The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Monet Water Lilies

Dress – Lela Rose, earrings – Ralph Lauren, slingbacks – John Lewis, chinos – Michael Kors, sweater – Suno, loafers – Roberto del Carlo    

Tee shirt – Vanessa Bruno Athe, Skirt and sandals – J. Crew, bomber jacket – Acne, sundress – Allsaints, espadrilles - Soludos    

Navy sweater – Fatface, Navy skirt – Stella McCartney, navy ankle boots – F-Troupe, tank – Uniqlo, cropped chinos – J Brand, ballet flats - Madewell    

Dress – 3.1 Phillip Lim, cardigan – J. Crew, pumps – Van Dal, sweater and chambray pants – Vanessa Bruno Athe, silver boots - Acne     ... View the Post

Shopping: The Logical Flaws of the “10 Must-Have Items” lists

If you search on the internet for "2012 must-have items", you get more than three hundred MILLION hits.  Even if you assume that most of these won't, in fact, tell you to buy something, that's still a tremendous number of people bossing you around about how to spend your hard-earned money!

And these lists are full of logical flaws:

If these are truly must-have items, why don't all of the lists agree?  Or at least have a significant degree of overlap?  After looking at the first handful of "top-ten for spring" lists, I saw at least 50 different items I absolutely have to buy if I'm going to be able to show my face in public. Why do all of these lists assume that you can't look around a store and make your own choices? ... View the Post

A Cool, Cool, Style-Defining Tool!

January 16, 2012

Above is a "word cloud" of my core wardrobe.  I absolutely love this, because it sort of puts into a graphic image the key aspects of how I dress most of the time.

Doing this requires that you keep a list of everything that you wear for at least a few weeks...  Or, you could just type out a list of everything you own - it depends on what you're trying to visualize.

Then get thee to wordle.net, and follow the instructions under the heading of "create".  You can choose fonts, color schemes, orientation of the text etc.  I found that my cloud really started to come into focus for me once I had a classic font, and a black and gray color scheme.

An interesting use of this for me might be (1) ... View the Post

Shopping: The Danger of the Alluring Assortment

I've seen it a hundred times, at least.  Hapless shopper wanders into store, without anything particular in mind.  And then... they see it.  The shelf of tee shirts in 19 colors.  The round rack of cardigans in 24 colors.  OR the wall of socks in every color of the rainbow (yes, I'm talking to you, Bon Marche!).

When this shopper came into the store, their feelings about buying were "Will I buy?".

But then they see this assortment, and they automatically start to evaluate the various colors, mentally sorting them into piles of "yuck", "nice but I couldn't wear it", "possible", and (this is the fatal one) "my colors".

And of course, when you see something in "my color", it should therefore become "my garment", ... View the Post

Wardrobe based on 2 suits: Was Chanel right?

December 23, 2011   One of my favorite Chanel quotes is "One shouldn't spend all one's time dressing. All one needs are two or three suits, as long as they and everything to go with them, are perfect."   So I thought about how this quote applies to the wardrobes that I build - let's try on Chanel's advice!   First, two suits: one black, one taupe. Now, to me, a suit is a jacket, pants, a skirt AND a dress. (sometimes, nothing looks better than a dress and jacket). Yes, I'm taking the definitions very loosely...  

Next, you need the things that go with the 2 suits.  One twinset that matches a suit, and another twinset in an accent color.  One turtleneck that matches one of the suits, and a ... View the Post

A retail rebellion

I work in retail, and I'm quite grateful to have any job at all, right now.  But many of my fellow workers are being mistreated, and you can change that.

The day after Thanksgiving is, in the US, a big shopping day - one of the biggest of the year.  In a bizarre effort to increase the amount of shopping done on that day, retailers are opening their stores earlier and earlier each year.  Now, the final straw, Target stores are opening AT MIDNIGHT on Thanksgiving evening!

If you're an employee, do the math.  "I have to be in the store at 11 p.m., so I have to leave for work at 10:30 p.m... I'm going to work at least 9 hours, so I'll have to sleep before I go to work, so I realistically need to be in bed by... 2:00 ... View the Post

Extravagance = Economy: Rowenta Steamer

Back in the dark ages of my retail career, I worked for a very lovely women's store which had an absolute LAW about how things were done: no clothing hits the floor without being steamed first.  Given that the clothing was often shipped in boxes via FedEx, almost everything had at least a few major creases in it, and looked about a thousand times better after being steamed.

Fast forward to my real life, in which it seemed that we were frequently taking garments to the cleaners just because they were sort of rumpled - not necessarily because they were soiled and needed to be cleaned...

I did a bit of math (I'm a number geek; you may not have realized that), and I figured that over about 40 garments or so, we could PAY for one of ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with Art: Alfred Sisley

jacket – J. Crew, Cardigan – H&M, Tee – Topshop, Shirt – Topshop, skirt – Debenhams,  Blue pants – Acne, Jeans – Nordstrom, Scarf – Bajira              

 

Sweater – Champ, Trench – Farhri by Nicole Farhi, Coat – Diane von Furstenberg, dress – DAKS, jeans – Dorothy Perkins, Skirt – Hugo Boss, Sweater – John Lewis, Jacket – Old Navy  

     

 

Dress – Lela Rose, Cardigan – Paul Smith, Butterfly top – Dorothy Perkins, Striped top – Dorothy Perkins, Floral blouse – Rebecca Taylor, pants – A.P.C.,  green tee shirt - Madewell,  Striped top – Gryphon NY  

 

Glass ring – Forzieri, agate drop earrings ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe for a week in northern California

  Important note - read the comments below!  A very generous comment from a reader who lives in Napa gives us  some essential information about what to expect for weather this time of year.  Thanks for sharing!

Cardigan – United Bamboo, beige tee shirt – weekday.com, brown tee - Vince, dress – Givenchy, tee shirt trio - Swell, olive twill pants – Donna Karan, brown cords - Vince, scarf - Hermes  

Light olive cardigan – Jigsaw, olive sweater – Cruciani, silk tunic - SuperTrash,  skirt - Marni, khakis – Weekend by Maxmara, sweater – Joseph,  jacket - Barbour  

Brown stud earrings – Topshop, gold ball earrings – Nordstrom, stripes scarf – Kelly Wearstler, brown cross-body bag – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Down on His Luck, by Frederick McCubbin

Jacket – Oscar de la Renta , Cardigan – Michael Kors, Blouse – L’Agence, Tee shirt – T by Alexander Wang  

Jeans – Acne, Skirt – Bottega Veneta, Cords – Current/Elliott, Scarf - Hermès   

Vanilla blouse – Vanessa Bruno, coat – Tibi, Dress – Diane von Furstenberg, coat – Alexander Wang  

Sweater – J. Crew, Pants– Burberry Prorsum, Skirt – Maje, Jacket – Michael Kors    

Dress – Maxmara , Sweater – Vanessa Bruno, Tee shirt – Zoe Tees, Short-sleeved blouse – Alberta Ferretti  

Sleeveless top – Steffen Schraut , Blouse – Gucci, Velvet pants - Gucci, Sweater – Calvin ... View the Post