the waist band of the pants at the very least, or even take them apart and recut them whereas a skirt you can just take in a couple seams and maybe shorten the waistband and make a seam in it so you don’t even have to take it off the skirt if you don’t want to.
Loose drindl skirts and denim are good for casual and closer fitting skirts for formal.
FWIW, Kitty
Wrap round skirts, they’re the easiest to adjust while losing weight. Just make sure they overlap by a generous amount. If they’re cut too skimpy they are too annoying to wear. You’d always be conscious of holding them closed. But a well cut wrap skirt is great.
I totally hear you about the magpie shopping, but for me it has the unintended effect of me not buying much of anything anymore. Whenever I do go shopping, I always end up saying “I like this, but…” There’s always SOMETHING about it I don’t like, whether it’s the trim, or the colour, or fit, or fibre content, whatever, and I’m always just thinking about how I’d have made it better, and back on the rack it goes.
I tend to get that feel-good shopping feeling after I’ve made something rather than going shopping. Which makes me think it must be built into most women to get an endorphin rush after acquiring new clothes, no matter how they were acquired.
(PS: your Manequims are up on FehrTrade right now if you want to see my picks, you lucky thing…)
On Wednesday I went through my wardrobe and removed everything that no longer fits my 5-and-a-bit months pregnant girth because trying on eight different outfits every morning in an attempt to find something that said “I’m heavy with seed and some kind of awesomely fertile woman-goddess” instead of “I love cheesecake” was getting too depressing.
Suffice to say, this is the first time ever I have been able to see four feet of empty rail in my five foot closet.
I allow myself to make some fantasy pieces. Then I wear them. Then I realize I can get away with it. The trick is to make sure it fits well, make sure it is the right color/a subtle color if it is a fantasy cut OR use a simple cut if it is a fantasy fabric. My husband is what you might call an uber-conformist-don’t-look-at-me type stylistically, but he keeps wearing the charcoal victorian waistcoat I made. Because it is comfortable, warm, fits well and it is in a quiet color. So make yourself a teeny regency jacket IN BLACK or a neutral.
Re-reading your post, you sound a lot like me last year. I built a wardrobe around black and white, with splashes of ice blue and red. It was great. Now most things I make in crazier colors go with at least a few of my core pieces. It keeps building, all my wardrobe pieces go with at least five others. That’s a rule I read a while ago, I think it is a good rule of thumb.
Aprons are easy, make them of any crazy fabric that takes your fancy, make any cut you love.
Skirts- you can really indulge your delight in interesting/historical cuts here. If you hate black, brown and navy, how do you feel about charcoal? Or a deep ocean blue? Do you hate wearing them next to your face or head to toe, or do you just hate them? You could plan a wardrobe around Khaki, Camel and Sand, but you might feel very blah after a while and it would be harder to keep the pieces looking fresh.
Tops- here are your lighter colors. Again, a great deal of interesting old blouse patterns look perfectly cromulent once you make them up and wear them- especially if you make them in calm colors and not huge cabbage rose print. Not that I think you would.
Right now I’m struggling with how to keep my beloved “nice” fabrics and techniques but be more casual. Knit tops made from vintage woven patterns? Tailored skirts in cotton? I don’t know.
I love all the apron patterns I see, except that stupid chef apron which is all you see in stores. I really like the 40′s and 50′s styles cause they remind me of family, but I can’t remember who wore them. LOL maybe my grandma’s sister, since I remember being in her kitchen a lot. and Great Grandma Polly’s Kitchen. I can’t for the life of me remember what my Mom’s mom wore. This love of all patterns seems to inhibit me from making any since I can’t make up my mind. LOL
The thing about Khaki and sand is that I have those in twill, LOADS of it, so I can make skirts that are hard wearing and neutral but not what one site called “basic” since she thought that black, brown and Navy were all that were basic. Those colors sound so severe. I bought the Khaki and Sand so that I could make casual skirts and sort of get away from denim since I’m 55 and don’t want to look TO casual. for some reason the twill wears like denim but doesn’t fade like denim.
I wear the color in the tops that I pair with them. I like red, and coral and sea blue, and ruby, and spring green (not pastel), and multi colors and Federal blue prints. Don’t ask me about that last but whenever I look through the fabric stores that’s the color I end up loving, not plain federal blue but prints, esp those with flowers on them. Federal blue with pink flowers, or red flowers, or multi color flowers. my mind just seems to love federal blue as a background. maybe I should give up the twill and use Denim as my basic. LOL
I have about ten yards of a nice wine colored cotton too. I think that’s going to be a classic shirt dress, or a wagon train dress similar to what women wore on the wagon trains. the nice thing about the 1800s is that most “dresses” were two piece so you could actually wear them with other things, and weirdly they didn’t always match if I understand right. I don’t know if they mixed things around or not.
I think there are two reasons tailoring techniques aren’t used more with cotton… maybe three. lets see
1) Tailoring commonly or maybe it used to be common for tailoring to require heavier fabrics. not so much now at least as long as you don’t pad the shoulders and front of your jackets. LOL
2) Tailoring used to use the malleability to create perfect body shapes.
3) tailoring takes so much time and effort that a cotton garment would wear out before a wool one so seemed to be less of a value.
But remember that cotton blouses are said to be tailored. I still haven’t figured out what is the difference between a tailored blouse and a non tailored blouse, but Why COULDn’t you use tailoring techniques in cotton except for the less Formable nature of cotton. If they’re doing tailored cotton blouses and tailored Cotton and linen Jackets, why not. I presume you’d line it if it’s tailored?
Anyway, that’s my take on it. Just don’t use the lighter cottons but a heavier one, like denim or a heavier linen would also be a good choice. FWIW, kitty
I’m sort of opposite. I long to dress fancier, have some historical garments to wear to fun (historical society) functions, but when I sew I sew practical stuff. I currently have two skirts I trade off with and multiple tops that go with one or the other of my skirts.
I need…
two more skirts,
at least one overall skirt,
Several aprons (4?)
Some dressier tops which don’t seem to be available this year,
and at least one outfit for our favorite local 3 day Historical festival.
I also suffer from HATING black, brown and Navy. Consequently I can’t figure out how to begin to plan a wardrobe of maximum usefulness.
Can I plan a wardrobe around Khaki, Camel and Sand? LOL
There’s nothing wrong with planning a wardrobe around khaki, camel, and sand. It changes somewhat the colours that you choose to go with them, but IMHO, they’re neutrals in their own right. Most fashion types ignore them as neutrals because they’re lighter colours, so less practical because they show dirt more easily and have a relatively “light” look. However, colour-wise they’re just as versatile and you can buy them in darker or lighter shades and varying fabrics. If they’re what you want to use as a base, to hell with everyone else.
LOL, well, I forgot to say what color of Khaki, since There is Airforce Khaki which is more tan, and army khaki which is more brown, and then there’s Special forces Khaki which is also the Khaki of my dad’s airforce fatigues and that is a green Khaki.
the Khaki I found is a DARK yellowed green, Similar to the Special Forces and Fatigue Khaki. I like it. I’ve always liked it, esp when the Special Forces wear it with Red accent patches. but I don’t wear it top and bottom since that would make it seem like a uniform.
I like it a lot with spring green tops, of which I have three different ones. and sometimes I wear coral with it. I like the Jewel colors, ruby, Garnet, Jade, and peridot and amethyst. Though I used to like emerald and Sapphire and not peridot, I’ve learned that the yellow greens flatter me more I think and really blue doesn’t do much for me. I have a peachy sort of skin and Can’t wear pinks but can wear corals and peaches.
SO I’m wondering about grey. Its a nice soft color, and would go with purples and maybe ruby, it isn’t really going to go with Garnet, Jade or Peridot and probably not peach or coral. I wonder if there is a grey with a hint of yellow? I think I remember one. but it’s on the tip of my mind and I can’t bring it forward. Maybe that’s why I like denim. it’s sort of a muddy color and goes with more stuff than almost anything.
Anyway, When i buy tops at walmart, I tend to buy reds, spring greens, and coral and geranium, but if I sew tops, I like small multi colored florals and Jeweled tone on tone fabrics.
I’m getting so much out of this discussion. I’m really getting geared up to sew again. I’m going to aim for sleeves that come three quarters the way down my upper arm or two thirds my whole arm, and I’m going to really think about trying to like one of the basic colors we’ve been talking about. My dad wants me to make a black skirt anyway so I can wear it to his funeral and be properly morbid. maybe I’ll do that and wear it with a garnet blouse. SHH, don’t tell.
*Snork* I second the garnet blouse… but I wont’ tell anyone.
It sounds to me like you’ve got a very good handle on what suites you and what works together.
And yes, there are shades of grey that have yellow in them. I’m planning on painting my bedroom that colour. If you start matching greys you’ll realize they can have tones of blue, purple, yellow, and brown, as well as being a flat grey. There are also many shades of black and brown.
Unlike you, I suit cool/cold shades, so tend to look for colours that don’t have a yellow background shade. Blue/turquoise are the best on me. It’s harder than you’d think to fine non-yellow colours. I also avoid pastels–they really wash me out–I look better in more intense colours. As for yellow, lemon or canary yellow is fine. If it starts straying into gold/mustard, no way. Same thing with orange–a tangerine orange can work. If the orange is muddy or starts straying into safety orange, I can’t do it.
It’s all in the shades.
If you ever looked at the colour shade system of ‘Colour Me Beautiful’ (split into the four categories of the seasons) then I’d say you sound like you are a Fall type (or Autumn as we say here in the UK). That means that black is way too dark for you, that you like and are suited to all the nature palette colours: any colours of spices for example.
I’d go with your neutral colour range as your neutrals. I think there might be a few browns that would suit you and do nicely as neutrals. The trick is to look at the colour against your face in daylight: if you can only see how gorgeous (or not) the colour looks, it’s not right for you. If what you see is how gorgeous and fresh you look and how brilliant your complexion is: then that’s the one to go for.
I think that a darker cocoa like brown would look good on a Fall person particularly when combined with a coral or apricot colour, or if you like your colours brighter than that: even a zingy tangerine. Try it as a cheap T-shirt, to see what it feels like when you wear it.
I’m a Winter myself, so my colours are totally different.