Archives for August 2015

August 2015 - Page 2 of 3

A Warm Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe + Water and Pearls

August 17, 2015

Yes, I promised a capsule wardrobe with turquoise and purple. I should have taken a look at what's still available for summer before I spoke so precipitously! It's kind of an unwritten policy when I'm working on The Vivienne Files that, if I show a piece of clothing, it should be available in the full range of sizes in which it was originally sold. It's no fun for anybody to go look at something that really appeals, and see that it's only available in one really peculiar size. (my favorite being 00...) So, plan B. Stick with blue, but go softer, and to a more seasonless offering of denim and chambray. That gives us another nice "seaside" feeling, and is beautiful when paired with the mother-of-pearl jewelry that ... View the Post

A Warm Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe + Seaglass

August 15, 2015

We have looked at soft and warm accents, and strong warm accents, so now it's time to look at some really beautiful soft, cool touches in a capsule wardrobe. Someone mentioned sea glass as an inspiration, and so I chose a bracelet to anchor my color wanderings, and then went looking!

(I have the very BEST job....)

When I was looking about, I kept in mind that I wanted organic, soft items, that held onto the warmth of the summer sand (I mean the beige neutral clothes...)

As with all accent color purchases, the colors don't have to be perfect matches. If you keep wandering around the same general color(s), you will find that things either match or blend pretty well without a lot of effort. This is supposed to be ... View the Post

Twin Posts: What to Pack to Visit Chicago, Labor Day Weekend

This is really exciting for me; as a blogger who seems to be under most radars, to have been asked by Susan of Une Femme d'un Certain Age to partner up for a pair of posts was unexpected, and pretty thrilling.

Susan's blog was one of the very first I ever followed, and her style and élan are qualities that I try to emulate in my own way. I can't encourage you enough to get to know her and appreciate the charm and elegance that she brings to her life, and in turn, to ours!

So today, Susan's going to give us some guidance about what to pack if we're off on a voyage to her neighborhood, in Los Angeles. I'm really eager to see what she has to say, since that's an area to which I've only traveled ONCE, and I'm sure I have a few things I ... View the Post

Olive, Wine and Gold join A Common Capsule Wardrobe, warm tones for summer

August 13, 2015

In honor of the season (in the Northern Hemisphere) of the ripening of all delicious things, I give you the "Tuscan inspired" capsule wardrobe of wine, olives, and gold that was sent to me a few days ago.This reader really goes all out - she finds photographs and paintings that illustrate the colors that she likes, and builds me a little collage that is my reference material. I need to find out if she'd mind if I showed the illustrations here - they're really beautifully chosen and constructed, and serve as a glorious inspiration to my already hyper-drive imagination!

And yes, I did choose that bracelet because it reminded me of olive trees and grape vines...

For easy reference, here are the original ... View the Post

A Warm Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe, with Seashell Accents

August 12, 2015

Yesterday's comments were wonderful - thanks so much for sharing all of your ideas!

Someone suggested soft pink and peach in a capsule wardrobe, and described it as feeling like being inside a seashell... HOW was I going to resist that idea?

Let's add these accents, shall we?

As a reminder, this was the original Common Wardrobe:

And these were the original accessories. These are still going to be used, and be important!

I think I've paired each new top with each of the bottoms from the original neutral wardrobe. I confess that I was getting a little bit muddled, but you get the general idea - there's everything here from very casual to "nice evening out" dressy. The long cardigan will really ... View the Post

A Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe, In Warm Tones

August 11, 2015

What fun this was - the same general idea as my personal mostly black Common Capsule Wardrobe for warm weather, but in warm tones!

There aren't quite as many accessories here as there were in my wardrobe - but for anyone who is going to wear this wardrobe, you certainly already own LOTS of pieces that will work beautifully here.

So very many different ways to put this together:

And just for reference, the template for Your Common Wardrobe.

What accent colors would you put with this? Peach is the first and most obvious, to me. What else? I'd like to revisit these pieces with some accent colors, if you're interested.

love, Janice ... View the Post

Accent Colors for Fall 2015

August 10, 2015

You remember these guys, right? They're the colors that Pantone assured us would be the BIG colors for this fall and winter.Well, I've seen a lot of Marsala in the windows at Ferragamo. Other than that, I can't say that, in my hours and hours spent each day looking at clothing and accessories, I have seen any of these in large quantities. And for what it's worth, I had to do some serious hard-core digging to find some of the goodies shown below.

I think we can conclude that Pantone's either not as accurate as they would like to be, or that the market is much less dependent upon their advice than they once were. This is a real annoyance if you fell madly in love with one of the colors that was supposed to be ... View the Post

A Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe

August 8, 2015

It was a great question, and one that I'm sorry I didn't think of sooner - what about A Common Capsule Wardrobe for warmer weather? It's not like the concept doesn't work when the weather's above 20 degrees...

For me, of course the neutral is black. You can't imagine how I DON'T want to wear bright clothes after a day of wrestling with the nuances of color for The Vivienne Files! Also, I go in and out of stores, offices and restaurants that have absolutely frigid air-conditioning, so I include both a cardigan and a jacket. If you spend your time in less wasteful environments, you might not need these...

So I start with my cardigan - sheer, and very light. A jacket in silk... Three sleeveless tops, which can be in ... View the Post

My French 5-Piece Capsule Wardrobe for Autumn and Winter 2015. I think…

August 7, 2015

So now that THAT is settled, let's move on to the really fun stuff - adding to and dressing up (or down) A Common Wardrobe.Just for reference, or if you still haven't printed it, this is the template from which I worked for my 12-piece Common Wardrobe.

And these are the core garments with which I'm working:

black cardigan - J. Crew; black v-neck sweater - J. Crew; black cashmere turtleneck - Saks Fifth Avenue, white cotton turtleneck - L.L.Bean; black long-sleeved tee - Three Dots; grey long-sleeved tee - L.L.Bean; white shirt – J. Crew; black slouch pants - Eileen Fisher; black trousers - Eddie Bauer; black jeans - Eileen Fisher; black skirted leggings - Eileen ... View the Post

My Wardrobe: Revisiting A Common Wardrobe

August 6, 2015

Among the most popular, and among the most misunderstood, posts that I've ever written for The Vivienne Files have to be the ones about A Common Wardrobe.

I used to work in advertising. I used to travel a lot, and I used to be privileged to meet some of the most intelligent, creative, eccentric and downright weird people you could imagine. But one thing that I noticed, time and time again, was that no matter how unusual their appearance might have seemed, their clothes would invariably include at least one or two elements that were pretty normal. In fact, when I looked over large rooms full of these people, you could see a common theme of a lot of jeans, khakis, and black trousers, a lot of white shirts, a lot ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Still Life with Apples by Henri Matisse

August 5, 2015 As soon as I saw this painting, I knew we were going to have some fun. I really admire the juxtaposition of the very traditional navy and grey with the striking, almost shocking, colors of the apples. That Matisse knew what he was doing...

If I were to expand this wardrobe further, I would pull in more shades of grey, and a wider range of blues... so many possibilities just from this limited palette.

Just the slightest suggest of unplumbed depths...

The subject of her came up before the Director's meeting started. It wasn't anything that they could actually put their finger on; they agreed that nobody in the room had ever even seen her knees!

She was always dressed ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Northern Flicker

August 4, 2015 When your wardrobe plan gets difficult When I received a note about building a wardrobe around the coloring of a Northern Flicker, I was really excited; taupe and black, with accents of orange? What's not to love?

But as most of us have found, it's one thing to choose and truly commit to a color scheme, and quite another to actually FIND the items that you envision. These beautiful shades of taupe are pretty straightforward to find in winter clothing, but to find them for summer was quite another story!

I specifically chose this photograph because it gives us two really great, and complementary, accent colors to mix in with the taupe and black. At this point in this project, I was filled with enthusiasm, and ... View the Post