Today we will review the last 3 scarves and palettes for the Other Sallys' year-long capsule wardrobes built from my closet, following along with Janice's selections on the Vivenne Files.
#4 Olive and Beige
#5 Brown and Grey
#6 Grey and Denim
#4 Olive and Beige. The floral patchwork scarf re-appears on Janice's list in the olive/beige colorway with red, watermelon pink, and orange/coral accents. Although olive is well-represented in my closet, beige is rather lacking, and the overall "warm" undertones of this scarf is not a great match for my more-cool-than-warm wardrobe. So my first step was to recognize that I would need another neutral in the palette, and black immediately came to mind as a good option with olive and beige (and tan, cream, ivory, and whatever other beige-like colors I could round up). I was pretty much thrilled to come across this relatively recently purchased floral scarf with "warm" colored florals, olive and black foliage, and a wonderful azure blue background. Although this made for a somewhat crowded palette of 3 neutrals (olive, beige, and black) and 4 accent colors (red, warm pink, coral, and azure blue), I felt really good about it and interested to see how the wardrobe would develop over time. Season-wise, this has a late summer to fall feel to me.
#5 Brown and Grey. The Chrysalis scarf again--this time with a copper brown instead of black background--with the same accent colors as before: pink, purple, and yellow/orange. But somehow when I had seen the scarf and palette, I had interpreted it as brown and black, so those were the colors I looked for in my closet. Although black and brown are not unusual together in leopard prints and the like, to find a scarf that also included a good selection of accent colors was harder. Luckily, this silky giraffe scarf I thrifted last year came to hand. I pulled white as a third neutral and magenta/burgundy, cobalt blue, and teal blue as accent colors from the richly jewel-tone-colored scarf. If I'd picked up the gold and red, that would put this palette firmly into autumn territory; with the cool colors I chose, it feels more like fall turning into winter.
#6 Grey and Denim. To showcase a wardrobe with denim and "something other than beige," Janice selected the Mountain View scarf with a soft wash of dark blue, grey, muted green, pale blue, and light rust. I loved this color palette, so I looked for a scarf with a similar soft, muted feel to it that would lend itself to wearing with denim and grey. This past summer, I purchased a number of items from Christopher and Banks in the colors soft indigo [storied indigo], soft blue [blue earth], sandstone coral, and aloe vera...including this scarf with the indigo, blue, and coral colors. I decided to make these lovely soft colors the focus of the sixth wardrobe, along with the pink and white in the scarf. This makes for the most crowded palette yet, with 3-4 neutrals (navy/denim, grey, and white) and 5 accent colors (aloe vera, soft blue, sandstone coral, pink, and soft indigo). It's no surprise that I bought items in these colors from their summer collection; this looks like an amazing spring to summer palette to me.
So there we have it, the 6 scarves and color palettes for the capsule wardrobes to come. A couple of differences between my choices and Janice's are immediately apparent.
1) My scarves are WAY less expensive than the luxurious silk ones that she selected. I include 5 scarves that I consider the "basic scarf"--a lightweight, non-silky woven fabric that drapes well; 2 of these were full price, 3 were on sale. The giraffe scarf is vintage and made from a frankly pretty cheap silky fabric, but I loved the print and for under $3, I'm OK with it being mediocre quality. I do own some silk scarves (all thrifted), but I am happy with a variety of different types of scarves; probably happier to have variety than if they were all the same kind, actually.
2) My palettes have more colors, neutrals and solids. This makes sense because my inventory contains so many different colors. As we will see, the proportions of solid neutrals, neutral prints, solid accents, accent prints, and neutral/accent prints in my closet are not exactly in alignment with sensible recommendations, and the multitude of colors represented by "solid accents" is perhaps excessive by most standards (possibly including my own).
3) My accent colors skew cool instead of representing a broader range of warm and cool colors. This is partly due to the fact that my wardrobe itself skews cool, but also because I chose scarves such that I didn't end up using a couple of the warmer colors in my wardrobe. We'll come back to this point down the road.
This concludes the introduction of the 6 scarves and palettes. As we look at them, the 6 Other Sallys and I are feeling pretty excited about where this project is going. I admit that I am just a tad disappointed that the color palette that I think is probably my favorite is not represented here, but surely that just leaves open the opportunity to build that one out separately, right? Eventually there will be lucky palette #7.
Janice gave her wardrobes a boost right off the bat by adding a set of accessories to each scarf. My wardrobes are going to have to be built up old-school, one month at a time. But there isn't a law that says I can't add extra accessories as I go....