The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Vivienne Files - Page 251 of 262 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

A possible answer to yesterday’s mystery…

I'm fighting the beginnings of a cold - FOUR DAYS before leaving on vacation.  (isn't that the way of it, sometimes?) But through the Lem-Sip fumes, I had one intelligent thought:

One theory about why we don't see a lot of stunning women; generally speaking, human posture is pretty poor.  Having taken ballet lessons for a few decades (my parents had high hopes), I couldn't slouch if you put an 80 pound backpack on me, but that's certainly not the rule anymore.  Decades ago, a young man I was dating was absolutely CONVINCED that I was a trust-fund baby, largely because of my posture. Who knew: posture makes you look wealthy?

How's your posture? ... View the Post

The Ultimate Style Mystery

Even though I'm 47 days into my year-long shopping fast, I'm not unaware of stores, catalogs, and clothing websites.  If anything, since I've started blogging, and looking for perfect wardrobes for you, I see even MORE clothing than I ever saw before!  And while there's a fair amount of dreck being marketed to women under the guise of clothing (or shoes - what STUPID shoes there are in this world), most of what I see is beautiful.  At every price point, there are stacks of lovely clothes available - far more clothing than any of us need, or should want.

So the mystery is this - WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF THIS CLOTHING?  Because I do NOT see that many women who look really well-dressed.  And as you can tell from the ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe for an office environment, in taupe, burgundy, and navy

Blazer – Stella McCartney,  blazer – Steven Alan, top – Madeleine Thompson, blouse – Narciso Rodriguez, pants – Stella McCartney, skirt – Stella McCartney,  corduroy pants – Exit Brooklyn, scarf - Hermes  

Kimono jacket – Charlotte and Co., skirt – Alberta Ferretti, gray top – Sportmax,  Maroon blouse – Yves Saint Laurent, taupe satin blouse – DKNY,  low-neck blouse – Oscar de la Renta, print blouse – Roberto Cavalli, navy cashmere top – Miu Miu  

Navy scoop-neck top – Donna Karan, navy shirtdress – Steven Alan, sweater dress – Chinti and Parker, taupe trench coat – Derek Lam, skirt – Debenhams, pinstriped pants – Neil Barrett, taupe & navy cardigan – Tory Burch, striped ... 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

The Elements of Style, according to Paul Stuart

Paul Stuart is an ultra-beautiful menswear store with locations in New York and Chicago.  Years ago, they had an advertisement in the program for the Lyric Opera of Chicago, which I reproduce here in it's entirety.  These people are wise:

The Elements of Style

It’s easy to say what style is not. It is not, for example, fashion. (see below)  But when a friend asked us, the other day, to say what it is, the only answer we felt sure of was: our bread and butter.  Perhaps because that answer was true, our inability to define the word rankled. So at last, prompted by some half-remembered sentences, we reached for our copy of The Elements of Style.

This useful little book was written by William Strunk, Jr., and ... View the Post

The Unbroken Vertical Line in Gray

Dress – Chloe, tights - Falke  

Belted cardigan – MICHAEL Michael Kors, jacket  - McQ, boucle jacket – Rebecca Taylor, pleat-back cardigan – M. Patmos      

Belted cardigan – MICHAEL Michael Kors, jacket  - McQ, boucle jacket – Rebecca Taylor, pleat-back cardigan – M. Patmos      

blazer – J. Crew, Rose cardigan – Missoni, Diane von Furstenberg, Blue cardigan – N. Peal,  Pink blazer – Acne  

Red cardigan – Peter Jensen, purple blazer – Jil Sander, blue velvet jacket – Marni, orange cardigan – Crumpet England  

Floral cardigan – Paul Smith, wrap cardigan – Quiksilver, sequined cardigan – Antik Batik, pastel cardigan - Missoni   ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe: sunset and sky meets the 8 blues

The ever brilliant Juhli asked what would happen if someone with a good base wardrobe (like the sunset and sky wardrobe from here) wanted to expand their wardrobe.  She pondered the wisdom of using one of the "eights" like the one in blue that I did here as a basis for acquisitions.Juhli is one really brilliant person... see the results!

 

 

 

 

  ... View the Post

From the Style Shelf: Style Statement

If you're only every going to read/own one book to help you define your personal style, this is the one. This isn't just personal style as in "I wear black rather than brown" or "I prefer silk to cotton", although those kinds of considerations are addressed.  This is personal style writ large - the kind of basis for personal expression that can affect and influence every aspect of your life.  Seriously!  And it's a book well worth revisiting at any point in time when difficult decisions are to be made; it serves to remind you of what really matters to you (or at least what you THOUGHT mattered at the time you originally read the book).

I have never been one of those people who really liked books that had lots of ... View the Post

A kindly meant word of career advice…

If you work with men...

And you EVER have occasion to walk ANYWHERE with them, be it to a client meeting, or to lunch, or at a conference...

Please, wear shoes which enable you to walk as far, and at the same pace, as they walk.

Every day, I see groups of business people in which the men are striding ahead, conversing and laughing, while the women are mincing along in the rear on their high heels.  They're left out of the conversation.  They're left out of the main part of the group.  THEY AREN"T KEEPING UP.

If you dress in a way that limits your mobility, you cannot expect to be considered an equal to a person who dresses for a combination of business appropriateness and comfort.  No matter what any magazine tells ... View the Post

Capsule wardrobe of navy,greens, & rust, based on Hermes Fleurs de Lotus

October 5, 2011   Please note that the scarf photograph was provided by ebay seller The Snob (and she's anything BUT a snob!).  Thanks again, Snob!  

Navy suit separates – Stella McCartney, cardigan – American Vintage, Navy blouse – Stella McCartney, tank – Topshop, jeans – Place des Tendances,  scarf - Hermes  

Blouse – Chloe, navy sweater – Acne, rust trench – Aquascutum, Navy dress – Topshop, pants – Etro, skirt – Yves Saint Laurent, coat – Stella McCartney, peacoat – A.P.C.  

Navy cardigan – L.K. Bennett, print blouse – Marni, green sweater – Gucci, russet dress – Viktor & Rolf, striped top – Rag & Bone, teal skirt - Topshop, ivory sweater – Ralph Lauren, flowered top – Vanessa ... View the Post

The shopping fast: Month 1

 

Above illustrates EVERYTHING I wore in the month of September 2011.  A pretty modest assortment, but I have a few extenuating circumstances which kept this a pretty small collection.  

Foremost, I don't have a job, so I'm not getting up every morning putting on "grown-up" clothes to go out and play with the adults of the world.  

I spent a great deal of time wearing gym clothes; if I knew that I wasn't going out, and that I absolutely HAD to go to the gym (uh, that's every day!), I would put on my workout clothes immediately after my shower in the morning.  The other people in my (very large) building are accustomed to seeing me in these clothes.

Having stacks of sweaty gym clothes around ... View the Post