Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
June 20, 2017
Of course!
Flash back to one of my favorite posts - based upon a montage of images of a lunar eclipse, and see how just the right shades of orange can look great with black! Do notice the way the accessories echo her affection for the moon - moonstone jewelry, a single round button on a sweater, the round face of her watch (accented with a round gold dot!)...
love, Janice ... View the Post
June 19, 2017
A few people have asked me recently about packing for early autumn - needing a jacket, and probably a sweater or two, but still wanting a few lightweight tops. And others have been eager to see denim switched out for the navy that we've looked at for weeks! And then there are questions about how denim and khaki might be too... boyish?
So I'm starting with this color scheme:
The first thing to be addressed is the need for something warm to wear on damp, cool days, or in the evenings:
Realistically, I should have included a pair of dark blue walking shoes... But these four pieces have lots of possibilities - one could include shirts and tee shirts in literally any possible color and you'd be able to ... View the Post
June 15, 2017 Her Favorite Artist Everybody probably has one that they like the most, but this is the one about whom she wrote EVERY English language essay she had to write, all through high school and college.
She has framed posters in her home. She's read the biographies. She even listens to music that was supposed to be the artist's favorite.
And now there's an exhibition.... IN MADRID.
She has no vacation time to take. Okay, maybe 2 days...
But she has some airline miles to spend...
And enough money for a few hotel nights...
And enough money for a couple of AMAZING dinners...
Yes, she's going alone. Nobody else is going to want to spend 2 solid days in 1 museum...
Well okay, she might ... View the Post
June 14, 2017
I thought that this would be the easiest color scheme imaginable; that the clothes would virtually jump off of the screen at me... WRONG!
I thought I would start as I have been for a while, with the navy and beige neutrals. I swapped out the watch for silver, thinking that it would be better with the grey pieces to come...
And I found a pair of sandals that weren't quite as "warm" in hue, so that they might bridge the gap better also.
Then... I tried to find dark grey. And, after an honest 2 hours of looking for a lovely, rich charcoal grey linen, or a lustrous lead-grey raw silk, I threw in the towel. Some colors just don't exist in large numbers during some seasons, and at a point that only you ... View the Post
June 13, 2017
Most of the time, clothing (and thus The Vivienne Files) is about covering ourselves with efficiency, good value, and a coherent personal image. But it's worth remembering just every now and then that clothing can also be the object of extravagant fantasies...
Someone's happy, excited, full of energy, and just plain bursting with joy - that's what this painting felt like to me:
So They're Just Going to Elope...
No date worked for everyone. No location was good for most people. It just got more and more difficult...
So when the offer was made "why don't we just take the train to Paris and elope?" she was ALL over it...(yes, she has another suitcase somewhere...)
They'll arrive a bit late ... View the Post
July 12, 2017
It surprises me that this painting is from Renoir - I always think of him with pastels or clear and cool bright colors. But this is perfect for our current "neutral experiment": it's got navy and beige, and some great rust and green accents! It's easy to think of these as autumn colors, but if you've ever traveled to (or lived in) a hot and arid summer climate, you know that things start to get rusty and deeply green by mid-summer:
So They Bought a Camper... She never, in her life, would have imagined this. But when they sat down together and made a list of where the wanted to travel, now that they were retired, it looked like:
Fly to X, rent car, drive to Y Fly to Z, rent car, drive to A...
OVER AND ... View the Post
July 7, 2017 It's a Very... Weird... Beach House... (based on a real beach house I've seen...)
It has a dead-end hallway, with a big window... All of the 10, 11 and 12 year old's sleep there, in their sleeping bags. Well, "sleep..."
And there's 1 room that really must have been meant to be a walk-in closet. It's that small... It's been her room, for years.
She has a twin bed, a rocking chair, and a shelf attached to the wall that serves as a nightstand. There's no closet - just pegs stuck into the shadiest wall...
But her room has its own bathroom! It's tiny, but still... in a house with over 2 dozen people, it's a luxury!
And ... View the Post
June 5, 2017
These colors are classic:
They've Changed ALL of the Rules... She worked from home for years... She had to go into the office once a quarter, just to prove that she was the same person that they thought they had originally hired!
But NOW, she's got to go in once a week. Generally for meetings. And she's determined that she's going to assemble a small, tight, well edited work wardrobe that is both relaxed and sufficiently "show-offish" for those guys from Boston...
The sweaters are simple cotton, but the accessories are quite nice quality, and a bit bold, too!
She is absolutely to wear her favorite bright colors; if she has to be in the office, she's going to be seen...
And sometimes, a ... View the Post
June 1, 2017
Big important notice - the "Six Scarves, Six Wardrobes, over 12 Months" post for June will be here tomorrow! I hope! The Internet in my building (yes my entire building!) has been off and on, as they work on it... Don't they know that we have important blogging to do? Knuckleheads...
In case you haven't seen the earlier versions of the navy and beige summer wardrobes, you can find the one accented with dark camel and moss green here, and the first one with accents of mint and lavender here.
Today's colors just jump off of the screen:
Just for the benefit of those among us who are joining this adventure in progress, this is the neutral starting point - a half-dozen core pieces around which I will try to build a ... View the Post
May 31, 2017
Let's see what happens when we start with navy and beige as our neutrals, and then incorporate two MORE neutrals, in warm hues, to act as accents.
This is the color scheme as I see it; I've made 1 small alteration in that I've given us a range of the accent colors, from lighter to darker, in order to open up the possibilities a bit. These aren't easy colors to find this time of year!
And this wardrobe I'm working with an assumption that we're going to be packing for a more changeable climate - needing both sandals and a sweatshirt, so to speak...
As before, we'll start with six neutral pieces...
Just to keep us mentally organized, let's continue to work with a 13-piece wardrobe template:
The first ... View the Post
May 29, 2017
Today's a holiday, but you get a blog post because I write these in advance - this was completely last Friday! So what I'm saying is that TOMORROW, you're just going to get something short and sweet about my holiday weekend...
It's probably the most common question I get in my email: How can I pick accent colors?
Couple that with lots of questions about the most versatile neutral colors, and I've got a lot to think about!
But I've got to admit that more and more, I'm beginning to suspect that starting with navy and beige in a wardrobe might be the very easiest choice. Only if you have the luxury of starting from scratch, of course, or if you're in a position to build a capsule wardrobe of over a ... View the Post
May 26, 2017
Doesn't this make you want to just sit somewhere and watch the world go by?
Someone driving up with friends for a spa weekend is using this color scheme to inspire her packing... (well, it inspires her entire wardrobe, not just one weekend!)
Since they're driving, she can be super-casual and relaxed, but she still has her favorite leaf-motif jewelry - the painting strongly suggests that she's a nature lover.
Once they're at the spa, they'll be living in their robes, but she's going to need an outfit to get home in, and maybe something other than a robe in which to dine. Just because they put you in a robe doesn't mean that you're not allowed to get dressed!
It's a tiny ... View the Post
