The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Archives for 2016

2016 - Page 9 of 23

One Red Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: Fourteen Ways to Wear It

August 22, 2016   I love doing these... and this dress just calls my name. How can I NOT own this in black? This dress also comes in yellow (remember last week's post about a yellow dress?), black, and raspberry, which is a gorgeous rich hot pink... sigh...  

It probably doesn't amaze you to learn that when I do similar blog posts, I reuse the original template, and just make the appropriate changes. So after I went into this template and changed the dividers in the middle from red to yellow, I removed the yellow dress from every page, and just plunked the red dress in...And didn't have to change ONE THING, for these two options! How many different colors could work here? Certainly the black dress would be perfect ... View the Post

Building a Wardrobe of Bags – Accessories for the Capsule Wardrobe

August 19, 2016  

A couple of weeks ago, Belovedest and I were wandering around Chicago when we happened upon a store called The Shudio. Yes, it's a "hybrid of a retail shop full of eco conscious goods... combined with a metalsmith jewelry studio."  And yes, this is some fun...I could have purchased a lot of things, but I'm trying very hard to avoid that kind of reckless madness (especially with THREE big vacations coming up in the next year!), but I did buy a lovely little black leather wristlet, from a company called CHC. They donate 10% of their revenue to a local organization for homeless women, and all of their materials are local. Pretty nice; I was happy.

But when I got home and dug out my bag for our upcoming trip ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with… Antique Ceramic Tiles!!!

August 18, 2016   An upcoming "trailing spouse" trip for one of you... and some amazing colors, inspired by ceramic tile! As if we needed a reminder that capsule wardrobe color palette inspirations can be found literally anywhere...  

I'm going to assume that the little dot of red is going to be nails and lips...

 

Our trip is to a destination that will be cool-ish (Oslo!), so sweaters are going to be important! While I'm working with navy as the core of this wardrobe, I chose to use this cardigan, although it's a more "marled" blue. It blends well with all of the colors, and it's cozy cashmere, which could be helpful for this trip.And flying in a skirt? Well, it has a "hidden comfort waist," and it ... View the Post

One Yellow Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

August 17, 2016  

One of you recently bought a yellow dress... It wasn't this one, but it was an equally simple, beautiful dress...

Dress – Who's Who  

What to do with such a nice dress, in such a statement color? Work your way through every color in the rainbow, and test them in your mind (in a PowerPoint presentation, or on Pinterest?) to see how they'll work...First up, knowing that the purchaser is a woman who wears "cool" colors and accessories, I thought I'd take a look at putting some black with it. Some people might feel that this is too much bumblebee, or University of Iowa, or Pittsburgh Pirates, but I think that it's a striking option.

In the first example, I used a bit of white (or of skin, showing ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Arlequin by Pablo Picasso, Version 2

August 16, 2016   I have to admit, when I first saw this painting, I thought of colors of denim:  

Can you see it, too?

  Oh, So Wrong...

Cardigan – L.L.Bean; tote – Nine West; earrings – Made Sudiari; boots – Munro; scarf – Stella McCartney; watch – Fossil;  jeans – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; suitcase – Zero Halliburton  

"She never wears anything but jeans..."

 

cardigan – Jardin des Orangers;  scarf – Horo; earrings – Nyoman Rena; ring – Nyoman Rena; bag – Foley + Corinna; grey tee – Aeropostale; jeans – L.L.Bean; tie-dye sweater –Raquel Allegra; white cardigan – Vince; sunglasses – Dior; patchwork scarf – Fatface; bracelet – ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Arlequin et Femme au Collier by Picasso

August 15, 2016   Ever since I saw this in the Centre Pompidou, I knew that it was going to be on The Vivienne Files. This is really just a combinations of neutrals - faded denim for the blue, and then black, white, and grey.   

Note the very round details of "la femme." Some angularity, of course - it's Picasso - but the circles are key!

  Always Nobody notices for months, if ever...

When she was a very small child, someone once complimented her on her necklace. That remark stuck with her forever, and wearing a necklace became her signature.

  Small, large, fancy or simple, she always wore one. Even when swimming, she would wear a simple, inexpensive little ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Beige, Bright Blue and Orange: Expanding Your Accessories

August 12, 2016  

Oh, how I love accessories....As a reminder, this is where we left the capsule wardrobe when we finished the 4 additions to it yesterday:

floral shirt – Barbour; orange earrings – Kendra Scott; watch – Skagen;  ring – Savvy Cie; hoop earrings – Madewell;  necklace – Bleu; bracelet – Danielle Nicole;  blue earrings – Kate Spade; tee – L.L.Bean;blue tee – Uniqlo; orange cardigan – Joseph;  floral tee – Atos Lombardini; tank - Missoni; orange tunic – Jaeger; scarf – Eloise Bricka; blue cardigan – Betty Barclay; field jacket - L.L.Bean; wrap – Goyo; pants – L.L.Bean; skirt – L.L.Bean; ballet flats – SoftWalk; loafers – Aerosoles;jeans – L.L.Bean; bag – Ted Baker London; ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Beige, Bright Blue and Orange: From Travel Wardrobe to Whatever’s Clean

August 11, 2016     Yesterday's travel capsule wardrobe looked like this:  

floral shirt – Barbour; orange earrings – Kendra Scott; watch – Skagen; ring – Savvy Cie; hoop earrings – Madewell;  necklace – Bleu; bracelet – Danielle Nicole; blue earrings – Kate Spade; tee – L.L.Bean; blue tee – Uniqlo; orange cardigan – Joseph; orange tunic – Jaeger;  scarf – Eloise Bricka; blue cardigan – Betty Barclay; wrap – Goyo; pants – L.L.Bean; skirt – L.L.Bean; ballet flats – SoftWalk; loafers – Aerosoles;jeans – L.L.Bean; bag – Ted Baker London; tote – James Perse  

  A few people asked me if a travel wardrobe could be expanded into "Whatever's Clean 13;" of course, almost anything is ... View the Post

Packing Light: A “Six-Pack” Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Beige, Bright Blue and Orange

August 10, 2016     Let's start today with two scarves:  

  Archivist Everybody wanted to know answers - why do we have to bill the Prosidion Group on the 8th of every month? Why do we have to call the head of the Alblomilon Corporation exactly 10 minutes before we send the invoice? Why does the entire invoice for the Habestrate Manufacturing Consortium have to be sorted alphabetically by street address???

  Well, everybody had always archived the emails that explained these things...

 

But until she got there, NOBODY organized the archives!

 

So she worked. Carefully, methodically, attentively, for months...

 

 

 

In her ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Hot Pink and Ivory: Expanding Your Accessories

August 9, 2016

When we last saw this travel capsule wardrobe, it had some accessories - probably enough for a short period of time:

cardigan – Yumi; tees – Lands’ End; watch – Bulova; bracelet – Panacea; earrings – Marc Jacobs; ring – Maiko Nagayama; earrings – Kate Spade;  necklace – Alexis Bittar; Nail polish – JINsoon; lip stain – Yves Saint Laurent, in Explicit Pink;  wrap – Nordstrom; linen shirt – Uniqlo; square scarf – Irene Paris;  small scarf – T.M.Lewin; cardigan – Vince; jeans – Armani Jeans; cords – Marni; skirt – Uniqlo; tote – London Fog;  flats – Anne Klein; loafers – Vionic; pumps – SoftWalk  

It would be great if I can figure out an Accessory Template, but right now I'm still ... View the Post

Planning my Fall Capsule Wardrobe Shopping: August 2016

August 8, 2016  

Even though we're living in front of the fan, and running the air conditioner much more often than I prefer (those things EAT electricity!); I'm still already thinking about what I'm going to wear this winter. (well, I'm also thinking about what I'm going to pack for our trip to Italy next month...)First things first - you can't plan what you're going to buy unless you make a clear and complete inventory of what you already have! It's an amazing thing to read, repeatedly, about how women will buy a garment, only to return home and realize that they ALREADY OWN a very similar item. There's a big planning fail in there...

So I'm starting with my "Whatever's Clean" capsule wardrobe assortment for cool ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Hot Pink and Ivory: from Travel Wardrobe to Four by Four Wardrobe

August 5, 2016     Yesterday's capsule wardrobe really felt like it would be interesting to expand, didn't it? So let's plunge in and see what we can learn from the process!  

This is the entire travel capsule wardrobe - the travel outfit and the Six-Pack:

cardigan – Yumi; tees – Lands’ End; watch – Bulova; bracelet – Panacea;  earrings – Marc Jacobs; ring – Maiko Nagayama; earrings – Kate Spade;  necklace – Alexis Bittar; Nail polish – JINsoon; lip stain – Yves Saint Laurent, in Explicit Pink;  wrap – Nordstrom; linen shirt – Uniqlo; square scarf – Irene Paris;  small scarf – T.M.Lewin; cardigan – Vince; jeans – Armani Jeans; cords – Marni; skirt – Uniqlo; tote – London ... View the Post