Let's take a moment to review Janice's choices for her navy and beige wardrobe. She is still working the solid neutral pants; this time a pair of dark wash jeans. Like with the black/grey wardrobe, this outfit also has a non-traditional twinset, a long-sleeved T and zip front cardigan sweater, though now in a cheerful yellow accent color rather than a neutral.
Remember that our palette looks like this:
Although different from Janice's denim and yellow choices, my January selections for the Darcy wardrobe are fairly traditional...a nice cold-weather trio in the dark neutral (navy), consisting of a long-sleeved T, skinny pants, and a long cardigan vest. These three items are slightly different shades of blue--a typical navy, a brighter navy, and a dark blue/navy marl--but they are very easy to wear together. To complement this set, I added the inspiration floral scarf, a cobalt/aqua ombré scarf, the same versatile stretch necklace as the Gina wardrobe had, and a pair of suede navy loafers with a fun blue tassel. You could call this grouping Outfit #1a and #1b, just changing the scarf to get slightly different versions.
Navy long-sleeved crew neck T - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 2X - $10.00 - 1/2020
White/blue/yellow/orange floral scarf - Target - $12.00 - 4/2016
Dark blue sweater vest - Karen Scott/Macy's - 2X - $19.99 - 12/2019
Cobalt/aqua striped ombré scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $8.88 - 8/2020
Gold/silver chunky stretch bracelet - CJ Banks - $9.99 - 12/2020
Navy skinny pants - ana/JCP - 22W - $9.79 - 1/2020
Navy suede loafers - Hush Puppies - $66.00 - 12/2020
Darcy's Sally is in a great starting position with her wardrobe because I had a second wintery trio in the blue/aqua accent color that made sense to add in January: a bright teal pullover sweater, a bright teal puffy vest, and an aquamarine pencil skirt. With the addition of a solid scarf in light sky blue, seafoam/navy bead earrings, and professional navy flats (that can be worn with navy tights), this makes a very oceanic Outfit #2. This much of an accent color all at once may be well outside your comfort zone, but I can see a Sally rocking it. Such an outfit is all about the textural variations and the subtle differences in color.
Bright teal pullover sweater - thrifted, Karen Scott/Goodwill? - 2X - $5.99 - 12/2018
Seafoam/navy bead earrings - CJ Banks - ? 2020
Light sky blue scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $2.40 - 12/2019
Bright teal puffy vest - Walmart - XXL - $9.00 - 11/2015
Aquamarine pencil skirt - thrifted, Alfani/ThredUp - 20W - $18.99 - 3/2019
Navy pointy-toed flats - Andrew Geller/Kohls - $60.00 - 9/2017
So confession time, this wardrobe was not supposed to get two pairs of navy flats. I'd really intended for this one to have only the loafers, not the pointy-toed flats also. I don't know...perhaps this mistake is a result of the fact that deep down, this is the color palette I like best of the six. I mean, this whole thing got started because I liked the blue patchwork scarf and beige/navy/blue/yellow/coral color palette from The Vivienne Files 2021 6 scarves 12 months post. I wasn't trying to pick favorites as I built these wardrobes, but if I was biased, I would expect the Darcy wardrobe to benefit.
That's plenty to be getting on with, but wait, there's more! A Sally wardrobe just isn't a Sally wardrobe without some prints. So Darcy's Sally gets a few extras to mix in with her navy and bright teal trios: a navy/white striped top, a navy/white geometric print quilted vest, a navy/white/tan butterfly scarf, and a blue/aqua tiger scarf. Three of the items mix 2-3 neutral colors from the palette, and the other one mixes the neutral and the accent that were introduced in the winter trios, so these should really position her well to have a lot of outfit options.
Navy/white double striped long-sleeved top - CJ Banks - $11.01 - 7/2020
Navy/white/tan butterfly scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $1.50 - 12/2019
Navy/white geometric quilted vest - thrifted, CJ Banks/Goodwill - $9.99 - 12/2018
Blue tiger scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $3.59 - 5/2020
I just feel that I would be remiss not to show you what this tiger print scarf looks like. There's animal print, then there's animal print, you know?
Although I have zero doubts about this being a wonderful start for the Darcy wardrobe, let's go ahead and create one (additional) outfit for each of the scarves. We will also make sure to include each of the other items at least once. I hope that this Sally was ready to get out of her pajamas a lot in January because she has a lot of fun outfit options!
Outfit #3 gets the print mix party started off right with a jaunty combination of stripes and tiger print.
Outfit #4 is lively ensemble that feels very "Yes, it's winter but spring is coming! Eventually!" I'm a big fan of this sweater; I like the varied cable knit stripes on the front (but not the sleeves or, I think, the back) and the shirt-tail hem.
Outfit #5 has a bit more serious vibe than the last two...partly the pencil skirt, of course, but also the greater subtlety that can result from the use of solids instead of prints. The marl vest and ombré scarf bring a good deal of interest to the upper half, and no one will know that this t-shirt is actually a T that I bought for sleeping! I know that many people relegate t-shirts that are no longer in great shape to sleep T status (and I have done that some myself), but last winter, I decided to buy a number of new t-shirts that can do double duty for sleeping and daytime wear. While these Ts are my primary sleep Ts, I will wear my "regular" t-shirts for sleeping also. Overall, this means that I have a larger number of Ts available for making outfits with, which is a nice side benefit.
I do love a good print mix, and stripes + florals is a strong contender for my very favorite combination. Outfit #6 makes me tremendously happy to look at, perhaps in part because I'm imagining Darcy's Sally revisiting this one in the spring to wear without tights!
Outfit #7 starts with a very simple t-shirt + pants column of color in that very wearable dark neutral and jazzes it up a bit with accessories. This is a good example of how interesting it can look to have versions of a color that blend together nicely but that are not 100% matched. I like the combination of navy colors here very much, and the addition of loafers with the two-tone tassel really pulls it together. The silver/gold in the bracelet and the white/tan in the scarf relate well to each other, and since the Sallys wear their blonde hair every single day, she could be wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans and that scarf and bracelet would still look on point. I read on Nancy Nix-Rice's blog somewhere that wearing scarves that include your hair color is a great choice, and I have to say she's completely right.
Darcy's Sally is clearly in ridiculously good shape to get dressed in real clothes in January. The differences in starting with...well, yes, more clothes, but more clothes in completely interchangeable full trios (top, bottom, topper), in which one of the trios is a neutral, are already very apparent as we compare the Gina and Darcy wardrobes.
For the seasonal wardrobe matrix, recall that in each season, for each color category, I can mark what has been added each month:
x = solid piece
T = tonal piece (i.e., tonally works with this color though it is a different color)
O = ombré piece
P = print piece (not ombré)
It's readily apparent from the matrix also that the Darcy wardrobe is in great shape with 2 full winter trios in navy and bright teal. Keeping the matrix updated each month will help us know what's what as these wardrobes grow over time.
Do you ever attempt to create "trios" of a top, bottom, and topper in your wardrobe?
You know how I just recently posted about being happy that Loft started offering plus sizes? Well, now they've decided to stop doing so due to "ongoing business challenges." Well, there's a store I get to stop shopping at ever.
In my next post, we will look at the January additions for our third wardrobe: #3 Navy & Grey, Lily. Will it be more like the Gina, more like the Darcy, or something totally different?
Love the blended blue outfits and that tiger scarf is amazing!
I love these outfits!