The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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WOW Wardrobe Of the Week – January 29 – February 4, 2023

February 5, 2023

Yes, I'm wearing a lot of the same clothes over and over - and part of the reason is the way our apartment is furnished!

In our main room, we have THREE dining tables! Our table is behind the sofa, with the leaves dropped, and with candles and a lamp on it - it serves well as a "sofa table."

The second, which belonged to my mother-in-law, has the leaves dropped, it's pushed up against a wall, and our (ridiculously huge) collection of alcohol is on it. The pandemic lead to a cocktail challenge with one of our friends...

The third table is my mother's - it's the one at which we eat our meals!

All of this is to indicate just how FULL our apartment is. Which, for me, translates into a closet that is only maybe ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Black Tweed Pants

November 16, 2022

Black and white tweed. Pull-on waist (which is delightful is you're among those of us who don't tuck in our tops!). LINED TO THE KNEES!!!

Pretty tempting...

Well yes, if you can use a pair of nice but not formal pants, these would be great...

Of course they're perfect with all of the black sweaters in the world:

If you like pattern mixing, tweed is maybe the easiest pattern to include. It's subtle enough not to glaringly clash with other things...

These pants will go with ANY solid color - bright, muted, pastel, neutral:

If you find yourself attending those kinds of events where NOBODY knows quite how dressy things will be, these pants are a great option:

If you like subtle ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Black Tee Shirt and Blue Jeans

November 14, 2022

When I'm out and about, I'm always looking at other people! (mostly, I'm looking to see if there's anything with which I can help them...)

In Chicago, and I suspect in a fair number of cities, a black tee shirt with blue jeans is the base for all kinds of outfits, from casual to dress, and in any color you can imagine!

Their starting point is pretty simple:

 

I've seen some people bundled up:

I really admired a simple black cashmere cardigan with an amazing scarf that picked up the blue in this heroine's jeans:

The scarf will take the place of a mortgage payment... but it is perfect with her coat and shoes!

This heroine was getting lots of smiles from everyone:

I ... View the Post

Part 2 November 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

November 4, 2022

I think this is my favorite...

This imaginary heroine had the exceptional good luck to wander into Banana Republic to do her shopping this month!

One might say she went a bit overboard, but if she's reasonably careful, she should have some of these things for the rest of her life! (I would buy a black suede shirt...)

Everything she's purchased goes beautifully with her existing wardrobe:

And her accessories are gorgeous:

Camel and black look wonderful together, as do camel and ivory. This heroine is going to love her new pieces:

Let's look at our next scarf:

 

 

 

Today's 2nd heroine had the equally good fortune to be in J.Crew when she decided that it ... View the Post

Start with Art: Version 2 Man in a Café by Juan Gris

October 21, 2022

Our heroine from Wednesday is back on the road, with a rather different color palette!

This trip is going to be both more casual AND more dressy - so our heroine is including both jeans and sequins!

note that she's packing exactly the same number of everything...

There's that one dinner (concert, opera?) that gives her permission to break out the really dressy top...

She loves the way this looks - it's just like her last travel capsule wardrobe, but it's NOTHING like it, at the same time. It's kind of magic...

She has lots of ways to wear these pieces too - it's built into her system:

Imagine what she could do if she packed BOTH of these for a trip!

do you think that this is a ... View the Post

Start with Art: Man in a Café by Juan Gris

October 19, 2022

She Prefers Neutrals...

She likes to play with the proportions - sometimes her coat is the darkest color, sometimes the lightest. And sometimes it's the color in the middle!

And when you wear neutrals, you can have other interesting signatures, like two-toned shoes, or corduroy pants...

They're planning a few trips this autumn and winter...

 

For this first one, in the truest heart of autumn, she has chosen to emphasize the brown in her wardrobe:

 

This is a small travel wardrobe - a Six-Pack... but she can get a lot of mileage from it:

She's quite sure that she will be packing a grey, denim blue and black wardrobe soon...

love,

Janice

p.s. Six years ago, ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Vintage Blooms scarf by Lost Pattern NYC

October 17, 2022

 

Sometimes, It's Hard to Decide...  

It's a trip that they make a few times a year - pick a city, pick a concert, or an art exhibit, or something interesting, and take a long weekend vacation!

But she's struggling to pack - she knows that black is the neutral, but what is her accent color?

A close look at her current favorite scarf suggests to her that maybe she could pack more than 1 accent color. Maybe more than 2. Maybe MORE THAN THREE?

Honestly, why not? Once she has her core of black items, adding just 1 gold sweater isn't a crime - so long as she has a plan for how to accessorize...

Her dream is always that some event will force them to stay for longer than 5 ... View the Post

Part 2 October 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

October 5, 2022

What do you do if your planned color scheme needs to be edited in some way?

EDIT. Move on!

You'll notice that Ruskin's Meadow color scheme has received a necessary update...

Mauve was the request; mauve is the addition! It's interesting to see how 3 tops and a pair of earrings bring a very different look to this wardrobe:

It's all much brighter now, which means that our heroine has new options for getting dressed:

Her accessories are still mostly green, but she's now got those lovely pink earrings...

How might this heroine wear her new mauve tops?

Now on to what might be my favorite scarf, and is growing to be my favorite wardrobe!

I wore this scarf last week; it's ... View the Post

Part 3 September 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

September 9, 2022

Let's get back to these last 2 scarves - I'm quite chuffed about the pretty things that I've found...

This heroine has a LOT of navy in her wardrobe; maybe we should look for something lighter to serve as a neutral for her...

yes, one of these scarves is so expensive it might give you chest pains... but it's lovely, and even a cat may look at a king!

These new clothes blend into her wardrobe perfectly, but the overall feeling of things is (of course) a bit lighter and softer:

Her accessories are lovely; her scarf drawer is enviable!

All of her new purchases bring options to her each morning - she has a wonderful new way to get dressed up with her ivory skirt and pumps!

Last, this ... View the Post

Start with Art: A Mother’s Love: The Polar Bear Family by Jason Carter

August 22, 2022

She loved his art the first minute she saw it! The clarity, simplicity, beautiful colors - all of it!

And she knew that this painting would be useful in helping her focus her ever-shrinking wardrobe:

She knows that the core of her wardrobe will be black, white and denim - this painting seems just right!

She start her autumn wardrobe planning with A Common Wardrobe. It's not called "common" because the clothes are cheap or run of the mill - it's called common because these are clothes that a LOT of people have in common!

That's a good thing - you can easily find them, they fit in easily when you're not sure what to wear, but best of all, the serve as a neutral background for whatever accents you wish to ... View the Post

Version 2 – Start with a Scarf: The Ghan by Un Poco

August 10, 2022 Back to School, Indeed!

That morning, when they got up to load the car, it was pouring...

Happily, anybody old enough to go to college is old enough to pack their many worldly good into the car!

But she wore boots, just in case...

She was even able to delegate the driving to her eager (and very competent) child! The boots came in handy when they stopped for coffee...

She's really looking forward to seeing her friends again - meeting up with them and having a lot of fun takes away the sting of leaving a dearly loved child far away...

She heard that a really nice restaurant opened during the summer, so she took the initiative to make reservations for the 4 of them. They always go out for nice ... View the Post

Starting with a Black Column (or a Grey Column!)

July 13, 2022 Self-Esteem She's among the many who have to be back in their office - 10 days a month... (who's going to be counting these days, eh?)

She has completely changed clothing sizes during the pandemic, and she's changed her attitude toward work. Since she's been saving her clothing budget since spring of 2020, she's going to be a little bit extravagant (okay, really extravagant!) and make a personal statement of confidence when she gets dressed!

So she's already reserved the best office available (the entire place is now running on a "hotel desk" system...), and she's going to start looking and acting like she should be in charge...

She's starting with 2 simple pieces of black clothing that are VERY comfortable. ... View the Post