Dressing in Color Stories
Includes a seasonal lookbook with color palette references, a spring crossword puzzle, and thoughtful stories of the objects that make our homes from readers of Feeling!
Today’s Monday Letter was made in partnership with my very favorite clothing brand, Sézane. Dream. come. true. ❤︎
Yesterday I ventured outside for the first time without my BC (big coat). This marks a momentous celebration. I can feel the sun on my skin and imagine an iced beverage in my hand once more.
We took the train to Rockaway Beach with our friends last summer. While sitting on a picnic blanket in the sand, my friend Emmae remarked she’d never seen me smile so big. I thought that surely couldn’t be, but then I realized it was because she had only ever known me in the fall and winter. She was probably right.
One inkling of summer, one gust of salt air, one patio tea, and I become fully Jenna once more. I’m baaaaack.
Seasonal arrangements are in order, everyone! Fall and winter lovers alike, come along for a dose of spring sunshine. It’s time to refresh.
If you would, recall your elementary school teacher’s meticulous attention to seasonal detail. The changing of the bulletin board art, perhaps some new wax warmer on her desk, and the fresh books on display after you got back from spring break. Those teachers were so tired, yet so intentional because they cared about us.
The joy of seasonality as motivation to keep moving forward has always inspired me, which is so magnified in the classroom setting. When a gust of fall hit, it felt like you could make it to the end of the year. When spring sunshine returned, it felt possible to make it to summer break.
It’s strange that when we become grown-ups, with our own space, we seem to mostly drop that practice of embracing the changing seasons unless it’s December.
So here’s a pitch to channel that favorite school teacher and make the season a celebration for those around you. You don’t need to get a bulletin board (although…?), you can incorporate that celebratory attitude into more practical aspects of life. Beautifying everything around you. Here are some simple things I am doing:
The kitchen: I am prominently displaying a tray of brightly colored fruit in my kitchen/dining space all season. Edible decor. A blue bowl of clementines. A jar of vibrant radish. A pink bowl of bananas. I am making produce a statement piece.
Florals for spring, of course: I will visit the closest farmer’s market for a fresh bouquet of tulips this season. I will fill my funkiest vase with them.
Coffee/tea: I am leaning towards Earl Grey, lavender, and lemon slices this time of year. I’ve found an espresso tonic with pineapple cold foam at my favorite coffee shop, and I am ready to sit outside and sip.
Card games: The sun is setting later, so I have the itch for some rounds of cards at the next game night. I’d like to get into that peak game night flow.
My spring wardrobe: If you don’t mind, I would like to try something new!
Feeling! Magazine’s first “lookbook.”
Emulating my favorite old print magazine styles, I played dress-up and put some inspiration together for you as a lookbook. I hope you glean some inspiration from these spring looks. It was very fun. All the clothes are from my genuinely favorite store, Sézane.
I am interested in combining stone pastels with vibrant colors this year. This year, I am not going all light and bright for spring; I am leading with strong color stories.
I combined a classic dark-wash high-waisted denim with an olive top. The breezy texture of the top with the comfortable stretch of these jeans means I can go outside for hours and still feel great. I styled the combo with a pop of red (my favorite kind of pop) in the form of jelly shoes.
Finally, I paired the look with a thick beaded necklace and bracelet that I will likely wear all summer too, because they look like candy and go with everything.
Rolling cuffs for spring! Wearing chunky jewelry for spring! Too many buttons to count for spring! This bracelet is especially fun to wear over a sleeve. I will have to show you what it looks like over sweater sleeves soon.
If you are feeling pastels, may I introduce you to stone pastels? Light blue is currently all over my space and my closet.
I paired a big collar denim top with embroidered cream denim trousers. Every piece of fabric touching me is soft; this is essential to me as a person.
I feel like myself in a fun collar and denim. These pants can be dressed up for spring events or more casual for simple get-togethers. I am excited to try them out with a lot of different top/shoe combos. I have a very small IKEA wardrobe, so any piece I get has to be able to be worn again & again with so many combinations. It’s ruthless to make the cut. Both of these pieces will do just that. (I already love how the collar looks peaking out over a sweater!)
I hope the colors, cuts, and fabrics inspire you to get excited about your spring outfitting. What we wear is a part of celebrating the season, too. If the lookbook was helpful in any way, let me know if you have any thoughts for future dressing themes. I’d love to do it again.
To me, spring represents newness. I am aiming to make new things, try new things, befriend new people, and discover new ways to be me.
It’s time to start something new.
✸ Thinking about flowers for spring is certainly not groundbreaking. But flowers are on my mind nonetheless. Did you know flowers have different symbolic meanings? Gifting certain types of flowers traditionally communicates something specific. The Farmer’s Almanac has a guide for what each type of flower represents, if you’d like to brush up before Mother’s Day and spring events.
✸ I found this very fun color game, which has you guess the exact shade of a color to test your memory. I shared it in the Feeling! chat this week, where everyone shared their scores. The response proves to me that we are all longing for pleasant internet mini games again. (I have some ideas)
✸ I have been on the hunt for a thick hand cream to recover my skin from winter and Soft Services made their signature overnight pump cream into my favorite scent, Xtra Milk! The soft blue color vessel fits in my stone pastel theme and looks decorative on a nightstand.
✸ Do you have an itch for a new nightly crafting ritual? Somewhere between knitting, embroidery, and needlepoint lies punch needling. It’s fun because it’s both fuzzy and a little violent. This punch needle kit has my color scheme stamp-of-approval.
✸ This is irrelevant, yet might be specifically very timely for someone. So I will share. I found a banana bread mix that I love. It’s good stuff. I put the mix in a muffin tin, and it makes the yummiest treats to pick at throughout the week (or sometimes in 48 hours).
✸ I made some unique drink recipes to try out for spring, including a banana cold foam topper for your homemade matcha lattes!
✸ This is a piece I wrote last year that is a bit of an ethos for Feeling! Magazine. Wild how much growth has happened since the article was first published. I am so grateful you are all interested in becoming the creative director of your own space! I just know if we were all in the same room, we could move mountains (with a color-coded system, likely).
✸ I made you this crossword puzzle, by the way. Feel free to print it out or fill it out on an iPad for a leisurely evening wind-down:
Greetings from the best spot on the internet, the Feeling! Magazine chat room! We hosted our first show + tell.
I recently wrote about what makes a home truly feel lived-in versus just designed well. One key feature is objects/art that tell a story that means something to you.
I asked the chat, “Do you have a favorite piece with a story? And will you share it with us?
Serria Thomas: How fun!!! In my very first apartment in NYC, my roommate broke her key in our very old door, which effectively locked me in / her out. Our landlord was nowhere to be found, so we called a locksmith who promptly charged us $1,300 to rip off our door handle entirely and replace it (we were 22 and broke and yet just went along with it!).
We moved to a new apartment shortly after and have since lived in multiple apartments separately, but we each kept half of the ripped off door handle to remind of us of those silly and broke 22-year-olds who have in fact, since upgraded to doors/locks that work.
Mine hangs on a gallery wall, and it’s always such a fun and unique conversation piece (plus a sweet memory!)
Artist Zoe Ariel: “Mine is more of a gallery wall art in our living room that my husband and I collected during our month long elopement while we backpacked around Europe! This is an immediate conversation piece when we have people come over.”
Katelyn Nieto: I spent a few months living in Greece and wondered how I might bring some of that historic character, wood, and texture to my home in the States when I returned.
A few years later, always scouring Facebook marketplace for unique finds, a gentleman posted this stunning piece…it was handmade in the Mediterranean and then shipped here as a custom piece that was used in their family for a few generations. As much as the gentleman wanted to keep it, he didn’t have the space for it anymore.
As you can imagine with a piece like this, hundreds of people messaged him practically begging for it. But he happened to click on my message in which I poured my heart and soul out (practically wrote a letter) about how this piece would become part of the heart of my home and kitchen and the feeling I wish to create for my own family for generations to come.
“SOLD!” He said…
Only, to my husband’s surprise, the piece was 2 hours away (one way). Though I’ve often had pieces sold out from under me on marketplace before, I had a feeling this one was meant to be ours so we braved the drive, and the seller trusted that we would indeed arrive. And we both kept our word. So on a rainy Sunday afternoon, we made the drive and my husband and brother kindly hauled it up to our third floor apartment where it has become a treasure since.
The thing with this piece and this story is that the story is only going to continue! More life will be lived in its presence, and more homes will hold it, as we hope and pray to one day build our own kitchen around it in a home of our own someday.
We’re so grateful that we were its chosen keepers!
Nicole Carullo: “When I moved to LA after college, I randomly bought this chair at the Los Feliz Goodwill for $6. It unexpectedly became a key styling piece for me—a cute little nook for me to stack books and hang umbrellas—and has followed me from apartment to apartment and coast to coast.
Now, living in Brooklyn seven years later, I’m still strangely attached to this chair. And while thrifting in Jersey, I found a miniature version of it that I’ve since grown (almost as) attached to. It makes me want to own mini versions of all my most cherished objects.”
MJ Larson: “My husband’s grandmother was a master doing needlepoint. When we engaged, she brought out a huge album of her work and said, “Pick one for your wedding present.” We choose this one, but she said “No, that’s too small. That won’t do.” I was stunned, but okay. So we choose another of sunflowers.
Two years later, we had graduated, got adult jobs,and moved to Los Angeles. My in-laws and his grandmother came for Thanksgiving. After they’d gotten settled, she pulled this out and gave it to us. It’s hung prominently ever since.”
Nat's Stack: “My mom and I have both always loved a beach vacation, but since growing up and getting older, many of our vacations are now separate. We gave up on the idea of buying each other silly souvenirs that will sit and collect dust. We instead have this large, shared jar in her house, and we bring back a few seashells from each of our trips, then combine them into the jar. Neither of us can remember where any specific shell came from, and that’s the beauty of it. It simply sits there and gets fuller and fuller each time one of us gets back from a vacation. (The best part is opening up and getting a subtle whiff of ocean air.)”
Tami Carey: “I designed this departure board to be the cafe menu at my bike shop/ coffee shop. The whole spirit of the space was exploration and adventure. When my research showed that an actual vintage departure board was going to be way out of budget, I worked with a fabricator to create this. It actually went sort of viral, got featured in design magazines, and got knocked off by several other local businesses (a compliment?)
When we closed the shop, I moved it into our house, and now it’s a sort of vision board of bucket list places we want to visit. It’s one of the few things we held onto.
I’m still so proud of it, and I love watching guests’ eyes light up when they see it for the first time- just like they did at the shop. More and more, I’m making friends who didn’t know me when the shop was open, so it’s (mostly) fun to retell the story.”
It was so fun to engage with your beautiful homes and pieces, and an honor to hear your stories. I love the place we get to interact, here, together!
This Friday, you are invited to join the chat for my first-ever “Office Hours.”
I often get messages I accidentally miss throughout the week with thoughtful questions, and I want to create an organized space to converse with you. I am going to do my best to keep Fridays open for “Office Hours” where you can bring questions, thoughts, and feelings regarding home, color, design, Substack, and living — and we can discuss together. See you there Friday!!!
Thank you, Hailey Howe, for your lovely work on Feeling! Magazine Graphics! You made this Monday Letter magical!
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GROUP PROJECT!
1. Any lookbooks (for home or wearing) you would like to see next would be greatly appreciated. Your ideas are my favorite ideas!
2. If you play the color game (you should) — let us know your score!
3. GIVEAWAY: Anyone who comments/likes this post will be entered into a randomized giveaway for the glorious punch needle kit designed by Liv Lee, an artist I really adore, mentioned in the article (and some other secret goodies).
The color game!!!! This is exactly my favorite kind of game - thank you for sharing it Jenna. My score was 41.92/50.
Also those cherry red shoes are super cute!