Archives for November 2016

November 2016 - Page 2 of 2

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe – Start with Art: Sure Violet by Helen Frankethaler

November 14, 2016

Of course, we all know that the French don't really just buy 5 pieces of clothes a year - that's sort of silly. But there is some truth to the idea that they buy five major accent pieces twice a year. So let's think about taking a really simple, basic capsule wardrobe and seeing what we can do with adding 5 new pieces (and some accessories, of course!)

First up, let's start with a really lovely work of art:

Today we're just looking at accent colors, and this painting is perfect for that! If we wanted to build a summer wardrobe around this, could you imagine using off-white silk and linen as the neutral, and then these four colors? Mmmm....

This is the core wardrobe that I'm suggesting - I ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 5

November 11, 2016

It's tempting to say we've reached the home stretch of building this capsule wardrobe, but in reality, you're never finished building your wardrobe. Things wear out, or suddenly shrink, or you just plain can't stand the sight of that tee shirt EVER AGAIN... (after travel, you might need to find something new just to retain your sanity!)But for people who don't put all that much worry and fuss into clothing, this wardrobe is at a pretty good stage for a long time:

Here's where I like to stop and lay things out in an orderly fashion, to see where I've gone awry, and what needs to be supplemented, and what needs to be avoided, for the last little bit of shopping:

It's important to me to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 4 – I MUST Have a Winter Coat

November 10, 2016

The capsule wardrobe we finished with yesterday would make a GREAT travel wardrobe; you could wear 3 pieces, and pack the other 12. With our new silk pants (and the silk blouse from the first steps) you could be prepared for a dressy event, and obviously the rest of the wardrobe is ideally suited for... wandering Chicago in November? New York? Montreal? The choices... sigh...

At this step, I always plan for a complete outfit. This time, I thought that some brightness and a real emphasis on our accent colors would be a good idea!

Flannel shirt – Patagonia; cardigan – L.L.Bean; cords - Patagonia Even though we haven't (in Chicago) see anything that resembles cold weather, we ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 3 – Do I Have to Own a Dress?

November 9, 2016 Ah, this capsule wardrobe is starting to have some personality! Here's where we left off:

As always, this would be a good point in wardrobe-building to pause, especially if you're purchasing all of these items. Wear all your new goodies in every possible combination (which will take quite a while!) and make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you're comfortable with the styles, the colors, and the overall mood. It's not a dreadful thing to stop at this point, if you feel that it's the right thing for you. It WOULD be dreadful if you kept on shopping and consuming and spending money without being certain!As I look at these 9 pieces, I clearly see that we'd better get some teal into this picture soon! And the ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 2

November 8, 2016 When we paused at the end of yesterday's capsule wardrobe building, we had five pieces of clothing - not a ton, but still enough for a tidy handful of outfits:

Clearly, this wardrobe is going to take on some real depth of color with the addition of some accessories. I'm sticking with this gorgeous rich brown leather for as many things as I can manage, including a really nice bracelet!

watch - Kapten and Son; bracelet - Colana; scarf – Santorus; earrings – Lagos; bag – Frye

Generally speaking, a well-balanced wardrobe should have more "tops" than "bottoms." Jeans and trousers don't need to be laundered as frequently, and because they're worn below the waist, they're ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, First Steps

November 7, 2016

Another step by step, starting from scratch Capsule Wardrobe exercise! This week, I'm tackling olive and beige as the neutrals, with teal, rust and ivory as the accent colors. Our primary emphasis is going to be on the "very casual, lots of jeans and corduroy" sort of style. Many of you have told me that you have very little need for dressy clothes in your wardrobe, so let's see what can be done with that in mind.

And fear not, when I do this in December, it's going to be conservative-office dressy!

First up, let's visualize the colors:

Since these colors are definitely pretty warm, with the exception of the teal, my current plan is to use warm deep brown leather goods, and gold jewelry. Our heroine's style is ... View the Post

Expanding a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Night Study of Flowers by Maurice Prendergast

November 4, 2016

When you're looking for color and style ideas for updating a capsule wardrobe, always remember that the world is FULL of beautiful paintings:

Even though I'm pretty certain that I'm going to struggle to find green garments of this soft, subtle tone, I have to include it in the color palette! But when you encounter real road-blocks in find things that are perfect in your wardrobe, you just have to be patient, or learn to sew/knit. Worse hobbies exist!

A reminder that these are the capsule wardrobe "essentials" around which we're building:

tee – L.L.Bean; turtleneck – L.L.Bean; shirt – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; cardigan – Lands’ End; chambray shirt – Topshop; pants – L.L.Bean; pants – ... View the Post

Mainbocher Exhibit at the Chicago History Museum; Who’s Your Favorite Designer (of all time)?

Mainbocher, (or Main Bocher, which was his real name) was born and grew up in Chicago. As a former Chicago resident, he had over time donated some of his creations to the Chicago History Museum, and so they finally got things sorted out to do this - very lovely and very well-presented - exhibit. The exhibit runs through AUGUST of 2017, so if you're planning a trip here in the next 9 months of so, you will have a chance to see it.

Mainbocher is credited with introducing such fashion innovations as short evening dresses, jeweled sweater (hurrah!!!) and the strapless gown. He also revived the corset before Dior's new look, not that he got much credit for it. (nor should he - I think corsets are an abomination against my internal ... View the Post

Expanding a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Bathers by Paul Cezanne

November 2, 2016

I've been assured by my experts that, as much as WE all understand that "Start with Art" means "building beautiful capsule and travel wardrobes using the colors and styles found in fine art," nobody else in the Google universe knows what we're doing... and that keeps new readers from finding The Vivienne Files. That, my friends, is bad... So I'm trying to name my posts in a more "search-friendly" way. We shall see how this works!But the beauty is here, no matter what. After seeing so much art in Italy, I just HAVE to do a couple of small art-based wardrobes...

This just screams of nature, warmth, and organic fabrics in lovely faded dyes:

The colors here were very straightforward:

As has been my ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in 6 Capsule Wardrobes: November

November 1, 2016

Since these capsule wardrobes are becoming rather complete, I decided this month that I was just going to browse clothes in the colors of the capsule wardrobe, and see what caught my fancy!The earlier months of this series can be found here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October.

First up, here's a reminder of the six scarves that we're using as the basis of these six capsule wardrobes:

Navy– Hermès Voyage en Etoffes; brown – Hermès Tyger Tyger; beige – Hermès Le Voyage de Pytheas; olive – Hermès Cheval Mirage; grey – Hermès Cheval Surprise Remix; black – Hermès Au Pays des Oiseaux Fleurs

For this wardrobe, as soon as I saw the kimono, ... View the Post