6 Scarves 2021: May Additions, #5 Brown & Black, Nelly

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

For a description of my method, see this post.

OK, back to our capsules! This brown & black capsule continues to fascinate me and frustrate me with its intriguing yet challenging color palette.

In her May check-in, Janice described her equivalent wardrobe (brown & grey, which I had incorrectly thought of as brown & black) as "off the rails" because it has been so hard for her to find brown pieces. And she definitely has a non-obvious set of accent colors (pink, purple, and gold) that are not as harmonious as they could be. But her selections for May were very nice in their own right: a grey cardigan and knit skirt, cheerful bright pink T, and silver earrings and sandals.

What had been on my mind for the Nelly wardrobe in the Jan-Apr recap was: Wouldn't it be nice to have blue jeans or a "soft white" T? How about black pants or skirt? How about anything in cobalt or white?

Instead we continued with the teal theme that emerged so strongly in April, adding two tops in the exact same shade of teal, a teal floral skirt, and a blouse with dark green-teal jackrabbits. The black open weave cardigan is an interesting and versatile piece to me; it works both as a cardigan over sleeveless or short-sleeved tops or as a vest over long-sleeved tops.

Reverie teal tank - CJ Banks - 3X - $8.32 - 7/2020

Reverie teal 3/4 sleeve T - CJ Banks - 3X - $8.32 - 7/2020

Cream/dark green rabbit blouse - Loft - XXL - $29.75 - 10/2016

Teal floral skirt - Worthington/JCP - 22W - $13.60 - 11/2019

Black open weave short-sleeved cardigan - thrifted, Studio Works/Goodwill - 1X - $4.99 - 7/2016

For accessories, I was thinking about cobalt and white again. These colors haven't made much of an appearance in garments, so perhaps it's not surprising that they're lacking in accessories as well. But as we've seen in some of the other wardrobes, colors can show up in the accessories first. And for spring, warm weather flats and necklaces would be nice, though this wardrobe has a head start with three necklaces already.

No cobalt, but we do see clear earrings and ivory/cream seed bead bracelets that bear a family resemblance to the idea of "white." Bright teal ballet flats are a great accompaniment to the teal pieces we have added. The gold herringbone necklace is one of my mom's pieces that she sent me this past year, and since herringbone is supposed to be fashionable in 2021, it's a great time to wear it (though really, a classic quality piece like this doesn't go out of style, does it?). Because this necklace is a little long for me to wear inside the collar of a shirt, I put a knot in it one time to shorten it. I thought it looked interesting so I photographed it this way, though I don't leave it knotted all the time. And I guess this wouldn't be a Sally wardrobe without scarves, so we add a bright aqua scarf with a fish motif and a lightweight scarves with small ovals in a variety of shades of teal.

Bright aqua-blue and white fish scarf - thrifted, ThredUp - $1.87 - 12/2019

Teal/dark teal ovals scarf - CJ Banks - $6.32 - 7/2020

Gold herringbone chain necklace - gift

Clear square earrings - ?

Bright teal ballet flats - Payless - $13.00 - 5/2015

Cream seed bead bracelets - made by me - summer 2020

It's weird: I bought a bunch of pairs of ballet flats at the Payless in the Mall of America in 2015 when that was one of their primary summer shoes, and I am astonished at how well they have held up, especially considering their low price point and flimsy fabric construction. I am not especially hard on my shoes, but I have had flats fall apart faster than this after spending 5 times as much for them. Quality is a complex, multi-dimensional concept, but on the "durability" aspect of quality, these ballet flats have done surprisingly well. (I did feel just a bit silly buying all those pairs of ballet flats at once, but now I sort of wish I had bought back-up pairs of my favorites--like these bright teal ones--because a $13 pair of ballet flats that lasts several years is not an easy find.)

All right, on to our outfits built on this floral skirt and indestructible cheap ballet flats. First, we have to attempt a print mix with these jackrabbits, right? It's a bold look, but I would try it. The gold necklace feels like the right touch of classic restraint with this exuberant pairing.

When I was putting these wardrobes together in December, I wasn't working from either the garments themselves or photos of them, just my spreadsheets and my memory. So when it came to this set of additions, I had a slight hesitation about how the teal tops and teal skirt would look together. But even though they're not the same color, they are in the same realm of colors and look fine to my eye. I do think that the addition of this scarf of many teals bolsters that sense of cohesion that I am often looking for; I say it a lot because I feel it a lot! These accessories that have a range of shades of a general color work wonders for me.

Finally, in this outfit, the tank works as a base layer covered by the black cardigan and bright teal fish scarf; the way I would wear them, you might not even really see the top, only get a sense that there is one of some not-outrageously-contrasting color under there.

This skirt is a four-season garment in my wardrobe; let's see a few ways I've worn it. First, this is a work-from-home outfit from a couple weeks ago with this wonderful textured tunic that is comfortable but has just enough thickness, structure, and detail that it looks properly finished on its own. Does that make sense? I love a good regular t-shirt as much as anyone, but it's nice to have some tops that have that "enough" to them to look a bit more polished as a stand-alone piece. And obviously by "stand-alone" I mean without a jacket/cardigan/vest because I've added on both a bling-y necklace and a scarf, haha. The headband is one of my "it takes longer to pull out my fabric scissors than to make this headband from an old T-shirt" headbands that I've been relying on to help control my long covid hair. (I don't mean "long covid" hair; just hair that has gotten long during the shutdowns and distancing during the covid epidemic. People with long covid do not have a symptom involving longer than usual hair, to my knowledge.) (Also this spellcheck is determined that I mean to write "long corvid"...which is an interesting idea for a bird but definitely not what I'm talking about.)

Here is another work-from-home outfit, this time from last summer. Working the necklace + scarf combo yet again; the scarf is definitely easier to manage heat-wise when working from my fully air-conditioned apartment rather than my very poorly temperature-regulated workplace that regularly gets up to 80F or higher in July.

And as a demonstration of the skirt's suitability for colder weather as well, here is a fall outfit complete with pullover sweater, scarf, tights, and the black moto vest + ankle boot combo that I just can't quit.

Let's take a look at our new bunnies now. First, April's rabbit is this incredibly cute Dwarf Hotot, Margot! You know that whole fake thing humans do: "I woke up like this"? In Margot's case, it's legit; she has a natural permanent eyeliner that any beauty influencer would envy. This breed is nicknamed "eye of the fancy" for good reason.

Our addition for May is Tanya the Tan, a sleek arched rabbit breed originating in England, where they have been shown as fancy rabbits since the late 1800s. While some breeds (like the Dwarf Hotot above) are the result of relentless efforts by human breeders to develop a new type of rabbit with particular characteristics, the Tan is a different case: it was discovered. A colony of wild rabbits bred with domestic rabbits, producing rabbits with the tan markings (lighter orange-tan areas on the belly, around the eyes, etc.). Then people found these interesting-looking rabbits and started breeding them to refine the tan pattern, leading to the modern breed.

The Dwarf Hotot is (as you would expect) a small rabbit at about 3 pounds, and the Tan is medium-sized at about 5-6 pounds. What a striking array of rabbits the Nelly wardrobe has collected!

Have you bought something like these ballet flats than lasted in your wardrobe well past your expectations and what the price point would suggest?

In my next post, we will look at the last of our May additions: the #6 Grey & Navy, Sophia wardrobe.

I link up with:

Shelbee at Shelbee on the Edge (2nd Monday; 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 (Thursdays)

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)