The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Archives for 2017

2017 - Page 5 of 19

Does the “French 5-Piece Wardrobe” Work with Warmer Colors? Start with Art! Composition by Lee Ungno

It's always a question - there are LOTS of good wardrobe ideas that work beautifully with black (and usually with navy and grey), but what if your favorite colors are warmer, and softer?

Let's start here, just for the sake of art. We saw 2 exhibits of this artist when we were in Paris - there was 1 small room in the Centre Pompidou, and then a much larger exhibit in the Musee Cernuschi (which is just outside of the Parc de Monceau, and is well worth the search!).

This just screamed to me across the room - I saw khaki right away, with amazing accents...

So let's think of a starting point that is lovely for a moderate winter - not a place where you get snow, necessarily, but where you see cooler temperatures. You don't worry ... View the Post

Start with Art: A “French 5-Piece Wardrobe” Based on Nature Morte sur une Chaise by Juan Gris

October 24, 2017

She is feeling a little bit... subdued. She was strangely drawn to this painting:

She decided to embrace her feelings of reserve and quiet, and thus decided that this was how she was going to plan her upcoming wardrobe purchases for autumn and winter.

It wasn't that she really needs new clothes - she's got a good base of her favorite neutrals. But she felt that it was time for a good snuggle, and a scarf of two to hold her tight... She could give lots of reasons for feeling the way she does right now - the weather? the change of seasons? At any rate, she's going to do a bit of shopping...

After much watching, and some almost ENDLESS searching for scarves, these are here choices. She's (quietly) very ... View the Post

EXPANDED Start with Art: Bouquet des Fleurs in the style of Jan van Huysum

October 23, 2017  

Quite a few people wanted to see what I would do to expand last Thursday's travel wardrobe, based on a beautiful floral painting...

 

I enlarged the color palette to include the softer shades of pink, all of the possibilities in green, and the various shades of blue...

This was the wardrobe that we had for the original travel wardrobe:

First wave - I thought that I would look for a couple of different shades of rose pink, in 2 different silhouettes. The scarf isn't an identical match for either of the tops, but it works well with both - always remember that scarves don't have to be dye-lot matched to work! The green sweater is classic, and when paired with the green loafers, can be worn ... View the Post

How do you Choose a “French 5-Piece Wardrobe?” Start with Art: Portrait de Greta Prozor by Henri Matisse

October 20, 2017

A short and sweet post today, because I've lost ALL track of time...

Let's say that you've got a well-established core wardrobe of the essentials, in mostly black. So you decide, this fall, you're going to use this amazing painting as the inspiration for your purchases - your "French 5-Piece Wardrobe" for this season:

You think for a few days, and decide that this is going to be your guideline:

This is your starting point - more than enough essentials to keep you reasonably well-dressed for most casual to medium-dressy events through the season:

And after some careful, deliberate shopping, this is what you add to your wardrobe for the upcoming cooler weather:

In addition to the myriad ... View the Post

Start with Art: Bouquet des Fleurs in the style of Jan van Huysum

October 19, 2017

You love this - romance, gracefulness, a deep color palette that remains feminine and quite pretty...

And so for a short trip, you've isolated these few colors for your travel wardrobe. (yes, you acknowledge that the background might really be black, but you prefer navy!)

You've Been Invited to the Beach, in Autumn... Yes, it's sentimental, and romantic. And you're more than equal to a weekend of quiet time together!

You don't need a lot of things - just enough to keep your feet dry, and your heart warm...

You can carry your bag easily enough, although a gallant companion might carry it for you...

You have plenty of options - all of them lovely!

Even rubber boots are ... View the Post

Does Anybody Care About Making and Selling Beautiful, Comfortable Shoes? Heck YES!

This is a shamelessly sponsored post! Yes, I was given a pair of shoes, which is a pretty sweet deal. But I hope that you know me well enough by now to know that if I didn't think that something was worth your time and effort, I wouldn't write about it - I'm not going to sell out and waste your time, and my good reputation...Last week, I was invited to the Thierry Rabotin shoes trunk show at Hanig's Footwear. I've been buying shoes from Hanig's for... 25 years? maybe, and I've been buying Thierry Rabotin (1 pair every 6 months, VERY carefully chosen) since they began carrying them. So I just thought that they were inviting me because I'm an old, and pretty good, customer...

Heck no! They offered me a pair of CUSTOM SHOES, in exchange for ... View the Post

Can a More Casual Work Wardrobe have Personality? Start with a Moth…

October 17, 2017

You might think it's just a flying caterpillar, but the colors are so lovely....

Your understanding is that the first interview is going to be most of the day in their offices, and then a break before they take you out to dinner; they want to make sure that you know which fork is which!

It's a kitchen gear company - why would you be interested in their job if you didn't know your salad fork from your dinner fork? Of course you're hired! For the first few days, you're going to have options to dress nicely if there's going to be a meeting, but otherwise the offices seem quite casual...

This is the the tiny wardrobe that you have before your first paycheck arrives - you can get through a week of work ... View the Post

Can a Corporate Wardrobe have Personality? Start With Nature! An Ocean Photograph by LBToma

October 16, 2017

I've received some requests for wardrobes that address the desire to return to the workforce without completely sacrificing personal expression. Of course, this is going to depend entirely on the nature of the office in which you find yourself - some are still pretty strict, while other will let you wear pretty much anything that gets you into the office without getting arrested!

But let's assume that you need to start out pretty cautiously; all of the internet "chat" about the office talks about their very old-school image, in the eyes of the public. Once you're in, and find your niche, you can branch out a bit.

This photograph was on that amazingly fun site Design Seeds - I thought that these colors would be a ... View the Post

Warm Grey and Cool Grey – Spotting the Difference

Last week when I told you that I saw lots of women in Paris stocking up on varying shades of grey, it brought up the question of different greys - warm and cool.

Of course, in its purest sense, grey is just black mixed with white, and thus should be neither cool nor warm. But when you start talking about textiles - many of which have a natural, underlying warmth to them (think unbleached cotton, or raw wool), things get more complicated.

Rather than try to come up with a theory about all of this, I'm just going to share with you a whole bunch of various items, arranged as best I can from the warmer toned to the cool. And yes, I completely cheated by putting a gradient background under these, so you can more easily see the yellow or ... View the Post

Planning Your Complete Wardrobe – Maybe I Should Start with the Real World?

October 12, 2017

I have absolutely NOT forgotten about my desire to figure out a way to have an overall wardrobe plan - something that I think we first discussed back in July?

Theories were posited that one could choose a specific number of each category of each garment, and a certain number of pieces for each season, etc. etc. But it all felt.... forced.

So I'm going back to reality - what is currently in my closet? What have I worn in the last month or so? Maybe I should start with what I actually OWN AND WEAR, and then see if I can make sense of that...

For now, I'm sticking with a target number of 52 - i.e. one piece per week, or 13 per quarter. So right now, I isolated in my closet the last 26 pieces of "non-gym" clothing ... View the Post

Shopping, Eating, and just Looking Around in Paris, October 2017

October 11, 2017

One of the interesting things about having fibromyalgia is that I've started to ignore pain. Some days, if I'm going to get anything done, I have to just "man up" and get on with things. (is there such a phrase as "woman up?" I've been known to say that I'm going to "babe up" from time to time...)

However, ignoring pain can get you into a spot of bother. Like when you get back to your apartment and find that one of your socks is full of blood, and that a few of your toes have magically turned into steak tartare...

Third day in Paris, we're donating 2 pairs of shoes, and going shoe shopping! Lucky for me, there's an Arche store just around the corner from where we stayed, and they proved to be exactly what the ... View the Post

Paris Accessories – Autumn 2017

Arguably, my favorite thing to do in Paris is look at the shop windows! And given my demonstrated fondness for accessories, there can be little surprise in learning that I love to look at scarves and jewelry most of all...

I think that one of the reasons that the Parisienne has such a reputation for chic personal style is the wide range of accessories that are available in Paris. When confronted, from birth, with such a vast number of choices, any person has to begin to clearly define their preferences and inclinations early, and continue to refine that personal style throughout their life. Without a sense of direction and focus, shopping for a simple ring or scarf in Paris can be completely overwhelming!

Many of these photographs are ... View the Post