The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Archives for April 2012

April 2012

Chic sighting x2 – at the bakery counter

Some amazing color combinations, on some VERY nice, and lovely women...

Argyle cardigan – Pringle of Scotland, blouse – Tory Burch, earrings – Elizabeth and James, tote bag – Barneys New York, short boots – Acne, – Burberry Prorsum  

Down vest – Moncler, scarf – Barneys New York, sweater – Ralph Lauren, jeans – Old Navy     ... View the Post

The price of a manicure

Years ago, after I turned 30, I decided that absolutely nothing was more important to me than to travel. It became, for me, the primary criteria by which every purchasing decision was made: "Does this get me closer to an airplane?"  If the answer was no, then I at least paused before proceeding.

The upshot of this discipline is that I was able to go to Europe twice a year, spending about 3 weeks there in total each year.  My co-workers exhibited a constant combination of annoyance, jealousy, and just plain incomprehension as to how this could be done.  

Here's how:

As soon as I got a cell phone, I disconnected my land line. Packed lunches. Coffee from the free office coffee maker, rather than the expensive cafe ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a scarf: Hermès Passementerie in camel & grey

We've been chatting a lot about camel and grey together, and this scarf was the perfect opportunity to introduce a couple of outfits with those colors.  Toss in a bit of soft blue, a little bit of yellow, and a dash of coral...  What a great scarf upon which to build some looks!  

Stud earrings – Monet, Camel wool pants – Michael Kors, Sweater – Costume National, loafers – Tod’s, pearl stud earrings – Lord & Taylor, grey dress – Love Moschino, pumps – Salvatore Ferragamo      

Silver earrings – Touch of Silver, Sweater – Lela Rose, jeans – Allsaints, boots – Acne, silver bracelet – Touch of Silver, Cap-sleeved top – Liv, denim skirt – Wrangler, sandals – Dorothy ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a scarf: Hermès Les Parisiens in black

Someone asked me to suggest a few outfits to go with the lovely Les Parisiens scarf.  This particular coloring is a perfect opportunity to mix warm beiges or browns with black, so I took that as my motif.Please note that I'd be more than happy to suggest outfits to go with any scarf - it certainly doesn't have to be Hermes.  Just post a comment with a link to a picture of your scarf, or email me a picture at [email protected], and I'll take a look!

Dress – Ralph Lauren, pumps – L.K.Bennett, black sweater – Steven Alan, suede jeans – Current/Elliott, boots – Nicole Ranger    

Brown pants – Burberry London, black silk & cashmere v-neck, two-toned leather flats – Sesto Meucci, black cashmere ... View the Post

my wardrobe: some pattern & texture with my black

These are the eight winter garments that I've chosen to keep, which I wear in order to leverage the all-black core items already chosen to survive the wardrobe purge  (you didn't really think that I wear unrelieved black every day, did you?)

First I show my additions to my edited wardrobe, and then below, I show all of the items that have been specifically chosen (so far) to stay, through the first four stages of the curating and distilling process.

Yes, I really love argyle...

  ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with a scarf: Hermès Egypte in bright green

I received a question about what could be worn with a specific Hermes scarf - one with a lot of brown, beige and camel tones in the center, and a bright green border.  My suggestions include all of the shades of brown, gold, white, and navy, which is always so nice with bright green...And a lot of these clothes come from J. Crew.  I've been spending a LOT of time lately in the local J. Crew store, gift shopping, and I've found that they stock a large number of nice-quality basic garments.  Maybe not to your taste, or your budget, but certainly they are good "thought-starters".

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Hazelnut dress – Diane von Furstenberg, metallic sandals – Giuseppe Zanotti, ivory sweater – ... View the Post

A chic sighting, and some thinking

Sweater – Le Mont St. Michel, Flats – Libby Edelman, jeans – J Brand  

This very lovely young lady works in the building where I live.  While the jeans and sweater were very simple, the shoes demonstrated that she had put some thought into what she was wearing, and didn't just throw something together.  At her age, and with her level of natural beauty, she could have been wearing a sack and looked striking.  But with this level of style self-awareness, she's going to be just as elegant in 40 years as she is right now...

As the seasons finally seem to be moving toward warmer weather, I'm starting to go through that semi-annual wardrobe "switch out" that I find so distressing.  Vivienne repeatedly points out ... View the Post

Imaginary shopping: a wee “pick-me-up”, in pink

My last springtime adventure in imaginary shopping is the "how to experiment with a fashion color" question.  I'm totally smitten with this striped top, and my desire for it would be sufficient to convince me to introduce pink into my wardrobe for six months or a year - however long the top lasts.   Here is a case in which I would NOT spend a lot of money on jewelry, and I would buy a decent pair of shoes or sandals, but not a long-term investment pair.  This small shopping spree is designed to brighten up my wardrobe for spring, indulge in a garment which I love, and participate in the "brightly colored pants" trend, without breaking the bank.  

Tee shirt – J. Crew, cropped pants – Diane von Furstenberg, pink ... View the Post

Imaginary shopping: basics, in blue

  Today, I've scaled back my purchases a little bit, and chosen to "buy" a more trendy color - cobalt blue.  I loved cobalt when we all wore it back in the 80's, and am happy to see it back again.  But I'm not willing to make quite such a major investment in blue as I was willing to consider yesterday in my imaginary red extravaganza...   So I would look to purchase the following:

Cardigan – J. Crew, tee shirt – DKNY, pants – Piazza Sempione, skirt – Diane von Furstenberg, scarf – Givenchy for Liberty of London, lapis earrings – Astley Clarke, lapis & onyx bracelet - Nordstrom     Based on the idea that I want to leverage these core wardrobe items:

 And this is how I would wear my new ... View the Post

Imaginary shopping: extravagantly red

I'm not shopping these days, but I do LOOK at lots of things (as you well know!).  So I decided to do some imaginary shopping; sort of walking through the process of what I would do IF I were in a shopping phase of my life.     First up:  What basics do I already have in my wardrobe that I wear a lot, and want to use as a basis for leveraging my purchases?  

Now, what do I want?  I've chosen to splurge on red this shopping spree.  It's an on-trend bright color, but it's dead classic, and never goes out of style.  It's a color I wear well, I already have a couple of beautiful scarves with a lot of red in them, and it mixes brilliantly with black.  

So... a cardigan and a tee shirt (sort ... View the Post