For an introduction to the 6 Scarves 2021 project, see this post.
For a description of my method, see this post.
Let's move ahead today with more easy and casual summer additions to our most summery colored capsule.
I really need a lot of tops in summer. I know some people are just fine with wearing the same top more than once, particularly if they give it a chance to air out between wears, but I'm definitely a "new day, clean shirt" kind of person. So I'm happy to see a nice selection of tops enter the wardrobe this month...so many that I decided to split them into two groups in the images! Our first grouping has two sleeveless tops with a print in white, yellow, and green (and blue, in the case of the floral one) against a navy background. This may seem like an unnecessary duplication for some people, but I am a huge fan of navy-based prints and don't mind at all having similar tops in two of my favorite prints: rabbits and flowers. The third sleeveless top is a simple aqua exercise tank. And we have a basic T with one of my other favorite animals: sea turtles. Yes, I love both rabbits and turtles. When the tortoise and the hare race each other, it's hard for me to choose a side!
Navy rabbit blouse - Disney Alice/Kohls - XL - $26.40 - 5/2016
Dark aqua exercise tank - Walmart - ?
Bright mint/navy heather turtle T - St Johns Bay/JCP - 3X - $5.00 - 5/2021
Navy/blue floral tank - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 1X - $14.99 - 5/2018
And now for our last three tops, all prints. Six of the seven tops added to this wardrobe are prints, which could be overkill, but I love wearing print tops in summer for built-in interest without layering or accessorizing. A print knit top that is a bit fancier than a regular T is a nice summer option, and I like the range of colors in this floral print. Are you surprised to see a third navy-based print top? I told you, I can't resist them (especially not when, as with this one, it was a thrift store bargain). I also like that the navy floral shirt and the aqua gingham shirt can both do double-duty as shirts and as lightweight "jackets" over another top.
Navy/beige/pink floral 3/4 sleeve shirt - thrifted, Chaps/Goodwill - 2X - $5.99 - 9/2019
Coral/aqua/white floral T - St Johns Bay/JCP - 2X - $5.59 - 11/2017
Aqua/white check long-sleeved shirt - thrifted, Kohls/ThredUp - 2X - $4.80 - 12/2019
Woman cannot dress in tops alone, so we have two skirt + cardigan "suits" to add to the wardrobe as well: one in our core neutral (navy/dark denim) and one in our primary accent color (turquoise). I have owned the two turquoise pieces since 2018/2019, but it was only in putting this capsule together that I realized they matched! Both were originally from Lane Bryant, but I bought them second-hand at Goodwill (cardigan) and ThredUp (skirt). If you're a thrifter, you know that it's almost impossible to purchase two matching pieces at two different times from two different stores without even trying! (It can be hard enough doing it intentionally by hunting down specific items on eBay, Poshmark, etc.)
Navy short-sleeved cardigan - Loft - XXL - $20.00 - 2/2017
Denim skirt - Levi's/Kohls - 22W - (free with Kohls Cash) - 7/2018
Turquoise knit skirt - thrifted, Lane Bryant/ThredUp - 20W - $10.99 - 3/2019
Turquoise 3/4 sleeve t-shirt cardigan - thrifted, Lane Bryant/Goodwill - 22/24 - $5.24 - 10/2018
Our accessories this month are dominated by the colors aqua, yellow, and white. To start, we have a lightweight silky scarf with white-on-white stripes and five necklaces that will work well alone or layered.
White striped scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $3.59 - 5/2020
Turquoise bead necklace - made by RB
Bright yellow/clear seed bead endless strand - FMB - $0.38 - 7/2021
Yellow necklace - Kohls - $7.00 - 12/2014
Aqua/clear seed bead endless strand - FMB - $0.38 - 7/2021
Aqua/silver teardrop necklace - Jones New York - $20.40 - 11/2013
You can begin to get a sense of what a busy beading summer I've had...and how simple these beading projects are...when you realize that of these 8 additions, 6 of them are DIY projects from summer 2021! To round out our additions, we have a pair of sea turtle earrings, which I believe I purchased this past spring, and mustard ballet flats that are going on 8 years old and are still in good shape.
Aqua pearl/silver hoops - made by me - summer 2021
Blue/green/white/yellow mix seed bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2021
Aqua turtle earrings - CJ Banks - ?
Dark blue seed bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2021
Aqua mélange seed bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2021
Yellow pearl/gold hoops - made by me - summer 2021
Yellow tiger-eye/cream bracelet - made by me - summer 2021
Mustard flats - MIA/6pm - $14.00 - 11/2013
Let's take a look at some of the outfit possibilities, starting with the denim skirt as our base. Outfit #1 combines items that I have shockingly not yet worn together: the navy rabbit blouse, denim skirt, and navy cardigan! I've worn the blouse with the skirt once, and the blouse with the cardigan four times, but never all three together. The yellow bracelet and mustard flats pull out the small yellow flowers from the print. The white scarf (which I am envisioning as a headband) pick up the white rabbits.
Outfit #2 substitutes the floral tank for the rabbit blouse and changes up the accessories a bit. I have to admit that yes, I made this set of seed bead stretch bracelets with the colors of this tank in mind. This is the kind of small detail I get a lot of enjoyment from.
This next outfit is a bit experimental for me in that I've never thought about the fact that the print of this shirt contains flowers that are somewhere between a light yellow and beige color. I've always treated them like beige before, but how does it work if we treat them like yellow?
Not too bad! The yellows of the earrings, necklace, and ballet flats are brighter than the washed-out beige/yellow in the shirt, but I think it coordinates well enough to get away with. Three touches of yellow accessories felt like plenty, so I added the stack of dark blue bead bracelets here.
Now let's use the turquoise knit skirt as our base garment. I obviously had to see how well the aqua tank would work with our turquoise "suit"...and I think it works very well indeed! Yes, it's a LOT of accent color, but I like it. I added earrings in a coordinating colorway and then for contrast and pop, three yellow accessories. (I think we've got both a color-based beauty bundle and "top 'n tail" styling with this yellow trio.)
OK, Outfit #5 is a strong reach for me, but let's give it a look. By adding the coral/aqua/white/navy floral top this month, it was destined to be tried out with the only newly added shoes, the mustard ballet flats. I had not thought that through when I laid out the capsule last December. Now of course, we have more than one pair of shoes in the capsule, and under normal circumstances we are certainly allowed to add things to our wardrobe at the same time that we never intend to wear together! But building outfits from the monthly additions is just how I decided to do things, and I don't want to admit defeat with this top until I've given it a shot.
So here we are. I think the top, skirt, shirt-worn-as-jacket, bracelets, and layered necklaces are very cohesive. (And I'm pretty happy with how cute the layered necklaces look together!) I tried using the yellow earrings to repeat the color of the ballet flats. Does it work? Would adding the yellow necklace or bracelet help? Or should we take out the earrings and stick with the shoes as a stand-alone yellow pop? Or do we need to just use a different pair of shoes? (The navy/aqua striped knit flats from June would be fun for a third print.)
Finally, we are revisiting the yellow trio of necklace, bracelet, and ballet flats in Outfit #6, this time with the turquoise skirt and mint T. This top and skirt pairing are not an obvious one to me, but I'm trying to expand my ability to accept non-matching but close-enough color pairings. In this case, I think the addition of a third distinct blue-green color with the turtle earrings actually helps me see the outfit as a blend of different-but-related colors. (And of course the repeating of the sea turtle motif is really cute.)
Seeing the aqua/turquoise + yellow combinations in these outfits really underscores for me the potential value in selecting accent colors that work well together. (You may hate these colors together, and that's fine!) Of course it's very nice to have pieces with multiple accent colors in the print to tie the accent colors together, but with well-selected accent colors, they can look great even when worn in this more color-blocked manner. I don't think this means anyone needs to limit their accent colors to ones that can be worn together this way, but it's an advantage to your capsule's mix-and-match-ability if some of them play well together...especially if you tend to like to wear a lot of color at once (raises hand).
Let's review a few ways I have worn this turquoise knit skirt. This June outfit incorporates the skirt and the floral scarf added to the Darcy wardrobe in March. I love a navy and white striped top with an accent color skirt/pants and a coordinating print scarf (especially floral print), of which this is probably variation #296 on that theme. But when there's a combination you really like, I think it's more than OK to lean into it!
Here is a WFH outfit from earlier this summer that includes a different, but in my eyes equally great, print mix: floral + gingham. As in Outfit #5 above (with the coral/aqua/navy/white floral top + aqua gingham shirt) the floral print and gingham print share at least one color, which make them an easy pairing.
It's interesting...the mint and teal colors in that floral top are distinctly more green than the turquoise color of the skirt, but I don't mind wearing them together. In fact, here's another way I wore those two items, this time with a navy utility vest as the topper piece. I'm pretty surprised that I didn't find the greener blue-green + bluer blue-green combination too jarring to wear, but perhaps having a topper piece that reduces the impact of the print makes it more acceptable to me.
And now for our newest member of the Darcy menagerie: Mona the Mini Lop! She is a rabbit with a broken pattern, which means that there is a significant amount of white "breaking up" the brown color. The specific pattern of white and color can vary significantly breed to breed and rabbit to rabbit, though in all instances, we expect to see color around the eyes, on the ears, and on the nose (which Mona demonstrates well). Mona has one of the common broken patterns in which the color extends in a semi-solid patch over the back and down the sides, which is called the "blanket" pattern.
Would you wear accessories in a color that doesn't appear anywhere in the outfit? Would you do so with only a neutral outfit or if the outfit has accent colors in it?
If this is a bit out of your comfort zone, I get it...especially with yellow. I have a series of posts in the works in which I will be attempting to broaden my comfort zone with color combinations, so stay tuned!
In my next capsule post, we will look at the August additions for our third wardrobe: #3 Navy & Grey, Lily.
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)
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)
Jodie at Jodie's Touch of Style (3rd Thursday)
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)
I agree with Jodie on outfit #5. It’s a nice summery outfit.
That's a lovely fresh color palette. And what a lovely new addition to the Darcy menagerie. Thanks for linking. Gail, Is This Mutton
I keep wanting to move into navy, and ivory or beige, as my neutrals. But then I'll see an outfit with black as the neutral, and I'll cave. And keep on using black. It is so interesting reading these posts.
If you look in my closet, the majority is tops, so I understand what you're saying for sure Sally.
And I love outfit #5. In fact, I think it's a breath of fresh air-no changes needed!!! XOXO Jodie
www.jtouchofstyle.com
I love this one! The prints speak to me. I'm still trying to figure out how much color I can get away with now that my hair is grey. I used to be higher-contrast and some colors and combinations that used to work just don't look right at this point.