When you actively do the ten-item wardrobe, each season will likely present at least one or two holes in your wardrobe, where you will need to shop for just the right thing to fit in with your other items. One of my holes this year is a pair of jeans. I had a great pair of AG jeans for several years. Then during my pregnancy period, I wore maternity jeans. Now I am ready for a new pair.



Because my time is so limited, I did not go to a shop, but rather ordered them online. This time I tried an unexpected place: Land's End.

Normally, I would go to Nordstrom or another department store with a plethora of jeans to choose from, but I was looking for something very specific: a classic pair of dark wash jeans with no holes, preferably with a flat front.

Spanx has a jean like this but it is skin tight and has holes in it... so it didn't quite fit my list. But I found these jeans on Land's End and ordered them. I am pleasantly surprised!



I initially ordered a size 8, but they were too big and stretchy so I ordered a 6 with a 30 inseam (I am 5'5") and they fit perfectly.

I like to wear these with my Blondo booties and, as you can see in the video, they also look great with ballet flats.

I was looking for flat-front jeans particularly because after having my fourth baby, I needed jeans that slim in the tummy area. If you don't have flat-front jeans and would like to slim the tummy, use the infinity beltto keep the button tab down. I love the infinity belt and am so happy to have discovered it!

I hope you enjoy watching today's video. If you have any great jean brands to recommend, please let us know in the comment section below.

News
📍I'm working on a new eCourse for 2019. If you haven't taken my other courses, now is a great time. Chic Financial Principles for Debt-Free Living and Create Your Own Ten-Item Wardrobe are fun, affordable, and as many have stated, totally life-changing!

📍Visit my Teespring store for official Daily Connoisseur merchandise.

On Instagram
Lessons from Madame Chic on Instagram...

View this post on Instagram

Some morning reading. #lessonsfrommadamechic #bookstagram

A post shared by Catherine Spence (@sevenpercentcatherine) on Jan 3, 2019 at 6:59am PST

Comment of the Week
On last week's freezer meal post, Kathryn writes, "Jennifer, I love all your food-related videos! They are so helpful for getting out of a food rut, as you say. I actually tried out HomeChef after your video, and it's been so fun to savor flavors outside of our go-to meals. In this "little kid" phase of life, we rarely go out to eat, so this kind of filled that gap of trying out new, fun foods. Thanks for the tip, and thank you so much for the peeks inside your hard-working kitchen!

The really big question though, is what is the story behind those beautiful earrings in the beginning of the video? They are so elegant, and kudos to you for wearing drop earrings while holding your baby! He must not be in the grabby phase yet ;) My daughter would make mincemeat out of my ears with those! Sigh...someday! Thank you for all your hard work, and have a beautiful weekend with your family."


Thank you, Kathryn. I love when my reviews prove helpful for others. Ben and I love Home Chef too and are using them again. The earrings are by Ana Luisa. I reviewed them back in December in this blogpost. Thank you for checking back in with us to let us know your experience!

Thanks for joining me for today's post. Do you have the perfect pair of jeans? I'd love to know what they are. See you tomorrow for a quick announcement :)


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In today's video I'm sharing the plans for my postpartum ten-item wardrobe. I'm going to have the baby very soon and wanted to be prepared with a nursing-friendly postpartum wardrobe for after the birth. This is the perfect time to go through my wardrobe as well as the seasons are changing.



I share what old pieces I am able to use for the upcoming season and share some new purchases too. Featured in the video are the following:

LL Bean floral knit dress



LL Bean Navy Dot Knit Dress (this one is currently on sale)



The two nursing tees are from zulily, who always have great maternity and nursing pieces that are affordable too.

Two-pack nursing nightgowns


Also discussed in the video is my black fold-over skirt, as well as the demi-camisoles I wear under my v-neck tops and dresses.

I am bringing back many older pieces as well that you will recognize. The burgundy Garnet Hill dress was from 2015/ 2016. I had retired it but thankfully did not get rid of it yet as I think it will work well for my postpartum wardrobe. I will continue to wear a few items from my maternity wardrobe such as the maternity jeans and black v-neck dress, which were both purchased from zulily.


News
My blog has been re-designed. I hope you enjoy the new look. I have a new feature on the blog called Shop where you can shop my books, eCourses and favorite things, including the specific ten-item wardrobe pieces for the season.

For more of The Daily Connoisseur, take my eCourses, Creating Your Own Ten-Item Wardrobe and Chic Financial Principles for Debt-Free Living.

On Instagram
Lessons from Madame Chic is now available in Mongolia. Thank you to my Mongolian readers for sharing your books on social media...

Feeling chic😎🤪 #lessonsfrommadamechic

A post shared by @ ich.elle on Aug 9, 2018 at 3:56am PDT

Comment of the Week
On Monday's parenting chat video, Hoki writes, "Thank you for this. :) I particularly love the 'styling the sofa' one. My son will clean if we play "Surprise Guest Is Coming". We pick up toys, hurrying, because a surprise guest is coming. Then, I go out and ring the bell. When he answers, I come in and pretend to be an animal or a toy. He has to guess what i am. Then, he takes a turn. He REALLY cleans to play this game.
Also, my favorite, general, affirmation is "What a useful little engine you are!" My son loves to hold the door for me and unload the grocery cart onto the belt. I wish he liked to helped me with the baby, though."

Hoki, I love your game, Surprise Guest. It must make it so fun for your son to clean and also build good, happy memories too. Thank you for sharing your tip with us!

I would love to know your ten-item wardrobe plans for the upcoming season. Let me know in the comment section and your comment could be chosen as comment of the week on the blog.

Thank you for joining me today. I'll see you tomorrow for a new Natural Home with Jennifer.

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FTC: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.

It feels great to be back on the blog. I hope you had a wonderful week! We went to Lake Arrowhead and had such a relaxing and peaceful time. Capped off by Easter, it was truly a great week. And now onto the business of the day...

Welcome to my ten-item wardrobe post for spring/ summer 2017! Since I have taken you along with me during this process, you are already familiar with almost all of these pieces. I wanted to put my usual fashion show- style video together for you to show you how it all comes together.

The main message I want to convey with this video is that the ten-item wardrobe should be FUN! It's not a prison sentence for your wardrobe :) It's liberating and light and fun and will honestly change your life.

My children wanted to be in this video, so they make an appearance at the end. They certainly had fun filming with me!

Let's take a look at the core items:



Yes, this year I have 11 core items. That's OK! The ten-item wardrobe is flexible. Some seasons I have more than ten, some seasons I have less (for fall/ winter I had eight). It's important to not get bogged down in semantics. Aim for ten and see what happens! If I go through the season and I find I'm not wearing something, I will take it out.

In order from top to bottom: Boden leaf dress, Boden white and green dress, A.P.C. shirt dress, Garnet Hill black ballet dress, Rebecca Taylor dress, Garnet Hill polka dot ballet dress, Coral TJ Maxx blouse, Red floral TJ Maxx blouse, AG high waisted skinny jeans, Talbots khaki skirt and the L.L. Bean denim skirt.

The new addition, L.L. Bean skirt fits into my budget wardrobe concept this year as I purchased it on sale for only $16.99 (original price $49).

Please note: Apart from the L.L. Bean skirt, I do not have links for many of the clothing items as most of them are between two and five years old.

Extras are what bring the core items together and make your ten-item wardrobe wearable. My extras include tee shirts and sweaters. I really only have a handful of each. Not all of my extras are shown in this video. This is to give you an idea of the main items I will be using.



Tee shirts: The blue striped tee is from Boden, the white v-neck tee is from B.P. at Nordstrom, the red striped tee is from Boden, the lace tee shirt is from Loft. These are all from prior seasons so I do not have links to share for them.

Sweaters: the cropped white sweater is from Boden, the tan cardigan is from Ann Taylor and the navy cardigan is from Talbots. (Please note: I have more sweaters in my extras that I can pull from if the weather changes, such as the aqua Equipment sweater, etc. I am showing you a representation of sweaters in this post.)

The white leggings as seen with the Rebecca Taylor dress (which I LOVE) are from Amazon.

If you are new to my work and want to learn more about the ten-item wardrobe, watch my TEDx talk to get the whole story, or read my Madame Chic books.

News

Lessons from Madame Chic has been released as a comic book in two volumes from Harper Collins Japan. The books are illustrated by the very talented Junko Murata.

A post shared by ハーパーコリンズ・ジャパン／HarperCollins JP (@harpercollinsjp) on Apr 4, 2017 at 5:32pm PDT

Illustrator, Junko Murata, shared these pictures on her blog.



Thank you, once again, to the Japanese readers for embracing the Madame Chic books!

Stay tuned for the next video where I do a ten-item wardrobe talk-through with you and share my thoughts on how it is working so far. Thank you so much for your support! I hope that you will share this video and spread the word about how amazing the ten-item wardrobe truly is. If you are a blogger and you write about The Daily Connoisseur and the ten-item wardrobe, let me know and I will mention you on the blog.

Today I would love to know... what do you think of my ten-item wardrobe this year? Are you having fun building your own ten-item wardrobe? What is going right and what is going wrong? Remember even your mistakes are valuable because you learn from them! If you have any questions you'd like me to address in Thursday's talk-through video, please submit a comment by the end of today (Monday, April 17th).

See you soon...


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Hello Dear Readers,

Congratulations to Lena, who won the LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE giveaway. Today I have a final video before I take my annual summer break from the blog. In it I answer a frequently asked question: How has my ten-item wardrobe fared this season and are there any changes?

This ten-item wardrobe has been my most favorite. As I have previously mentioned, every season you do the ten-item wardrobe you get closer and closer to honing in on your true style and the clothes you love to wear. I was recently speaking with my sister, who is trying the ten-item wardrobe for herself, and she told me that one of the most valuable things is she is definitely figuring out what she doesn't like to wear. This is valuable! Oftentimes when our closets are stuffed to the brim with clothes, we add so much confusion to our fashion identity and we just don't know what we like to wear. We're all over the place. With the ten-item wardrobe, because you are "stuck with" (for lack of a better term) the same small amount of clothing for a season, you learn pretty quickly what you like and you don't like. That's why each season, you eliminate mistakes and get closer to your true style.

There was one item of clothing, my Spanx jeans, that I found I rarely wore this spring/summer.

In fact, since March, I've only worn them 3 to 5 times! Essentially for the past few months I have been wearing a 9-Item wardrobe! Don't worry, I'm not changing the number on you. I decided to set the jeans aside (I'll most likely use them in fall/winter or I can bring them out if there is a cold-spell in the summer) and purchase a dress to fill the gap so that I am back to ten items.

Because I loved my black Garnet Hill dress so much...


I decided to purchase the same dress in navy polka-dot. The dress was on sale for significantly less than I paid for the black dress and I thought this would be a wise move. And it was! This dress is so comfortable and forgiving. I might keep both dresses on into the fall/ winter wardrobe as I believe I can layer them for colder weather. We will see. Here I am wearing the polka-dot dress last weekend visiting historic Victorian houses in San Diego.


Please check out this week's video for a more in-depth examination of my summer ten-item wardrobe experience. If you are unable to see the video above, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or check out my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur

Madame Chic Inspiring Thought
Be honest with yourself and figure out what you don't like to wear. Get rid of the clothes that just aren't you, even if they were expensive. Even if they were a gift. Even if you swear you might wear them one day. If they don't feel right, you won't wear them and you'll never feel comfortable in them. Have fun this summer purging your wardrobe.

Comment of the Week
Debbie S. writes:

Jennifer, I just wanted you to know that I'm learning so much from you. I'm 55 years old and my kids are grown and on their own, my youngest just graduated from college. The teen years were tough and I had become a little crabby with everything going on in our family. My kids were good kids but there was just so much commotion with all of their activities and their teen angst. I enjoy your Blog and your videos. They have reminded me to be kinder and gentler with everyone in my life. I kind of lost myself a little being a mom so thank you for helping me to refocus.

Love, love, love your clothing tips!

Debbie, thank you so much. As a mother of two kids I know how hard it can be to not lose your sense of self, especially during the difficult times. It is very important to have an outlet where you can express yourself and cultivate your interests so you don't lose yourself in the drama that can sometimes come from family life. Wishing you the very best!


News
Check out For the Love of Organizing's book club discussion of Lessons from Madame Chic, starting with part one.

My newest book, Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic comes out on October 27th and is available for pre-order now.

I will be taking my annual one month break from the blog as I enjoy the summertime with my family and get settled in our new house. I look forward to returning to the blog reinvigorated and have many special videos and posts planned for you. If you have a request for the upcoming season on The Daily Connoisseur, please leave it in the comment section below. Thank you again for your support of my blog. You are so greatly appreciated. See you soon!

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Thank you for your great response to my ten-item wardrobe for spring/summer 2015! In this week's video I talk you through the wardrobe choices. This year's wardrobe was heavy on the dresses. This was by design. After many years of curating these capsule wardrobes I have come to learn that I am most comfortable in dresses. They also fit the Southern California climate perfectly as the days are generally warm, if not down right hot! In the past, I would include more pants and even long sleeved blouses, but found I rarely wore them. Dresses are for me.

This year saw many repeats, such as my A.P.C. blue chambray dress, A.P.C. linen dress, Tory Burch silk patterned dress and the denim Talbots dress with the tailored sleeves from last season.



Many of these dresses are more than one season old and because of their high quality, still remain valuable assets in my core items.

Of the newer dresses, I decided to try a few accessible brands (able to order online or through catalogue) such as Garnet Hill and Boden. I have been very pleased with the quality of these dresses!



The star of the show for me is this new Rebecca Taylor dress, which I love and I know will last many seasons to come.


For the bottoms, I have one pair of Spanx jeans, which I purchased last winter and a khaki a-line skirt from Talbots. If the weather gets really hot or if I'm doing a particularly messy activity with the girls, I might take out a pair of shorts I have from Banana Republic. Right now, I've stored them away until summer.



As you can see I do not have any blouses in my wardrobe this year. If I need to look dressy during the day, any of my dresses will work just fine. I plan on using the jeans and skirt paired with the tee shirts for more casual looks. These tees are all from Boden. I only have a handful of tee shirts each season. Not all of them are represented here. I have another blue and white stripe (I love my nautical!) as well as a few long sleeved white tees. Because I only have a few tee shirts each season, I tend to need to replace them each year as they either shrink or get dirty. These Boden tees seem really high quality. They might last longer than one season! We shall see...



I do a lot of walking in Santa Monica and need comfortable flat shoes. I have not shown you my entire shoe collection here, but these represent my casual shoes that can pull each outfit together nicely. I have not shown my evening shoes (mainly heels) in this post. As you can see, I like to wear neutral or black shoes. They tend to go with everything!



I have not shown evening wear in this video. That will be discussed in a separate future video. Here, I wanted to focus on the everyday core items that get you through the week.

For links to all items that are still available (many are not as they are more than one season old), check out my original blog post here.

Check out this week's video for a more in-depth discussion of the ten-item wardrobe. If you are unable to see the video above, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or check out my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur

News

I am in Tokyo, Japan this week! I'm looking forward to meeting readers at my book event, Wednesday April 22nd, 7pm Kinokuniya Southern Theater

I am featured on Retail Me Not in an article called, Clean Home, Clear Mind.

Lizzbert blogs about her journey with the ten-item wardrobe here.

Pink Julep loves Lessons from Madame Chic and has her own take on the harsh critics.

Inspired by Madame Chic, Ruby's Musings works on cultivating her mind here.


At Home With Madame Chic is now available as an audiobook from Tantor Audio.


Madame Chic Inspiring Thought
As you go forward with curating your ten-item wardrobe, think about your true style. Do you dress how you want to dress? Or do outside influences dictate that you dress a certain way? Perhaps you would love to dress in a more feminine way, but tell yourself you could never do it for various reasons. Get inspired to discard your inhibitions and embrace your true style.

Comment of the Week
On YouTube, Janice writes:
I completely understand what you are saying about appreciating, being grateful for what we have instead of always wanting more or thinking that it isn't enough. I just recently discovered your blog and am reading your book.I love the idea of a 10 piece capsule wardrobe. I am tired of (bored with) having so many clothes that I so seldom wear. I find the idea very refreshing.

Thank you Janice, and have fun compiling your ten-item wardrobe!


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