The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Beige Capsule Wardrobe with Accessories in Celadon Green, Brown and Light Blue

January 19, 2015 To show how very versatile these "accessory families" can be, I chose six beige garments for today. From these six pieces I put together six outfits. Then I picked three of the families from last week, and show each of those against the beige outfits.

Some of the families that had a really strong silver or "cool" cast to them didn't dance terribly nicely with the beige, but these warmer accessories just look wonderful with the simplicity of the classic garments.

So many possibilities...

  love,

Janice ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Beautiful Boots

December 11, 2014  

One of your recently purchased a very beautiful pair of new boots, but then began to wonder if you would be able to wear them often enough to get your money's worth from your purchase.The boots are lovely - very practical for walking, but still graceful.  So I have a few ideas...

Boots with casual dresses

Unlike "back in the day" when your skirt had to cover the tops of your boots, it's now perfectly appropriate and acceptable to have your legs show in between boot top and hem of skirt. Tights can match your dress or your boots, or if you're particularly comfortable with the idea, they could be a contrasting color. I'm not going to do that, but I've seen it done to charming effect.   ... View the Post

How to Wear Black and Brown Together, or How to Incorporate an Expensive Garment into A Common Capsule Wardrobe

November 18, 2014   It could happen to anyone of us - you're minding your own business, and then... you see it. The garment that makes your heart sing. Something that you admire aesthetically, that looks perfect on you, that is beautifully made, from gorgeous materials, and that will last the rest of your life... But OWWWW... it's expensive.   The biggest question to answer: can I wear this wondrous garment frequently enough to make it worth the purchase price? I'm NOT going to say it's an investment, because only in a few cases will you be able to sell something for more than the purchase price, which is the technical definition of an investment. But in a way, if you get more joy from something, and it enhances your image, ... View the Post

How to Choose an Etro Paisley Scarf

November 15, 2014   If you're looking for a scarf investment that can rival Hermes, don't overlook the beauty that comes from Etro. I bought an Etro scarf for my honeymoon (in pink and black chiffon...) and I will treasure it forever. Etro pretty much OWNS the idea of paisley, and they make them in as many color combinations as you can imagine... So how do you choose? Maybe take a look at the sweaters or shirts with which you would hope to wear your scarf, and work backward from there.  

This scarf is particularly well suited for autumn, and for the winter holidays. You can wear the muted green (or brown, or tan, or black), or you could bust out with a bright red. The earrings just sort of felt like they wanted to be ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Autumn Leaves, a Four Pack

October 29, 2014   Over the weekend, we had an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday - bright, clear, and warm enough to walk for miles.  As we neared home, we passed this tree, and Belovedest took a photo of it for me.  

In order to really hone in on the leaves, I've cropped down the photograph to a handful of leaves, and isolated just three colors.  It's easy to get overwhelmed when you see something beautiful - focusing really closely on one small thing can help a lot to clarify which colors captivate you most.  

  This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to find a beautiful winter coat! A core of brown, simple clothes make a good base...  

  For an overnight business trip, ... View the Post

Start With Art: The Magpie by Claude Monet

September 4, 2014   In our mythical leisure, Belovedest and I watch art courses from The Great Courses. Our current course is The World's Greatest Paintings, in which we studied at some length the beauties of this:

 

 

Talk about mixing warm and cool colors to great effect!  I was irresistibly drawn to use this as a Start With Art subject. Note one really interesting innovation that I'm trying: rather than attempt to nail down two specific browns and greys, or one color to represent the damp and frozen branches, slats on the gate, and branches in the fence, I'm working with a spectrum of brown to darkest grey. Doing this frees you up to build a wardrobe around any color that might be found in the ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Saffron, Ivory, Navy and Brown

September 2, 2014  

We've spent a lot of time considering the many charms of navy, but nothing quite compares to the new look that we get when we introduce a bright orangish-gold color into the mix! The beauty of these bright accents is that you still have the option to dress is a neutral, monochromatic way, when you wish to, but you also have the ability to break out some statement accents when you want to stand out in a crowd. I was amazed at how beautiful this is...   I think what we can all learn from this capsule wardrobe is that you should be faithful to your accent color of choice, no matter how rarely it appears in the garment world. If you truly (TRULY!) are drawn to a particular color, be loyal to your instincts ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Apricot, Celadon, Navy and Brown

August 25, 2014  

Sunday morning, I built a spreadsheet to analyze all of the color combinations that you've requested, and it turns out that navy is the most requested color (followed closely by brown and medium grey). So I'm going to persevere with the various ways to use navy as a capsule wardrobe base - are you more interested in seeing dressy/conservative office attire, business casual (which to me feels like an oxymoron, even though I lived with it for decades), or casual/weekend? Or shall I mix it up? Let me know...

First up today is this excellent color combination:

  The familiar brown core:  

  And the navy Core of Four.  Don't forget that these four items, all on their own, give you ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Berry, Beige, Navy and Brown

August 22, 2014   I was going to save this post for during my Paris vacation (September 18 - 28!!!), but I really like it, and I think it shows two great accent colors that many of us could consider incorporating (at least in small doses) in our capsule wardrobes.  The fact that the berry red is going to be pretty flattering for many people is worth remembering...  

The same starting four in brown, with a really brown skirt...

And navy separates that look familiar too!

And these guys have been around too...I think the most amazing thing about the clothing from The Row - aside from their prices - is that they're designed by the Olsen twins.  From Full House. I don't see that they have any fashion ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Mint Green, Grey, Denim and Brown

August 21, 2014  

I've decided to change up the order of the colors in the titles, so that when we scan through a large number of them, the accent colors will be better emphasized.  They are, theoretically, where the fun it! So one of you (you know who you are, you scamp!) fell in love with a deeply INAPPROPRIATE scarf:

  I would do hideously inappropriate things for this scarf in grey and pink, so I understand...

So this lovely scamp had pretty much committed to a color scheme with two neutrals of denim blue (not necessarily denim FABRIC, but that blue), and brown.  Her first accent color was planned to be grey, and she had not settled on a 2nd accent.  I proposed this color scheme to ... View the Post