July 24, 2015 One of you is taking off soon for a trip to China, and you have asked me for some ideas about what to pack. I did quite a bit of reading about travel to China, and one thing that was stated repeatedly was that it's important not to take too many clothes, because (a) it's extremely easy and inexpensive to get laundry done in China, and (b) there are quite a few non-clothing items that you need to pack, so you want to reserve space for those kinds of items. (OTC medicines etc. - PLEASE do some research before a trip like this, to be certain that you have with you all of the recommended necessities.) Now, for some aesthetic inspiration. Sotheby's assessed this vase at around ... View the Post
Art Archives - Page 55 of 65
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Amethyst by Alfons Mucha
July 22, 2015 I always love Mucha; what an idealistic view of women he had! And a master of colors.... sigh....
Clearly I will have to revisit this painting, because it was almost impossible to find anything in this shade of green.
President of the Association, FINALLY They used to say that no woman would ever be President of your association. Then they said that if you wanted to be President, you had to "man up", and not wear feminine stuff - no pretty colors, no amazing jewelry, no unruly curly hairstyles. You always thought that was nonsense. Members of your profession are able to see past personal style to the essence of competence and character.
So tomorrow you fly ... View the Post
Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Coast Road by Fanny Brennan
July 21, 2015 Thanks a ton to the reader who sent this suggestion to me - I wasn't familiar with Fanny Brennan. It's particularly interesting that these paintings are tiny - the size of postcards. Her sense of humor is very appealing!
The colors in this painting are wonderfully striking and clear. I'm going to use black as the base here, but a summer wardrobe using white, with these bright colors would be lovely. And the hills in the distance are colors that suggest shades of denim.... lots of possibilities here.
Going Alone You have planned this trip for a long time. You bought athletic shoes and started walking every evening, after work. Longer and longer, faster and faster. You understand that being in ... View the Post
In Which I Try to Spend my Nordstrom Gift Card
July 15, 2015
After I was pondering if I should write about the Nordstrom Pre-Season sale, I remembered - I just had a birthday, and one of my gifts was a gift card to Nordstrom! So I can maybe indulge some pondering about what I should buy...
First off, I have to say that if I needed lingerie, I would hot-foot it to the Nordstrom site to see if they have my favorites on sale; their sale includes LOTS of lingerie.
Similarly, if I were interested in buying new bedding at this change of season, I'd also look at Nordstrom; it's also a category in which there seem to be lots of markdowns.
But I need neither of those things - I'm not buying undergarments of any ilk until I'm quite through losing weight and getting more ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The White and Green Hat by Georgette Agutte
July 17, 2015
How did I make it so far into my life without knowing about Georgette Agutte? She was French, and she painted some really wonderful paintings; I encourage you to look her up. You're going to be seeing more of her on The Vivienne Files, I can promise! Someone suggested this lovely painting - she seems like she would be a kind and gentle friend, doesn't she?
As with most paintings, there are a variety of ways to approach the colors, but I've gone this direction:
"Doesn't she look like Grandma?" Your sister said, and just like that, the whole idea got started... So now, you and your older sister are going on a road trip, starting with ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of a Girl by Marie Laurencin
July 13, 2015 Why yes, she is my favorite artist! Does it show?
In the Rare Books Department, you have to wear a lab coat... and after years of showing undergrads how to work the copy machines, and shelving books, and fixing microfilm readers, you've been promoted to work there... Rare Books is a department that's always warm, always spotlessly clean, and which has a surprisingly casual dress code.
So you've decided that you're going to indulge your love of pastel colors and focus your work wardrobe on your favorite blush and aqua shades...
Because of the fanatically dust-free environment, most of the staff wears light colors under their lab coats. Some ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2, Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke
July 10, 2015 I was going to wait a few weeks to do this for autumn, but I found myself thinking about these colors so much last night that I thought I'd best just go ahead and jump into it! For cooler weather, I swapped out the pink for that strong green, and I darkened all of the colors a bit; I particularly wanted to make sure that the navy on the left of the painting was included, since that's a pivotal neutral for me here.
The last weekend at the lake, for this year As soon as you can escape from work, you're headed to the cabin. There's always work to be done to make sure things are ready for winter, and this may be the last non-snowy weekend you can all get there. So even though you had to wear a suit ... View the Post
Start With Art: Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke
July 9, 2015 This painting is great - I want to revisit this one with a more fall/winter orientation. For warm weather, my first thought was that the shades of blue reminded me of denim and chambray, accented with that YELLOW, the rose, and some acid green (which I didn't address here, but might in the future!)
So this is my warm-weather color scheme:
Everyone is at the lake but you... Yes, everyone else went to the cabin last night. But you KNEW that you had to go into the office this morning - that client report wasn't going to write itself! But if you put your head down and WRITE, you can be out of the office by 2:00 or so - in time to get to the lake for ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Self-Portrait in a Green Bugatti by Tamara de Lempicka
July 8, 2015 Yesterday, after I worked on Camposanto, I was thinking about the inherent utility of a wardrobe that had a khaki and white core, and how virtually any accent color would work well with those 2 neutrals. And of course, I'm thinking about tossing black into the mix... So in the comments, someone mentions this MOST elegant and compelling painting!
White would also work beautifully here:
In the interest of showing how versatile a simple, solid core of clothing can be, I kept yesterday's Core in camel, or tan, or whatever you wish to name this color.
When looking for the black Core, I tried to find pieces that had some swish to them. Tamara has always looked like ... View the Post
Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Camposanto by J.M.W. Turner
July 7, 2015 To the seaside!!! Everyone told you that you couldn't have purple as your favorite color for your entire life - but YOU know better...
Did you have a favorite color as a child? I never really did, but I always wore my older sister's clothes, so it's maybe just as well that I didn't have strong feelings about it! love, Janice ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Sisyphus by Titian
July 6, 2015
Sometimes you feel like you work and work and don't really make any progress, or go anywhere... Seeing Sisyphus reminds me of business travel that's not really travel!
Your client is Milan is... amused... that there's a blizzard bearing down on Chicago. But not amused enough that they will let you off the hook for having the samples in the hands of the courier by Friday afternoon! This isn't work that can be phoned in - you have to cut fabric, assemble muslins, put together swatch cards and sample cards of the trimmings - your team has to be IN the office for the duration. What do you do? You get everybody into a conference room. Even though you all know full well that the blizzard might not ... View the Post
Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait de Jeune Fille by Marie Laurencin
July 3, 2015 I love this painting - I'm a big Marie Laurencin fan anyway. This girl's expression is so very much "I know what I'm doing, probably a whole lot better than you do..." I respect that kind of quiet confidence!
This color scheme is feminine without being frilly or lacy - I see the femininity here conveyed in soft lines, sheer fabrics, and a calm attitude. These are the colors of The Vivienne Files, too!
In honor of this young lady's calm assurance, I was thinking of this as one of those business trips where you're the only person with a clue. We know this kind of trip: You wrote the macro. Not ANYBODY at the home office - YOU. But now, they want you to COME to the home office ... View the Post
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