Previously, I discussed in spine-tingling detail how I decided to add more color to my closet by allocating a chunk of my fall/winter budget to cool-toned blues and greens. And how I was inclined to shamelessly wear them together.
Last spring I documented a few reasons why blue + green should always be seen. So when Mr Vix and I went for a drive a couple of weekends ago, it seemed like a great excuse to match the very welcome blue sky…plus some leafy goodness.
Now yes: 2005 called and it wants its short-over-long layered look back. But hey, can’t I call it “retro”? Or at least say I am wearing it ironically?
After all, my tongue’s already firmly in cheek from wearing this vaguely nautical cardigan. Though the closest I get to sailing is eating Chips Ahoy, the stripey sweater had me at “perfect colorblocking for those with Rectangle/H shapes.”
But I’m dead serious when I say I’m thrilled with my new deep green pencil skirt—so much so that I’ve been breaking out old and new prints and solids to wear with it.
Including a top that called to me despite my ambivalence about:
- its scale
- its rather Grandma’s-Wamsutta-bedspread print
- the way “tobacco” and “sunshine” defile its otherwise cucumber-cool shades
Having recently re-reviewed Brigette Raes’ suggestions on how to pick a print on behalf of my pal Fizz, I’m pretty sure I look like I’m being eaten alive by my own clothing.
Though its wayward shapes DO match my hair.
I’m thinking the dolman-sleeved 70s silhouette + silk jersey fabric flipped me into Persnickety Bohemian mode. Whatever the reason, I was in loooove the second I saw it, but I resisted for weeks before committing.
Others were not as taken with its charms.
Where did THAT come from?” asked a saucer-eyed Mr Vix.
Me: “Whaaaat?! This is one of my core pieces for fall. I know it’s a little sofa-y, but I think it’s pretty.”
Mr Vix: [Amish farmer silence]
My printed glory and I flounced off to the guest bedroom to read and wait for him to come to his senses. He claims he stopped by to ask what I was doing for dinner, but didn’t see me on the bed.
[Which reminds me: I still miss the guest room’s former deep blue paint. Problem was, it only looked good for 2-3 summertime months. After a few years I ceded that Northern light + gloomy climate + big tree = me on a ladder with a bucket of more-muted-without-the-flash caramel.]
Returning (mostly) to my comfort zone of solids, I decided to match up a denim pencil skirt with a deep blue-green cardigan, another of my new fall pieces. While I usually avoid hosting a hootenanny in my bosom zone, the neckline’s deep V and the ability to break up my torso with a strong inverted V at the bottom were compelling. Which made it easy to turn a blind eye to having a 3-D chest.
Between the floral print and the ruffled sweater, some might say my blind eye is getting a lot of exercise this fall.
Anyway: Thinking about my aggressively warm-toned room reminds me that Pantone may want my butt in Golden Glow this season, but I’m having none of it. Bad enough that despite my fear of yellow walls, I’ve given up and put temporary and more permanent golden shades on the vertical surfaces around here.
But on me? I draw the line. Let others dabble in the sunlight shades; I’m sticking to a different, algae-hued story.
Filed under: appearance, color, home decor + renovations, officewear, style over 40 | Tagged: accessories, body proportions, business casual, business creative, Casual Friday, closet analysis, color, fixer-upper, officewear, texture/pattern, tone-on-tone clothing "capsulettes" |
Building a Colorful Life 
Lovely colors! I realized that I have stashed a copy of your bedroom in blue in my “inspiration files” – it’s really gorgeous. The caramel is likely easier to live with, but doesn’t shine on the page so well. However, as a Seattlite currently living in northern Germany, I’ll never be able to do a room in that deep blue either – sigh.
The sweater is a great piece overall – fit, color, detail. Is it really blue-green? It reads on my monitor as a very nice sky blue.
Thanks Morfydd —
Another climate and we might get our way, eh?
I do love sharp contrast in a room but have to admit the caramel is nice to be in most of the year. Though I feel a bit like a brûlée-in-progress myself when the summer sun DOES show up in there!
Whenever I go to Southern California I think about which of my favorites shades might do well there. [It’s still about the space’s orientation, but….]
I’m afraid the sweater is suffering from my poor photography and the low lighting…though wearing it with that particular green scarf does skew it blue, while pairing it with blues highlights its greenish leanings.
I was cranky last night didn’t feel like messing around anymore than I already had — I wanted to shed work clothes for pjs, ha.
The color is a bit deeper, more like the detail shot here (top photo, far left):
…but not quite as deep as in the post’s photo showing the herringbone close up (that’s it on the far right).
I try for accuracy but this blog is a CONTINUITY-FREE ZONE!
Ah yes, definitely greener in the other photo. I probably should calibrate my monitor, too. 🙂
I love your blues and greens. I definitely gravitate towards these shades, although somehow there is more teal than blue in my closet at the moment.
Frankly, I love the former blue of your guest room, but will absolutely take your word that it didn’t look good year-round. Funny, we hear plenty about reviewing paint shades at different times of day, but never anything about living with a swatch for 6 months before deciding!
Morfydd —
Borin’ old calibration never hurts, ha.
Struggler —
Well, I love teal (and its various intensities) so surely you should bust out yours and pose on your new bedroom chair to give your readers a color burst!
And I KNOW the guest room looks great in that high summer shot with the warm light and crisp white, deep blue, and luscious orange fir floors, sigh.
[Doesn’t help that the poor caramel is suffering from dead-of-winter lighting and too much flash!]
But yes, trust me it was not pretty from November til June or July, ha. And you’re right—VERY few paint-choosing articles talk about seasonal influences/lighting.
[IMO another common cause of “I hate this color now!” is that the leaves on deciduous trees cast a green light on walls (or the room loses that desired cast when the leaves drop).]