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Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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A Dressy Top: How to Dress Up a Starting From Scratch Capsule Wardrobe

November 22, 2014   Another way to dress up your Starting from Scratch Capsule Wardrobe is to find a blouse, tee shirt, sweater, or even a sweatshirt that has something dressy going on. There's a world of options around this time of year: lace, sequins, beads, jewels and embroidery are all possibilities.  

The Navy and Grey Starting From Scratch Wardrobe

The lace top is beautiful with everything in your wardrobe; you could even wear it under your cardigan during the day, and then pop off the sweater at night in order to be more dressy. A pair of silvery grey dress shoes would amp up the look another bit, but you really wouldn't want to hang a necklace over the lovely lace - a bracelet would be ... View the Post

An Embellished Cardigan: How to Dress Up a Starting From Scratch Capsule Wardrobe

November 20, 2014  

A frequent concern for many of us this time of year is how to take our normal, everyday clothes, and make them "party-worthy". I don't like to buy a whole new outfit for a party - I'd much rather figure out a way to elevate the things I already own through the purchase of one strategic item.

There are a couple of different ways to do this; today I'm going to explore the possibilities inherent in a cardigan with some sort of beaded, embroidered or metallic detailing.

If you don't want to buy a new sweater, this is a great opportunity to do something crafty - I've seen some amazing sweaters dressed up with ribbon embroidery, or hand beading, done by the sweater owner. In one case, the initial embroidery ... View the Post

Starting From Scratch Summer Office Wardrobe in Navy and White

August 12, 2014   Yes, it still exists: the office with the strict dress code.  Pants only on Fridays.  No visible knees, nor underarms.  Absolutely  no HINT of cleavage...   This is even more challenging in the summer, when it can be sweltering outdoors, but the office will invariable be quite cool.  The rules are made, and the thermostats are set, by men in wool suits, long-sleeved shirts, and an undershirt.  (why, if they dress like this in the heat of summer, do we let them run the world?)   But you can still have a great, fun, spiffy capsule wardrobe!  

Remember this color scheme?  A few weeks ago, I showed a very casual summer wardrobe using these colors. ... View the Post

Common Capsule Wardrobe Colors: Teal

July 26, 2014    

Sometime very soon I'm going to HAVE to do a capsule wardrobe based on mallards or some other duck that shows this color in a natural palette.  I'm beginning to believe that I can't go wrong looking at nature for ideas.  In the meantime, this is a great color to transition into the end of summer/hot days of early autumn.  As much as we'd all like to start wearing fall clothing the first day of September, it's sort of insane to really consider it (at least in Chicago) until the last week of the month.  A color like this at least lets you FEEL a little bit autumn-ish!These earrings are silk, and the bracelet is leather - what WILL they think of next?

 

  By now you of ... View the Post

Common Capsule Wardrobe Colors: Coral

July 25, 2014  

Coral comes in a range of tints - there are more "pinkish", less "orangish" versions out there too if those would be more flattering.  But any of them will look completely appropriate and attractive with all of our neutral color usual suspects.  And as we move into August, and what is for many of us the end of summer (my great-nephew goes back to school IN 10 DAYS!!!), this might be a good wardrobe refresher, as well as a low-commitment way to test drive a new accent color for your wardrobe.   Please note - this tunic-length top is going to be "iffy" with some cardigans; I personally can wear a top hanging out below my cardigan without worry, but you might want to bear this conundrum in mind when ... View the Post

How to Build a Summer Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch in Navy and White

July 19, 2014  

Someone specifically requested a Starting From Scratch capsule wardrobe in these colors, and many of you have expressed concerns about how to implement this plan if you're dealing with scorching hot summer weather.  I really felt like I wanted to go through an entire wardrobe in one post, just to clarify and illustrate one more time how I see this project working.  So here you have it!   Please note - the white garments here really ARE white - they just show up looking sort of beigy/grungy against the background. I generally don't promote the wearing of mungy clothes...  

The first three steps are pretty straightforward: pants and shoes, then a cardigan and tee, then a neutral top and ... View the Post

Excel and LARGE PRINT version of Starting From Scratch Wardrobe Worksheets available!

Just because I can, and because I know some of you love to tinker in Excel, I'm made the Excel file available here:

and because I know that a larger print version will be handy if you want to do a lot of note taking, I made an eight-page, landscape layout version of the original worksheets, available here:

As with all things here at The Vivienne Files, if I can do anything to make your life easier, please let me know.

And thanks for reading my work - I appreciate it more than you can imagine!

hugs all around, Janice ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 18: One last review, considering Whatever’s Clean, and A Common Wardrobe

July 16, 2014  

Many of you have been following the concepts of A Common Wardrobe, or a Whatever's Clean wardrobe, and you've expressed great curiosity about how those ideas work with this much larger capsule wardrobe-building concept.  So let's see if we need to make any last tweaks to our wardrobe to be as inclusive and versatile as possible...First off, remember this bad boy?  This was the original Common Wardrobe - garments that I saw day after day on my co-workers from international advertising agencies. These garments and accent items were combined in all sorts of different ways, and accessorized like mad:

I threw my analytic brain at this, and defined each of these garments functionally, i.e., the first is ... View the Post

I built us another worksheet…

It's actually 3 worksheets in one:

 

First page lists each item step by step, just as we saw them in the Starting From Scratch Wardrobe posts here on The Vivienne Files. The 2nd page sorts items out by color- Neutral #1, Neutral #2 etc. and the 3rd page sorts the garments in one table, and the accessories in a 2nd table.  Both of these fit on one page.

You can buy them - $1.99 - here:       I have to pay to have them hosted...   If you find errors, please let me know and I'll fix things pronto pronto...   and thanks, so very much, for reading The Vivienne Files, love, Janice   ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 17: A Few Finishing Touches, for now…

July 15, 2014

Many of you have written to me to ask how this capsule wardrobe compares with my earlier 24-piece wardrobe - excellent question!Just as in the 24-piece wardrobe, this Starting From Scratch includes to two core "Four by Four" assortments in your neutrals, it works with two accent colors and a light neutral, and it includes the concept of the "bridge" garment, which is something that incorporates both of your neutral colors and allows you to wear piece from both neutrals seamlessly.

So I decided to look at each wardrobe one last time (for now - I'm sure we'll be back to revisit this concept when trench coats hits the stores, and when there are other requests/needs), and see how things stacked up in terms of a 24-piece ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 16: Evaluating and Balancing our Neutrals

July 14, 2014   BIG BIG BIG EDIT:  THIS IS ONLY STEP SIXTEEN...   If you are going to make a typo, make a really big one!   I had medical tests this a.m., and have been asleep all afternoon; I am so sorry for the delay in fixing this inexcusable error!   We're very close to wrapping up our capsule wardrobes, but there are a couple more things we need to do to make sure that our choices will work as well for us as possible.  So far, we've added pieces within our color scheme, but we've not been particularly rigorous in making sure that we have a balance between our neutrals.   To address this, I've looked at each wardrobe and tried to find the "Core of Four" (two tops and two bottoms, that will ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 15: A Versatile Dress and an Accent Cardigan

July 11, 2014  

Many of you have pointed out that we really need something dressy in the capsule wardrobe that can be worn in warmer weather, and many of you have asked specifically for a dress, so that's what we're doing today!  These dresses are paired with accent cardigans, which dramatically pull together all sorts of looks... Very neutral, comfortable sandals will be wardrobe workhorses - make sure that they're appropriate for more than just one dressy occasion...Can you see  turquoise jewelry here?  And this dress with the simple beige cardigan and gold necklace would be lovely.

If you're not mad for sleeveless, just look for a dress with an elbow or bracelet sleeve.

No, this dress and ... View the Post