More Color, More Curation! Part 2

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That last post started so many conversations, both here and on IG, which I wasn’t expecting at all! Thanks for sharing your own experiences and enthusiastic responses- it’s been fun reading about your own forays into playing around with a color palette and being more thoughtful about your wardrobe planning- it feels like there is plenty of inspiration to go around!

In this post, I am sharing some of the exercises I completed from The Curated Closet! It’s kind of work-booky which is great if you’re into that sort of thing. Normally I just make mental notes for myself when I read books like this, but I figured why not just dive in deep and write all the important stuff down so I can have it to reference later on.

Once you have created a visual style profile out of images that you have collected, the author wants you to start articulating the specifics of your taste with words, which will not only make your style easy to describe to yourself and others, but it will also be helpful when you’re finally out shopping for clothes and accessories (or planning your makes). Knowing how to describe your style helps you know what to look for.

Here are some of the trends I noticed on my pinterest style inspo board:

  • clean lines
  • clashing patterns
  • simple silhouettes
  • rich fabrics
  • monochromatic looks
  • layers
  • interesting textures
  • unique features on simple foundations (cool straps, piping, bows)
  • tailored pieces
the design of this dress is pretty simple with it’s clean lines, and it has some really interesting details like the clashing fabric prints and the little buttons that go down the side. hubba hubba!

The individual items I need in my closet to pull off this look are as follows (and FYI I own many items already!):

  • classic structured brimmed hat
  • shawls and scarves with which to layer
  • simple gold jewelry
  • tailored/long line jackets, lightweight coats and oversized/long cardigans
  • skinny belts
  • sweat guards for all the silk I want to wear lol (more on this later!)
  • turtlenecks
  • a variety of blouses in different textures, solids, and prints
  • high waist pants
  • cropped trousers
  • high waist knee and midi length skirts
  • fitted, tailored dresses
honestly this whole look speaks for itself- love the tailored jacket worn so casually over the shoulders and the simple, feminine romper underneath. AND THAT HAT, OBVIOUSLY.

I was able to hone in on the colors I liked both by noticing trends on my Pinterest board (it was pretty obvious that I leaned toward earth tones) and working with my newly acquired seasonal palette. Here’s where I landed with the three primary color fields that the book suggests you create (there are some soft restrictions placed on how many of each color you can include, but I took liberties with mine because I do what I want):

Main Colors:

  • pumpkin
  • golden yellow
  • brick red
  • a variety of greens (moss, forest, grayed and honestly anything else I find that I love)

Neutrals:

  • tan/camel
  • deep chocolate brown
  • graphic prints in black and white  (totally outside of my color palette but it’s the only black or white I generally ever wear and I think it works as a neutral in my closet the same way that denim does for others)

Accents:

  • gold
  • coral
  • brick red (didnt mean to include it twice but whatever!)
  • chartreuse
ignore the white block of color here- I couldnt make a palette with less than 5 colors and I was hoping the white would blend into the background of my blog lol

In between landing in LA from our east coast Christmas vacation and heading back out to Vancouver just a few days later, I found enough time to pull out every workable piece of fabric I had in my craft room (no remnants or pieces less than a yard) and divide them into cool and warm colors.  I just wanted to see what my stash, which is practically hidden in bins and drawers, actually looked like. It was a remarkable experience to see everything laid out on my sewing table in piles- shocking no one, my cool color pile (or rather piles, PLURAL) dwarfed my collection of warm fabrics by at least 50%, probably more. The photos here don’t even show the full accumulation of my cool colored fabrics-when these photos were taken I had already pulled out everything that I knew would look good on Claire and stuck it in a bin for her, seeing as how I have labeled her a firm summer. So this fabric is all of what’s leftover, which I plan to donate.

I felt so validated looking at everything all laid out- I suddenly understood why I had such a hefty sized stash that I rarely sewed from, even though I deeply loved so many of the pieces in it. I think it’s because, on some unconscious level, I knew those weren’t the most harmonious colors for me- all the blue, gray and light pink garments in my closet sadly get very little use! But gosh I learned so much from this exercise! It was easy to figure out which pieces were cool versus warm but a little tough to figure out which pieces looked nice on me; some pieces were obviously good, but others I just wasn’t sure about- and then I had another realization: I’m really pale right now so some lighter hues in my palette don’t wake me up at all. But I can get away with lots more colors when I have a tan! Bright white, which is not in my color palette, looks good on me when I am in Hawaii or Mexico (and it obviously looks great on Kelly, too!).

Peaches and corals are the same- the lighter, more subdued the color, the less harmonious it looks on my winter skin (and let’s be honest, even though I live in LA I have winter skin a lot because I wear sunscreen like nobody’s business)…but the better it looks on my browned skin. This was so key to understand because holding up a lot of the lighter colored hues in my palette against my arm had me very confused- I wasn’t looking very lively or glowy at all next to some of them, but I think that’s because my shade changes with the seasons, and therefore so should my palette. If we are being honest I think that deep brown skin looks good in virtually every color on the planet, so the browner I get in summer, the more I will probably play around with colors outside of my palette.

Another source of validation I got from pulling out all my fabric and deciding what to get rid of came in the form of relief– relief to have such a (comparatively) small stash, which made me feel so excited about my future sewing projects! My stash had gotten so big over the years because I have been an ambassador to a few different fabric stores over the years which started piling up in my bins, but also (and maybe mostly) because people LOVE to give me their old fabric…and I LOVE to say yes to it! I had essentially just become a storage place for someone else’s unwanted junk though, and, more often than not, it became MY unwanted junk. I kept it thinking that I would use the fabric that I didn’t quite work on me for muslins, or that my sewing friends would come over and rifle through it and choose what they liked and take it home with them, but it just never ever worked out that way. It accumulated and accumulated until I got so overwhelmed by my stash that I barely made anything from it because I forgot what was even there. SO! Paring down significantly didn’t make me feel sad at all! And there were a few pieces in the cool colors pile that I kept, even though they aren’t in my palette, because I just like them a lot and imagine that I will still get joy out of wearing them.

Now instead of SEVEN bins of fabric, my entire stash can fit into my fabric bureau, with room left over! Here is what my new selection of fabrics that fit into my color palette looks like:

As you can see I kept a couple pieces outside of my palette: on the far right, a navy and white polka dotted gauze and a bright royal blue silk – these are pieces I couldn’t bear to part with, so it seemed reasonable to keep them around. Now that I have a smaller stash, I might actually make something with them, color palette be damned!
the light pink, black, and purple modal jerseys are not in my color palette but these were intended for undergarments so I kept them!

Another drawer of things that don’t quite work for my palette, but that I might be inspired at some point in the future to work with anyways…on the far right is Claire’s special NO GLUTEN fabric we designed lolololol- I mostly use it for linings for her pants. It has an image of a butt farting with a big red STOP symbol around it.
a few more pieces outside of my palette that I can use for linings, plus a mint green silk brocade that I refuse to get rid of cause its so pretty.

Okay! So next in the book you have to figure out silhouettes that best define your style. This is a list of what I found on my style boards and that I know I like to wear:

  • nipped-in waists
  • high waisted pants
  • cropped pants
  • blousy/full tops paired with fitted pants
  • shoes with a heel, slight wedge, or platform
  • midi-length figure skimming dresses
  • skirts with body and/or flare

Fabrics I want to wear:

  • linen
  • silk
  • cotton
  • denim
  • tweed
  • high quality velvets (although who am I kidding I HATE sewing velvet!!!)
  • soft blended merino wools and cashmere
  • solids with simple graphic prints like stripes, grids, plaids and polka dots

The significant ways in which I will style these pieces?

  • minimal jewelry
  • thin belts
  • layers
  • monochromatic color schemes
  • my kick ass hat from New Mexico (I’ve gotten more compliments on this damn hat than anything else in recent memory!)

After accumulating inspirational fashion images and culling my style list, I was surprised to find that I am not that drawn to clothes with bright, bold prints on them, even though I might be drawn specifically to the image on the fabric itself. I prefer outfits made of solids to most everything else, and the prints I do like tend to be graphic as opposed to floral or novelty, with a more subtle color palette. I guess I’m nowhere near as funky a dresser in real life as I am in my head, hahaha!

here’s an exception to the statement above: a bold fabric I’m in love with, but surprise, surprise- it’s all in my color palette!

Another surprise about my style boards was the lack of vintage looks I was drawn to. I’ve always thought of myself as being a huge fan of vintage, and while I still drool over those looks, it’s not exclusively the way I want to dress anymore. As I get older, my style seems to be transitioning to slightly more modern looks. I still love the cinched waist + full skirt silhouettes of 50s vintage styles and all the interesting detailing, but I have often struggled with wearing vintage in my everyday life that doesn’t make me feel like I’m wearing a costume (the people who do commit to a decidedly retro style profile are endlessly inspiring to me, and I love the way they successfully pull off such ambitious looks, it’s just not my right fit). I will definitely still play around with vintage silhouettes and detailing in my dressed up/red carpet looks, though!

The overall feeling of the style I want to present is a twist on the traditional lux, feminine, preppy, minimalist look-  I love that style but I also want to feel fun, unfussy, and comfortable. I want my outfits to look chic and tailored but be easy to wear, at least for my casual, everyday life- I LOVE going all out for a big event!

The styling tricks that I need to tackle for this style are finding different textures of fabrics in similar colored hues which will be a priority in making the monochromatic look work. I’m also not yet sure how to translate some of these ideas to the hot LA summers where less clothing is best for comfort, so I might just have separate seasonal styles where in warmer months I focus on simple sundresses in my color palette with interesting details.

My biggest fear with this new style focus is keeping the simple, chic ensembles from looking too bland and boring. I generally think of myself as someone who stands out, and I have often used my clothing to feel emboldened and empowered- I worry that subduing my palette and print choices will make me fade into the background, but maybe that’s just because everything I’m doing is a bit out of my comfort zone. I went into a store the other day where a friendly woman came up to me to say that she followed me on instagram because of my making exploits. The person behind the counter overheard our convo and chimed in to say something along the lines of “Sorry, I don’t know who you are on instagram, but as soon as you walked in I was paying attention!” That’s the kind of style I want to walk through the world with, the kind that makes you want to know more about the person wearing it.

Lastly, this is what I want to say with my style: that I love clothes and somehow manage to make putting them together look effortless. That I feel at home both in my body and in my garments, and can wear pretty much anything and still feel great…because the clothing isn’t defining me, it’s just enhancing all my favorite parts of me. I want to convey ease! confidence! beauty! I want my style to look and feel luxurious and refined without using any of the traditional methods of achieving such a look- I have never been very brand-conscious and I kind of abhor garments and accessories adorned with designers’ monikers. I want my clothing to look expensive because the fabrics are high quality, the pieces are well sewn, and the outfits are thoughtfully put together, not because the emblem splattered across the front tells you exactly how much it cost (now watch me get gifted a Gucci bag or something lol!)

I’m stumped on what to call this look: “Grandma Chic” has been defining my style for decades but I feel like I owe this new, more updated look a better name. Rich Bitch With Personality? Naahhh…but funny! Carefree Preppy Black Girl? Earthy Hipster With Class? Please. Help me.

Here’s what’s next, the most exciting part for me, the equivalent of going out and shopping for all the things needed to fill up those clothes in your closet once you’ve been honest with yourself and expunged it of all the things you don’t actually wear anymore because of fit or style or color or all of the above…MAKING SEWING PLANS!

Oh, and a word about those items I am getting rid of from my closet. So many people, and I mean SEW many, have “reminded” me that I can dye lighter colored items in shades from my palette instead of getting rid of them. I’m very well aware that this is an option, but I seriously dislike dyeing. Seriously. Dyeing has only been variably successful for me, it takes a LOT of water to complete from start to finish (something that is really hard for me living in SoCal where we are always in a drought) and, perhaps just as importantly, I don’t find dyeing to be all that fun. I don’t want to risk the chance of ruining perfectly good garments just to keep them in my closet- I would rather give them away or sell them for charity or something. If I’ve already gotten good wear out of it, I am mostly okay with sending it on to a new life. There are one or two items I’ve made in shades that definitely aren’t in my color palette, so I might work up the nerve to dye those items at some point? I dunno, it’s doubtful, LOL!

 

The third and final post in this series will be my sewing plans for the next year! I got myself an iPad Pro to replace my beat up old iPad mini so now I will be able to sketch and draw much more easily- hopefully I will be able to incorporate illustrations and drawings into lots more blog posts! And now I will leave you with this, a series of makes both in and outside of my color palette, since so many of you seemed to really resonate with that part of my last post!

this cream color is in the same family as the “oyster white” in my color palette, but it’s a bit too soft and I definitely think it looks better on tanned skin, so I might save this for just a summer wear if I can pull it off.
(oyster whit, btw)
this green is in my palette!
there are no blues in my palette but I think this looks great against tanned skin. But compare it to the green dress above…do you see a difference in the amount of harmony created in each one?
you would think that since the warm colors are based off of yellow there would be more of it in my palette, but there is only one: yellow-gold. Not sure if this buttery yellow with gold works but I think it looks amazing on me!
yes, yes, and more yes!

 

Sadly there are no purples in my palette, but this color does not look bad on me at all! Some might say it’s pretty on me! And here is the crux of working with a color palette: some colors outside my season look absolutely awful on me but more often they look totally fine! And I usually don’t mind looking “totally fine”! But right now, I’m interested in experimenting with a style that is more TOTALLY WOW than totally fine.
I don’t know if I ever blogged about this Burda jumpsuit because I was too overwhelmed by everything that was wrong with it to sit down and WRITE about it. The pattern for the jumpsuit is terrific but my fabric choice and the proportions of the garment were way off. BUt look at this color that is not in my palette! Its a greenish gray, more gray and definitely cool, and I think it looks just AWFUL on me lol. My purple-ish cool toned lipstick is not doing me any favors either but YOWSWERS no thanks.

 

I know I put this in the last post but just to reiterate: NO. This is a dress I would consider dyeing tho.
Jesus Lord NOOOOOOO
hard to tell in this photo because I am so washed out from the bright sun, but salmon is one of the only pink-ish colors I can wear and I love it on me.
Gold-yellow, yes, hello. I’m pretty pale in this pic but I think the yellow still looks good on me, which I cant say for most other colors.
This is a great example of wearing colors outside of your palette further away from your face- the skirt is white and gold which I can get away with, but the greenish gold of the bustier is def in my palette and I think it shows. I had no idea green looked great on me before I started delving into this color business, and it has been a sensational discovery.
Will obviously keep wearing this dress because I love the shark print so much, but c’mon! your eye gets drawn to the shoes cause they do more for me than the blue and white of the dress! what a shame!

 

oh god, no! BUT WHOA I LOVE MY HAIR, now I’m gonna be obsessed with getting it cut short for the next three months ugh.

 

This has a lot of navy in it but it’s predominantly a bright orange which is totally my color! Pops of non-palette colors work just fine on me as long as the main shade is my season.

 

god I love this dress. Again, not terrible! It’s such a gorgeous print and I will absolutely keep wearing it! But, you know…I’m not popping, especially with that pale pink lipstick.

 

 

This whole look is very, very weird. The hair looks like I’m trying to copy The Supremes. Don’t have much to say other than that the dress is what is popping here, not me at all.

 

 

Are we on the same page yet? Do you see what I see? Are you picking up what I’m putting down??

 

I can wear blues that are closer to green, like aqua and turquoise. I think this color really works on me.

 

 

sadly, no.

 

 

 

 

I didn’t make this dress but I’m posting it because it’s the only red I had in my closet for years and it totally works on me because it’s an orange red. The lipstick I think is something I already had on with something else because it obviously doesn’t go, but in general Im gonna steer clear of those Barbie and pale pinks- they make my mouth recede so much and just don’t GO.
You will have to rip this non-Deep Autumn dress from my cold, dead hands.

 

Not the best shot of my face and the lighting is atrocious, but hopefully you can already tell that this deep earth toned dress looks way better than say, that last silver dress.

 

Let’s end on a high note, shall we? This two piece yellow and blue works great on me, and the yellow is more lemony than gold, but I think it still works- my face looks clear and bright and harmonious with the colors radiating from the blouse!

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10 responses to “More Color, More Curation! Part 2”

  1. cindy2paw Avatar
    cindy2paw

    I have so enjoyed your colour journey! I have been obsessed with my “colours” for almost 35 years: I am a deep Autumn and have All The Greens, which is excellent, as green is my favourite colour. It is weird magic, the way the Autumn colours make me see You rather than what you are wearing. Looking forward to the next post. Oh and PS, it makes material shopping so much easier, I just look for the green

  2. Kathleen Avatar

    Another post to deeply thank you for yet again. Our palettes are the same and seeing the colours that obviously work on you and obviously don’t was so satisfying! I could feel an awful sigh rising in my chest though reading your work on destashing according to colour. I did a destash last year based on what was given to me or I had picked up in thrift shops. And much of that fabric was quite lovely. I kept everything I love, was too $ to toss, or will work for a practice garment or lining. As I read along in your post I realized it’s more about deciding what garment is best suited for tops or bottoms depending on where it lands on my colour wheel. You’re definitely one of my inspirers for 2020. I recently settled on my “word” for 2020 🙂 I always love to do this and then consider it in retrospect at year’s end 🙂 the difference can at least bring a laugh or sigh of contentment. My word for 2020 is VERVE. You’re officially on my top 5 list for VERVE ambassadors 🙂

    1. Jasika Nicole Avatar

      Omg Kathleen, this was so sweet. WHAT A BIG COMPLIMENT! A VERVE AMBASSADOR! I will wear the honor so proudly 🙂 And yes, such a good point about the fabrics that will work in the bigger picture of our wardrobes- I am trying to pay attention to the same things, paying attention to what fabrics outside of my chosen color palette might still work as different garments…although I was pretty lucky, there were only a small handful of cool-colored fabrics that I couldn’t bear to part with! Thanks as always for your comments, and happy new year!

  3. Maggie Avatar

    This is so fun! And I look forward to when you show off YOUR version of that romper/blazer/hat combination.

    Perhaps the term for your style could be Playful Luxe?

  4. Siobhan Avatar

    Following along with your colour palette journey has been so interesting! Seeing the pictures you shared really helped me understand the difference between colours that are in your palette and colours that, as you say, make the garment pop instead of you. I’ve never done my colours but have had to accept that I never, ever wear blues (except denim and maybe a dark navy/white stripe). Every blue dress and top I’ve owned I end up donating it.
    Looking forward to reading more about curating your wardrobe!

  5. Kate Avatar
    Kate

    When you started this series I immediately thought of that glorious chartreuse dress. How great you looked in it, how jealous I was of the color, and the rude comments you got from people who’d never thought about colors outside their own palettes. Ugh, that wonderful chartreuse.

    It’s fun to see someone come at this from the opposite direction as me – I’m limited in my palette and my clothes all coordinate. I look just dramatically, heinously ill in colors outside my own range. It’s kind of a bummer, but I hadn’t thought about how cohesive my wardrobe is as a direct result. I am always thrilled to find a color that isn’t grey-blue-cool green-cool burgundy that I can wear. When I discovered that I could get away with a neon reddish orange it was a revelation.

    I have a feeling you’ll have great success with this approach – gently nudging yourself into your palette.

  6. Miranda Avatar

    That green bustier – WOW. Talk about drop dead gorgeous.

    And the no gluten fabric totally made my day.

    Once again – thank you!

    1. Jasika Nicole Avatar

      Hahahaaha, yes the fabric is ridiculous and very great! Thanks so much for reading!!!

  7. Brittany Avatar
    Brittany

    Hi! I’m wondering what the brands are on a couple dresses! The one with the clashing giant polka dots colors/fabrics, and the one salmon colored apron dress. The girl in the apron dress is wearing a large hair scarf and circle sunglasses! Thanks so much! I love your blog!!! 🙂

    1. Jasika Nicole Avatar

      No idea, they are just images pulled from pinterest!

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