The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Blue Cotton Cardigan

May 1, 2020

It catches her eye every time she's on the website. She has wondered how she might wear it, if she were to treat herself...

Finally, she decides to actually try to PLAN an outfit or 2, from current garments and some possible other lovely things she's seen. She does want to buy something for spring, and starting with this cardigan might make sense. If you keep daydreaming about a piece of clothing after you've seen an image of it, you might want to think seriously about how much you're attracted to it, right?

She is fond of a wide range of neutral colors, so there are plenty of possibilities...

First off, there's no reason that you can't just wear a cardigan in a different color over anything neutral and ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art: Resting by Paul Klee

April 30, 2020

This heroine knows full well the degree to which the right accessories can make a TON of difference in an outfit! First up, she's starting with this compelling painting, and lovely color palette:

Our heroine is starting with this most wonderful wardrobe in soft colors and timeless styles:

She knows that she's going to want to wear very simple monochromatic outfits sometimes, and that on other occasions she's going to break out her accent colors. Her plan, then, is to pull together some representative outfits, and accessorize each of them...

All accessories do NOT have to be neutral - blue suede shoes tell you what you're going to be humming all day!

She wants to be able to look pretty in a dress ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Visit by Marie Laurencin – grey and white and relaxing…

April 29, 2020

When she saw this painting, the first thing she thought was that the poor woman on the horse will NOT be invited in, because she's got to stay 6 feet away from the other women...

But she also thought that the colors would be idea for her wardrobe!

Now that her employer has become the last company in the world to start doing video meetings, she realizes that she needs to look a bit pulled together, and calm, and in control. At least from the waist up!

So she isolates her colors for Spring...

And then she pulls together her core Weekly Timeless Wardrobe in grey and white. She loves grey, but finding grey clothes in warmer weather isn't always easy!

She realizes immediately that she has a lot of ... View the Post

Start with Art: Resting by Paul Klee, and a Beige Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for Spring

April 27 2020

Finally, she's getting a break... And she's going to take advantage of being able to stay home.

Her plan is to sleep, read, go for walks in the park behind her home, bake excellent stuff, have a cocktail or two, and then sleep some more!

She's starting here - the colors of calmness, for her...

She starts with her favorite beige (there's some advantage to being blonde) and then adds in some denim-y blue, and some shades of rose:

For warm weather, she could probably live in shades of beige and ivory. From these 13 items, it might be possible to dress for weeks.

After what she's been through in the last few months, she doesn't care if her clothes get dirty or spotted; she knows that there are more ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Working from Home with a Ferragamo Scarf

April 14, 2020 Daily Teleconferences... She's sick of them, frankly. But they're going to be the way business is conducted, for at least a while! And she knows that, even from home, she should try to look like she's in control, and in charge, and the boss...

So she went crazy and spent all of the coffee and lunch money that she hasn't spent for the last while:

This scarf will be perfect with just about anything that she's wearing these days - denim, black, and ivory. And those delicious hints of plum that she can't find right now, but when she has to go back to her office, she's going to treat herself (again!) to a couple of lovely things...

Most days she's been dressed like this:

And so she assembled another ... View the Post

Start with Swimwear AGAIN? Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe

March 30, 2020

Well this is embarrassing... The post that was supposed to be here today - the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe post - was erroneously posted on SATURDAY. I've well and truly lost track of what day it is! If you're looking for it, just scroll down past this new post and it's right there... sigh...

The People Who Own Their August Rental... Just sent them an email and asked if they wanted the house for the entire summer - same price as they usually pay JUST for the month of August!

Well... they had to consider if they could telecommute from there - YES.

Will they be able to get groceries and other necessities - YES.

Will they have a beach, and the chance for some fresh air - YES!!!!!

So they're packing in a ... View the Post

Start with Art: Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe based on Arara Azul by Victoria Ragna

March 26, 2020

This is a LOT like yesterday's post, I admit. Not because I'm inherently lazy (although I could be, given the right circumstances...) but more because someone asked yesterday about wearing accents of teal, aqua and soft blue with navy. I HAD to show how well many of these garments work just as well with a slightly different neutral.

(yes, grey would be lovely...)

This is very much the same color palette as yesterday, except the shift away from black...

After a LONG summer... They're free to travel again! She's been planning for months for this trip...

What kept her sane through the summer was the ability to go outdoors and watch the birds. It had never been a hobby before; they had had a bird feeder ... View the Post

Accent a Bone and Tan wardrobe with Rose Tan and Classic Blue

February 26, 2020

I'm currently in Florida, and the weather is changing every few minutes, it seems! So I thought that I'd share a wardrobe that spans a range of warm-ish weather...

Let's start with some pink!

Some days it's plenty warm enough to go swimming, and other days you definitely want "real" shoes, socks, and a sweater! If you're traveling to a destination like this, you've GOT to plan ahead...

It makes sense that the bone garments will be for the warmest weather...

These last 4 pieces offer a lot more options...

I have a blonde friend (or 10!) who would be beautiful in this wardrobe. These aren't my colors, but I could travel for a long time with this in a bag:

When I started looking at ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Lion and Peacock Scarf by Aspinal of London, in navy and camel

December 6, 2019 She Decided to Branch Out...

She's worn navy with pastels for decades... And she's now ready for an update!

She's always felt drawn to camel. The richness, the warmth, and elegance. And she's been told repeatedly that it was a color that she could happily wear. But she starts small... something below the waist!

Success! But the real camel item that has always caught her eye is a lovely cardigan...

Now she's feeling positively emboldened! She looks closely and her scarf and sees a beautiful shade of blue; would a matching sweater and flats be wrong?

But she's not going to rely entirely new purchases - when she look in her closet, she realizes that her aqua sweater would be perfect with ... View the Post

What Can You Do With a Weekly Timeless Wardrobe? Add an Accent!

October 16, 2019

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is enough clothing for a lot of us - enough different garments, and enough colors. But what if you bump into an accent color that you can't resist?

For demonstration purposes, I'm going to start with the Week 16 Wardrobe...

And then let's imagine that our heroine sees this shade of blue on the L.L.Bean website. And she recognizes the value of true "whappage" - that feeling when you walk away, and are still thinking about something hours or days later. It takes a while to really know the difference between a crush and real love, and in the same way you have to cultivate your sense of "I could wear the dickens out of that color" vs "gosh, that's pretty..."

She realizes that her ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 5: Jeans or a Denim Bottom

July 29, 2019

I think it's about time we found something to wear below the waist, don't you think? For most of us, jeans or something similar seems the most logical place to start. When I was young, jeans were mostly for the young, and even up until about 5 years ago, when I traveled to Paris I seldom saw anybody over the age of 30 wearing jeans. But now? Jeans, in good condition - no holes, clean but not crispy pressed (no creases!) are seen on almost anybody...

As always, I have some thoughts about what to look for.... And as always, these are GUIDELINES, not hard-and fast rules. Nobody is entitled to tell you what to wear unless you're somewhere that requires a uniform. Otherwise, we're all on our own! (which makes building a ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 3: An Accent Top

July 15, 2019

Time for some fun!

This wardrobe addition could be in ANY color of the rainbow, and a whole bunch of colors that aren't in any rainbow...

I'm going to show you a handful of ways to incorporate an accent color into an outfit, and then next Monday I will show you essentially the same outfits, with different accents! For most people, 2 accent colors is a good number. Some of us manage just fine with 1, and others among us will want 3 or even 4. Don't beat yourself up if you find that limiting the colors in your wardrobe is difficult; everybody is different, and has different comfort levels! What matters is that you're moving toward having a wardrobe plan, and toward getting better use from the clothes that you ... View the Post