The Vivienne Files - Page 99 of 267 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

A Colorful Moon by Alain Paillou Revisited for Summer 2018

July 20, 2018

Oh, the lucky lady with the inheritance from her great-aunt! She first found out about this back in January, and by April she was traveling to Mexico to look into maybe buying a home there...

Even though she has more than enough money now, she still sticks closely to her favorite photograph of the moon as her style guideline:

It turns out that, in addition to leaving our heroine a tidy nest egg, her great-aunt also left her quite a few letters! Many of the letters are full of advice, and suggestions about how to spend her windfall. So how she's off to look at the possibility of living in Paris for a year or two!

She's going to stay in a couple of different short-term rental apartments, so she can get a feel ... View the Post

Study in Verticals by Frantisek Kupka revisited for summer 2018

July 18, 2018

Our friend the meeting moderator has been traveling for work a LOT - back in January she was thrown into a really difficult negotiating session, but she was able to take a break to go to the beach in the spring...

Now she's been told that they FINALLY got those dinner reservations that they've been queued up for since about a gazillion years ago! They're only going away for the night, but it's a really special occasion - a once in a lifetime meal at a landmark restaurant...

Happily, it's really easy for her to pack, because she has clear wardrobe guidelines:

They're going to drive - it only takes about 2 hours. She wants to be relaxed and pretty, as well as warm enough! (some people absolutely adore ... View the Post

Fonds Marins by Lee Ungno Revisited for Summer 2018

July 16, 2018

Ah, our friend the iconoclast! She's got the wardrobe with the willfully unusual color palette, based on this painting:

She's retired, so she gets to travel as much as she can manage! She took a trip back in January, and then again in April, and now she's getting ready to go to a family wedding...

It's not a long trip, but she always tries to look nice when she travels. Everything just seems to go better when she's well-dressed...

She knows that there's a really nice rehearsal dinner to which she's invited, and also that the wedding is in the evening and thus will be sort of dressy. So she packs her 2 favorite dresses, a top to wear on the trip back to her home, and some comfy pajamas for the few moments ... View the Post

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