HoC Winter Thread; the cool and clear chat continues PART 5

[AsBrightAsAJewel]

Following on from part 4

If you're a winter then come and join us for chat and links about clothes/bags/make up/hair....

Latest purchase - a dark purplish berry (damson probably) woolly beanie hat from a market stall, its lined inside with teddy fleece. And that should be it til Spring as I have everything I need now...

Hi winters, not much fashion news to report but thought I would ask you a few 'winter' questions as we are coming to the end of the year:

1. What has been your best purchase this year?
2. What 'winter' item have you worn the most
3. What has been your favourite winter colours combination to wear?

I have to think of 1 & 2 but for

1. I think ice blue and burgundy / damson - which we talked about on here, and also wearing ice blue with cobalt / navy.

Ooh, good questions, MrPop!

1. Probably either a blue long vest top from H&M or my merino Pure collection cardigan (based on the new things I've worn most often & both were great bargains)

2. I have a gorgeous blue purple wool scarf/shawl (probably closest to lobelia in the wallet) that I wear all the time. I received it as a christmas present a few years ago - the colour is amazing and it's big enough to use as a wrap.

3. Electric blue/lobelia with fuchsia/magenta, closely followed by electric blue/lobelia with damson.

1. Deep blue maxi from Gap I bought in the summer - one of those things I knew the minute I saw it was a winner

1. Erm ... I have a violet-coloured cardigan from Boden that is very handy for injecting a bit of colour into an otherwise unexciting outfit

1. I love deep red and fuchsia together. I need to do more colour combining, I play it safe far too much! Ice blue and damson sounds interesting ...

Are any Winters who have had the style day using capsule wardrobes. I've a colour and a style day, but have only just started putting a capsule together. So far I have:
Bottom Half - black trousers, grey trousers, black pencil skirt
Tops - plain black jumpers/tops, plain bright blue top, lacy purple top, black and white spotted blouse, grey jumper.
Jackets / cardigans - red cardi, purple cardi, grey boiled wool blazer cardi, black jacket

Almost all the items work together, but I'm not happy with the grey/black dominance (especially as a jewel winter).

If anyone has any suggestions I'd be really grateful. It is a work wardrobe as a primary school teacher, I'm close to 60 , size 16, Jewel Winter, Gamine Ingénue!

PS I have some navy based clothes (trousers, brettons, jumpers, etc. which I team with bright pink) but that seems to be more casual off-duty outfits that I save for home / social life.

I haven't had a style day & don't have a planned capsule wardrobe, so feel free to ignore everything I'm about to say

Reading your list reminded me of a great blog post I read about the importance of coloured bottoms if you have a capsule wardrobe:

www.puttingmetogether.com/2012/03/building-remixable-wardrobe-part-3.html?m=1

So could you add some trousers and skirts in bright colours?

Also, I've found a useful & not too expensive way to add extra colour is to wear long vests that peep under your top, so a little strip of colour from the vest at the bottom and maybe at the neck, depending on style. Or scarves? No idea if these fit with the Gamine Ingenue style though.

I haven't started cataloguing my wardrobe yet. I think I'll need to set aside some time to do it properly. I like the idea of a capsule wardrobe, but I'm not sure that i could stick to it. I will implement a budget system in the new year though.

I'm not sure if my favourite item this year. It'd probably be my as yet unworn navy evening dress, which will be christened in 2 weeks time. I've definitely loved discovering royal blue, which for some reason I'd avoided for the past 40 years. I get compliments from strangers when I wear it now! I love combining emerald and fuschia. Eldest dd hates it, so I love it even more.

Mimi - fuchsia and emerald is a lovely combination. I tried it too but it was a little out of my comfort zone, so I've gone back to mostly teaming pink with blue.

June - love the sound of red and fuchsia (just like a fuchsia flower come to think of it). That's a mix I haven't tried so thanks for sharing it

I don't have any ice colours in my wardrobe at all, so can't try ice blue and damson/burgundy

Agghh, lost my post. Try again:

1. Blue Reiss dress and black Selected Femme jacket
2. Blue Morgan blouse
3. Blue and grey, burgundy and ice aqua.

I like blue

I bought a blue velvet jacket in ebay last night for £3.99. Ebay and alcohol, a dangerous combination!

So having thought about it, I think my best purchase this year was actually this rain coat - boring item but I have worn it lots thank you English summer and it is nice to have something in a colour that makes me look good!

What I have worn most this year is my navy clothes - never used to like navy before as thought it was dull but now I can see that it does suit me!

That's an interesting blog post Nowhere I'm definitely guilty of falling into the jeans rut and I have no coloured bottoms. Must work on that.

I remember doing a clothes inventory a few years ago and finding that I had seven pairs of black trousers. All basically the same style

Ordered this today...

I often wear navy with damson, burgundy, purple, green and grey.

Agree that long T shirt style tops (vests/short sleeves in summer and long sleeved in winter) are great for adding colour underneath cardigans/jackets/jumpers. I try and pick out the flash of colour with a scarf, nail polish or lipstick.

I find coloured bottoms tricky - apart from black/grey/denim, I have a red wool skirt and a couple of ankle skimmer coloured jeans (chinese blue & red) that I wear in summer.

I used to have a gorgeous ice blue jumper - I miss it sometimes.

I was having a look through the winter booklet I got. It recommends a minimum of three colours, whereas my consultant said a maximum of three colours

Also, I got an email to say that my consultant is a star consultant - anyone know what that means?

I realised that it is almost exactly a year since I had my colours done I thought I'd have had my style day by now - hopefully I'll manage it in 2015 sometime.

Hi, may I join the party? I'm a winter jewel, romantic classic type.

I'm on the look out for winter boots - what mid range but look expensive gems have you winters been buying this season? Knee high or ankle? Not black?

Hi Fender1 and welcome. I'm a Jewel Winter, Romantic Classic as well.

I've just ordered some suede ankle boots from Zara (link up thread) but they're black so not what you're after! I tend to live in my Ash Jalouse most of the time and haven't brought out my knee high boots yet this winter (they're high heeled, round toe with a side buckle and stick thing detail)

• stitching

Hi Sorrel, I'm new to the when colour / style thing so great to have another JW/RC to chat to.

I've yet to do a wardrobe gap analysis yet but I already know I'm lacking in colourful cardis, belts and expensive looking (?) footwear.

The ash boots look great, and so versatile, I can see me asking Santa for some (in grey I'm thinking).
I'm off into town later so I'll head into Zara for a gander at their boots too.

Today I'm dressed in a black roll neck, black skinnies and a bright purple poncho so not made the three colour rule yet (I'll add a few fuchsia bangles?)
Was told not to wear roll necks but they're so warm when out in the biting cold I'm going against my type

Just shamelessly copying this article from the vogue thread (warning DM link) but it has some good colour combinations for winters. emerald and a flash of red (hadn't really considered this as would want to avoid the Christmas effect), red and burgundy, chinese blue and purple, cobalt and pink, burgundy and ice pink.

New lipstick alert. In the sale I ordered Lipstick Queen sinner in rouge. First day wearing it and it's totally amazing. In the stick it looks brownish, but on me (very pale, very dark hair, very pink lips) it looks a gorgeous deep, yet natural (on me) red. It's a little drying, but stats on fantastically, so it's only to be expected. I need more shades now, so if anyone's tried a pinky one please share.

I do have a problem though. Emptying my handbag I found 6 lipsticks, then another 2 in another pocket. I'm not going mad for eyeshadow anymore though, so I guess it could be worse.

I think with the min/max of three colours rule - don't forget lipstick, nails, jewellery, bags and shoes all add extra colours to your outfit. At present I am wearing black & red outfit with a grey and white scarf, plus silver jewellery so that's five colours.

Fender1 I'm a soft curve (body shape) and roll necks are definitely on my 'no' list! I was also told that cardigans are too casual for me and I have to say that I tend to agree. So, as much as I like them and find them very versatile, I'm veering towards jackets these days. I have the Jalouse in Wood Ash which is the grey shade. They are very versatile.

MrPop Good article. I like the M&S skirt so may investigate further.

mimiasovitch I have way too many lipsticks! A nice, daytime, pretty, pink is Chanel Rouge Allure in 102 Palpitante. I've had mixed results with Lipstick Queen lipsticks. I have Velvet Rope which is a lovel colour but quite dry and goes patchy quickly. Recently I also bought Medieval but it is literally like a clear balm on me! If anyone is interested in taking it off my hands, let me know. It's been tried on once.

Talking of things that don't work, I have a size 12 purple velvet jacket from eBay which is lovely and great condition. The shoulders are just too wide and angular for me. Anyone interested?

Ooh Sorrel having read the product blurb I'd love to try Medieval please - I'm still afraid of proper lipsticks so a truly sheer red would be perfect for me.

Hi Fender and welcome I haven't bought any new shoes yet this season (too skint) so can't advise (I almost always stick with black anyway - boring necessary when working with a limited footwear budget).

NowhereNow the idea of three colours minimum seems alarming to me but I think Neither's interpretation of it is a good one. If I manage two colours I'm doing well, I'd never manage more than three if I couldn't include jewellery and lipstick.

Good article MrPop. I'm amazed how good purple and chinese blue look together - I would never have thought to try that.

I love chinese blue and wear it in summer - found that it goes well with purple, emerald, red and fuchsia.