The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Accessorizing Archives - Page 18 of 22

The Vivienne Files FAQ: Are Accessories Necessary?

March 4, 2014   Do you have to buy and wear accessories?  Absolutely not - except most of us will have to wear shoes... But I very strongly feel that just a few well-chosen accessories can make a world of difference in how the simplest of garments come together into ensembles.   If you're not comfortable wearing scarves, find a way to just throw one around your neck one day and then do your utmost to ignore it for as long as possible.  Make sure your first scarf isn't anything floaty or filmy that's going to blow up into your face at the first opportunity.  Maybe something quite small, tied up and out of the way so that you won't even really see it...   Jewelry is also pretty useful - earrings especially ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Variations on a Sweater Theme

February 26, 2014   Yesterday's double posting was, in fact, a mistake on my part - the pattern mixing post was supposed to be this morning's post.  But I'm having well-documented issues with Blogger, and they chose to give you the gift of two posts yesterday; who am I to argue?   So today I thought I'd share a small post with a few quick observations I made in New York.    First, most women in New York are NOT amazingly beautiful and well-dressed.  They might be slimmer than the national average, but that might just be because one walks a lot in New York. (and if you take the subway, you climb a LOT of stairs...)   Secondly, pretty much the entire city wears black coats.  Maybe grey. ... View the Post

Dabbling in the Trends: Pattern Mixing

February 26, 2014   I saw mixed patterns in almost every window display in New York - along with color blocking, it was the ubiquitous fashion suggestion for spring.   You know perfectly well that I'm not a big believer in the following of trends, but sometimes a fleeting style element might catch your fancy.  There's nothing wrong with buying one or two things that clearly demonstrate your connection with the here and now, and that indulge your love of the trend in question.   Pattern mixing is tough...  It requires a pretty astute eye to pull together different garments in different patterns.  That's why I really like the idea of buying one garment in which the patterns are mixed for you.  Let the ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Scarves, Part 1

December 11, 2013  

As much as I love to use a scarf as an accent to an outfit, once the weather starts to get cold, I find that I often turn to my black, black and white, or grey scarves.  A little bit of texture, a subtle print, or a pattern can lend a lot of interest to a monochromatic outfit.Tomorrow, I'll show you scarves from the other 8 neutral colors - I'm now including rust and teal as neutrals!

  love, Janice ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Earrings, Part 2

December 7, 2013   I love the subtle colors of some of these earrings - the brown diamonds are unexpected, and low-key, but very appealing...  And once you learn that certain semi-precious stones are perfect for your neutral color choices, your hunt for jewelry can be much more focused.   A couple of earrings here are gold, withOUT a stone of any sort, but I chose them because they felt like they had the right... aura?.. for the neutral in question.  Some colors are just plain difficult to find!  

love, Janice ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Earrings Part 1

December 6, 2013

Silver stud earrings - Chen Fuchs, grey pearl stud earrings - Majorica,  grey star stud earrings - Esther Greville,  grey and gold studs – Samira13, blue quartz studs - Judith Ripka,  tassel earrings - jenny jenny,  lapis studs – Barbara Rybarova, silver and lapis studs - Boticca  

Inverted diamond earrings – Q, squared studs – Dorothy Perkins, pearl drop earrings – Novica, blue topaz earrings – Novica, crystal pave earrings – Loft,square earrings – Ann Taylor, spike stud earrings – Luis Morais, pearl stud earrings - Novica  

Half-moon earrings – Novica,  Olive studs – Otte NY, green amethyst earrings – Ice.com, tourmaline drop earrings- Ylang23,  blue topaz studs ... View the Post

Brooches for Winter

I fully intended to hold back this post until it was a bit closer to winter, and the winter holidays, but since all of these brooches are available right now, on ebay, I thought I'd go ahead and give you some eye candy... 

While a brooch might not be considered a wardrobe essential, even the "non-brooch" people among us have to admit that these are pretty - especially when aggregated thematically...  And the vintage brooches are often beautiful quality for a modest price!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Earrings

October 18, 2013  

Earrings are far from an essential part of any wardrobe, but I wear them every day; I find that I really hate the look of the holes in my ears without earrings.  But most of the time I prefer to wear only small stud earrings, or very modest hoops - I'm not terribly keen on large earrings on me...These are the core of my day-to-day wardrobe:

    Pearls, or another lustrous stone in a neutral tone, are a good starter:  

  A metallic stud is always nice:

    It's generally handy to have a somewhat dressy earring for those occasions:  

  And a small earring in an accent color is fun:

   If you're a hoop earring type ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Bracelets and Necklaces

October 14, 2013  

Bracelets and necklaces are also items that absolutely nobody MUST have in their wardrobe; women have lived completely fulfilled and productive lives without them.  But for me, this is the core of what I will be wearing through the autumn and winter.Note that I wear both silver and gold, mostly because I have a Trinity ring as a wedding ring, and my watch has a yellow and white gold band.  As will ALL things style, your mileage may vary.

 

Pearl bracelets - there are SO many beautiful ones available:

 

    Pearl necklaces with some black detailing - I would buy two of these and layer them together:  

    A nice simple gold ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Scarves

October 8, 2013   Who am I kidding - I will wear more than six scarves before the winter is over - there will be WEEKS during which I will wear more scarves than this. But these six scarves represent the critical categories into which my scarves seem to fall.  None of them is still currently available - and I can only remember buying two of them at all clearly.  I DO remember buying my pink scarf the first time I visited Paris (1998?), and being absolutely horrified with myself that I spent so much on a scarf.  Now that I've worn it about 500 times, I no longer remember the price...  

    Mostly pink/blush colored scarves:

Halogen,  La Fiorentina,  Nordstrom, ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Shoes

October 7, 2013  

Lots of people have been interested in where I purchased my various Project 333 items, and what designers or brands were represented.  So I'm going to break down the whole show, by category, and review what I have.  Better yet, since so much of my stuff is no longer available, I'm going to source out reasonable facsimiles or replacements.Starting with shoes:  I have 2 pair of loafers included in this assortment, and 2 pair of oxfords.  If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably only get one pair of each.  But here are the autumn shoes, shown in order of absolute criticalness in my life.

 

My loafers are from Stuart Weitzman, the tall boots are from Eddie Bauer, the athletic ... View the Post