For an introduction to the 6 Scarves 2021 project, see this post.
For a description of my method, see this post.
At this rate, I might actually get through all six wardrobes by the end of the month! But before I get ahead of myself, let's take a moment to review the inspiration scarf and rabbit mascot for the Kiwi wardrobe.
October's additions are shoring up the coral wedge of the color palette with a shirt, knit jacket, and trousers in sandstone coral (from the CJ Banks collection last summer). A cream pullover sweater coordinates well with these pieces.
Cream pullover sweater - St Johns Bay/JCP - 2X - $4.89 - 8/2018
Sandstone coral knit jacket - CJ Banks - 2X - $14.83 - 5/2020
Sandstone coral 3/4 sleeve shirt - CJ Banks - 2X - $13.48 - 5/2020
Dusky sandstone coral pants - CJ Banks - 24W - $10.00 - 9/2020
In keeping with the light and warm theme of the garment additions, October's new accessories are in gold, coral/orange, tan, camel, and cream. The delicate necklace with orange drop beads, the orange glass pearl hoops, and the two sets of beaded bracelets are all DIY projects.
Sandstone coral/ivory bird scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $3.20 - 12/2019
Tan leopards scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $2.40 - 12/2019
Orange drop beads/gold strand - made by me - summer 2021
Gold chain link necklace - Ann Taylor - $28.00 - 7/2014
Braided pearl necklace - Loft - $43.05 - 10/2016
Orange pearl/gold hoops - made by me - summer 2021
Orange seed bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2020
Camel-gold/gold bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2021
Gold loafers - Amazon - $23.00 - 10/2019
Our additions for November are darker in color and more casual in use, as we have seen with other wardrobes. The green-olive knit pants and cream dalmation dot T will mix and match easily with these black pieces to create outfits befitting a range of activities.
Cream/black dalmation dot T - EVRI/Kohls - 3X - $5.00 - 1/2020
Black zip up hoodie - JCP - gift
Black lace-up blouse - ana/JCP - 1X - $18.74 - 9/2017
Green-olive Starfish pants - Lands End - 2X - $17.98 - 5/2020
Black button cardigan vest - thrifted, Piper & Blue/Goodwill - 2X - $3.74 - 9/2018
Black yoga pants - Walmart - ?
Though black is certainly present in our set of new accessories, I like seeing accent colors from the palette represented here in the scarf prints: red, coral/orange, and blue.
Red/grey/black ombré knit scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $3.59 - 5/2020
Gold paperclip chain with Zork lantern pendant - made by me - summer 2021
Coral cheetah scarf - thrifted, Goodwill - $3.00 - 12/2013
Pink/green floral scarf - Amazon - $11.40 - 11/2019
Purple/red/yellow semi-floral scarf - Target - $12.00 - 12/2013
Gold matte acrylic circle necklace - Fire Mountain Gems - $5.32 - 7/2021
Gold leaf charm necklace - Fire Mountain Gems - $5.12 - 7/2021
Grey/red drop earrings - Outfit Additions?
Black pointy-toed flats - BP/Nordstrom - $49.95 - 12/2014
Black/red sneakers - Walmart - ?
Let's start our outfit building with the sandstone coral trousers from October's additions. For early fall, the 3/4-sleeve shirt on its own is warm enough. I couldn't resist accessorizing Outfit #1 with a layered necklace look with a delicate top strand, a chunkier middle strand, and a chain with seasonally-appropriate leaf charms at the bottom. This DIY seed bead bracelet stack has a variety of colors in the general sandstone/orange/rust family, which coordinates nicely with this top + pants combo.
Outfit #2 takes the same top + pants and adds the sandstone knit jacket for more warmth. This print mix stripes/dots/bird infinity scarf is a stunningly good match for the sandstone coral top. I purchased the scarf from ThredUp, but it looks like it could have been part of the same retail collection as the top and pants. For what is essentially a monochromatic outfit in shades of sandstone coral, the various fabrics, textures, and prints keep things cohesive but not boring.
For yet cooler weather, Outfit #3 pairs the same pants with the cream pullover sweater. A bulky chain link necklace + silky scarf duo feels like a classic combination...one that is a bit classier than I would normally wear, haha.
Next let's move on to the green-olive knit pants. These pants have been an interesting addition to my wardrobe in that the color is a kind of in-between hue that isn't a true green or an olive green exactly but has characteristics of both. It matches exactly zero other garments in my closet, but it's a really terrific color for wearing with neutrals. In Outfit #4, I styled these skinny pants with a long black blouse and sweater vest and brought in additional colors with the floral print scarf.
Outfit #5 demonstrates that the green-olive pants work beautifully with a light neutral on top, here a cream pullover sweater. The green in this traditional fall-and-winter jewel tone scarf is not at all the same as the green of the pants and yet I think they go together quite well. I selected stone bracelets in camel/yellow and gold based on the mustard color in the scarf.
I think these pants fall into that general category of semi-neutrals or colored neutrals that have aspects both of a neutral and an accent color...similar to burgundy, teal, or rust. Liz Klebba recently wrote about olive, moss, and forest greens as colored neutrals, noting that "for a green to behave as a neutral, it needs to be a medium to deep value green. That depth of value (or softness in those medium shades) helps it behave like a neutral."
Can these pants function as a neutral? I tried them with the sandstone coral shirt and jacket in Outfit #6 and declare the combination a success! This is a color blocked look, with no bridge pieces containing coral and green to tie those hues together...instead of a bridging scarf, which is my go-to, I added the neutral beaded pearl necklace instead. The gold loafers pick up the bits of gold in the necklace (and for me would bookend my hair). It's unusual for me to wear an outfit with no prints, but I would definitely wear this one.
Because I want to honor our desires to be comfortable but perhaps still a little bit put together when running a quick errand, Outfit #7 is based on the casual pants, T, hoodie, and sneakers in November's additions and finished with the sparkly gold stud earrings, lantern pendant necklace, and coral cheetah print scarf (which creates a fun double animal print with the dalmation dot T).
Finally, I absolutely could not resist including this bonus lounge outfit when I realized that these fun velour Nightmare Before Christmas pajama pants fit in with the Kiwi wardrobe color palette and coordinated with these other red and black November pieces. I thought the scarf and earrings were particularly nice together and with the red fleece top, which I could also imagine as an appropriate chest-up combo for a video call on a cold WFH day when all a person wants to do is snuggle up in pajamas and fuzzy slippers. (As I write this, snow is falling in St Paul for the first time this autumn, a reminder that Winter Is Coming!)
Today's garment features are the sandstone coral pants and cream pullover sweater from October and the green-olive pants from November.
First, this WFH OOTD dates to late this past September, which was the tail end of summer weather for us. I am wearing the sandstone coral pants with the print mix scarf and a striped T + cardigan combination from that same summer 2020 sandstone coral collection at CJ Banks. This is basically a warm weather variant on Outfit #2 above. To give the outfit a stronger vertical component, I added a DIY seed bead/tassel necklace in light sandstone and orange, which I thought worked surprisingly well here.
In this office outfit from the January before the pandemic, the cream sweater (matching the background of the owl print scarf) provides a light neutral base for the dark green and brown pieces. This is such a common winter work outfit formula for me: pullover sweater + quilted vest + scarf + skirt + tights/leggings + tall boots.
The green-olive knit pants have proven very useful for WFH outfits during the pandemic. In this outfit from last March, the pants and colorful floral scarf from the November additions were worn with a simple blush pink pullover sweater and my cheetah Oxfords. It's hard to see in the photo, but I layered the sweater over a denim shirt for an extra layer of warmth. The scarf is held in place using one of my DIY shank-button-with-elastic scarf rings.
Although I haven't worn these pants with a strong accent color top as I showed in Outfit #6 above, I have worn them with coral before...in this warm-weather WFH outfit from last September. Again, the green in the tropical bird print didn't match the pants but worked well with them. I brought out that lighter green from the birds in the loafers and topped it all off with a tie-dye coral scarf that picked up on the coral-orange color in the birds. If the pants matched the green of the birds and shoes, that would have been too matchy-matchy. If the pants were blue denim or black, that would have looked fine, if a bit more traditional. The colored neutral of the dark green pants was a more interesting choice that still looked quite coordinated with the outfit overall.
Finally, in this WFH outfit from earlier this month, I went with a simple black and white color scheme with the green-olive pants, but kept things lively with a three-way print mix of stripes, dots, and a geometric print.
Now it's time to wrap up this post with some bunny business. Meet Cindy the Cinnamon, our new rabbit for October! The Cinnamon has a fascinating history, being the result of some experimental crossbreeding by two 4-H kids in Montana in the 1960s that produced rabbits with an unprecedented coloring of ground cinnamon with smoky grey. To have the breed recognized by the American Rabbit Breeding Association, they needed to have their rabbits passed by three different ARBA conventions, and their attempts to do so read like the plot of a movie: rabbits contracted a virus on an airplane that sickened and killed many of them, a severe storm made the family abandon their trailer, and a dog broke in and killed three of their best does. Ultimately, the family was successful in meeting the ARBA requirements, and the Cinnamon breed was recognized in 1972. Curious what accent colors look best with a Cinnamon rabbit? Liz Klebba has you covered in this post.
November's addition to the Kiwi menagerie is a classic: Bella the Black Dutch! She's smartly turned out every day in her famous furry tuxedo. The breed standard calls for the primary color of the rabbit to be split with white in a specific pattern: the blaze (a wedge of white up the center of the face), the cheeks (colored areas on the side of the face), the neck (white behind the ears), the saddle (the point that marks where the white and colored fur meet on top of the rabbit), the undercut (a marking on the underside of the rabbit that meets the saddle), and the stops (white from the toes to about a third of the length of the back foot, where the colored fur begins).
Do you have any oddball, non-matching garments in your wardrobe (like these green-olive pants that don't match anything else) that nevertheless have proven useful in building outfits?
In my next capsule post, we will look at the Oct & Nov additions for our fifth wardrobe: #5 Brown & Black, Nelly.
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