Experimenting with style can be fun. Even a part of personality growth and emotional development, if you bring a little self-awareness to the process. But sometimes you just wanna wear what works. Which leads to owning the same piece of clothing in several colors.
When my sister gave me the Jigsaw Henley in navy, I discovered the joys of waistline forgiveness. A hint of elastic and some extra fabric. At 56, even a plain white tee sometimes asks more of me than I’ve got. So I went ahead and bought it in olive.
This is a wearable shade for those of us natively blue in hue, albeit not quite as safe as navy. But no brown with your olive. We will leave that to our yellow-toned sisterhood. Unsurprisingly, I’ve got some J. Crew bootleg cords in black. Semper Paratus, the Sturdy motto.
Add jade and opal jewelry, to further obviate any muddy effect. When you’re aiming for comfort, little details can keep you from sliding into the moral equivalent of sweat pants. And cheer you on throughout the day.
And, for this is summer in San Francisco and we believe that June is for Fog with a Capital F, you might remove any last hint of drab with a fuchsia muffler. Which I often wear in the office, like a corporate security blanket. Comfort has many guises, and if one is a 10-year old length of pink Italian cashmere, well why not?
Scarf by Loro Piana, shoes by Beautifeel. I wasn’t kidding about comfort.
24 Responses
Olive is one of my “new” neutrals, and a very convivial one. I love how it plays with other colors, especially your fuchsia scarf!
I think your nod to colour on a foggy day in June is cheering in so many ways…
if it is any consolation we have grey skies again for the 4th day in a row and it is getting tiresome…
I’ll be wearing a robin’s egg blue top and I’d love to be wearing those opal earrings with it!
I own the same style of tank top in about 12 different colors, if you count various shades of green, pink and purple. I wear them nearly every day – what can I say? They’re comfortable and versatile, especially when you combine them with the right skirt/slacks/capris and over-shirt.
And I LOVE those earrings. LOVE them.
I love both olive and how you light this piece- especially the gorgeous earrings! And the top is loose enough that you could wear a cami under it to make it warmer in fall, if needed.
I love this outfit and as a fellow SF resident, see this entire outfit as entirely seasonally appropriate! Plus accounting for office-seasons which do not correlate with outside-seasons! Can you advise how the sizing of this top runs?
Yes, I belong to the yellow sisterhood; the muddier the color the better. I am surprised how great this looks with hot pink, though I would have preferred mustard yellow. ;)
You look so warm cozy and stlish. Love the light those earring bring to your face. Also the pants look great on you. Semper Paratas. Love the muffler. I remember being in SF n August and freezing. Colder than the winter. Maybe it’s your way of keeping tourists who might want ot live in SF fightened of the weather. As well they should.
Freezing in August, you can’t be serious? Ohhh, heaven. I do need to move there, I just do. Maybe LPC will hire me to housesit her two dwellings, ie when she/they occupy one, I’ll be overseeing the other. Watering plants, pulling in the mail, domestic duties and such. I shall dream…
LOVE the outfit on you, Lisa, especially with the fuchsia scarf. I’ve been admiring that blouse since you first posted about it a while back. It’s on sale, so I just ordered the olive. (Alas, the navy is gone in my size.) What reasonable shipping rates too. Imagine that! As an ardent Anglophile, I must say I’m kind of gobsmacked by my bargain. Thank you, Lisa!
I constantly buy the same thing in multiple colors. I am a collector of Chanel for high end and lower end Spelta Ballerinas. and of course my Beloved Lena Medoyeff and Souchi! Works for me. Less decisions to make.
http://lenamedoyeffstudio.tumblr.com
http://www.lenadress.com
I wear olive/khaki a lot- and that’s a very handy top. Nice jacket too.
I’ve tried out some olive and it is flattering on my cool toned complexion. I haven’t added it to my wardrobe yet, but I’m all over those Beautifeel shoes!!
I have never thought of olive as drab…I love it and wear it often. It looks great here with the fuchia and I also love it paired with eggplant-purple. I really like your look!!
I love olive and black together. My sister has a Jamaican-British friend who wears nothing else. She is extraordinarily beautiful, and has been sophisticated since birth. What she does not do is pair them with fuchsia, which is inspired.
I wear scarves indoors for comfort, security, and colour much of the time. In fact until I qualified, and could no longer wear scarves to work, I wore them almost all my waking hours – so much so that when summer came I had great difficulty leaving the house not wearing one! (I had one in my bag, though. This is Britain, after all).
Oh, and yes, the same in many colours is one of my most successful wardrobe strategies. The only problem arises when something you’ve relied on for a while is suddenly no longer made! Or, cut slightly but crucially differently. (Thank you, GAP). And suddenly a whole corner of your wardrobe falls down. So buy many at once (if you can afford it, and have space!) is my tip.
Lisa you look absolutely great; so pulled together. Amazing what earrings, a wonderful scarf, and that confidence give such an air of casual sophistication.
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Love that top and the earrings are lovely. Hope you are doing well. Thanks for the kind comments you have left on my blog. I’m hanging in there!
I LOVE the hot pink scarf against the olive shirt…one of my favourite colour combos!
Olive is one of my favourite colours,fail safe.
Back in the 80’s I wore a silk olive blouse with a dull purple pencil skirt….wow did the compliments flow.Holding on to such a memory shows compliments are a rare thing in my life!!
Olive green is definitely a country color too. I have about all my stable wear in that color, never even dreamt of another color.
I love the notion of a corporate security blanket. Olive drab has always been a most challenging color for me, because I see it as a color and not a neutral!
I am absolutely in agreement, especially with Phillipa. I’m one of those who buys multiples of the same item in different colours- and then often buys in the very same colour for when the first one wears out. Very guilty here but it’s convenient and, as you said- it works.
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