I like earth tones, but they are not a wardrobe staple. Every so often I add a small dose of them to my style because I am drawn to them, and thoroughly enjoy the change. SMALL is the operative word because I don’t fancy earth tones enough to make them part of my signature style. Over the years I’ve added wardrobe items in cinnamon, toffee, olive, tan, oatmeal, burgundy and cognac. The cinnamon and oatmeal components are gone, as is most of the toffee and tan, and some of the cognac. The burgundy and olive capsules are intact, although I’m not in the mood for them quite as much this season. So they’re happily hibernating in my wardrobe with the rest of my things until my mood changes.
With earth tones at the forefront of retail this season, I thought I’d be adding back in a small cinnamon component. Instead I’ve unexpectedly added mustard. The decision is based on emotion and not logic. It’s nothing more than feeling mustard more than cinnamon at this stage of my style journey. Mustard is a form of yellow, and I find yellow very versatile for my style. My late Mum loved mustard, so it’s nice to have a bit of her palette running through my style.
I’ve had very small components of mustard in my wardrobe for a while. A patterned velvet jacket with mustard flowers. A polo pullover with mustard trim, and a pair of mustard velvet pants. When I’m in a maximal mood — which happens frequently these days — these items can be combined in one outfit because the mustards match and the silhouettes are complementary. Here are the exact OLD items.
I recently saw the Converse Gore-Tex Waterproof Lugged Sole High Top Sneaker and had to try them because leather hi-tops are my go-to casual footwear option for six months of the year. They looked yellow in the stock photo, but are more mustard in person. I hadn’t planned on embellishing my mustard capsule, so the colour caught me by surprise. Keeping these hi-tops meant that I would ideally need to add a couple more mustard components to my capsule in order to create a wider range of outfits that I could wear them with. It was at this moment that I needed to decide whether I was going to keep the hi-tops, and continue building my mustard capsule.
I waited two weeks for my intuition to tell me whether I should keep or return the hi-tops. I liked the way they looked, felt, and moved, and they’re a slam dunk for my climate and lifestyle, so that part was sorted. I woke up one morning, saw them in my dressing room, and it felt right to keep them. So I did. I’ve worn them a few times already and I LOVE them.
I don’t need to wear mustard in an outfit to wear the hi-tops because I’ll happily throw them in as a stand-alone statement shoe. But it’s nice to have the option of matching the mustard with items in my outfit. Since I had a patterned jacket and pullover, and solid pants covered, I was after a couple of solid mustard items to wear on top. Tops that match the mustard hi-tops would allow me to create a wider range of interesting and layered outfits.
As it turns out, I had mustard on my mind because I’d earmarked a mustard button-down shirt and cabled pullover from Boden before I’d committed to the hi-tops. These were exactly the right two solid tops to add to my capsule because I’m into classic tops on this leg of my style journey, and I want to layer shirts under pullovers again. The puzzle pieces fit, and it was all meant to be. Coincidentally, four of the five mustard components are from Boden so the mustards match perfectly AND match the mustard of the hi-tops. Here are the exact NEW items:
I did a quick outfit creation session with the old and new components of the capsule to make sure I was happy with the silhouettes, styling, crisp factor, and their mix-and-match ability. YES, this takes time, but it’s so worth it. I can wear mustard from top-to-toe, wear it as a top and footwear, just as footwear, just as a top, and as bottoms and footwear. I can also remix mustard with the dark blue, red, fuschia, orange, and white components of my wardrobe, which I have in abundance. There are plenty of exciting-to-me new outfit options here with the addition of three more mustard items. I can also remix the old with the new. I’ve worn all of the mustard items already, and am enjoying earth tones my way. My small and versatile mustard capsule is complete.
