a red blazer, a basic black dress and jacket, a navy and a black jumper, a black and beige herring-bone suit, black and navy straight skirts (a little longer than knee length), a longish flared black skirt.

The red blazer goes with any skirt, black, navy or khaki slacks, or the black dress
The black dress wears well by itself...dressed up with scarves, or jewelry (even holiday accessories)
For board meetings, the black dress and jacket with gold jewelry, black hose and shoes is perfect. The black jacket is also wearable with the black straight skirt!
The herring-bone suit goes with MANY different colored shells...add a little jewelry, and it will take me anywhere. Use a black shell,hose and shoes, and it is a candidate for board meetings.
Black and navy jumpers will go with any pretty blouse or turtleneck shirt. I particularly like to wear the jumpers with blouses that have a peter-pan or wider collar.
I also have a group of varied vests(including holiday styles), and short sleeved sweaters that I can wear with any skirt, or slacks. I generally wear a nice Tshirt with them in warmer weather, and a turtle neck in winter!!
Now summer clothes are another book entirely!!!! Texas summers are HOT and I have to dress up 6 days a week!!! YUK!!!
Good luck with your closet cleaning!

Simple black pants - flat front and straight leg. Can be worn with virtually everything and always looks good. Avoid trendy at all costs here.

Simple black skirt, just above the knee - again, can be worn almost anywear. Another longer, knit black skirt that I always taken when traveling. Packs perfectly, dries quickly, and looks great.

Various sleeveless sweaters - can be worn on their own or under a jacket or cardigan

I own lots of blazers, but the ones I'd keep in a pinch are my camel cashmere blazer and a red blazer. Classics. Not cheap, but I wear them all the time.

Simple dresses in dark colors - I can wear them to work with a blazer, or dress them up for a party.

Black slingback shoes.

Black mid-heeled boots.

Gold earrings in a simple knot style.

Gold necklace - cost me a small fortune, but it's a statement piece and everyone comments on it

Simple jeans. I have them custom made by Land's End - cost about $50, and fit perfectly.

I also have a gorgeous red wool coat that I bought on closeout many years ago. Originally cost $600, but I got it for less than $200. I've had it for 15 years and it still looks great.

I have a few classic sweaters, but I tend to go trendier on the tops and pair them with classic bottoms.

Good luck - if you quit buying trendy junk and buy one good piece a month, you'll always have something to wear. Also, take the time to study your body and learn what looks good on you. Simplifies shopping because you can pass over racks and racks of clothing.

Thanks, JayBird and Joann! And I didn't know you could have custom jeans done at Land's End!

I just purchased a pair of black leather boots at Marshall's after Thanksgiving sale. They're rather plain and classic looking, medium heel. I already have a couple of wool blazers, red and dark green. So, that's a start.

One of my problems is that I've gained some weight and I've almost said---no new clothes until I lose it. Bummer! If I do buy anything else, it will need elastic waist or be something I can alter myself.

I'm making a list of clothing that I need----the black dress and skirt are at the top! Thanks again, for your help.

YH, you would feel better with good fitting clothes until you lose the weight; some styles still fit with a weight loss, that black dress would be a good investment I think.

Another suggestion...
If you have decided to go the extra mile and buy better clothes, be sure to get any alterations done that you need, too. (This costs more, unfortunately, but it's very worth it.) I mean, buy clothes that fit as well as possible (neither too big nor too small), but then "tweak" with alterations to get the best fit for you. Shaping, correct sleeve length, etc. makes a lot of difference towards making a garment that deserves to be a classic in your wardrobe. Most of the better stores have tailors on staff who will mark the garments as needed and do the alterations.
I find it a little sad to see people wearing clothes that would look much nicer, had a few alterations been done.

In building your classics wardrobe, try to consider quality of fabric. (Cheaper ones will pill, stretch, wear poorly, not clean well.)

Make sure that patterns or plaids match properly across a seam. (Well, if you're buying better clothes, you won't actually have to worry about this... But it is something to appreciate about better clothes! And a mismatch across a seam always denotes poor quality clothes!)

Just some thoughts, slightly off topic, but important, I think.
Lori

Oh, darn...just when I was getting into this, everyone else lost interest, LOL!
Anyway, I was just going to add that tweed jackets or suits are quite timeless - with matching or solid color pants or skirt.

ab, don't despair, posts on this forum may be slow moving but they do get revived once in a while then the discussion starts all over again !!

Good suggestion about the jacket; I have a dark grey herringbone jacket that I love and I don't wear the matching pants with it anymore but I will pair the jacket with black pants or even jeans and I wear it with pleasure.

And vice versa... the tweedy pants or skirt look great with a solid color sweater set, or with a shirt and sweater...

Great ideas, everybody. I'm going Christmas shopping next week (to the city, DH doesn't know I'm clothes shopping, too--LOL) and I'll be keeping my eye out for some of these goodies.

How do you guys store your boots? I now have one pair in a box and two other pairs in a shopping bag in the closet ( I never throw boots away--it's a sickness). I did have some in a plastic storage container, but then read that this is bad for leather, etc. I have my new black leather ones, and the two pairs of suede---gray and brown. I also have a pair of those granny/mini boots, also black leather. These are all of my best boots. I love boots. I also have my oldie boots.

Use shoe trees and boot trees when you aren't wearing your shoes. They will look new much longer.

Good fitting jeans. A nice denim shirt. Good quality trench coat, black or camel. Scarves, lots of them. Navy blazer. Red blazer. Black light-weight wool skirt, lined. Jumpers are good as long as they don't look "little girlish." A navy suit, you can split the pieces, but always dry clean them together so that the fabric color stays the same. Dressy white or cream blouse in silk or pinpoint oxford cloth. Simple small, gold hoop earrings. A dress watch. High quality handbag in black or dark brown.

Browntoestoo, where do you get those shoe trees? Then, where do you keep yours----just sitting in the closet, or in larger boxes. How do you store them thru the summer?

http://www.doversaddlery.com/cart1.asp?CatalogNumber=2Z-3741

http://www.germa-drugs.com/Adcor/adcor_products.htm

http://shoeshineexpress.com/tree.asp

I have found boot trees where English riding boots are sold. Regular shoe trees can be found lots of places. Many shoe stores sell them. Shoe repair stores will have them. Maybe even Walmart and Kmart. Cedar ones are the best but plastic ones will still help keep the shape.

I keep shoe boxes and keep my shoes in those.

I'll check out some places this week, if it doesn't snow too much. Tis the season!

I'm removing all of the pleated skirts from my closet. I will never purchase pleats again. No figure for them. LOL Purging the pleats!

Over the years I have purchased blazers, slacks and skirts from the Austin Reed In Stock line. They are wool gabardine and the colors are Winter White, Black, Navy, Red, Moss Green and Camel. I have all the blazers, I prefer the double breasted, and you can then get the other peices as you wish. The colors never change and always match, the blazers I bought 10 years ago match perfectly with slack bought this year. This is true investment dressing, expect to pay $200+ for a blazer.

the blackwatch tartan blazer I found at a thrift shop 15 years ago- it's indestructable, and is the single best piece of camoflauge I've ever bought.

but all the classics I own came from J. Peterman- some from before Seinfeld got ahold of the catalog : ) their 'mountian' shirts I share with my husband- they have a simple band color, and go with his suit as well as they go with my patchwork skirts.

three utterly simple knit dresses with full-circle skirts - one red, one black, one navy blue.

and two silk, full circle skirts- one black, one dark gray.

they allow me to layer totally outrageous colors on top of them without looking like one of the 'wacky' characters from the soaps.