The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Winter Travel: Briqueterie a Tortosa by Pablo Picasso

January 9, 2019

 

Solar panels. She designs installations for solar panels - big installations, small ones - whatever is ordered, she will optimize both the appearance and the productivity. She's very proud of what she does...

So when she saw this painting, it spoke to her - the angles, the bright sunny feel, the combination of grey (like metal frames) with orange and green - the colors of things that grow and bloom:

She decided to choose a color palette that she could use for all of her travel wardrobes (and maybe all of her clothing, eventually):

 

One challenge she always faces is that she travels to place where it is inevitably warmer than where she lives! So she dresses warmly for her departure, and ... View the Post

Periwinkle! A French 5-Piece Wardrobe, with Grey and White…

March 13, 2018

I have to admit, this might be my favorite color. Most shades and hues of purple are way up on my list... and since my favorite flowers are lilacs, hyacinths, and violets, it all sort of fits together!

These 2 garments work well together or separately, the earrings and scarf blend nicely, and what wouldn't you do for THAT BAG??? What a fresh jolt of spring this brings to the timeless grey and white...

If you start with some nice, casual piece in grey and white, you're in a good place... (this is the wardrobe from last Tuesday, of course)

 

You've got all sorts of ways to get dressed:

 

Adding that dash of periwinkle gives you more choices, of course, but it also really changes ... View the Post

A French 5-Piece Wardrobe in Palace Blue (with grey and white)

March 6, 2018

Maybe she has grey hair and bright blue eyes?

(Yes, white linen pants require "granny panties" in YOUR nude...)

She likes subtle, understated, and relaxed looks that flatter her hair...

But this spring, she decides that she's going to be ALL ABOUT her blue eyes... Just for a bit of a change - why not?

Now when she wants something bright, she has an abundance of choices! And she can still wear her subtle greys and whites when that's the mood...

I'm going to revisit each of these Common Wardrobes, but I'm going to go rogue and abandon the Pantone colors (trust me, I can't find the colors available to buy in any form I'd happy recommend to you!).

Instead of Pantone, I'm just going to show you ... 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

Instruments de Musique by Pablo Picasso – Inspiring an Unusual Business Tote Bag Travel Wardrobe

January 18, 2018 A Square Peg...

She knows it - she doesn't fit in the way most other staff at her firm does... She works the difference to her advantage.

Many of their clients are as different from her co-workers as chalk is from cheese. She's MUCH more like the clients... and that helps!

Often she can get insights and answers that elude much more senior staff... They marvel at how she does it...

She fits in with her co-workers, superficially, but if someone was paying close attention they would see that she's got her very own approach to things!

One would think that the orange suitcase might be their first hint? Or maybe the concrete necklace...

love, Janice

p.s. Now that I've built ... View the Post

Paysage de Neige by Renoir – Start with Art to Assemble a Weekend Capsule Wardrobe

January 3, 2018  

It isn't  what you think of when you think of Renoir - which is good! Expanding your horizons is never wrong...

Quiet... She was smitten with the painting from the first time she saw it. Others looked at it and saw cold, or sunshine, or the homes in the distance. She saw peace, quiet, silence... And that's what she craves!

"You know that there won't be anybody there... You'll probably have to eat all of your meals by yourself!"

Oh, she knows....

"I guess you probably got an amazingly good deal on your room - they'll be so grateful that there's anybody there that they'll give you the best room in the hotel dirt cheap..."Why are her friends so obsessed with "anybody?" And is it wrong to ... 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

Does Your Wardrobe Work for You? Some Ideas for Figuring Out What You Need…

December 18, 2017

 

Friday we looked at the first three of the "12 Months, 12 Outfits" final wardrobes, and found some interesting "holes" in the wardrobes... I'm interested to see how the second 3 wardrobes look, when evaluated through a series of arbitrary, but not worthless, criteria.

This was the 4th wardrobe - a pretty challenging one to assemble, because olive green isn't the most common color in the world, and orange is every bit as difficult to find!

 

As has been true for all of the wardrobes, this wardrobe has a LOT of bottoms - an issue inherent in building a wardrobe through outfits. The learning here might be that a few more tops, and maybe another 2nd layer, would be useful additions...

This ... View the Post

Adding to a Successful Travel Wardrobe: Appaloosa des Steppes from Hermes

She was really thrilled with what she packed for the Holiday Party in New York; she had planned everything using her pocket square as the defining inspiration:

Her sweetheart told her that another, longer trip to New York would be in their near future - probably mid-February. So she thought that it would be wise to expand her current travel wardrobe...

She was going to try to balance clothes appropriate for those "business dinners" with things suitable for the sightseeing that she intended to do, so she needed to be very organized! If she puts together a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, and wears 3 pieces on the plane, she will have 13 garments to pack - she felt that this was a reasonable goal.First, to "plug in" her existing ... View the Post

Can I Wear Grey for Dressy Events? Heavens YES!

November 28, 2017

I was asked to show some options for cool colors - especially including grey - for dressy events in cooler weather. Grey can be so elegant...

First I went "shopping" for cool clothes - mostly in silver grey, but I could NOT resist that luscious aqua sweater! It also comes in grey, as well as a really light beige heather, and a glorious bright but heathery blue... The aqua and the blue are such uncommon colors to see this time of year - you won't see yourself coming and going on the streets...

To provide us with a basis upon which we can build some outfits, I'm referring back to A Common Wardrobe in grey that I used a few weeks ago. Realistically, you could easily wear both the grey sweater and the gorgeous ... View the Post

Grey or Wine? What do I Need to Wear for the Holidays?

November 17, 2017

These are so much fun...

Grey is tough! It's really difficult to find things in shades that look good together... But you can easily imagine these tops with jeans, and a pair of nice grey pants will go anywhere short of a barn or a beach...

Little touches like snowflakes on your ears, or a sparkly clutch bag, can elevate the dressiness quotient of a classic outfit:

Of course, if you have genuine grey pearl jewelry, the pearls on your cardigan will not look as nice, but that's not something worth worrying about - it's the holidays!

One of the very best things about choosing a signature color for holidays (or anything else!) is that you can then collect really nice, high-quality things from year to ... View the Post