Since my big wardrobe purge a couple weeks ago I’ve been slowly catching up with Colette’s Wardrobe Architect series. I’m actually trying to do most of the exercises, albeit in a backwards order. This planning stuff is fun! I’m getting kind of serious about not adding anything to my closet that I won’t wear.

Since I left my closet a bit empty, the first thing I did was buy a few quality basics in white and black. I’m always reaching for white or black camisoles, t-shirts or tanks. My goal is to have at least one fitted and one loose version of each.

Then I started drafting up a color palette and collecting some summer wardrobe inspirations on Pinterest.

Coming up with an inspirational color palette is one of my favorite seasonal activities, but this time I thought a little bit harder about what constitutes neutrals and statement colors, what colors I’ve been consistently drawn to no matter the season or year, and what’s been catching my fancy this year. Normally I just go with the latter but it never makes for an intentional wardrobe plan!

Here was my original color palette before it got whittled down.

Looking at this now, I’m surprised I’m in such a colorful mood, and I never perceived myself as a pastels gal. You might guess from my Signature Style board that I’m normally drawn to eccentric, intellectual, moody and quite masculine style. I consistently come back to black and red and white. Red was actually one of my “neutrals”–I never think about it as a statement color. For some reason in my eyes it goes with everything!

But there is always the gardener and wildflower lover in me. I’m quite fond of blushy pinks and pale corals in particular. When picking out roses for my garden years ago, I got obsessed with what I call the prefect shell pink. It’s couldn’t be too peachy, or too pinky, but almost translucent. My favorite is Souvenir de La Malmaison–its blooms gradually disappear into a pale warm pink after a few days in the sun.

A little bit new to me are minty colors. Jade, celadon and those moodier mints keep attracting me. Or the color of an ice cube as it drops into a mint julep.

Anyhoos, you’ll get to see a lot of these colors in action by mid-summer. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been dyeing up a group of fabrics, mixing my own dye colors for a group of lingerie items. I’m down to the very last dye pot and just love having all these fabrics in my dream colors hanging around me!

Do you like coming up with seasonal palettes?

Photo credits (with licensed permission): Amir Jina, Jenny Downing, Rijks Museum