The Vivienne Files - Page 93 of 261 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Passion Flower with Hummingbirds by Heade, Revisited for Summer 2018

July 13, 2018

Remember our quiet heroine, with the very distinctive olive, grey, gold and coral wardrobe? We first met her in January, and then again in April...

She's going into the city for a couple of days! Nobody seems to understand, but she wants to go to a couple of baseball games...

This is her inspiration, and her signature color palette:

She's going to take the train into the city on Friday evening, and probably eat some room service... It's a very short vacation, but a vacation nonetheless!

She doesn't need to pack much; she will need clothes for the ballgames, and something nice to wear to dinner on Saturday night:

When she gets to her hotel, she unpacks and hangs things up, and takes just ... View the Post

How to Shop a Sale (Some Modest Suggestions!)

July 11, 2018

In case you've been asleep for the last month, or somewhere without Internet access, we're barrelling headlong into the big "pre-season" sale time of year.

Now, I've got nothing against saving money, nor against buying myself something new and pretty... But these sales? They can overwhelm you, and before you know what you've done, you've spent a ton of money on things you didn't really need, just because they looked lovely and appealing...

So? How to avoid being a victim? Have a plan! That's my answer to almost everything...

First, think seriously and honestly - are you shopping for need or want? And might you spend the money somewhere more gratifying? For example, I'm not buying anything this fall, because I've ... View the Post

Dame au Chapeau by Natalia S. Gontcharova Revisited for Summer 2018

July 9, 2018

Remember our inadvertently very visible college professor? In January she was all over campus sporting a gold cardigan - or a hot pink one, and then in April she was off to a symposium in a gorgeous gold suede jacket...

Well, she's visiting another university to speak to a graduate school class... She seems to have made it onto everybody's list of "favorite visiting professor!"

Her wardrobe inspiration is unusual, but seems to work well for her:

She knows that the morning she drives downstate to the campus, she's going directly into her presentation, so she wants to dress for business, as well as for icy air conditioning!

She's not quite sure what else in on her agenda. They've asked her to stay for 2 ... View the Post

Instruments de Musique by Picasso, Revisiting for Summer 2018

July 6, 2018

Remember this beauty, from January and April?

WHEN is the Signing?

She's leaving on vacation - literally leaving tomorrow - when the call comes...

"Can you go to the signing, and then to the banquet?"

Sure, heck, why not...

"It's the day you get back from vacation... We will pay for you to take an extra suitcase, and for your flight change to fly directly there..."

Well, THAT'S sweet of them...

So she plans to fly back in an outfit that will be acceptable no matter WHO she runs into in the airport, or the hotel:

No exposed knees, nor toes...

Her suitcase contains serious clothes for the contract signings, a frivolous top to wear with a skirt to the dinner later that day, and an ... View the Post

Can Accessories Tie Together Clashing Colors?

July 4, 2018

Some of us felt pretty uncomfortable with the grey Common Wardrobe paired with warm citrus-hued accent colors. That's okay - everybody is NOT going to like every color combination in the world!

So I thought that I would try to bring the colors closer together visually by choosing accessories with that goal in mind...

This is the color scheme with which we are working, based on this really cool painting:

While the first wardrobe from this painting - with brown and beige neutrals - looked great with gold jewelry, now that we've changed our core neutrals to cool grey, I'm thinking that silver jewelry is the direction to take...

It's always reasonable and smart to have a plan when you're pulling together ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – July 2018

July 2, 2018

It's hard to believe that these wardrobes are more than halfway completely - where does the time go?

For July, I'm going to assume that summer is in full swing, and that our heroine could use a couple of easy outfits to wear in the heat. Of course, if you don't wear shorts, a skirt, capris or a pair of lightweight pants could easily be here instead!

And I love simple tee shirts. It's fine to get something with writing, or with lots of bells and whistles and geegaws and thingamahoochies, but that kind of top isn't going to be as versatile as a plain round or v-neck tee shirt. I particularly liked finding these 2 unusual accent colors, which are clearly present in our scarf inspiration:

This is her wardrobe, so ... View the Post

Larkspurs! The Birth Flower for July

June 29, 2018

I have to admit, larkspurs are hard to find! And that's a pity, because they're so lovely... There are very bluish ones, and all different shades of purple... sigh...

But this at least gives us another look at purple! It's supposed to be the color for 2018, according to Pantene, but it's still terribly difficult to find many nice garments in a color even close to purple! When you type purple into a search, it's likely you will get everything from pink through burgundy... sigh...

But let's give a dash of purple a try, eh?

I think purple looks rather nice with beige - especially when worn with a scarf that ties the 2 together so well. If it's too hot to wear the scarf around your neck, tie it to your ... View the Post

What if I Really Don’t Like Beige? Wasp & Pear by Gerald Murphy

June 27, 2018

As soon as I published the first wardrobe based on this great painting, I heard from readers who really loved it except... they don't like, or look good in, beige.

This isn't really a problem; this painting includes a few shades of grey! They're admittedly not as prominent as the beige, but that's okay. Let's see how this might play out, with the same 4 accent garments and a different scarf...

All I did for the color palette was change the beige to grey, and change the borders of each of the colors from brown to grey.

So this means that we need to start with A Common Wardrobe (i.e. classic garments that many of us might own) in grey:

As is always true with A Common Wardrobe, there are lots of possible ... View the Post

Cleaning Out a Closet Full of Impulse Purchases

June 25, 2018

Our heroine is pretty loyal to her favorite store... Every time she goes in, she just feels happy; she loves the outdoor equipment, and the feeling of love and pleasure in nature that the company really encourages. And it seems that most times she stops in, she walks out with something!

So her warm-weather closet looks like this:

She doesn't really struggle to get dressed, but she feels vaguely... uneasy... when she looks at her closet. She would like more focus, and maybe a clearer sense of personal style than she currently has.

Where to begin? The fastest, easiest starting place is to sort everything by color and see if she can learn something:

Oh. Dear. An equal number of navy and black garments ... View the Post

Does It Help To Have a Plan When Packing Accessories?

July 22, 2018

Wednesday's very colorful wardrobe could certainly use some accessories! I'm going to take this opportunity to experiment with something that I've been thinking about for a while...

Imagine this scenario: you are at work, some distance from your home. You find that for some reason you MUST travel, and you must travel tonight. You're leaving directly from work, and you're relying on someone else to pack your luggage...

Do you have enough awareness of what's in your closet to be able to tell someone else what to pack?

(my ability to do this is heavily reliant on Belovedest's overall facility with clothing and fashion terminology...)

You've got your color scheme:

This plan is the same items that I've been ... View the Post

What if I Get Bored Without Lots of Colors in my Wardrobe? The Wasp & The Pear by Gerald Murphy

June 20, 2018

Do you NEED color to be happy? A wide variety of colors? Lots of choices?

If this is you, then you can still travel with a capsule travel wardrobe - you just need to include a range of accents that all work with a neutral core. The neutrals give you all sorts of easy outfit possibilities into which you can insert a punch of color when you're in the mood. And when you want to be more subdued, you'll have that option too!

Let's start with an artist of whom I knew nothing until just a few days ago (I get the BEST mail from you all...):

While this painting clearly displays a strong affinity to great summer neutrals like khaki and ivory, it also includes some amazing accent colors. For this color palette, I skipped ... View the Post

Planning Your Accessory Travel Capsule Wardrobe

June 18, 2018

Let's look back at another recent travel wardrobe, and choose some accessories to be packed along with the clothes...

This wardrobe was all about colors of sky and sea; here's the original clothing color palette:

It's never necessary to have a plan for anything you do, but I think when you're packing, having some structure and some limits in mind can help a lot. If I don't set some clear guidelines when I'm packing, I'm likely to just toss in everything that I like (which is just about all of my wardrobe!) and then get somewhere and struggle to make sense of things...

Silver would be the obvious metallic choice for navy and shades of blue... but since we're talking about warmth and sun and summer, I thought ... View the Post