The Vivienne Files - Page 157 of 261 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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

Do me a big favor…

As soon as you read this, go drink a big glass of water. In fact, every time you read The Vivienne Files, please be certain to drink something water-based. A lot of it...

Just trust me: you don't want to wrestle with the whole kidney stone affair! And the water is good for you - helps keeps you full, gives you a better sense of your true hunger level, etc etc.

love,

Janice

Big important PS: The discount code at KathKath has been fixed so that you can indeed make multiple purchases there with the discount. The code for a 40% discount off of full-price merchandise is VIV40, and the code for 10% off of sale products is VIV10. Enjoy! ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Blue Pool by Augustus John

July 1, 2015 Wow...

A color scheme that just cries out for some cotton khaki, and some turquoise...

This felt to me like a quick weekend away to the lake - leaving the office early, and doing nothing more strenuous than maybe rowing a canoe... The prevailing feeling that I was looking for was outdoors, active, sunny and relaxed.

The jewelry looks great with your outfits, but isn't terribly expensive, so you can wear it without being obsessive about it. A little clutch is handy in case you dash into town for drinks or dinner.

If it's cool, you have your cardigan and trousers from work; if you want to be "dressy-ish", you have your culottes, and if you're going to get wet, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Carnation Lily Lily Rose by John Singer Sargent

June 30, 2015 Wow! When I asked for paintings, you all came through with some beautiful suggestions... This John Singer Sargent is so lovely...

In the deepest shadows, I saw navy, although on another day, it could be deepest gray, or maybe something else - really good paintings are wonderful in the way they can have so many different aspects over time.

I'm embarking on a 4 by 4 that's particularly challenging: a casual wardrobe in soft and fluid navy and white. So VERY often, navy and white are crisp, and starched, and nicely pressed and snappy - which is pretty great. And I'm sure that at some point earlier in the fictional day, these lovely white dresses were immaculate and pristine, but NOT by this ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art Version 2: Flaming June by Sir Frederic Leighton

June 29, 2015 So how does the gorgeous, warm palette from last Saturday translate into a much more casual grouping? Beautifully!

In order to keep the feeling of softness and flow, I looked for fabrics like corduroy, which has both depth and softness, moleskin, which has a nice plush texture, and of course silk. Gathers and jacquard fabrics also give us a little bit of grace and detail... (note: I even chosen nail enamels with shimmer, which gives a sense of movement!)

When choosing items to go into this wardrobe, always ask yourself "yes, it goes, but does it have the requisite fluidity and movement that gives me my desired image?" There's lots of brown and orange in the world, but much of it is crisp or static - not right for ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Flaming June by Sir Frederic Leighton

July 27, 2015 Someone particularly special sent me this painting, with a request for a Start With Art - what a wonderful idea! These were the colors that I chose. While there's a ton more orange in this painting than anything else, only the rarest among us will be able to pull together any kind of a wardrobe, no matter how small, with mostly orange. So I gave the warm brown prominence...

I was really thinking about texture and flow here - draping was important!

Just enough to be able to get away for a long weekend - lots of emphasis on dining-out attire! And the budget was unlimited madness for this wardrobe - suede pants and a bank-breaking dress and sweater. But very reasonably priced ... View the Post

One Skirt, Six Ways

June 25, 2015

Sometimes, I buy something with great enthusiasm and completely confidence that I'm going to wear it A TON, but instead it just sort of... hangs there...

This has happened with my really cool black and white dotted skirt from Uniqlo (no longer available, I'm sorry to say). There's NOBODY in the world that should be able to wear a black and white skirt like this more often than I can, but it just wasn't happening.

So I decided to apply myself to planning outfits including said skirt, and I discovered that this sweetie is, in fact, a true seasonless wonder. I paid particular attention to those core tops that I try to keep in my wardrobe all the time - the Eileen Fisher tops that can be the timeless workhorses of a ... View the Post

The Kindness of KathKath…

Just a quick update to let you know that my lovely partners at KathKath have EXTENDED their discount offer to readers of The Vivienne Files! Through July 26th, you can get 40% off of any regular-priced scarf using the discount code VIV40.

AND... you can get an additional 10% off of any sale scarf, using the discount code VIV10.

I know that many of you have looked at these scarves repeatedly - now's your time to grab your favorite!

When I'm feeling better, I see a wardrobe based on that elephant scarf (far right, above) colors. Black, beige, dusty mauve, jade and bone.... hmmm....

Yours, recuperating slowly, with lots of love, Janice ... View the Post

Small Changes, Big Improvements

June 20, 2015

Sometimes, you have items of clothing that are perfectly fine, but lacking a certain... something...

Example, the following. I have FIVE of these white shirts (from Lands' End - highly recommended), from when I worked at the bakery. They're really wonderful shirts, but 5 is a bit over the top. And this black velvet tunic is lovely, but it falls into this difficult gap of being not really dressy enough to be dressy, but still seeming a bit over the top with jeans.

Easy, fast, relatively inexpensive update? Buttons!

These are Murano glass - it's virtually impossible to get a good photograph, but you have to trust me that they're pretty gorgeous...

And these are very simple plastic - black with white ... View the Post

3 x 3 = >20; A Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Black, White and Red

June 17, 2015

Last week, I was going out of town overnight - literally for about 18 hours, and had to pack, even though I wasn't going to be gone long at all. (this was the situation that got me started on the whole thought process of "3x3"...)

I was dressed, getting ready to leave; this is a reasonable facsimile of what I was wearing:

I knew that, since I would be home by 8 a.m. the next morning, all I really needed to pack was a clean top (as well as pajamas, and minimal toiletries), so I envisioned this:

First, I held up the top that I pulled from the closet, and took a close look at both sides of it, to make sure that it would be wearable with my white cardigan and black trousers. And then, because I'm always ... View the Post

One Sweater, Six Ways

June 16, 2015 Sometimes I get the best surprises! The lovely people at House of Fraser send me the nicest sweater/top... a layered look, with a subtle white and grey underlayer - a great weight to wear on cool summer days, but something that will carry through beautifully into cooler weather. Thanks, House of Fraser people! This is the lovely goodie:

I'm an avowed believer that you should KNOW how you're going to wear something before you buy it, although in this case, since it was a gift, I let myself off the hook. But, of course, as soon as I opened my package, I was scheming... These were a few of my thoughts - everything from the dressiest silk pants or skirt, to grey jeans on weekends, or ... View the Post