The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Home » brown » Page 7

brown Archives - Page 7 of 25

Adding to a Starter Wardrobe in Black, Grey, Brown and Pink

May 6, 2019

When we left our heroine on Friday, she had assembled a small, but quite versatile, core wardrobe with 11 garments:

From here, our heroine's choices will depend on what she most needs for her day-to-day life, as well as making certain that she's prepared for those dressy occasions that catch one off guard. It is for the latter that I always suggest that ALL of us have a "nice" outfit in reserve. While you certainly can substitute pants for this skirt, if you're absolutely NEVER going to wear a skirt, for most of us this next outfit will come in handy more often than we might expect...

And we are kind of long overdue for getting this heroine a good jacket! The nice thing with this length of trench coat is that it ... View the Post

April Travel: Start with Art – The Bounds of the Intellect by Paul Klee

April 22, 2019 Warmth She's has reddish-brown hair for most of her life. And freckles. And warm brown eyes. All her life, she's been happy to dress in a quiet, subdued way that accents her coloring. Sometimes, she dresses to match herself! And other times, she chooses subtle greys that contrast perfectly with her overall warm appearance.

When she saw this painting, she knew she had a winner! It even includes accents of orange, which she's never tried, and a deep maroon red, which she loves for her nails and lips:

She knows that people don't wear a lot of brown in big cities... And they never seem to wear brown at the home office. But given that her offices don't HAVE a dress code, she's not concerned. She's going to show up for ... View the Post

April Travel – Start with Art: Rhythmisches by Paul Klee

April 10, 2019

Ah, our friend who just got the job running a quilt museum! She's going to her first quilting conference...

Her work surrounds her with colors - brilliant colors, brilliantly combined by (mostly) women with unsung artistic skills. As much as she loves the colors, she has decided to dress more neutrally - she doesn't want to distract from the beauty of the work that she's curating. Thus, she's chosen a simple, but quite interesting, painting as her travel wardrobe inspiration:

She will be going straight into seminars as soon as she arrives, and she will be met at the airport from an official of the conference, so she's wearing a dress to fly in! (it's a short trip, in all fairness...)

In order to keep ... View the Post

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

I'm still not sure why I always add a dress in February - a long-standing affection for Valentine's Day? Or just a desire to make sure that I'm well prepared for dressy spring events?

It's not quite expected to accessorize a classic black dress with bright spring green...

I didn't find a beige dress that appealed, so I thought that this delicious cocoa brown would be perfect with this scarf, or with a grouping of blush pink accessories.

The red is probably the most expected accent color with a navy dress, so I ignored that and chose teal instead!

This green isn't as yellow-ish as the greens used last month, but since it's a dress, it doesn't have to be "dye-lot matched" to the other neutral in this wardrobe... And ... View the Post

Violets! The “Birth Flower” for February

My favorite flowers, possibly... (in the real world, I refuse to choose!) While violets weren't as easy to find as carnations, and while the actual COLOR violet is subject to massive dispute, there are still lovely and tempting things for those celebrating birthdays in February - or for those of us who just simple love violets!

I need a dressy blouse like a bad headache, but that black blouse could be just LOVELY with my velvet pants...

Does violet go well with various neutrals? I've chosen a dead-plain, classic tee shirt to use for our illustrations. And yes, I've kept the same pants from last month, and many of the same accessories - just to show how versatile a core of neutral items can be.

Van Gogh socks and green-eyed ... View the Post

Do All of Your Accent Colors have to Work Together?

Until the last year or so, this is something that I wouldn't have brought to the blog - it would have just been something that was floating around in my brain, bugging me. But knowing how thoughtful and intelligent you are, I thought I'd share...

Yesterday, I was looking at the jerseys worn by the rugby team Stade Francais (yes, they're from Paris) and the colors in them got me to thinking...

It's important (at least my opinion!) to have a core wardrobe neutral color, and a handful of accent colors - typically including a light color for tee shirts and blouses. Having this palette of 5 (approximately) colors makes shopping and coordinating your wardrobe a ton easier.

But should your accent colors ALSO work together? Do they have ... View the Post

Dame au Chapeau by Natalia S. Gontcharova Inspiring a Tote Bag Travel Capsule Wardrobe

January 17, 2018 She Doesn't Mean to Attract Attention...

But she always seems to... So she takes advantage of her conspicuousness...

She's always trying to encourage her students to think of things differently...

In the same way, she encourages everybody who sees her to think of colors in different ways, by wearing distinctive and unique combinations that give her great pleasure...

She can be spotted far across campus, which is a mixed blessing...

Her appearance exudes energy and cheer, which is always welcome in the dead of winter!

She would LOVE to get a hat, but it's going to have to be just perfect.... Maybe in the spring?

love, Janice

  ... View the Post

Flowers in a Crystal Vase by Edouard Manet – Inspiration for Tote Bag Travel

January 9, 2018 You're a Soil Conservation Engineer?

"I can't imagine spending all of my time working with dirt!"

It's SOIL, not dirt...

"It just doesn't seem like there would be that much to do - it's dirt! It's all over the ground! What else is there to know?"

Well, keeping it all from washing away into rivers, and thus into the ocean, is a good start...

"And you're going on a business trip? What can there possibly be to talk about? Dirt isn't really that interesting..."

But new ways to conserve and enrich soil can be fascinating, and it's always great to be able to spend some time with people who share you passion for the SOIL...

"Something that's really hard for me to understand - this just doesn't ... View the Post

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

January 1, 2018

It's that time again! I looked and LOOKED at the Hermes scarves for this year - I wanted to find some unique color combinations... I kept changing my mind until literally the last possible minute!

This year's focal points for gradual wardrobe building are these lovelies:

A word to the wise - these scarves are selling FAST this year - I had to go to the sites for 3 different countries to find these colors, literally just 3 days after I started working on this post! Your best option for finding a fast-selling scarf is to call an Hermes store and ask THEM to find it and send it to you. Their staff is usually delightfully helpful and nice, and it will save you the legwork of trying to mail-order a scarf from a ... View the Post

Brown with Blue – Start with a Scarf! Hermes Electrique

December 29, 2017  

Recently, someone asked me to re-visit a post that I did over 5 years ago, in blue and brown...After 5 years, absolutely NOTHING shown in the original post was still available - I know that's not a surprise. So I have recreated the original outfit, and what was packed, as best I could - it's a rough approximation...

The hardest thing was that I could NOT find a trench coat in the same turquoise blue that was used originally, so I've migrated the entire capsule wardrobe into a more "brown and blue" color scheme, starting with a wonderful scarf!

I isolated the colors with which the wardrobe will be built; I didn't really define the style because I'm somewhat duplicating an existing ... View the Post

Can You Plan Your Accessory Wardrobe? Madame Paul Escudier by John Singer Sargeant

December 28, 2017  

Our heroine from yesterday has a tidy and very well-planned wardrobe, after her few additions to what she used for business travel. But she's in pretty serious need of some accessories, I'd say!First off, let's remember what her inspiration is for her wardrobe:

Our heroine finally got her well-deserved (and long overdue!) promotion, and picked up a few more garments to finish up her wardrobe. She's going to be traveling a LOT...

But she didn't buy anything BUT garments - no more shoes, scarves, nor jewelry. That's just not fun!

Although she's made her reputation at work for her empathy and her ability to provide coaching and correction in a warm and constructive manner, she is at heart also a ... View the Post

Brown with Teal & Cream – Expanding a Successful Travel Wardrobe

December 27, 2017  

Remember when we visited this gorgeous painting?

Our heroine was sent off to visit a corporate service center because of a major client complaint... and this is (an approximation of) what she packed for that trip:

Global Service Director? Well, of COURSE she'll take the position! She's been doing the work for months, so it's about time she was given the title, the office, and the SALARY...

When they called her into the Executive Suite to give her the news, they cited her ability to get along well with people at all levels of the organization, without being abrasive or seeming to be too much "home office-ish."

She attributes at least a tiny bit of her success to her image - warm and ... View the Post