a Scarf Archives - Page 18 of 35

Want to try Project 333 for Autumn? How about Starting with a Scarf?

August 10, 2018

If you're not familiar with Project 333, it's Courtney Carver's brilliant idea to cut your entire closet back to 33 items, for 3 months.

I think a lot about Project 333 - it's a very tidy way to experiment with a smaller wardrobe. And it works beautifully with a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, and a stack of accessories! Let's pretend... It Was a Gift No matter how much she loves a beautiful scarf, she wasn't likely to buy it for herself! But when someone hands it to you, all beautifully wrapped, and presented with so much love, what's a woman to do?

To her, this was the perfect opportunity to organize her wardrobe for upcoming cooler weather, and for school-related functions which always seem to crop up as soon as autumn ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – August 2018

August 1, 2018

Oh, THIS caught me off-guard! Somehow, I managed to forget that a new month was coming... But I did manage to get this done in time - taking care of my readers are a really important part of my life! Still, if these links are a complete hash, or if this just doesn't make any sense at all, let me know and I'll work on it some more...

This is the time of year to look for the perfect outfit for the upcoming cooler weather. Maybe it's that "back to school" feeling that I get this time of year, but I like looking for a nice skirt outfit for each of our 6 wardrobes...

While this outfit might feel a little bit "Pittsburgh Pirates" to some, putting the scarf on with these pieces breaks up the black and gold, and brings ... View the Post

Can Accessories Tie Together Clashing Colors?

July 4, 2018

Some of us felt pretty uncomfortable with the grey Common Wardrobe paired with warm citrus-hued accent colors. That's okay - everybody is NOT going to like every color combination in the world!

So I thought that I would try to bring the colors closer together visually by choosing accessories with that goal in mind...

This is the color scheme with which we are working, based on this really cool painting:

While the first wardrobe from this painting - with brown and beige neutrals - looked great with gold jewelry, now that we've changed our core neutrals to cool grey, I'm thinking that silver jewelry is the direction to take...

It's always reasonable and smart to have a plan when you're pulling together ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – July 2018

July 2, 2018

It's hard to believe that these wardrobes are more than halfway completely - where does the time go?

For July, I'm going to assume that summer is in full swing, and that our heroine could use a couple of easy outfits to wear in the heat. Of course, if you don't wear shorts, a skirt, capris or a pair of lightweight pants could easily be here instead!

And I love simple tee shirts. It's fine to get something with writing, or with lots of bells and whistles and geegaws and thingamahoochies, but that kind of top isn't going to be as versatile as a plain round or v-neck tee shirt. I particularly liked finding these 2 unusual accent colors, which are clearly present in our scarf inspiration:

This is her wardrobe, so ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – June 2018

June 1, 2018

Always one of the great days of the month!

This month, in honor of heat (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the easing-up of many schedules, let's add a casual dress to these wardrobes!

Additionally, I'm going to find a tote bag for each of these heroines, some footwear to wear with their new dress, and a couple of pieces of jewelry. This wouldn't be a horrid shopping trip; once you find the dress, the accessory shopping should be fun...

Dresses can be an opportunity to really exploit your color scheme; because you don't have to coordinate a lot of different garments to wear with a dress, you can find a classic, summery linen shirtdress in a bright color and add it to your wardrobe without worrying that you don't have ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – May 2018

May 1, 2018

Always my favorite day of the month, for The Vivienne Files! And since today (April 30th) is actually somewhat warm in Chicago, this doesn't feel like an insane outfit to bring into our capsule wardrobes!

If you haven't seen these before, the general idea is that I start the year with 6 Hermes scarves, and for each of the 12 months of the year, I choose an outfit to add to a growing capsule wardrobe. Some of them turn out really well, and others... need some year-end adjusting! But it's a fascinating process...

Let's get started; one of the things that I liked most about this scarf was the juxtaposition of the surprising yellow, green and blue against the black. Not your usual accent colors!

This wardrobe is ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – March 2018

March 1, 2018

Who couldn't be happy that it's finally March? (I swear, I think February might have been the longest month of my life!) Let's buy some sweaters and skirts, if only in our imaginations...

For some reason it's become a tradition for me to include canvas shoes or espadrilles with the outfits in March. Some of them are a stretch, I'll admit!

This wardrobe is unlike anything else I've ever assembled!

Seriously, couldn't someone get married in this outfit?

I think this is become really pretty...

There's something about stripes with dots... especially in navy! (and the espadrilles have little round perforations...)

I'm loving this one too... It all feels very easy to wear...

There was ... View the Post

Revisiting the Red Tulip Scarf, and some Unpredictable Navy

February 22, 2018 You might remember a travel capsule wardrobe for a brave (some might say daring) heroine a couple of months ago...This was her inspirational scarf, her style guidelines, and her color palette:

A Conference, Alone.... After the lecture that she attended before the holidays, she joined a group that did a lot of research in the subject that she found so fascinating. So now, they're getting together for a weekend conference to discuss their finding and their next steps. She's VERY excited...

It's just a couple of days, so she won't need a lot of things. Mostly they'll be sitting around a conference table talking, taking notes and sharing ideas... There's 1 nice dinner planned, and as usual she's going to take ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – February 2018

I'm still not sure why I always add a dress in February - a long-standing affection for Valentine's Day? Or just a desire to make sure that I'm well prepared for dressy spring events?

It's not quite expected to accessorize a classic black dress with bright spring green...

I didn't find a beige dress that appealed, so I thought that this delicious cocoa brown would be perfect with this scarf, or with a grouping of blush pink accessories.

The red is probably the most expected accent color with a navy dress, so I ignored that and chose teal instead!

This green isn't as yellow-ish as the greens used last month, but since it's a dress, it doesn't have to be "dye-lot matched" to the other neutral in this wardrobe... And ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – January 2018

January 1, 2018

It's that time again! I looked and LOOKED at the Hermes scarves for this year - I wanted to find some unique color combinations... I kept changing my mind until literally the last possible minute!

This year's focal points for gradual wardrobe building are these lovelies:

A word to the wise - these scarves are selling FAST this year - I had to go to the sites for 3 different countries to find these colors, literally just 3 days after I started working on this post! Your best option for finding a fast-selling scarf is to call an Hermes store and ask THEM to find it and send it to you. Their staff is usually delightfully helpful and nice, and it will save you the legwork of trying to mail-order a scarf from a ... View the Post

Brown with Blue – Start with a Scarf! Hermes Electrique

December 29, 2017

Recently, someone asked me to re-visit a post that I did over 5 years ago, in blue and brown...After 5 years, absolutely NOTHING shown in the original post was still available - I know that's not a surprise. So I have recreated the original outfit, and what was packed, as best I could - it's a rough approximation...

The hardest thing was that I could NOT find a trench coat in the same turquoise blue that was used originally, so I've migrated the entire capsule wardrobe into a more "brown and blue" color scheme, starting with a wonderful scarf!

I isolated the colors with which the wardrobe will be built; I didn't really define the style because I'm somewhat duplicating an existing ... View the Post

Just a Few Pretty Things…. and an Excellent Book!

December 20, 2o17

I have a couple of delightful things to share. First up, my dear friend Scottie has created 4 limited-edition scarves which are well worth your attention. Her scarves are unlike anything else in the accessory world, in that they reflect very personal stories and experiences in her life... And they're beautiful! I've seen all four of them "in the silk," and I can attest that the colors are amazing, and the silk is lustrously soft and supple. You will not be disappointed!This first scarf features a little girl with a hula hoop... And a helicopter. The juxtaposition is striking!

A vintage postcard, and a photograph from the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands NM are superimposed on this next scarf. The ... View the Post