A Nutcracker Suite of clothing for the holiday season

I did some playing around in my closet and made a collection of clothing in a color palette that I’d like to wear through the holiday season. I’ve had this palette in my head for several years but have never managed to get organized about carrying it out.

Some things to note:

*This is meant to be a collection of everyday clothing, NOT a holiday dress-up capsule. However, you’ll see that there are a few fancier items sprinkled in. Honestly jeans-and-a-party-top is about as dressed up as I ever really need to get, and we don’t have any holiday parties on our calendar, so I think just a handful of items will likely meet my needs.

*The color scheme here is different from the more autumn-y palette that I was discussing in my capsule-planning thread. I like the idea of varying my color palette across seasons. I envision that many colors + items will appear across multiple seasons, just in a different mix.

*This collection is crisper and dressier than the other seasonal capsules I imagine in my head. The colors of this palette are clearer. In general, I like to make warm-cool mixes, but there really aren’t any warm colors here — I realized that’s why I’m drawn to mostly gold jewelry to wear with these items in this context.

*I have a pretty big collection of vintage costume jewelry that belonged to my grandmothers. It hardly ever gets worn. I’m going to try to incorporate it into my everyday casual looks this season. Why not, right?

I organized the items into three clusters. There are pics of clothing and then accessories for each cluster:

#1-3: Midnight sleigh ride. A neutral background of black and white. My cognac riding boots go here too though. They’re new this year and I love them and don’t want to put them aside — plus they’re necessary for practicality’s sake. And, the “sleigh ride” idea makes the equestrienne look appropriate, I think.

#4-6: Gem. Think garnet, emerald, sapphire, aquarmarine. Honestly I was surprised to realize that the Nutcracker Suite doesn’t have any scenes/dances oriented around gems, but let’s go with it. Imagine the presents Herr Drosselmeyer brings for the grown-up ladies. Those are two pairs of dark-wash jeans near the top left of pic #4: I think the dark blue simultaneously acts as a neutral and a color in this palette.

#7-8: Sugar Plum Fairy. Ballet pink and muted purple. There’s not much gray in this wardrobe, but the floral sweatshirt is also new and I want to keep wearing it — and it has a very apres-ballet look, no? I guess that means the rose-print cardi can go here too. I ordered a pair of pink velvet ballet flats in the Cyber Monday sales that I’m hoping to add to this cluster.

There are just about 30 items of clothing here (not counting shoes/scarves/jewelry). So, I’m thinking I’ll do a loose 30-by-30 between now and New Year’s, and see how this holiday capsule wears.

Doing this exercise was VERY useful. I spent a few minutes yesterday looking at these pictures and jotting down some notes about wardrobe holes, shopping priorities, etc. It was all SO much clearer when I saw everything laid out like this.

But I will hold off on sharing those conclusions for now because I’m curious what you see here. What works, what doesn’t work, what holes do you notice?

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6 years ago

Runcarla

Veteran

Good work SaraD8! This looks very well thought out. Now make sure to photograph your outfits and post pics!

Aida

"I envision that many colors + items will appear across multiple seasons, just in a different mix." YES. As someone who wears all colors year-round, changing the way I mix those colors is the main way I get seasonal color feel (beyond silhouette, material, etc.).

Quite like the cognac and gold accents for the "Midnight sleigh ride" set; as you said, nice way of mixing warm and cool, as is having both white and cream together. I wonder though if you may find you need a little more pattern in this set; there are an awful lot of plain dark bottoms. "Gem" seems a bit more fun to play with color-wise, and especially liking the potential pattern mixes with the scarves added in. "Sugar plum fairy" will cross over particularly well with Midnight. Extra fun to see the vintage costume jewelry, those look like they'll add some great sparkle and shine.

EDIT: Might also need one additional lighter shoe, to mix things up and also to wear with an all-lighter outfit.

rachylou

Love the Nutcracker inspiration! And the addition of bling to add that holiday excitement. My only thought about possible holes is... I’m pretty blind looking at pics on my phone and I think I only see a few black bottoms? Maybe another bottom and maybe a different colour, like the burgundy?

Stagiaire Fash

How festive and fun! The gem colors are my favorite, and how could there be a Nutcracker without sumptuous color at the party? Love the footwear, and how great to have such a great collection of jewelry *and* for it to have a family connection.
And fun to have someone join me in the 30x30 “game”!

Barbara Diane

You have lots of fun variety in there. Kudos.

The Cat

The ideas of "A Nutcracker Suite of clothes" and incorporating your grandmothers' jewellery are lovely. You seem to have a poetic and creative mind.

I like the Gem cluster best.

I would like to see a little more colour and shine for the Midnight Sleigh Ride. But adding jewellery will probably help. I don't see how the beige sweater and the cognac boots fit in. But these items may have been chosen because you want to mix cool and warm colours. (Personally, I live at a place where you will se no warm colours when you are out for a midnight sleigh ride. Rather, you may have the opportunity to see the northern light--a spectacular show in fluorescent cool green, purple, white and icy pastels. )

Do you wear black bottoms only? How about one or more in midnight blue, wine or deep forest green?

SarahD8

Ha, you all quickly zeroed in on the biggest problem with this capsule, which is unremittingly dark bottoms and, simultaneously, not enough of them.

It's difficult to see in the photo, but the bottoms are: black ponte leggings, black skirt leggings, dark-wash skinny jeans, dark-wash straight jeans, black jersey dress, black merino knit skirt.

I can already tell that I'll want to pull in my medium-wash jeans (skinny and straight-leg) and possibly also a pair of navy skirt leggings.

I went through a big colored-bottoms phase a few years ago, and lately I'm feeling kind of over them. I've thought: I just want to keep it simpler, jeans or black pants + something interesting on top + an interesting shoe. But, being totally honest, I bet that if my burgundy cords fit me comfortably right now I would be happy to wear them. :-S All that is to say that I am open to adding a patterned or colored bottom (although not terribly optimistic -- I find pants VERY hard to fit and the mid-rise/high-rise trend has not been kind to my short torso).

Runcarla, I will definitely post outfit pictures!

Aida, YES, thanks for "getting it" re: different color mixes across the seasons!

fashiontern, high-five, fellow 30x30-er!

Cat, THANKS for mentioning the northern lights! You've given me a great idea about how to conceptualize my deep-winter wardrobe for Jan-Feb.

To answer your questions: the sweater is a soft ivory (not beige, OMG, horrors! Ha, seriously though that is the LAST color you will ever find in my wardrobe). Why the cognac riding boots? (1), yes, to warm up outfits; (2) they are a "highly elusive wardrobe item" for me and after searching for them for 3 years I'm thrilled to finally have them and not ready to put them away for arbitrary reasons; (3) in my cold/wet climate, tall boots are the best option with the ponte leggings and skinny jeans, and having only one pair of tall boots in the capsule wouldn't be enough.

I bet the burgundy pants would be great with one of the patterned tops. Pulling them into the 30, even if that means ejecting something else, would give you a real test of whether you’ll actually wear them.

Alas, I already know that I will not. They are just too small. Maybe can revisit the question in a few weeks, if my new DeskCycle has its intended effect, lol.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Nicely done. I bet you feel a busload of satisfaction after completing the capsule. Did you try on the outfits?

Thanks, Angie! Yes, it was really satisfying. I didn't do an outfit creation session as part of making the capsule, but I'm putting together daily outfits from this group of clothing (SO helpful to have the photos!) and will post some next week once I have several examples in hand.

Cardiff girl

I really like the idea of titling capsules in one s wardrobe.I feel I could have hours of fun with that one so thank you for that.I love your collection of jewellery,a lot of unique pieces and how lovely that they have sentimental value to you as well. I think that your plan to wear them is absolutely the right thing to do,such a shame when things just lie in draws instead of being worn.I look forward to seeing you in some of the outfits.

Katerina

I so look forward to your outfit posts. It will be great to see how you incorporate the fabulous costume jewelry. I love vintage costume jewelry and you have such a great collection! It will be a treat

I look forward to seeing the outfits and reading your musings.

karen13

very inspiring exercise! I can't wait to see outfits. I agree that a little color varies in bottoms will add a lot.

Thank you all! I am really looking forward to sharing some outfits and knowing you are interested in seeing them is motivating me to play around and try to come up with some creative combinations.

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