French 5-Piece Archives - Page 5 of 6

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: Little Harbor in Normandy by Georges Braque (Version 1)

November 18, 2016

I've never really accepted the idea that women can, uniformly, only wear warm colors or cool colors. I know that for many of us, it's a great guideline for wardrobe discipline, and helps coordinate things beautifully, but I still wonder why someone who loves black and white as much as I do would have gold and orange highlights in their eyes... Oh well, it's a great subject for conversation...

But I think of these things when I look at this painting, which skews two very different directions, color-wise:

I seriously considered sawing the painting in half (metaphorically, of course) and using the bottom half for today, and the top half on Monday for a study that includes grey... But I think we can all manage to ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: Still Life with Bouquet of Flowers and Plums by Rachel Ruysch

Dear Elizabeth, who's favorite designer is Vionnet - send me an email at [email protected] with your mailing address. You won the Mainbocher exhibit book!So what do you do if you WANT something new, but you really don't need anything? You feel the need for brightening up, for some new ideas and inspiration, for some updated options in your wardrobe... I think it's important to take these feeling seriously, and to act on them deliberately, with a clear plan and established goal. If you just start buying things willy nilly, you risk wasting money, and feeling guilty, and still not satisfying that urge that stems from something vital within you.

How about first find something beautiful to help focus that sort of "all over the ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Start with Art: Poppies and Butterflies by Vincent Van Gogh

November 16, 2016 As the days get shorter, and we spend a LOT more time in the dark (in the Northern Hemisphere, of course!), a painting like this is a cheering thing to study:

For those who worry that a "warm" wardrobe - one that's ideal for those with Autumn or Spring coloring - might be too dark in the cool weather, I offer some ideas!

I love these pieces - you could literally get dressed in the dark with no worries about not matching! A couple of pair of warm brown/tan shoes, some lovely gold jewelry, and you'd be well set for the day.

Cream tee – L.L.Bean; sable sweater – L.L.Bean; shirt – Lands’ End; Sand tee – Lands’ End; cardigan – J.Crew; silk blouse – J. Crew; Camel cords - L.L.Bean; ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: In Vaudeville: Dancer with Chorus by Charles Demuth

November 15, 2016

Yesterday, the accents we used in the so-called French 5-Piece wardrobe were all colors in the same range of intensity and saturation - they were somewhat soft, and very clear.This painting takes us in a couple of rather different directions!

The accent colors suggested by this painting range from a really elegant neutral taupe to quite a vivid yellow/gold, as well as all shades of warm rose pink.

The base pieces for this wardrobe might rely more than usual on black, as suggested by the tuxedo on the central dancer:

I love taupe, and it's terribly difficult to find. But this cardigan is EXACTLY what I was hoping to find - fluid, soft, with ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe – Start with Art: Sure Violet by Helen Frankethaler

November 14, 2016

Of course, we all know that the French don't really just buy 5 pieces of clothes a year - that's sort of silly. But there is some truth to the idea that they buy five major accent pieces twice a year. So let's think about taking a really simple, basic capsule wardrobe and seeing what we can do with adding 5 new pieces (and some accessories, of course!)

First up, let's start with a really lovely work of art:

Today we're just looking at accent colors, and this painting is perfect for that! If we wanted to build a summer wardrobe around this, could you imagine using off-white silk and linen as the neutral, and then these four colors? Mmmm....

This is the core wardrobe that I'm suggesting - I ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: El Trovador by Claudio Bravo

October 7, 2016

Every time I see this artist's name, I think of the Manchester City soccer goalkeeper of the same name....But this is so serene and lovely, with a beautiful muted palette:

Since this week we're talking about small wardrobe updates , I focused these colors into a simple mauve and grey, and accents of warm, light golden brown.

As we have done all week, I'm starting with this minimal, classic assortment of pieces:

Just a reminder - 9 pieces, carefully chosen, can give you quite a few outfits, before you've incorporated any updates or refreshers!

Yes, I broke one of the BIG rules of The Vivienne Files - but I looked and looked and LOOKED for items in just the right shade of ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Untitled by Wilfredo Lam

October 6, 2016 How cool is this?

Sleek and calm, but with that tiny little pop of gold eye shadow, and those hot pink lines...

As has been the theme so far this week, I'm starting with a very small, very neutral capsule wardrobe that might be found in almost anyone's closet, and then I'm adding just a few accent items. This gives you the opportunity to test-drive a new color in your wardrobe without going crazy...

As before, these few pieces give you a fair number of ways to get dressed:

This is basically the "French 5-Piece Wardrobe" idea- adding a handful of pieces each season to your core wardrobe. It's a simple way to try out a new accent color, or just to ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

October 5, 2016

Ah, you've seen this before, I'm sure:

But did you know that Rossetti was working with a model who really LOOKS like this? Her name was Jane Morris; she was married to William Morris, the textile designer... (see the teal and black scarf below for one of his designs!)

What do you do if this kind of aesthetic appeals to you TREMENDOUSLY, but you live a very normal, ordinary life that doesn't involve having 3 feet of madly waving hair, or standing around all day in swishy velvet dresses, brooding over a pomegranate?

A few small additions might help channel that feeling for you...

As I did yesterday, let's start with a very simple wardrobe of extremely neutral garments that ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Vase with Honesty by Vincent van Gogh

October 4, 2016

I'm going to take a rather different approach to working with art, for this week. One of the biggest concerns that you raise to me is that it's impossible to completely re-do a wardrobe from the very beginning. So I'm going to look at introducing accent colors and art inspirations into an existing wardrobe, and see how that works...First, let's start with our beautiful painting:

These were the colors that I saw within the painting. For the most part, they're nice neutrals, and thus should be easy to combine.

Here's where I want to change things, for now. Imagine that the above painting has become something of a fascination for someone; they've decided that, moving forward, they want it to be their ... View the Post

My French 5-Piece Capsule Wardrobe for Autumn and Winter 2015. I think…

August 7, 2015

So now that THAT is settled, let's move on to the really fun stuff - adding to and dressing up (or down) A Common Wardrobe.Just for reference, or if you still haven't printed it, this is the template from which I worked for my 12-piece Common Wardrobe.

And these are the core garments with which I'm working:

black cardigan - J. Crew; black v-neck sweater - J. Crew; black cashmere turtleneck - Saks Fifth Avenue, white cotton turtleneck - L.L.Bean; black long-sleeved tee - Three Dots; grey long-sleeved tee - L.L.Bean; white shirt – J. Crew; black slouch pants - Eileen Fisher; black trousers - Eddie Bauer; black jeans - Eileen Fisher; black skirted leggings - Eileen ... View the Post

The French 5 Piece Wardrobe, The French 10 Piece Wardrobe, Project 333, My Capsule Wardrobe

December 6, 2014 Everywhere you look, there's a "number" wardrobe that's recommended to make life easier! I am as guilty of that as anyone, because I like nice, tidy, finite wardrobes, and I'm crazy about numbers. But what do all of these number ideas teach us?

The French 10 Piece Wardrobe

To me, this idea translates into a core wardrobe with lots of versatility. It is the canvas upon which you demonstrate your personal preferences, whimsy, and style. Ten pieces of clothing is a pretty excellent number for those of us who are out in public 5 days a week, in that it provides a week of "tops" and a week of "bottoms".

If they're carefully chosen, these ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: One Special Outfit

October 17, 2014

This is a plan for someone who has the Common Capsule Wardrobe in grey and off-white, with a camel sweater, because they're moving away from wearing black. (more on this idea another day). This someone has a special occasion coming up, and they want to expend their ENTIRE French 5-Piece Wardrobe on a new dress and some accessories:

These purchases aren't "single-use", of course; the scarf and jewelry could be worn with almost any of the outfits in The Common Wardrobe. The pumps will go nicely with our grey skirt (or with the jeans, if that's a preference). And the dress is simple enough that it can be worn more casually, after the special occasion. Dark tights and flats or ankle ... View the Post