The Vivienne Files - Page 3 of 268 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Sixth of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 10, 2025

The last of our paintings, but certainly not the least! Frankly, I don't know that I could rank these paintings, nor rank the wardrobes. Happily, there are lots of things going on in the world in which there are NO winners and losers...

Oh, that looks so nice....

At the end of February, our heroine had this 12-piece capsule wardrobe. Good for travel to a destination that's bright and sunny, but not necessarily very warm:

With warmer weather in mind, our heroine grabs some decidedly summery things! But she doesn't miss the chance to buy the scarf that includes a lot of her colors. She may not wear it for a few months, but these kinds of things don't show up every week.

Just adding shorts and sandals ... View the Post

The Fifth of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 7, 2025

My favorite sunny, warm, watery painting...

At the end of February, our heroine had this wardrobe; it has a couple of warm sweaters, to get her through her (short?) winter. I'm assuming that this heroine does NOT live in Maine, no matter where her favorite painting was painted!

This heroine is moving 100% into a warm-weather state of mind; she even has the good sense to grab a hat that she really likes early in the season. Heck, it gets sunny in March!

And if you like boat shoes, they're back "in style." As if they ever went OUT of style... Sheesh...

This is what our heroine's Weekly Timeless Wardrobe looks like now; I can see the merits of taking out the column for Winter and maybe duplicating the ... View the Post

The Fourth of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 6, 2025

Let's check up on our heroine who is working with the most limited color palette this year. Short of wearing just ONE color, this is maybe as small a palette as you can get. Well, maybe not, but after the multiple accent colors of our other wardrobes, this one seems quite streamlined!

At the end of February our heroine had a nice twelve-piece wardrobe - it would make a great travel capsule wardrobe... I'm thinking a lot about travel right now!

Our heroine has decided to shift her focus to warmer weather - especially in order to grab the sandals that she's wanted for a while! Yes, she won't be able to wear them for weeks, but at least she's not walking out of the store empty-handed when the weather finally ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 5, 2025

Big news - my dear friend Scottie is having a sale on her scarves! Get thee to her website right now to see the possibilities!

A lovely, if deeply enigmatic, painting:

That wee geometric thingy on the breast of the white swan... Hmm...

At the end of February, this heroine had a pretty and very useful wardrobe:

This heroine decided to really emphasize spring clothes this month! Maybe she wears a size that's hard to find, or maybe she's been burned in the past by having things sell out that she really liked! And she decided to break out with a pure white top - she's not afraid of wearing white with ivory...

Her new additions make a big difference this month! Adding a pair of pants that aren't dark ... View the Post

The Second of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 4, 2025

A painting that I love, and a wardrobe that grows on me every time I look at it:

At the end of February, our heroine had this very tidy and versatile (as well as lovely!) 12-piece wardrobe:

Our heroine decided that she was going to try to fill in some of her cold-weather basics, before they vanish from stores in favor of bikinis! She knows that - even though it seems like it's the end of winter - there are still at least a few more weeks of weather plenty cold enough for a turtleneck.

If you've been looking for wool pants that are lined, I found these; you see them pretty often here, but they're a rare species of garment here in the 21st century...

Now, when she looks at her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe ... View the Post

The First of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 3, 2025

March! Even though we still have to wear winter clothes in Chicago, once it's March we pretend that it's spring. At least the days are long enough to go out for a quick walk after work - that makes SO much difference.

This month, I'm starting here, with a change/addition to our color palette:

This is the 12-piece wardrobe that our heroine has assembled through the first two months of her project:

Frankly, this wardrobe was feeling DARK. For a heroine with fair, freckled skin and hair somewhere in the red/russet family, it got to be TOO dark... So an executive decision was made to add ivory to this wardrobe. Well, you can call it bone, or unbleached, or off-white, but the effect is the ... View the Post

A Couple of Pretty Accessory Families

February 28, 2025

I'm currently losing the fight with Ozempic - I've surrender, in fact. I think I'm happier being pudgy than I am being relentlessly nauseated...

But I was able to look at a couple of scarves that I really like, and to find some other accessories to give each scarf a family of companions!

I think it's safe to assume that some of these accessories could go with both scarves.

Can you picture these with a pretty beige dress? Or a crisp white shirt and capri pants?

What clothes would you wear with these?

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, our business travel wardrobe was a taupe/grey, with pink, light blue and white... ... View the Post

Adding Accessories – Start With Art – Cow’s Skull: Red, White and Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 26, 2025

Of course, our heroine from Monday is going to need some accessories for her work wardrobe - shoes, at a bare minimum! And it's certain that she's going to be carrying a pretty big bag, since she has to carry her laptop, her mouse & mousepad, her power cords, and anything else she needs at her desk each day.

Here's the art which inspires her:

Here's the wardrobe with which we left our friend:

As much as our heroine would have loved to fill this part of her wardrobe with small sharp things, she (for the most part!) has stuck to normal, acceptable choices. If anybody asks about the skull earrings and necklace, she plans to launch into a lengthy Stoic philosophy speech about Memento Mori...

Her ... View the Post

Need a “Back in the Office” Wardrobe? Start With Art – Cow’s Skull by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 24, 2025

It's the most common question I've received since the first of the year - you've got to be back in the office FIVE DAYS A WEEK. And you don't have a clue what to wear, this time...

A specific question was from someone going back into a relatively dressy office, except for the "every two weeks Casual Friday." Our heroine doesn't want a big wardrobe for cool weather, since she only expects another 10 to 12 weeks during which she will need such things, so we're targeting a 4x4 Wardrobe.

She also has all kinds of plans to quit her current job, in favor of a place where she can continue to work from home. Much up in the air for this heroine; let's make her wardrobe simple and foolproof!

This was the color palette ... View the Post

Ready to Pretend That It’s Spring? The Marion Bartoli scarf by Echo

February 21, 2025

If you find any errors send me a note or leave a comment; I was on the phone with the Internal Revenue Service today for 90 minutes, and I'm not fully recovered!

With weather like we've been having recently - at least in my neighborhood - it's not a bad idea to pretend that it's already spring. Just don't go outdoors in a sundress, and you should be fine...

The colors in this scarf help get me in that frame of mind:

I didn't put a neutral color in our color wheel, because I suspect that almost any neutral would be lovely with these:

Our heroine and her sweetheart are going somewhere warm for a long weekend. Well, it should be warm. Unless it's not. But they're going to go, no matter what!

You ... View the Post

Do You Love Timeless Style? The Neo-Classical Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

February 19, 2025

She likes to wear things for years. Decades, if she can manage it! So she's mostly interested in classic garments - those things that nobody can really date, and that always feel familiar, comfortable and easy to wear.

For an upcoming business trip - short, but demanding - she's starting with her new bracelets:

Although she could use gray as her dark neutral, this trip she's going with black!

Partly because she knows that she's going to be cold in transit, and she wants to wear her flannel suit:

She only needs one additional "business" outfit, after she breaks the ice and meets everyone the first day. So she opts for a skirt and sweater - still warm, still business appropriate:

As ... View the Post

Love Classic Prettiness? Start With a Scarf – The Wendy Hollender scarf

February 17, 2025

So if you didn't get all of the pretty things you wanted for Valentine's Day, take a look at this beauty:

I chose pink and green as accent colors, but you wouldn't want to miss the plum, or the orange...

Our heroine is off for a long weekend with someone she loves. They have some dressy things planned, as well as a day or two of just wandering and being together. No big, complicated, stressful agenda for our heroine!

So her dressiness level is all over the place, from classic chinos to a lace-trimmed top! Pretty jewelry and a lovely bag are coming along too!

The green top feels a bit like an outlier, as does the striped tee shirt, but our heroine really wants to avoid overdoing the ... View the Post