Today I am sharing two outfits from my fall/winter capsule wardrobe that are based on black pieces in my closet but have color, prints, and shine to keep things interesting. The first outfit has some complex elements while the second outfit is quite simple.
This first look was inspired by Marsha, who suggested in a previous post that I put the polka dot blazer and striped skirt in my capsule together for a print mix outfit. I thought that was an excellent idea and gave it a whirl for one of my first back-from-the-holidays work outfits in 2024. I layered a simple thrifted black V-neck T underneath the blazer, and because this T happens to be a little shorter than most, it worked well untucked (win!). At a distance, this blazer has a bit of a "false plain" look...
...but up close, you can see the white dots on the blazer and get the full print mix effect. I think these items look great together! Continuing with the "complex" theme, I created a 5 piece layered necklace from black and silver single strand necklaces: a short black hematite bead necklace (from my mom), a glass bead necklace with pendant (from Fire Mountain Gems), a black and clear seed bead strand (also from FMG), a silver paperclip chain with a White Rabbit pendant (DIY), and a black chain with black-and-pearl pendant (thrifted). I kept the necklaces neutral so that they wouldn't compete color-wise with the brightly striped skirt, which is the statement piece of the outfit.
I almost always wear this skirt with black tights and my black ankle boots in the winter; it's one of those Pleasing Pairings that speeds up the outfit creation process and always works.
My all-DIY daily bracelet stack started with a paper bead bracelet set that I had already added to my accessory capsule, shown with paper bead page to bead images in this post. (It was made to coordinate with the floral top at that inspired this capsule, shown at the beginning of this post.) However, one of the other bracelets is a new creation. I recently made several simple multi-color glass bead bracelets to jazz up stacks made with my paper bead bracelet sets, including the fifth one in this stack with alternating red and black 6mm glass beads. I have several paper bead bracelets sets with these two colors, so I expect to get good use from this new bracelet.
My earrings are a recent bead soup creation made to coordinate with this bracelet set. I put together a short stack of beads in the three basic colors from the paper bracelets (beige, black, and red) and dangled a silver-tone rose motif charm at the bottom to match the rose charm on the bracelet. (The specific charms are not identical but share the "rose" floral shape.) A short bead stack on an eye pin with a dangling charm is a really easy but effective earring design, and it's a great way to use pairs of beads from your bead soup.
My second outfit (#27 for the capsule) marks the capsule debut of my thrifted Coldwater Creek black velvet vest, which is a classic piece for winter. Many people associate velvet with dressy holiday events, and that's certainly a popular time to wear it, but it's much more versatile than that. I think it's an amazing "dress up or down" option that can be worn as long as it's cool enough for it.
This outfit also introduced the silky black tunic blouse from the mid-temps portion of the capsule.
I put together a texture-mixed trio in black using the silky blouse, velvet vest, and skinny pants. I really like how the silhouettes and proportions of these pieces look together! "Long over lean" is not as trendy right now as "fitted over full" but I think it's a classic look that works well on my short-waisted middle-aged plus-size shape.
A simple monochromatic base like this can serve as a backdrop for creating a hundred different outfits by changing up the accessories. I first selected this thrifted Echo silk scarf that is one of my high priority wear pieces for this winter that you've seen in previous capsule outfits. I used my go-to styling trick of adding a long necklace with the short scarf to add shine/bling/texture, create vertical lines, and break up the expanse of the background color.
I am not sorry for wearing these smart-looking but ultra-comfy Skechers knit smoking slippers in a black and white geometric design yet again. They are just such a great shoe to pair with the scarf, sharing two of the colors and adding another geometric element to go with the circular design of the scarf. (Another Pleasing Pairing? I think so!)
This all-DIY bracelet stack has the same basic colors (and some of the same exact bracelets) as the previous one. This paper bead bracelet set was also created to go with the floral top that inspired this capsule wardrobe but features gold metal instead of silver. Because I wear silver and gold jewelry about equally, I like to have bracelet sets in both metals.
The top paper bead bracelet with the lock heart charm was created using this full-page image from Audubon magazine. It shares the dominant colors I wanted for my bracelets: black, beige, and red. I cut my 7 1" strips from the center of the page that has the black and red buffalo check shirt. Because the image is large in scale, all the details are obscured when the beads are rolled, but the desired colors come through.
For the lower paper bead bracelet with the gold swirl bead, I wanted to introduce some colorful elements, and this page from an alumni magazine had the accent colors of blue, red, purple, and green that feature in the floral top. I liked that the background color is beige so that I have more of that neutral tone in the bracelet set. In this case I cut the strips from the left (bottom in this image) side of the paper that had the most color. Because this magazine has thick paper, I covered the white core of the strips with gold marker. The gold striping from the marker and the bits of accent color made the for subtle but interesting beads.
My earrings are a DIY pair that I made to go with the scarf I'm wearing and came together very easily. I simply went with the four colors of the scarf and the circular/round motif to select my beads. I was fortunate to have a few cobalt blue beads with white stripes in my bead soup that nicely repeated the stripes of color that appear when the scarf is folded and worn.
The accessory capsule has grown to the point that I'm finally dividing it up into two images, one with the mostly neutral pieces and one with the more colorful ones. The first outfit with the striped skirt and layered necklace added 5 neutral necklaces to the capsule.
To the accent color capsule, we've added the black and red bracelet (worn in both outfits) and two multi-colored DIY earring pairs. It's interesting that the multi-colored pieces make up over half of these accessories, but y'all know how much I like my print scarves, print paper bead bracelet sets, and the coordinating earrings. I am definitely much more of a color integrator than I am a color blocker.
Wearing an outfit with both stripes and polka dots always reminds me of the lagomorphic master of that print mix, the English Spot rabbit. If a colorful version like I shared today feels like too much, the black-and-white combo is a classic for rabbit and human alike. (For a recent capsule example, see my first outfit in this post.)
Do you have a preference for colorful print mixes vs. neutral ones (or no print mixing at all) in your own outfits? Do you consider yourself more of a color integrator, always looking for prints and multi-colored pieces to tie colors together in your looks, or are you more of a color blocker? What does "simple" vs. "complex" mean in your personal style?
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