December 25, 2024
Happy Christmas to all who observe today, and a happy and joyful day to everybody!
So after wrangling, pondering, occasional hair-pulling, and a lot of general angst, I chose the six paintings for next year. This is – no question – the hardest thing I EVER do for The Vivienne Files, so if your favorite painting wasn’t chosen, don’t doubt that it was considered, and re-considered, and finally eliminated with great pain.
If there’s anything you particularly miss, let me know and I will do a post about it! That’s the least I can do, eh?
With no further ado – let’s go!
This is the second year in a row that I’ve included Elizabeth Magill – I think she’s got magical talent…
This heroine is going to explore the possibilities of a range of grey, accented with a range of plum in a variety of intensities. Her jewelry will be set in gold – which is a surprise, until you note that the right side of the painting includes a pronounced gold accent!
I forgot to tell you – the single most elegant and eye-catching woman I saw in Paris was wearing a range of shades of grey, with a grey plaid scarf, grey coat, hat, pants and boots. She got past me so quickly that I barely registered what she was wearing, except that it was stunning! Her hair was warm auburn, and her complexion warm and freckled; the grey was flattering – like topaz set in silver!
This year, all of our heroines are starting with the same general group of clothing, including jeans and leather sneakers. It’s what so many people normally wear now – it seemed like a good base upon which to build!
And this heroine has chosen to grab a pair of earrings that are PERFECT for her palette. Maybe she should have started with a simple gray pearl, but she wasn’t going to miss these…
Cashmere sweater – J.Crew; earrings – Ann Taylor; scarf – rag & bone; tee shirt – Lands’ End; jeans – Banana Republic; shirt – Lands’ End; leather sneakers – Josef Seibel
As is only reasonable, two-thirds of our artists are women. And I think I include Georgia O’Keeffe every year, for a good reason. Her palettes are simple and limited, but always a bit off the beaten track, and beautiful!
I picture this heroine with eyes that change color between blue and green – what do you think?
This heroine could easily have found a classic ivory cashmere scarf – but she spotted this green scarf, and knew that sometimes you just have to “carpe diem.”
Cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; pretzel pearl earrings – ME30; emerald leaf scarf – Vince; tee – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; silk shirt – Boden; sneakers – rag & bone
I know nothing of this artist – but we’re going to remedy that!
I think that this heroine has a very relaxed personal style, and that she usually wears soft colors – except for her favorite teal!
I think when you’re signature painting is by the sea, mother-of-pearl earrings just make sense!
Teal cotton sweater – L.L.Bean; mother-of-pearl earrings – Latelita; cashmere scarf – JUSTLOVE; tee shirt – L.L.Bean; jeans – L.L.Bean; white shirt – Lands’ End; leather sneakers – DKNY
This painting just kept sticking in my mind, which is a sign that I need to spend some time with it:
This heroine loves the warmth of the painting, and the million shades of warm green here:
It’s a good thing that she’s open to a lot of different greens, because finding these colors is NOT going to be easy…
And FWIW, this scarf comes in a lot of colors – if you’re struggling to find a really good quality scarf in a particular color, check Franci out!
sweater – Aritzia; earrings – Studiocult; ginger tee – Lands’ End; kelp jeans – L.L.Bean; cashmere scarf – Scarves by Franci; shirt – Aritzia; sneakers – L.L.Bean
This is such a great painting – warm and cool, light and dark. Delaunay was pretty talented, eh?
The juxtaposition of navy and brown is classic, and the accent shades of blue-green, and of cream, should come together in a classically beautiful wardrobe – if I do it right!
This heroine’s clothes are timelessly simple, but her accessories are snazzy – those WOOD earrings! The scarf – another one from my current favorite Artifact., and BRONZE sneakers. The devil (or the delight) is in the details…
Cashmere sweater – J.Crew; teak earrings – Capucine De Wulf; tee – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; silk scarf – Artifact.; brown shirt – Alex Mill; bronze sneakers – Ecco
And a final, wild-card, painting, from the enigmatic but stunning Hilma af Klint. This painting kept coming back into my mind because I saw the colors in the four quadrants as accent colors for four seasons: pink = spring, ivory = summer, rust = autumn and grey = winter. I don’t know if that’s what she was thinking, but I like to think so!
These colors come together so well – although I have a hunch that in the dead of summer, our heroine is going to expand her “neutral white-ish” color to include white linen…
Her neutral core can be worn a few different ways, as can all of these “starter wardrobes.” And these garments will be workhorses going forward…
Cashmere cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – Bloomingdale’s; tee shirt – Lands’ End; jeans – L.L.Bean; scarf – Talbots; shirt – Alex Mill; sneakers – Taos Footwear
So these beautiful paintings are my gift to you – of course we can’t own them, but we can hold them in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives – and to me, that’s much better!
All the love in the world to you,
my dearest friends,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago tomorrow – I saw admiring the colorful winter attire on students I saw downtown…
p.p.s. Apropos of nothing, I want to share with you how ridiculously happy I am with AKT deodorant balm. It works. Period. And you’re not left with a gloppy mess on your hands, nor are you stuck with plastic containers that you can’t recycle. I have no affiliate relationship with these guy – I just love them… I could have linked to their products at Amazon, but we know better than to buy things from the rich guy, right?
Oh boy! It’s going to be a great year on The Vivienne Files. I can’t imagine how much thought has gone into choosing six from the lovely selection of paintings we saw a wee while ago. And it’s so interesting to see the palettes, and imagine what one might do with each of them. Thank you, genius Janice, and wishing a very happy day to you and to everyone!
Wow, what a Christmas present.✨️
They are all fantastically selected. Since I love green, I’m particularly happy.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.🎄
What a beautiful selection, Janice! I’ m looking forward to seeing these wardrobes grow.
Wishing you, Janice, and all of your lovely followers Happy Holdays and a wonderful New Year.
These are all just beautiful. I can not wait to see how they progress. My favorite stone is labradorite, and I can’t help but feel that would fit in nicely with the Eiffel Tower! Have a Merry Christmas everyone.
Merry Christmas Janice. Thank you for the lovely gift. I particularly like the Eiffel Tower piece as well as the surprise final painting. Best wishes to you and yours.
Beautiful Janice. Thank you for the Christmas gift. They are all lovely paintings, but I am especially taken with the Swan. I love the idea of the 4 accent colours, something I think I could work into my current wardrobe. I look forward to seeing them all develop over the year.
This is a great selection, and I clearly see some Paris influence! The pieces chosen are just right, practical and widely available. I’m very interested in the Delaunay. Can’t wait to see how navy and brown work together. It could be my new color scheme.
This is a much appreciated Christmas present, in fact it’s the first one I opened! Thank you Janice and happy holidays to everyone!
And the earrings!! 😍
Oooh! I’m excited about THREE of your paintings/palettes this year! Wonderful choices! Merry Christmas!
I love all of these paintings. So looking forward to seeing what you will do with them. Merry Christmas to you and all your readers!
A fabulous collection of paintings! I so look forward to your colorful, creative renditions from these works of art. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! You are so precious for so many of us.
Merry Christmas, Janice! I am excited to explore these beautiful, soft, elegant palettes with you in 2025!
May the next year bring you all beautiful memories to come.
xoxo
LOVE the gray, purple and gold combo AND the ivory and teal/green combo! I am a “Bright Pink Spring” and these two capsules are perfect for my color palette!!! Thank you and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Janice! I was so excited to open my email to find our Christmas present. You did not disappoint. I love them all but particularly smitten with street lights and Eiffel Tower. I love the greens though so I will be following along with street lights. Such fun! Thank you!
These are such lovely choices! Looking forward to seeing these gorgeous wardrobes next year!
I think my favorite will be the Georgia okeefe. Would love to see posts for the abstraction in blue or Bacchus
Happy Christmas to all who celebrate this day, and warm holiday wishes to all. This community of readers who care about curating classic, sustainable wardrobes and enjoy art and travel is a delightful place to be. 💙🌸🌸
This next round of paintings will be fun an intriguing. Thank you, Janice, for applying your talents and showing us a creative way to combine our love of art, color and fashion. BTW- I know I’ve said this before, but Josef Seibel shoes are so worth it. The quality endures over many years on the feet. I still have the first pair I bought around 25 years ago and add to my shoe collection whenever I spot a Josef Seibel pair in a color and style I will absolutely wear.
Oh, I love all the blue/green/turquoise colors I’m seeing here!! I’m the women with changing eyes from blue to green, just depends what I’m wearing so I’ll be following that one closely! Merry Christmas and thanks Janice!
I am loving the O’Keefe and Lum paintings. Think those will be my 2 favorites of 2025. Thanks for this Christmas present. Merry Christmas, Janice!
l’m happy. Pink is my favorite color. Black is so chic. The swan motif is beautiful. Here’s to another creative year of beautiful things!
Ha! I had to laugh at the jeans and leather sneakers comment! I never wear either of those items. Not to worry, I will adjust! I will substitute my loafers and my corduroy pants or cotton pants. That said, I’m really attracted to the O’Keeffe painting this year. Those blues and greens and the ivory are right up my alley. I probably would go more towards white in the summer, but I think those colors are fabulous together. The other wardrobes look interesting. it’s always fun to see what you do with these paintings every year. Merry Christmas and happy new year, Janice, and every one of your faithful readers.