6 Scarves 2021: Jan-Feb Recap, #4 Olive & Beige, Kiwi

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

For a description of my method, see this post.

From the matrix, we can see that olive is the dominant color of this wardrobe so far, though black is also making an appearance.

x = solid piece

T = tonal piece (i.e., tonally works with this color though it is a different color)

O = ombré piece

P = print piece (not ombré)

For my taste, this wardrobe remains low on accent colors, with only the light red cardigan for a solid piece and the botanical skirt for a print piece. But we are building an undeniably strong base of easily mixed-and-matched neutral garments here, with a third of them being prints.

I like that we have a good selection of solid scarves here, with all three neutrals represented. (Technically the olive paisley and tan ombré scarf are not solids, but they function as such in my use of them.) Luckily we have some colorful print scarves to liven up the mostly neutral garments.

Checking against our color palette, we can see that there are a few colors that haven't made it into the wardrobe except in print accessories: warm pink, coral/orange, and azure blue.

Let's start our outfit building (at least one outfit per garment/accessory) with the most versatile bottom piece in the wardrobe, solid olive pants. February's addition of a black pullover sweater is going to give us a lot of options with the olive pants. Here are two of them: one using that bold Hawaiian print scarf (which, yes, have a different shade of green but I think looks terrific) and one with the azure blue floral print scarf. In Outfit #2, I also layered the sweater vest over the sweater...something that's taken me a while to get the courage to do. It seems silly to say "courage" about dressing, yet stepping outside the mainstream ways of combining clothes can be a bit daunting.

Our next two outfits take February's olive T to make a column of color, accentuated in Outfit #3 with a busy multi-print scarf and in Outfit #4 with the light red cardigan and bright plaid scarf. I know people can be challenged by red and green combinations because it can seem too "Christmas-y" but I think olive can very easily be worn with red without causing those seasonal vibes.

Our final olive pants outfit is another all-neutral option, this time bringing in February's olive scarf for an olive quintuple-down. Having all these olive items in one image, you can really see the variability in the color, which I am coming to like more and more. I am pleased that the richness of the olive scarf is reflected in the earrings, which brings a certain coherence to the outfit.

Now let's turn our attention to February's botanical print skirt. I love the cream lace-front top with this skirt; the lace has a botanical-feeling texture to it (those round shapes in the lace could easily be flowers) that ties in with the skirt's print in a subtle way. Outfit #6 focuses on neutrals with textural variations, and Outfit #7 takes a more colorful path. Note that the botanical skirt doesn't actually contain red! The colors in the print are a dark rust and a burgundy, but I think it works very well with the cardigan. This is the kind of pairing that I wouldn't normally do with access to my entire closet. But working with a limited capsule, I am stretched by necessity to try out more adventurous combinations. Only two months into this project, I am already seeing that more things in my wardrobe work together than I initially realized.

For this last botanical skirt outfit, the black sweater makes another appearance, providing a nice contrasting backdrop for the scarf. I admit that high contrast doesn't always love me back, but I would definitely wear this anyway. And while matchy-matchy is not the only game in town, I do sometimes like a good matchy outfit! Here I love that the colors in scarf are all represented in the skirt (black, pink, green, and mustard).

Layering over the floral dress with our two pullover sweaters from February gives us more ways to make it compatible with colder weather. The low-contrast floral print of the dress almost functions like animal print or camo as an easy-to-mix-with print. My eye readily accepts both of these dress/skirt print mixes.

OK, now we've reached a critical point in this wardrobe: What new bunny should join the crew? In keeping with the print theme, a Japanese Harlequin in palette-matching orange and black is a slam dunk! (Note: this is merely a figure of speech; do not slam dunk a rabbit!) The lovely brindled pattern of the Harlequin arises from a recessive gene that causes the fur to vary in the amount of black pigment across the coat. Rabbits typically have a pattern of rings on each hair shaft: white near the skin, then slate-blue, then rufous red in the middle, and last tipped with black at the ends. So when an area of the coat has reduced black pigment, the rufous red (orange) color shows instead. We'll call this Japanese Harlequin Jane.

The Kiwi wardrobe now has two rabbits with orange coloration, so this palette color is at play here if not very much in the clothing or accessories yet. The New Zealand is the larger rabbit breed, at 10-12 pounds compared to the Harlequin's 6.5-8 pounds.

Do you have any colors that are less well-represented in your wardrobe than you would prefer?

In my next post, we will look at the Jan-Feb recap and new bunny for our fifth wardrobe: #5 Brown & Black, Nelly. Brown and black are both very common rabbit colors, so there are a lot of options for the February bunny even when limiting our choices to print coloration. :)

I am linking up today with Rena at Fine Whatever.