6 Scarves 2021: December Additions, #2 Navy & Beige, Darcy

For an introduction to the 6 Scarves 2021 project, see this post.

For a description of my method, see this post.

After the #1 Black & Grey, Gina wardrobe's preponderance of black additions this month, I'm curious what colors will appear in the new items for our Darcy wardrobe, based on this inspiration scarf and color palette.

For readers who found the black additions too somber and dark, this set of items should be more up your alley! The first two items might look very familiar to you if you've seen any of my Rust Color Combos posts. Ivory, coral, navy, and dark denim are also represented in this group. It's nice to see this variety.

Rust pants - CJ Banks - 24W - $12.00 - 9/2020

Rust quilted vest - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 2X - $16.74 - 12/2019

Ivory boatneck pullover sweater - Loft - 2X - $8.00 - 5/2020

Dark wash denim jacket - Croft & Barrow/Kohls - 2X - Kohls Cash - 7/2018

Navy long-sleeved seamed T - ana/JCP - 2X - $9.10 - 9/2017

The colorful theme extends to our accessories this month as well, with an emphasis on coral/orange, plus two scarves and a necklace that contain rust.

Coral/beige/blue floral scarf - thrifted, Goodwill - $5.99 - 7/2016

Coral tie-dye scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $3.59 - 5/2020

Pink/grey/black/rust ovals scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $2.40 - 12/2019

Rust brown/clear seed bead endless strand - Fire Mountain Gems - $0.38 - 7/2021

Orange leather leaf earrings - Amazon - ?

White/gold snowflake scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $4.37 - 8/2020

Grey/rust/green/blue floral infinity scarf - thrifted, Goodwill - $6.99 - 7/2016

Grey/rust/tan print flats - Payless - $8.00 - 11/2015

Taupe-brown ankle boots - Easy Spirit/Nordstrom - $65.90 - 11/2014

While our big focus in outfit building with the black #1 Gina capsule was outfit formulas based on a dark neutral column or "twin set" with a colorful topper or skirt/pants, today we will see variations on the "neutral top + colorful pants" outfit formula. This formula seems much less popular than the "colorful top + neutral pants" version, but I think it's just as useful and can be a way to stand out from the crowd. Let's try it out with our December additions.

Outfit #1 is very simple but has an outsized impact due to the vibrancy of the coral/orange colors. A top + bottom in a neutral + accent color, worn with a scarf in those two colors, is a neat way to tie the two colors together. A neutral shoe would be fine here, but I like how the print shoe both adds some subtle print mix interest to the look and brings some additional colors (grey, yellow, black) into the outfit in small doses. (You could switch this around if you had shoes that blended the top and bottom colors and a scarf that included those colors plus some others.)

Outfit #2 follows a favorite formula of mine: neutral "twin set" + colorful pants + scarf with all the colors from the outfit. It's so easy yet results in an interesting and very put-together look. (I can't help but note that both the primary colors here, coral/orange and navy/dark denim, appear in the outfit 3 times. The taupe/beige color appears twice, but with my hair included, that's 3 times as well.) This is also probably the easiest way to extend the wear of ankle pants into cold weather...by pairing with ankle boots!

Outfit #3 is demonstrates what is possibly my most common color combination category: top + bottom + topper in 3 different colors, 1 or 2 of them neutrals, plus a print scarf. Dark denim proves its worth in this outfit...wearing the scarf with bits of black in it with a navy jacket would feel off to me, but since blue denim is the most neutral color there is, it combines with black effortlessly.

Outfit #4 is a version of the "suit" with matching bottom and topper pieces. As we've seen, any neutral will work with the rusty red pants and vest combo, but I like seeing the light ivory sweater and white scarf here that runs counter to the dark and gloomy sartorial tendencies of winter. Both the gold in the scarf and the taupe-beige color of the boots connect to my hair, and certainly gold earrings would look marvelous here. I decided to test out the orange ones with this rust outfit out of curiosity. What do you think? Is the color related enough to the outfit to work or do they stand out in an unpleasant way? It's funny...I think I would be good with the orange earrings with my hair down (so the earrings were not as noticeable) but might feel awkward with my hair up (showing them off).

Outfit #5 is a bit of an outlier for me because I usually adhere more tightly to a color scheme in my outfits, and this one is like "if one neutral is good, three or four is better" with the navy T, grey-based scarf (that also contains white), and taupe-beige boots. But the scarf's print ties so strongly with the rust pants that the result looks pretty good, I think! This is also a good time to remind all of us that you don't have to own boots in every color (though if you want to do so, believe me, I relate). If you pick a neutral that relates to your hair, the boots are likely to still look integrated with your outfit, even if they don't match anything else. Angie at YouLookFab has discussed this several times on her blog...this post is a good read on the topic.

For today's OOTD round-up I will feature the coral ankle pants with blue/navy/denim and other items from this month's additions. This November outfit also includes the floral scarf shown in Outfit #2 above. Instead of a denim jacket, I am wearing the navy ponte knit blazer added to this wardrobe in April.

This April outfit also includes pieces previously added to the Darcy wardrobe: the denim-colored cowl neck top (March) and the light blue striped scarf (September).

This April outfit has the coral pants, ivory sweater, and orange leather earrings from the December additions plus the blue/peach/brown feather scarf from May. These three OOTD are giving us some idea about how the recent additions will integrate with the rest of the wardrobe!

Now to our new rabbit: Brownie the Brown Rex! A lady of extreme softness and a master of listening with only one ear, Brownie will bring some richness of texture and depth of color to the Darcy menagerie.

What do you think of the neutral top + colorful pants formula? Is this one you wear...or would wear?

In my next capsule post, we will look at the December additions for our third wardrobe: #3 Navy & Grey, Lily.

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