The spring and summer months are typically the season for weddings and races. If you have a few of these events to go to this season and are watching your pennies, most likely you will not want to buy a new outfit for each one. By making a couple of sensible purchases you can easily create a small special event capsule that you mix in with your other wardrobe items .
If you already have a dress in your work capsule, invest in a second dress (or skirt/pants and top) that you can also work into your existing wardrobe. Accessories can be bought cheaply and will change the look of the dress easily.
This example set shows you 2 dresses, each with 2 formal looks and 1 casual look.
Here I've teamed the dress from the orange capsule with accessories in bold colours to create two striking formal looks. Team with casual sandals and floppy hat for a casual summer afternoon look.
I've also chosen a patterned dress that gives more colour options. I've matched it with the teal colourings and also used bronze items from the orange capsule to complement the brown tones in the dress. Match with flats and a soft shrug or cardi for more casual look. This dress could easily work alongside the orange dress in a capsule wardrobe.
With both dresses I've added a belt in a different colour to complement the other accessories I've chosen and change the look of the dress.
Showing posts with label Colour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colour. Show all posts
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Quick Tip: Bring Out The Colour
You can bring out a particular colour in a patterned garment by teaming it with accessories or separates in the colour you want to emphasise.
When the floral skirt is paired with blue, the turquoise in the background of the pattern is enhanced. When it is paired with yellow, the yellow toned flowers stand out more. Likewise with the dress, red accessories make the red stand out and blue accessories bring out the blue.
This is a great way to add versatility to your wardrobe and to blend a multicoloured item into your personal colour palette.
When the floral skirt is paired with blue, the turquoise in the background of the pattern is enhanced. When it is paired with yellow, the yellow toned flowers stand out more. Likewise with the dress, red accessories make the red stand out and blue accessories bring out the blue.
This is a great way to add versatility to your wardrobe and to blend a multicoloured item into your personal colour palette.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Local Love: Think Pink
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in the spirit of all things pink here are a few budget friendly pink picks from some of our local chain stores. Click on the pic for more info.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
How To: The One About Black
This post is for all of you who love black, look great in black, have a lot of black, or just can't let go of black.
A great way to complement all the black in your wardrobe is to create a capsule based on two foundations, for instance a neutral and a colour. I once read an article about a style consultant who treated red as one of her 'neutrals', and I loved the idea. So, surprisingly I know, here is an example of a 2 week capsule wardrobe (work and casual wear, and evening/special event looks) with two foundations. To black and red I have added white, grey and magenta.
Hang on, magenta?
With red?
Really?
Yep! I personally love this colour clash. For those of you who aren't so daring, you can limit your magenta combinations to the black, grey and white.
Here are the individual items:
You could add many other colours to the mix as well like yellow, purple, emerald green or teal.
A great way to complement all the black in your wardrobe is to create a capsule based on two foundations, for instance a neutral and a colour. I once read an article about a style consultant who treated red as one of her 'neutrals', and I loved the idea. So, surprisingly I know, here is an example of a 2 week capsule wardrobe (work and casual wear, and evening/special event looks) with two foundations. To black and red I have added white, grey and magenta.
Hang on, magenta?
With red?
Really?
Yep! I personally love this colour clash. For those of you who aren't so daring, you can limit your magenta combinations to the black, grey and white.
Here are the individual items:
You could add many other colours to the mix as well like yellow, purple, emerald green or teal.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
How To: Use Colour as a Neutral
My last two posts have shown you how you can use neutrals as foundation pieces to build your wardrobe around. However you don't need to limit your foundation items to neutrals, you can use COLOUR! There are many colours that, like a neutral, will mix and match with a range of other colours. Often you may find that you already have an item or two in a particular colour that you tend to throw on with almost any outfit. The lovely E over at Academichic refers to these colours as psuedo neutrals (and her post is a great example of a grey neutral outfit!).
A great way to build up a set of foundation items in a colour is to use many different shades of that colour, they will go with each other and widen the range of accent colours you can add in. Let's start with an easy example - blue. You could start with an item from the navy neutral and add other items in various shades of blue (cobalt, aqua, turquoise, cornflower, baby blue, teal blue etc) to create a blue foundation. In this example set I have created a foundation in cobalt, navy, french blue and slate blue, and injected accents of red, fushia, yellow and white to create a 7 day capsule (work and casual wear plus an evening outfit).
Click on the pics to get a better look.
You can use all types of blue and add accents in many different colours, the softer hues of the colours I have used here, teals, greens, oranges, pastels, brights, medium hues, the list goes on. All the classic neutral tones will work too, especially greys.
You can use reds, greens, purples, almost any colour for your foundation items. this next set is an example of a green foundation capsule. Here I've taken dark green, olive, apple and sage, and added accents in coral, teal, chocolate and bronze tones to create a 7 day capsule.
The next example started off as a purple foundation, however as the set evolved there were a fey key items in orange that stood out, so I went with it and created a capsule with an orange foundation. To tones of orange, rust and coral I have added accents of red based purple, green and stone. This set is a 14 day capsule as I wanted to show several different combinations.
A great way to build up a set of foundation items in a colour is to use many different shades of that colour, they will go with each other and widen the range of accent colours you can add in. Let's start with an easy example - blue. You could start with an item from the navy neutral and add other items in various shades of blue (cobalt, aqua, turquoise, cornflower, baby blue, teal blue etc) to create a blue foundation. In this example set I have created a foundation in cobalt, navy, french blue and slate blue, and injected accents of red, fushia, yellow and white to create a 7 day capsule (work and casual wear plus an evening outfit).
Click on the pics to get a better look.
You can use all types of blue and add accents in many different colours, the softer hues of the colours I have used here, teals, greens, oranges, pastels, brights, medium hues, the list goes on. All the classic neutral tones will work too, especially greys.
You can use reds, greens, purples, almost any colour for your foundation items. this next set is an example of a green foundation capsule. Here I've taken dark green, olive, apple and sage, and added accents in coral, teal, chocolate and bronze tones to create a 7 day capsule.
The next example started off as a purple foundation, however as the set evolved there were a fey key items in orange that stood out, so I went with it and created a capsule with an orange foundation. To tones of orange, rust and coral I have added accents of red based purple, green and stone. This set is a 14 day capsule as I wanted to show several different combinations.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
How To: Not Wear Black - Part 2
As promised in Part 1, here are some example capsule wardrobes based around brown, navy and nude neutrals. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
Navy
To the original navy neutral outfit I've added pieces in teal and silver tones to create a 5 day capsule.
Take these pieces........
Navy, teal & silver capsule by StyleVignettes
and mix to create these outfits!
Navy can be worn with a multitude of colours. Bright vibrant colours like those in the grey neutral capsule in Part 1, soft muted tones like mauve and dusky rose, orange and rusty tones, green, white, other nude colours, just about anything at all!
To the nude neutral outfit I have added pieces in soft mauve and apricot tones and a lovely deep chocolate to create a capsule.
Take these pieces.....
Nude neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
and combine to create 5 different outfits!
Brown neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
and combine to create 5 different outfits!
Brown neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
Brown neutrals also look good with nude neutrals, rose, mauve, teal and blue tones.
The best, and I think most fun, thing to do is experiment. Either within your existing wardrobe, or at a store, try combinations that you wouldn't normally and you might just find new ways to not wear black. Have fun!
Navy
To the original navy neutral outfit I've added pieces in teal and silver tones to create a 5 day capsule.
Take these pieces........
Navy, teal & silver capsule by StyleVignettes
and mix to create these outfits!
Navy can be worn with a multitude of colours. Bright vibrant colours like those in the grey neutral capsule in Part 1, soft muted tones like mauve and dusky rose, orange and rusty tones, green, white, other nude colours, just about anything at all!
Nudes
To the nude neutral outfit I have added pieces in soft mauve and apricot tones and a lovely deep chocolate to create a capsule.
Take these pieces.....
Nude neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
and combine to create 5 different outfits!
Nudes are a great neutral for summer wardrobes and look great with most light and soft tones. Nudes also look great combined with all the other neutrals.
Brown
Brown neutrals work really well with lovely warm based colours. Here I've added pieces in green, mustard and orange to create the capsule.
Take these pieces......
Brown neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
and combine to create 5 different outfits!
Brown neutral capsule by StyleVignettes
Brown neutrals also look good with nude neutrals, rose, mauve, teal and blue tones.
The best, and I think most fun, thing to do is experiment. Either within your existing wardrobe, or at a store, try combinations that you wouldn't normally and you might just find new ways to not wear black. Have fun!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
How To: Not Wear Black - Part 1
You will have heard many a Trinny or Susannah bleat on about black not suiting everyone, don't wear black with colour, black is boring, black makes you look dull, and so on. While many of these statements may be true it can be very difficult to avoid wearing black.
For most people, black is a convenient staple in our wardrobes and we tend to base our outfits around it, or indeed create an entire outfit of black, black and more black. Add to that the significant amount of black that is available in stores and not wearing black becomes a huge challenge.
A way to not wear black is to find yourself a new neutral to base your wardrobe around. I've broken neutrals into four different groups:
Grey Neutral Capsule by StyleVignettes
You can wear a vast array of colours with your grey neutral pieces, softer pinks, blues and yellows, orange, green, purple, teal, the list goes on! I've chosen bright fun colours here as I like the contrast against the classic corporate wardrobe.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where I'll show you how to use brown, navy and nude neutrals to create a 5 day capsule wardrobe without wearing any black.
For most people, black is a convenient staple in our wardrobes and we tend to base our outfits around it, or indeed create an entire outfit of black, black and more black. Add to that the significant amount of black that is available in stores and not wearing black becomes a huge challenge.
A way to not wear black is to find yourself a new neutral to base your wardrobe around. I've broken neutrals into four different groups:
- brown - chocolate, tan, beige
- navy - all the dark blues
- grey - from light grey right through to charcoal
- nude - white, off white/ivory, stone
Here's an example of basic outfits you might wear to work from each neutral group. (Click on the pictures to make them bigger.)
You can add to the items in each outfit to create a capsule wardrobe based on your new neutral. For example, to the grey neutral outfit I have added other items in charcoal, blue, magenta and yellow to create a 5 day work capsule.
Take these pieces.......
Combine to make 5 different outfits!
Grey Neutral Capsule by StyleVignettes
You can wear a vast array of colours with your grey neutral pieces, softer pinks, blues and yellows, orange, green, purple, teal, the list goes on! I've chosen bright fun colours here as I like the contrast against the classic corporate wardrobe.
Stay tuned for Part 2 where I'll show you how to use brown, navy and nude neutrals to create a 5 day capsule wardrobe without wearing any black.
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