Capsule Wardrobe Plans Archives - Page 27 of 58

A Capsule Wardrobe in Beige, Bright Blue and Orange: Expanding Your Accessories

August 12, 2016

Oh, how I love accessories....As a reminder, this is where we left the capsule wardrobe when we finished the 4 additions to it yesterday:

floral shirt – Barbour; orange earrings – Kendra Scott; watch – Skagen; ring – Savvy Cie; hoop earrings – Madewell; necklace – Bleu; bracelet – Danielle Nicole; blue earrings – Kate Spade; tee – L.L.Bean;blue tee – Uniqlo; orange cardigan – Joseph; floral tee – Atos Lombardini; tank - Missoni; orange tunic – Jaeger; scarf – Eloise Bricka; blue cardigan – Betty Barclay; field jacket - L.L.Bean; wrap – Goyo; pants – L.L.Bean; skirt – L.L.Bean; ballet flats – SoftWalk; loafers – Aerosoles;jeans – L.L.Bean; bag – Ted Baker London; ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Beige, Bright Blue and Orange: From Travel Wardrobe to Whatever’s Clean

August 11, 2016 Yesterday's travel capsule wardrobe looked like this:

floral shirt – Barbour; orange earrings – Kendra Scott; watch – Skagen; ring – Savvy Cie; hoop earrings – Madewell; necklace – Bleu; bracelet – Danielle Nicole; blue earrings – Kate Spade; tee – L.L.Bean; blue tee – Uniqlo; orange cardigan – Joseph; orange tunic – Jaeger; scarf – Eloise Bricka; blue cardigan – Betty Barclay; wrap – Goyo; pants – L.L.Bean; skirt – L.L.Bean; ballet flats – SoftWalk; loafers – Aerosoles;jeans – L.L.Bean; bag – Ted Baker London; tote – James Perse

A few people asked me if a travel wardrobe could be expanded into "Whatever's Clean 13;" of course, almost anything is ... View the Post

Planning my Fall Capsule Wardrobe Shopping: August 2016

August 8, 2016

Even though we're living in front of the fan, and running the air conditioner much more often than I prefer (those things EAT electricity!); I'm still already thinking about what I'm going to wear this winter. (well, I'm also thinking about what I'm going to pack for our trip to Italy next month...)First things first - you can't plan what you're going to buy unless you make a clear and complete inventory of what you already have! It's an amazing thing to read, repeatedly, about how women will buy a garment, only to return home and realize that they ALREADY OWN a very similar item. There's a big planning fail in there...

So I'm starting with my "Whatever's Clean" capsule wardrobe assortment for cool ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Hot Pink and Ivory: from Travel Wardrobe to Four by Four Wardrobe

August 5, 2016 Yesterday's capsule wardrobe really felt like it would be interesting to expand, didn't it? So let's plunge in and see what we can learn from the process!

This is the entire travel capsule wardrobe - the travel outfit and the Six-Pack:

cardigan – Yumi; tees – Lands’ End; watch – Bulova; bracelet – Panacea; earrings – Marc Jacobs; ring – Maiko Nagayama; earrings – Kate Spade; necklace – Alexis Bittar; Nail polish – JINsoon; lip stain – Yves Saint Laurent, in Explicit Pink; wrap – Nordstrom; linen shirt – Uniqlo; square scarf – Irene Paris; small scarf – T.M.Lewin; cardigan – Vince; jeans – Armani Jeans; cords – Marni; skirt – Uniqlo; tote – London ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Mariana by John Everett Millais

August 2, 2016

Deceptive But not in any damaging way; she doesn't meant to mislead anyone...

But in her heart, she longs for castles, and brocade hangings on stone walls...

In reality, her life is casual. Relaxed. No need for ANY dress - certainly not a fluid, draped, swinging and swaying swath of velvet in a rich, luscious color... But she keeps these feelings in mind when she's shopping: rich colors, intricate prints, and indulgent details and trims.

The boldest thing she might do is mix a pair of deep, saturated colors. She does dare to wear a velvet hoodie, as well as one in cashmere. They are small rebellions, but essential for her well-being.

Her jewelry ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

July 22, 2016 No More "Dress For Success" Every day, every year, the same....

Navy suit, white shirt. Grey suit, white shirt. Navy grey white navy grey white....

It served her well - she was very successful. She worked 7 days a week; she really didn't have a leisure life - her idea of being dressed down was to wear an old work shirt with old pants from a pantsuit. Jeans? Not in her vocabulary. A cardigan? Would get you a visit from the chairman of the firm...

But now that she was leaving the office world, her heart cried out for brown. The color of dirt. The color of chocolate. And khaki - sand, and stones, and natural things....

And PINK. Because she would never have dared to wear pink in her old, very conservative, work ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Black and Beige: 1 Piece at a Time

July 18, 2016

It seems that there are some among us who are struggling to pull together what they want to pack. This isn't particularly surprising - travel is stressful enough, and the unknown factors of weather and activities can throw almost anyone into a small panic. So I'm going to approach the "1 Piece at a Time" idea with the thought that we're packing a suitcase, rather than assembling a capsule wardrobe.

Let's assume that you know what you want to wear for traveling - you've got a gloriously beautiful cardigan that MUST go with you:

Based on this outfit, it will be really easy to work with a core of black neutrals, and then add in some beige, too. There's enough white in the cardigan to make white ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Beige and Brown, for Leisure

May 21, 2016

You wanted to see a leisure capsule wardrobe in warm colors? Here it is....I found that I could stick exclusively to shades of brown, tan, and cream and put together a really nice, workable capsule wardrobe. The accessories (which will be here on Monday!) are going to have a big impact on this very subtle collection.

I started with a simple beige column (although the tee shirt has a bit of a stripe) and found a cardigan that contained all of the shades that I wanted to consider:

Tee – Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean

The gold is included here as a very clear hint about accessories:

Tee – Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean

With warm weather coming ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Around An Art Jacket: 1 Piece at a Time

May 10, 2016

Because one of you asked for my help with something, I'm breaking a long-standing rule here at The Vivienne Files... Normally, I only show garments that don't include a model; I find that I'd rather see what the clothes look like, without being pinned and taped and yanked around to suit the model. But in this case, the jacket was key...The request was for a travel capsule wardrobe for a 2 month work trip, over a number of climates, and built around this jacket:

Tee – Lands’ End; pants – L.L.Bean; jacket - Babette

This is a wardrobe that will really come into its own with accessories, I'm sure you can see. But I felt that it was important to start with a very neutral base. It gives us this color ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Olive, Tomato and Mustard: 1 Piece at a Time

May 4, 2016

It's been quite a while since I've done any capsule wardrobes using the "1 Piece at a Time" scheme, and it seems to me that this is a great time of year to get back to this. If my experiences are any indication, some of you might still be stuck wearing warm-ish clothing, but thinking daily about how you're going to gradually evolve your closet when (if?) the weather gets warmer...So let's start with this - a cheery tee shirt, neutral pants in an already summer-weight fabric, and a linen cardigan. Although this outfit would be reasonably comfortable on a cool day (with a pair of socks - maybe bright yellow ones?), it's also composed of good building blocks for moving into warmer weather. And while beige or brown ... View the Post

A 36-Hanger Capsule Wardrobe Plan

It happens every year at this time - you would think that after living through 54 Aprils, I would know better. But we have a couple of warm days, and I start dragging warm-weather clothes out of storage... then the weather returns to normal (i.e. coats and gloves) and my closet looks like a I've lost all control. (because I HAVE let things get out of control...)So I spend quite a bit of time thinking about organizing my closet. You already knew that! And this is my latest thought:

Step 1 Look at everything that's visible, and that I can remember from storage, and pick the 18 garments that I know I will want to wear in the immediate (2 weeks or so?) future. This isn't designed to punish me if the weather changes radically - it's ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerite au Chat Noir by Henri Matisse

April 18, 2016

Yes, I saw this in Paris last week!

Aside from the charm and beauty of Marguerite, I was immediately attracted to the colors:

Quietly Rebellious

Cardigan – J. Crew; pants – Boden; tee – J. Crew; skirt - A.P.C.

She seems like the most conventional of women. Very pretty, always very nicely dressed.

Cardigan – Stella McCartney; jeans – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – A.P.C.

She's rather quiet, a bit shy, and well-suited to her work in the library...

Blue top – Part Two; ivory shimmer tee – Mint Velvet; soft teal tee – L. L. Bean; salmon sweater – Odeeh

And yes, she owns a cat!

Tie dye tee – ... View the Post