… the dash-through version. Aka my entire everyday winter wardrobe in a single post. Refer to Convertible Everyday Winter Template for details on my winter uniform template.
Tops (which would have been week 2). Some discussion of the colors of and their combining took place recently back here.
Primarily leisure, three cashmere turtlenecks: light coral pink, light heather gray (my “sweatshirt“), and dark heathery brown. Or melanin hemoglobin color, hair color, and eye color. I also have an ancient merino wool turtleneck, which looks exactly like the brown one pictured here, presently employed as a painting shirt (not like for painting the house, but for attending watercolor class and for painting sets down at the studio).
Exclusively leisure, five pullover sweaters: light fair-isle, brown cotton thermal vee, gray merino vee(mostly for “painting”, see above), black crew (almost scoop), and oatmeal heather vee. Not terribly exciting, are they?
Although when combined with one of these shirts, most of which cross back and forth from leisure to casual, the color combos get a little more interesting. Surprisingly, I have discovered recently that the oatmeal heather is exciting with the white or pink, okay with the print, and downright boring with the brown. Hmmm.
I have two cashmere cardigans, and I’m not certain where they fit in the process. By spells they turn up with dressier stuff, but I wouldn’t be afraid to wear them for knocking around either. Especially the pink one. Purchased at Value Village for $1, it’s already been through several winters with me as a crew neck; but when recently it began feeling a little snug (okay, it was a torture device), I cut the front open, serged it, and … voila! A cardigan!
Bottoms and jackets, week 3.
To qualify to be pictured here, the jacket had to fit. My paisley didn’t qualify on the basis that over any of the blouses pictured here it becomes a torture device.
The charcoal trousers have a matching jacket, but it doesn’t fit well. I am considering paying real money to have it altered, as the trousers fit fabulously.
My winter jean collection, from left: flannel-lined straight legs, really old bootcuts for tucking, less old bootcuts for kneeling on the floor with the kids, and my good dark skinny jeans.
Phew! I feel virtuous, having posted something tangible and fashion-related. And my everyday winter wardrobe’s not in bad shape either. Now, for the sake of discussion, would you suggest one item to add and one to delete from this mix?
Updated to add: Karen outdid herself and sent in a polyvore. I love this stuff! Thanks Karen!
Oddly, I have to say I took a lightweight black cashmere cardie (that I am wearing now with a hot pink 3/4 sleeve scoop neck tee + black jeans to teach this afternoon) to Grand Cayman with me last month, and it was the single item of clothing I wore most. It went from dressy to casual, and fendd off the air conditioning! So I think you’re bang on the money putting your cashmere cardigans into their own category.
If I were you I would lean towards having the jacket altered. It’s a nice option to have winter suiting, and the jacket could also be good with your denims.
Yes, I think it makes the most sense. It fits well in the shoulders, but is strangely large in the back! My daughter had to get a dress shortened for choir and took it to a place that is convenient enough for me, so now I think I will just bite the bullet and take the jacket up there. I have the whole winter ahead of me to wear it! 🙂
Don’t biff a thing! You need all of this! Rebecca. I know you love deep plum, why not add some of that in for variety?
Mostly, you need accessories. Just a little sumpin’ to add to your beaute!
PS–Do you ever wear blues? just a pinch would add a nice contrast but still blend with your palette!
How much is left in your budget? What about the wooden accessoires?
Karen
I want more colour – browns, plums, greens, soft reds. How about accessories?
Recognizing that I’m somewhat of a minimalist, I was feeling pretty good about my winter wardrobe after I posted this. I did take the gray jacket to the tailor today, so the gray trousers become a suit.
Since I have the basics covered, I can begin adding some more colors. I can also look at mixing in some of my more colorful pieces from other seasons. But in all reality, I like these colors for this time of year. (And I do have some blue in other lifestyle segments and other seasons. When I wear blues, I prefer to mix various values monochromatically.)
Funny you should ask about my budget. I just added it up today and I still have $73, 10% of my annual. Not bad!
Accessories come in week 5 of wardrobe therapy, I believe. And I’m ready to tackle them! I didn’t realize how not having my hair right was messing with my mind! However, today we got it right! We shot the picture with the last of the charge on the camera, but I’ll try to post it tomorrow. 🙂
Well, I don’t have anything significant to add, but I want to say that seeing all your Value Village finds has me inspired to go thrifting. I’ve lost 10 lb this fall and over the last month or so nothing has fit right. Some of it is just hanging on my like a sack. Which is a good problem. But I also have nothing to wear to a Christmas party this weekend, so clearly I need to get creative about revamping the closet. Hopefully I’m running by a new “upscale” thrift store today or tomorrow to see what I can find. I’ve thrifted for my kids before, but not for myself. Any tips for thrift novices?
I love your blog because it’s the only place I can go to talk about clothes! 🙂
Rebecca, now that you’ve got your basics down, add that color into the equation! I can’t wait until Week Five. I’ll be here!
CharityGrace:
I’ve just come from the Salvation Army, where I got a much-needed pair of leather gloves–they appear to be brand new, with a nice cashmere lining–for $2.99! Also a really lovely mohair sweater and some other choice items. 🙂 I love thrifting.
Thrifting tips for novices:
1) Learn to recognize at a glance styles that suit you and brand names that tend to fit well. This saves fitting room time, and in thrift stores, your time is definitely money.
2) Learn to spot quality fabrics as you scan the racks, so that you don’t have to flip through each and every jacket or blouse. Also practice recognizing good fabrics (cashmere, wool, sturdy cotton knits–even new fleece) by touch.
3) I favor stores that do at least some sizing, but I always check a few sizes up and down, as items can be misplaced and sizes vary wildly. If I am really on the hunt for some particular item, I will stroll through ALL of the sizes in that item, just in case. Big bargains can sometimes be had when items are hung in the wrong section. I got a wonderful nwt fleece nightgown for myself in the children’s pajamas section not long ago.
4) Determine in advance your priority items, so that you don’t get led astray and forget to check the necessary parts of the store.
5) But don’t forget to check the accessories (I am always on the prowl for excellent handbags, shoes, scarves, and so on) and other sections for items that you often wear and may want to stockpile (jeans and longer skirts, for me).
6) Shop out of season for great bargains. I often pick up wool and corduroy in the summer; today I tried on a bathing suit and some shorts and ended up buying a summer t-shirt dress! I pack these items away, and I am always delighted to rediscover them later.
7) Find out if there are special bargain days (Weds. is half-price day at the local Salvy), but consider shopping on other days for a better selection if you are looking for something specific. I often go on Tuesday, since items are stocked after the weekend in advance of half-price day.
8) Show up first thing in the morning, if possible.
That’s it from me. Have fun, and good luck! 🙂
CG – I sympathize with you. It is a good problem to have, but then it also makes it hard to get dressed! Sheri’s list of tips is really great. Also be sure to check in the fitting rooms and the rack near them; often the best stuff has already been tried on, especially if you go later in the day.
Perhaps this is peculiar to me, but I’ll throw it out there anyway: it takes time for me to build up stamina for any particular kind of shopping, especially thrifting. Which makes Sheri’s advice about priorities particularly important. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been too tired to try on by the time I quit looking. So, if you’re looking for a party dress, for example, my advice would be to scan the dresses in your size and the sizes close to it and, assuming you find a few possibilities, head straight to the fitting room with them. You can always come back out and look around some more if you have more energy. Which it doesn’t sound like you will, considering being sick and all.
I sincerely hope you find something wonderful without having to spend much time or money. And that you come back and tell us about it (maybe even post a picture on your blog). 🙂
Sheri – thanks for the awesome list of tips! If it’s alright with you, I’d like to run it as a post sometime so everyone can see it. They are nearly all similar to my favorite thrifting tips.
It’s absolutely fine with me if you want to post the tips sometime, Rebecca. Please add your thoughts and experiences, though, since this was a very quick effort! I’d love to know more about what works for you.
Now that I think a bit more about it, I do have a few parting tips for CharityGrace:
Possession is 9/10 of the law in thrift stores: if you are pondering an item, toss it in your cart until you decide. And never assume that you can stop back later on to buy an item you like. This is a major difference between thrift and retail. You have to grab items while the getting is good!
I find this particularly relevant when shopping for my husband. I realized a few years ago that if I have even a 50% “hit” rate for him, we are still doing better than if I were to buy his things at the more expensive consignment shops in town. So I don’t hesitate to buy the occasional “question mark” for him to try on; if he doesn’t like it, I feel no guilt about donating or reselling it. (I actually have at least an 80% success rate for him, I think!)
On the other hand, I try not to buy things for myself simply because they are cheap. I find lots of bargains in thrift shops, but in recent years, I am looking MUCH more closely at fit, color, and style before I buy.
I go to my favorite thrift store often–once a week, usually, or whenever I drive by–but I don’t always buy. And then, sometimes it is a total bonanza–there is just no telling. That’s half the fun of it!
I seem to have a really difficult time with my melanin, hair and eye colours and repeating them in my wardrobe. My hair is a medium coppery red, my skin is deathly white, and my eyes are a mix of gold, olive green, mid brown and teal green. Sometimes they look very golden brown, sometimes very green and sometimes almost a dark brown. I cannot wear pure white, I have to be very careful with browns (black is almost completely out) and I really am trying to minimize my wardrobe to my best colours and finding it tough. I’m sure you’ve done more posts on finding your colours so I’ll look through your archive. If you can add anything to my quest, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks!
Christine,
I’m not Rebecca but feel compelled to respond to your post. Your coloring sounds just gorgeous. First colors that come to mind:
Neutrals-camel, ivory, champagne, mocha.
Colors-aqua, turquoise, pear green.
Come to think of it, a young lady at church with coloring similar to yours just got married. Her dress was ivory, the bridesmaids wore mocha, and the floral arch-thingie in the front was ivory, mocha and champagne silk roses.
I think Jennifer’s suggestion is great!
Christine, as I’ve been thinking about your question and your coloring, it finally occured to me that I made a mistake in this post: I said “melanin” when I meant “hemoglobin”.
I have a couple of thoughts specific to your coloring. One, I bet greens are the colors you have the most freedom with. Two, I’d use warm brown, luggage tan as much as possible for shoes, boots, bag, belt.
More later, I’m sure.
🙂
Thanks Jennifer and Rebecca!
Jennifer, I do have a lot of those colours in my wardrobe. And thank you for the kind compliment about my colouring. I find it rather odd myself, and have gone through periods of wearing only black, or brown. I am also perhaps the only redhead that looks deranged in orange. I can wear red, carefully, but I am more attracted to blues and greens.
Rebecca, I do use a lot of green in my wardrobe. And I’ll keep an eye out for luggage brown shoes, etc.
I did a mini-experiment wearing my hair colour clothing this weekend…a maple coloured sweater, a brick red shirt. I love both pieces but rarely wear them. I felt a bit drained of colour in my face and I definitely needed mascara and brow makeup on my white/blonde eyelashes and brows. I also felt I needed quite a red lipstick. Maybe I just need to get used to those colours, but when I put on a turquoise sweater on Monday, I felt more myself. I’ll keep trying them though…maybe the eye needs time to adjust! My husband and son were no help because they are both redheads who would never be caught in any clothing close to their hair colour. My blue eyed husband likes green and blue, and my son is a huge fan of green (which matches his eyes).
Thank you both so much for listening to my ramblings. I’m really trying to get my wardrobe in order and colour is very helpful!
Christine
Christine – why fight it? It sounds like blues and greens are a fabulous way for you to go. It also sounds like the hair color is over-powering for you, although if you only have a few pieces, I predict you can find a way to use them. If you want to have a way to think about the hair-color jacket thing that I talk about that works for you, try using the compliment of your hair (a green-shade blue) in the same value as your hair and with the same degree of clarity (mutedness). Does that make sense?
What a great wardrobe you can build from greens and blues, though, with very warm browns and metallics as the accessory/infrastructure.
With your maple colored sweater and brick red shirt, if they are over-powering together, you might try combining each with something different to soften it. Perhaps a blue or green. 😉
Thanks Rebecca! I have decided to work with what I have, and what it appears I’ve been naturally attracted to. I don’t really have warm brown or metallic accessories but now I can begin the search. I really like your idea of a blue/green jacket.
I’m sure I’ll mix in the brick and maple tops….somehow.
Thanks for all your help!
Christine
Yesterday I saw a lady wearing colors like your maple and brick red, combined with a kind of a salmony peach (like the first scarf in this post: https://betweenmypeers.com/2008/11/25/scarf-wrapping/). I thought of you, as it did have the effect of softening the other two colors. Myself, I never would have thought of combining those colors, but it really worked on her (she had sort of warm, golden, dark blonde coloring).
Just another thought. 🙂
Again, thanks Rebecca! I tried a soft coral scarf with my maple sweater and the effect was very interesting and less overpowering than the sweater on its own.
I really appreciate the help!
Christine