A color change - from black and beige to navy and rust

I've worn black and beige for so long that it's become my mantra! Now I understand why I liked the contrast after reading, "What's my value contrast" on Imogen's Inside Out Style blog. My hair had a lot of red in it when I was younger but I always colored it to have blonde highlights or even totally blonde. People think it's natural! Ha! My eyes are a brown and olive mix. Now that I'm totally grey - a silvery grey - I color it to a very light blonde every few months. Needless to say, it's a very difficult color combination to put into a color season.

After months of looking at color, I've decided to trade my usual black for navy. I like browns but only to a certain degree - and prefer the orangey browns like rust, golden brown or bronze. I thought the two would make a good base for my wardrobe.

I find that black is too harsh now although I still prefer it. I think it looks classy and makes me feel that way as well. A few years ago my family started telling me I needed more color and it took me a few years to understand what they were talking about. Now I understand! My skin color has changed also through the years and I look almost sallow in black now.

The trick is going to be to change those blacks for navy. I have just purged my closet and pared down my clothes to a select few but black pieces remain as I can't totally buy a new wardrobe. I thought for the fall and winter season, I would start by buying or sewing a few choice pieces and slowly change my wardrobe.

I have black pants, a black cardigan sweater with bronze embellishment around the neck, a rust colored suede jacket, a black sweater with silver lacing going up the front and a dark wash pair of jeans that are left to start my fall wardrobe. I also have cream, grey and black turtlenecks made out of a tissue weight knit. I've also recently bought a variety of scarves. My jeans are comfortable but don't fit as well as I'd like.

I'm going to pair the black pants with the rust jacket, buy or sew a pair of bronze pants to go with the black embellished sweater and am going to start by sewing a navy blue skirt with navy tights and shoes.More on that to come!