Build a Capsule Wardrobe Archives - Page 80 of 81

Wardrobe: ORANGE!!!!

Jacket – Missoni , Cardigan – Acne, White tee – Vince, Silk blouse – Marlo, Black pants – Missoni. Skirt – Piperlime, White jeans - Levis, Scarf - Hermès

I really love you all. Seriously. You take time every day to read my writing, look at my work, and give me feedback and challenges. What else could I ask from total strangers?

I particularly enjoy the wardrobe requests I get. This one was AMAZINGLY difficult: "I'm a gold jewellry wearer and love to wear orange which I think always goes well with black or white depending on the season. I would love your suggestions for a core wardrobe for a femme d'un certain age."

This is my best effort - I threw some ... View the Post

Wardrobe: gray, plum and sea green

Blazer – DKNY, Cardigan – Etro, Silk blouse – Paul & Joe, Silver short-sleeed top – Jason Wu, Pin-striped pants – Moschinol Skirt – Lanvin, Jeans – J. Brand. Scarf - Hermès A very appreciated reader in the UK asked for "My colouring is "Summer"; style "Full Classic"; bodyline "Straight". A little more info on colour - My 100% Neutral is Dark Blue Grey; 100% Basics - Deep Sea Green, and Plum, and I suit the deep and smokey colours of my palette." This is what I chose for her...

Blouse – Dolce & Gabbana , Trench Coat – Alberta Feretti, Charcoal coat – Jaeger. Dress – Rick Owens,

Pants – Etro, , Skirt – Max Mara Studio, Sweater ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe with two suits

Gray blazer – Chloé, Striped cardigan – Aubin & Wills, Pink sweater – Ralph Lauren, Henley top – Dolce & Gabbana, Black sleeveless dress – The Row, Gray crewneck – The Row, Black & gray tweedy crewneck – The Row, Cream long-sleeved tee – The Row, Tweedy skirt – Markus Lupfer, Gray flannel skirt – Vionnet, Gray pants – Donna Karan, Black lace-trimmed tee shirt – Jason Wu, Black blazer – The Row, Black pants - Gucci

Square scarves - Hermes, Sequined muffler – John Lewis, Bracelet – Blu Bijoux, Black and silver balls necklace – Kenneth Jay Lane, Silver hammered disc earrings – Dorothy ... View the Post

Capsule wardrobe in navy & brown, with lavender accents

Blazer – A.L.C., Cardigan – John Smedley, Blouse – Golden Goose, Tee Shirt – Dorothy Perkins, Pants – Theory, Skirt – Theory, Jeans – J. Brand, Scarf - Etro

The lovely Anonymous asked "I would love to see your creative French style on a wardrobe capsule which uses: Navy, Chocolate Brown and Soft White ( base colours) with Soft blue, Soft pink and Lavender as accents." This is my best effort - I hope you love it! Brown leather goods are SO beautiful...

blouse – Joseph Paolina , Trench coat – Weekend by Maxmara, Winter coat – Etro, Dress – Missoni, Pants– Bodkin, Suede skirt – Burberry Brit, Sweater – Crumpet, Leather jacket – Haider ... View the Post

Wardrobe: carefully curated and deliberately distilled for warm coloring

July 18, 2011

Jacket – Gucci , Cardigan – J. Crew, blouse – Fanfare, tee shirt – Proenza Schouler, Pants – Gucci, Leather skirt – Jitrois, Jeans – J. Brand, Scarf - Hermès

Blouse - Chloe, Trench coat – Paul and Joe, Winter coat – Weekend by Max Mara, Sweater dress – Alexander McQueen, Pants – Proenza Schouler, skirt – Vince, sweater – Snobby Sheep, Leather jacket – Matthew Williamson

Dress – 3.5 Phillip Lim, Cardigan – The Row, Shirt – Modstrom, Tee shirt – Yves Saint Laurent, Sweater – Acne, Pants – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Shirt - Aubin & Wills, top – Burberry Prorsum

The ... View the Post

Wardrobes mantra: Carefully Curated and Deliberately Distilled

So far, all of the wardrobes I've built have been posted under the heading French Chic, and I'm frankly becoming a bit uncomfortable with that. We've wandered quite a distance from what the original guidelines of Susan Sommers' iconic book, and I'm not sure that I should continue to exploit the title which is so indelibly hers.

Thus, I'm just going to call them wardrobes. And with that decision, I thought I should share with you the mantra I use for the building of these little gems.

First: Carefully Curated. Each garment has to make the cut. I've heard some fairly harsh criticism recently that "good enough" is really okay for one's wardrobe, and I have to disagree. Yes, in some circumstances we do have ... View the Post

French Chic: if you’re really exotic and work in advertising!

Blazer – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Cardigan – Acne, Blouse – Yves Saint Laurent, Tee Shirt – Topshop, Pants – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Bermuda Short – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Jeans – Alexander McQueen, Scarf - Hermès

One of my friends has long black hair, an outrageous personality, and works in advertising. This is for her!

White blouse – Marc by Marc Jacobs , Trench coat – Dolce & Gabbana, Winter coat – Maxmara Studio, Dress – Alexander McQueen, Pants – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Leather Skirt – Helmut Lang, Sweater – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Leather jacket – Helmut Lang

Dress – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Jacket – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Tank – 3.1 Phillip Lim, Tee ... View the Post

French Chic: Expanding on the core wardrobe

So as lovely as the garments above are, this is certainly not going to be enough clothing to even get you through a week. Most of us would want at least five separate tops and bottoms (or a dress) to get through the week. Even if you wear black pants repeated each week, it's nice to have more than one pair.

Thus, I decided to take it upon myself to determine what additional garments Vivienne would want in order to consider this a complete wardrobe. Realistically, I think most of us would do this exercise twice - once for cooler weather, and once for the sweltering misery that passes for summer on much of our planet. But for starters, let's just round out this core wardrobe with a few of the ... View the Post

French Chic: The core of the French Chic wardrobe

One of the things about the book French Chic (Susan Sommers) which intrigued me was the list of garments which included "The seven essentials no well-dressed Frenchwoman would be without". That list included:

A black straight skirt a V-neck or cardigan sweater a suit a pair of jeans a silk shirt a couple of white tee-shirts an Hermes scarf

The idea of a list of essential clothing fascinates me; in a world that tries to compel me to over-consume, that finite-ness of a list like this, in which I could have some discipline and some structure, seems heaven-sent. Knowing that I was going to buy a fixed number of garments would give me the freedom to determine how much I wanted to spend, in what areas I ... View the Post

Back to the roots of the Vivienne Files – part 8: Vivienne’s Valise, continued

I've been asked how I managed for almost 6 weeks with the very limited amount of clothing that I took with me on that trip that will live in infamy. I had a plan, believe me!

Just for reference, remember that these are the clothes that I had with me.

For flying, I pretty much always wore jeans, with the black v-neck sweater. Usually I would put either the white tee shirt or the striped tee shirt under the sweater, depending on how warm it was where I was leaving, what the weather would be where I was arriving, and what was clean!

First thing I did in the door of every new hotel in every new city/country was to give some clothing to the in-house laundry. This is always risky, because you never know when someone's going to ... View the Post

What my French friend wears to work: The roots of the Vivienne Files

Vivienne and I first got to be friends because of packing - she works in a hotel in Paris and was helping me pull together a training session I was running - and after the first or second day, she said something like "you got dressed in my closet this morning" and then we wound up having drinks, and THEN she came up to my room to eat room service (Gratis, since she works for the hotel) and hanging out with me while I did my ironing.

Bottom line, I know the girl's packing philosophy cold, since she and I have the same approach.

Start with a base of 5 garments, no matter how long or how short the trip:

Jacket or cardigan Pants that match Skirt that matches Top that goes with the above Another top that ... View the Post

One French woman’s Small, Simple wardrobe: Back to the roots of the Vivienne Files

June 9, 2011 This is from a posting in a discussion group in which I listed the entirety of Vivienne's work wardrobe. I imagine that it has changed very little in the intervening years. Note that I've assigned "days of the week" to these little vignettes, but I don't know that this necessarily corresponds to how and when Vivienne actually wears things.

Here's the inventory... (1) Charcoal gray flannel pants, gray and black striped sweater (1b) red and gray twinset

(2) Black short knit skirt, black merino twinset (2b) black and white striped turtleneck longer (tunic length?) sweater

(3) Black pants and blazer, black and white ... View the Post