For an introduction to the 6 Scarves 2021 project, see this post.
For a description of my method, see this post.
All right, it's the middle of June. Let's get this party started. This month, Janice added two tops, a bottom, and a pair of warm-weather shoes to each wardrobe, making sure that at least one piece was a print. For her Black & Grey wardrobe, she added gold and black short-sleeved sweaters, gold/black print pants, and black slides.
And by "gold" I mean the color of very fresh Heinz yellow mustard, which is perhaps the #1 worst color for me to wear. You also have to understand, gold and black were my school colors in grades 7-12, and I have still not gotten over the absolute doom-filled horror of our band uniforms. (The fact that I was not able to google an image of them is a huge relief to me personally, and it's good because I don't want to give you nightmares.) All this to say that I am not a fan of gold and black like a rabbit is not a fan of hawks.
Speaking of rabbits (and when am I not?), here is a reminder of our color palette and mascot for the Gina wardrobe.
In my Jan-May recaps, I thought ahead to June and what would be useful additions for the capsules in general as well as for specific wardrobes. For general garment additions, I selected short-sleeved tops and a lightweight vest or cardigan. For this particular wardrobe, I thought it was about time to see the light blue color from the palette make its way into the capsule.
So how do our additions compare to Janice's choices, the general predictions, and the specific predictions? Janice's (and my) two short-sleeved tops? Yes, one black one (like Janice) and one white one (the color the Sallys depend on); they are going to be very useful additions. Janice's print? Yes, both a striped shirt and a floral skirt (that look good together, I think). My lightweight cardigan or vest? Yes, in the form of a bright pink linen 3/4 sleeve cardigan (in the same shade as the bright pink items already in the wardrobe). My light blue garments for this capsule? Not this month! Instead we are bolstering all the other colors in warm weather garments, which seems reasonable. I hadn't really noticed this before, but the unexpected item--the grey wide leg cropped pants (which I have taken to calling "culottes," even though that's not quite accurate)--have a very bluish cast to them, but no, they are still grey not blue.
White lace-fronted top - St Johns Bay/JCP - 1X - $21.00 - 6/2017
Black knot top - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 2X - $10.71 - 12/2019
Candy pink striped shirt - thrifted, Chaps/ThredUp - 2X - $9.80 - 4/2020
Bright pink drapey cardigan - thrifted, Catherines/Goodwill - 2X - $4.49 - 9/2018
Black/pink/green floral skirt - ana/JCP - 3X - $10.40 - 11/2019
Dark grey culottes - Loft - 20 - $12.00 - 5/2020
In reviewing our accessories to date, I had suggested ballet flats for all the June additions. For this particular wardrobe, I thought bright pink ballet flats would be an excellent way to complete a beauty bundle with the pink scarves and seed bead bracelets.
Yes! Not only do we get the exact bright pink ballet flats I was thinking of (imagine that, haha) but also a swag bead necklace and a pink/orange scarf to further round out the bright pink beauty bundle. (To my eye, the pink earrings would be an iffy addition to this bundle, but I think a person could make a case for it if they chose to.) Our other colorful accessory addition is this multi-colored scarf that looks very different wrapped up than laid out flat. (It's not disturbing like the cicada scarf at least...you'll see what I mean later.) On a more neutral note, we also have a thin black scarf with neon polka dots, a cool grey leopard print scarf, and an interesting silver-tone pendant with an open daisy design on the front and clear crystal beads on the inside (that didn't photograph very well but add a subtle sparkly component to the necklace).
Bright pink dot and bird scarf - Nordstrom - $30.00 - 12/2013
Green/bright pink/tan balloon-fish-tree scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $4.90 - 5/2020
Grey leopard scarf - Kohls - $12.00 - 12/2013
Black/neon dot scarf - Target - $8.00 - 12/2014
Silver daisy pendant - CJ Banks - $6.52 - 6/2020
Bright pink ballet flats - Payless - $13.00 - 5/2015
Pink swag necklace - Colors/Kohls - $13.99 - 5/2016
Medium pink oval stud earrings - Loft - ?
So what's the deal with the colorful scarf I have dubbed "balloon-fish-tree" scarf? It's not possible to capture this scarf in all its odd mix-of-incongruous-nouns glory, but I can't resist sharing the fish part with you now at least. I've mentioned before that buying scarves on ThredUp is an adventure because they are arranged in the manner above--closer to how you would actually wear it--rather than laid out flat. Sometimes the unexpected result is a deal-breaker (only once for me so far: I got one that turned out to have Greek letters for a sorority on it, that fortunately was also adorned with hay like it spent time wadded up in someone's barn so I was able to return it), sometimes it's an unpleasant surprise (the cicada), and sometimes it's a bizarre and utter delight (the balloon-fish-tree).
Now's the time I make outfits using our new items, and with this group, it's going to be pretty easy, I think! First, let's build some options for a warm day using the black floral skirt. Outfit #1 starts with a subtle floral/dot print mix separated by an expanse of white lace top.
Outfit #2 fulfills my hopes of the stripe/floral print mix with a double-punch of bright pink accessories.
Outfit #3 brings the exuberance down a notch with a more simple black T (that has a bit of built-in interest with the knot on the side), stud earrings, and a neutral (yet somewhat sparkly) necklace. The ubiquitous bright pink flats bring the pop of color.
Let's see what we can do with the grey "culottes" and bright pink flats combination. In Outfit #4, I tried a neutral outfit with pink earrings and flats. I don't hate this look, but couldn't it use more pink? I don't think the pink earrings are bold enough to keep me from being a bit washed out by the neutrals; I could see adding a pink necklace, and adding even a bright pink headband would help on that front. (And with access to the full capsule, I'd throw on all the pink bracelets, too.)
Our last two outfits include this bright pink cardigan and colorful scarves so no "too neutral near my face" worries. I was curious to see how much difference it would make to switch up the top and scarf in the outfits, keeping the other elements the same. They look quite a bit different, I think, and on Zoom meetings would seem like completely separate outfits. (Although seriously, I could wear the same pajamas every day, just throwing different scarves on top, and my colleagues would not know the difference, haha.)
Now for our trip down memory lane, revisiting outfits featuring this floral skirt in various seasons of the year. First up, quite appropriately, is a June outfit! Oh, candy pink cardigan with the white embroidered polka dots and silver tone metal buttons, how you are missed! I kept stretching the wears of this size XL Macy's thrifted cardigan as long as I could with every trick I knew until after this time last summer when I had to admit that the cardigan was just too small. But we had a good run, and I've held on to it with the thought that I'd like to make something else out of it.
This kind of crazy rabbit/floral print mix from November features several items from the Gina capsule.
And finally a deep winter outfit that takes a tonal approach, pairing the lighter pinks of the skirt with maroon/burgundy vest and boots. I like this mostly dark look with streaks of lighter and brighter colors for winter. I am particularly pleased with how this scarf + necklace combination turned out! I just wrapped the necklace chain around the scarf several times and clasped it in the back, creating a make-shift scarf ring with a dramatic pendant. I wasn't sure whether everything would stay in place because the pendant is fairly heavy, but it worked just fine. Yes, I'm such a maximal dresser that even my accessories wear jewelry. If I had a pair of gold floral clip-on earrings, I could probably attach those to the top front of my boots...haha, don't give me ideas.
To be honest, I'm not sure I've seen anyone wear a scarf and necklace together this way. The standard scarf jewelry combination seems be like this (which I'm not crazy about) or occasionally like this (which is OK, I guess, but is not as streamlined a look as mine). In any case, you have to buy (or make) a pendant that is attached to a scarf jewelry component like a scarf slider bail. But I like the flexibility of wearing the same pendant as a stand-alone necklace or on a scarf.
The mechanics of this "scarf wearing a necklace" look interest me. Another option, if the bail on the pendant is large enough that you can slip it off the chain, is to remove the pendant from the original chain, put it on a necklace extender chain, and wrap the much shorter extender chain around the scarf. Which approach to take really depends on the relative sizes of your gathered-up scarf and the chain you are wrapping around; sometimes the length of the chain works out well as a multiple of the circumference of your gathered-up scarf and sometimes you need a different length of chain.
I also think any wrapped chain approach is going to work better with a "grippier" fabric in the scarf; I'm not sure it would work on silk, for example. I think an alternative would be to use the good-old shank-button-and-elastic method with a twist: slip the pendant onto the elastic as if the elastic is a chain, then secure the elastic around the scarf with the button to the backside of the scarf where the button doesn't show. Then you'd have a band of elastic around the scarf with the pendant hanging below. If I used a black elastic on this scarf, it would basically disappear. A standard hair elastic might be too bulky to fit your pendant bail on, but there are narrower elastics available (e.g., stretch beading elastics). The shank-button-and-elastic technique has worked for me with a wide variety of fabrics, including silk.
Now for June's new rabbit: Hilary the Himalayan! This is one of the oldest breeds of rabbit, going back thousands of years, though their exact origins are unknown (but probably not the Himalayan mountains). They are white rabbits with dark ears, socks, and spot on the nose. If you are familiar with Himalayan Persian cats, you may have seen these markings before; the cat pattern was named after this breed of rabbit. This rabbit really reminds me of the actress Margaret Dumont from the Marx Brothers movies; not just this breed in general, but this specific rabbit. Maybe she is Hilary Dumont!
We now have a second small-ish rabbit in the group with Hilary at 3.5 pounds. It's interesting to see that three of the rabbits have the dark butterfly nose, which I also call the "Groucho mustache." Surely Margaret Dumont, I mean Hilary, feels right at home.
Has an online purchase ever taken you completely by surprise? Was it a good surprise or a bad one?
In my next capsule post, we will look at the June additions and new rabbit for our second wardrobe: #2 Navy & Beige, Darcy.
I link up with:
Shelbee at Shelbee on the Edge (Mondays; 3rd Thursday)
Mica at Away from the Blue (Mondays)
Debbie at My Random Musings (Mondays)
Leelo at Beauty by Miss L (Mondays)
Roxanne at Glass of Glam (Mondays)
Claire at Claire Justine (Mondays, Weds, Fridays)
Laura at I Do deClaire (Tuesdays)
Emma at Style Splash (Tuesdays)
Jess at Elegantly Dressed & Stylish (Tuesdays)
Gail at Is This Mutton? (Wednesdays)
Shelly at The Queen in Between (Wednesdays)
Carrie at Curly Crafty Mom (Thursdays)
Ada at Elegance and Mommyhood (Thursdays)
Jacqui at Mummabstylish (Thursdays)
Suzy at The Grey Brunette (Fridays)
Nancy at Nancy's Fashion Style (Fridays)
Michelle at My Bijou Life (Fridays)
Erika at A Little Bit of Everything (Fridays)
Rena at Fine Whatever (Saturdays)