Project 333: Earrings

Earrings are far from an essential part of any wardrobe, but I wear them every day; I find that I really hate the look of the holes in my ears without earrings.  But most of the time I prefer to wear only small stud earrings, or very modest hoops - I'm not terribly keen on large earrings on me...

These are the core of my day-to-day wardrobe:

Pearl studs, metal studs, a pair of dressy studs, an accent stud (well, okay, grey pearls), and a small pair of hoops

Pearls, or another lustrous stone in a neutral tone, are a good starter:

Majorica,  Nordstrom, Pandora, Givenchy,  Lagos,  Pandora, Alexis Bittar

A metallic stud is always nice:

Melinda Maria, Marco Bicego,  John Hardy, Adami & Martucci,  Lagos, Nordstrom, Lagos

It's generally handy to have a somewhat dressy earring for those occasions:

Nadri, Nordstrom, Melinda Maria, Nordstrom,  Nadri, Nordstrom, Melinda Maria

And a small earring in an accent color is fun:

Nadri, Argento Vivo, Anne Klein, Kendra Scott, Marco Bicego, Michael Kors, Kendra Scott

 If you're a hoop earring type of person, the options are many:

Simon Sebbag, Alexis Bittar,  Nadri,  Adami & Martucci,  Adami & Martucci,  Simon Sebbag

Project 333: Bracelets and Necklaces

Bracelets and necklaces are also items that absolutely nobody MUST have in their wardrobe; women have lived completely fulfilled and productive lives without them.  But for me, this is the core of what I will be wearing through the autumn and winter.

Note that I wear both silver and gold, mostly because I have a Trinity ring as a wedding ring, and my watch has a yellow and white gold band.  As will ALL things style, your mileage may vary.

My Majorica bracelet is still available,  but the rest of my core jewelry is a few years old and difficult to find.  Except, of course, anybody can scare up a nice strand of pearls.

 Pearl bracelets - there are SO many beautiful ones available:

Majorica, Majorica, Majorica, Majorica, Majorica, CoriNa Madari, Givenchy

Pearl necklaces with some black detailing - I would buy two of these and layer them together:

Givenchy,  Givenchy, Alexis Bittar, Alexis Bittar

A nice simple gold necklace:

Alexis Bittar,  Lauren Ralph Lauren, LaurenRalph Lauren, Adami & Martucci

Pearls and gold together:

Anne Klein, Stephan & Co., Natasha Couture,  Majorica

And maybe a silver necklace too:

Adam i& Martucci, Adami & Martucci, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Kendra Scott

Project 333: Scarves

Who am I kidding - I will wear more than six scarves before the winter is over - there will be WEEKS during which I will wear more scarves than this. But these six scarves represent the critical categories into which my scarves seem to fall.  None of them is still currently available - and I can only remember buying two of them at all clearly.  I DO remember buying my pink scarf the first time I visited Paris (1998?), and being absolutely horrified with myself that I spent so much on a scarf.  Now that I've worn it about 500 times, I no longer remember the price... 

Mostly pink/blush colored scarves:

Halogen,  La Fiorentina,  Nordstrom,  Nordstrom

Mostly grey scarves:

Vince Camuto, Nordstrom,  Nordstrom, Nordstrom

A scarf that is black, white and warm!

Lucky Brand,  String Theory,  String Theory

A scarf that is black, white, and can be worn indoors.  Sometimes, I just need the clarity of black and white in an otherwise very muddled world! 

BP, Jonathan Adler, Julie Egli

 A silk square in mainly neutral tones:

Silk by Bryony,  Alva-Norge, Sabina Savage,  Esther Bonte

A silk square in pretty colors (some of these would be like wearing a breath of spring around your neck in the dead of winter!):

Esther Bonte,  Silk by Bryony, Silk by Bryony, Joanna Allsop

Project 333: Shoes

Lots of people have been interested in where I purchased my various Project 333 items, and what designers or brands were represented.  So I'm going to break down the whole show, by category, and review what I have.  Better yet, since so much of my stuff is no longer available, I'm going to source out reasonable facsimiles or replacements.

Starting with shoes:  I have 2 pair of loafers included in this assortment, and 2 pair of oxfords.  If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably only get one pair of each.  But here are the autumn shoes, shown in order of absolute criticalness in my life.

Loafers are from Stuart Weitzman, the tall boots are from Eddie Bauer, the athletic style shoes are from Cole Haan, my low boots might have been Clarks, but they've been worked on so many times that there's not one remaining mark on them to tell, the pumps are Stuart Weitzman and were purchased on EBAY!!!,  wingtips -  Clif, and silver captoes - Stuart Weitzman. Probably the only ones you could still find would be from Clif...

If I had to have just one pair of shoes going into cooler weather, they would be plain black loafers that I could wear with either pants or with skirts and tights.

Aravon,  Geox,  Aravon,  Softspots

 And almost certainly, the 2nd thing I would add would be tall boots, to wear with my longer skirt and longer dress.  You have to be careful about where buckles are placed on boots, and how well they lay flat and smooth - there's nothing more irritating that having your dress hem ripped loose because it caught on the buckle of your boot!

Aetrex,  VanEli,  Me Too,  Everybody

Now that I'm not in an office everyday, I'm loving my black pseudo-athletic shoes. They're a low enough profile and cool enough design that they don't look like white marshmallow shoes when I want to put on something equal to an 8 or 10 mile walk through the city.

Munro , Munro , Munro, Geox

Special mention to those of you who wear an uncommon size - I think all Munro shoes come in a full range of widths - i.e. AAAA to EE.  Which is NOT usual in the world of women's shoes!

I've always worn short boots a lot, and I have a hunch that mine are going to get a lot of mileage with my skirted leggings.

Munro, Softwalk,  Ecco,  Softwalk

I will always want to own a pair of nice pumps, even though I don't wear them that often.  Sometimes, they're just the right shoe for the occasion.

Trotters,  Earthies,  Aetrex,  Sofft

I love my wingtips, but I'm not sure that I would buy them right away if I were in a rebuilding process.  But some of these are pretty lovely...

Munro, Stuart Weitzman,  Miu Miu,  Kurt Geiger

Project 333: The Full Lagerfeld

Yes, Karl Lagerfeld wears the same outfit every day.  And I'm going to be getting close to that point...

I can see how people who are continually immersed in fashion all day, every day, can get completely burned out on making clothing choices.  For every garment or accessory that I show here on my blog, I estimate that I look at over 100 items that get rejected.  Sometimes, I can say with confidence that I looked at over 500 pair of pants, or 700 bracelets, before I found what I really wanted to include here for you.  

After I've written a blog post, I want to wear absolutely simple, plain, easy and uncomplicated clothes. I don't need to have more than a dozen discrete, discreet outfits, so this upcoming Project 333 clocks in with fewer than 33 garments.  I can see that the number of garments might continue to gradually diminish as time passes.

Now, if the weather would just begin to resemble autumn!

I'm using little rolling suitcases as page dividers here, to remind myself that I often feel that I only need a suitcase of well-chosen garments, and that anything more than that might be superfluous!