The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start with Art: Locus 87 by Susan Osgood

July 7, 2021 The Call Came... and she's expected to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week, starting in September...

She can't wear her old work clothes - her size has changed in the last while, working at home!

And she's overall not thrilled about the whole "back in the veal feeder pen cubicle" office environment.

So she's going to be as super-professional, organized and mature as she can manage!

Starting with an inspiration that will leverage her navy and grey wardrobe core - almost mandatory in an office that's mostly men, and in a conservative industry.

She loves her colors...

Her office isn't non-stop suits, but she still has to be pretty serious some days, so she starts with the "the Board of Directors is ... View the Post

13-Piece Spring Wardrobes – Rose and Chambray, Grey and shades of Purple

June 16, 2021

Oh, you all are SMART! This turned out well, I think...

Yes, there's only 1 cardigan, because I just never saw a denim-colored one that I liked. But when I saw my mother wearing my denim shirt over her tee shirt, I knew I had the answer!

Even with prints above and below the waist, this wardrobe has lots of possibilities:

Just for reference, here's the garment list. I want to remind us all that this isn't a hard and fast list - it's a guideline, just like everything on The Vivienne Files. Nobody should tell you what to wear...

I discovered something interesting, and sort of weird, when I was putting together this next wardrobe: when I searched for "purple," I got all sorts of shades of pink, and ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #11 – neutral lightweight 2nd layer

May 24, 2021

This is timely - this morning when I put on my long linen tank top, and linen cropped pants, I realized that I was going to need a cardigan if I was going to go out for lunch, or to the grocery store, or almost anyplace indoors! Air conditioning around Chicago woke up yesterday, with a VENGANCE...

If the heroine wearing this lovely linen dress hangs around the garden party 'til after the sun sets, she may want her beige cardigan too!

This isn't a category where you have to stock up, so you can go ahead and buy a couple of really NICE cardigans... I have 2 - a black and a white - and they serve me well!

What if you're still occasionally required to look like an adult - at least from the waist up?

Your ... View the Post

March 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Illuminated Lynx

March 24, 2021

The Pantone colors for 2021 are Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray - these are our inspirations this month!

She loves the idea of illumination, so when she was invited to go to the retreat with some friends, she jumped at the chance!

Quiet, meditation, small groups talking about life... She's more than ready to spend a long weekend at this! 

Thus, she chose soft yellow and medium grey - symbolic of the sun breaking through clouds?

The weather will be uncertain - sunny but cool in the evenings. And the agenda is very relaxed; she's been assured that some participants will show up in sweat clothes and wear ONLY sweat clothes the entire time.

This isn't really about how you dress, and she knows ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Grey V-Neck Cashmere Sweater

March 8, 2021

Let's look at a lovely grey sweater!

please note that this style is loosely cut, and oversized; if you're looking for something more traditional, try this one! or maybe one of FIFTEEN colors of the crew-neck sweater...

As before, we will take a look at how this sweater works in an outfit that includes another neutral color:

The first thing that I did when I started this post was to copy over the outfits from the camel sweater adventure, remove the camel sweater and plug in the grey one. Just as a starting point, you understand?

What I found was that I had to only make minor changes in the accessories for some outfits to get a better "feel"; in the case of 2 outfits I didn't have to change a thing!

For ... View the Post

Start with Art: Untitled 2019 by Jeremy Stenger

February 5, 2021 The Lake is Frozen... Better get ready... She stops to focus for just a couple of heartbeats on her current favorite painting and color palette:

She knows that she needs to pack, and she knows that she doesn't want to spend much time dwelling on that, so she remember her current color palette...

What she's wearing will be fine for the drive - she just needs to get on her shoes...

 

She's agreed to fix dinner TONIGHT - this gets her off the hook for meals the rest of the weekend! So before she even walks NEAR her closet, she pulls out a big grocery bag from her stash, and starts assembling the ingredients for a big pot of soup...

And then she cuts the dry ingredients for biscuits together ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe = Guide to a Garde-Robe du Mois

February 3, 2021

Yes, this is confusing...

But I'm trying to find a way to use the core 52 garments from The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe to help anyone who has to keep 2 separate wardrobes in 2 locations (or those of us who wear 2 completely different seasonal wardrobes as the weather comes and goes...)

Last week, I looked over the 52 garment list, and chose 10 to be the "core" wardrobe for this heroine. An example of one of the 10-piece wardrobes is this lovely grouping:

As useful and versatile as this wardrobe is, most women will want to add something to it! In order to stick to our plan, I went back to the list of 21 garments that remained AFTER I removed the 10 "core" pieces from the list. (and then split the list into warm ... View the Post

January 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Sophisticated Lynx

January 15, 2021

Not sophisticated like swishing around a boudoir in a silk negligee and fluffy maribou-trimmed mules! (is that really sophisticated?)

Sophisticated as in appreciating subtle things. Quiet good taste. Details that set the excellent apart from the everyday...

Stones with soft color gradients, and subtle beaded trim:

 

The nuances of color are deeply hidden in the stones, revealing themselves only to the attentive observer:

In cold weather, a gentle touch of rose pink is so flattering... The right earrings and mask bring a feminine touch to a classic outfit:

I almost never show vintage pieces here, because only one of you can buy it, but I could NOT resist this most perfect of ... View the Post

Start with Art: Man in a Café by Juan Gris

January 13, 2021

She was looking for a foolproof color palette; one day, she ran into this gentleman:

She is thrilled - she can see black, white, shades of grey, camel, khaki, brown, and denim blue. These colors ALL go together...

She starts small, with packing for a long weekend. She knows that her denim shirt is perfect under a black sweater and cords...

Now, how can this be foolproof?

v-neck sweaters are perfect over button-front shirts, OR on their own; button front shirts are easy 1st layers or they can be worn without something over them. Now that she has found Petite sizes that have short enough sleeves, and ample enough torsos, she's all set! and black bottoms and shoes...

So this is what she ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Summer Palms Silk Square by Echo

January 11 2021 Feeling Summery in the Winter

Yes, the weather is cool, but she can still think about palm trees and warm breezes...

So she starts with a palm-printed scarf, and isolated the colors she loves:

Let's pause for a moment to think about the math behind a really efficient Six-Pack travel capsule wardrobe:

Well, enough of THAT technical stuff!

Her long weekend away is pretty casual - mostly family activities. But she still likes to look nice, and feel like she's made an effort!

Spills are possible. (both the liquid kind and the bodily tumbling onto the ground kind!)

Some relatives keep their homes... very warm, shall we say.

She's prepared!

If 1 or even 2 garments are soiled, torn, ... View the Post

Introducing A New Accent Color into an Established Wardrobe – The Visit by Marie Laurencin

January 6, 2021

A new year, and our heroine has decided to incorporate a new accent color into her (already pretty lovely, I'd say!) wardrobe:

If you'd like to look back at the earlier posts based upon this painting, they are:

April 29, 2020

May 8, 2020

September 11, 2020

January 4, 2021

 

Before she impulsively wanders off into the world of all things green, she pauses to collect and sort her current wardrobe. First up, her cardigans, dresses, and "bottoms." (I just don't love the term bottoms - someone suggest a useful alternative, please!)

Frankly, although this looks like the motherlode of grey pants, they're all very different fabrics, and at least a few different silhouettes...

Now, her ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting (AGAIN!) The Visit by Marie Laurencin

January 4, 2021

I get happy just TYPING 2021...

We've visited this lovely heroine a couple of times already, last Spring in the early days of working from home, and then later in the autumn when she had to take a road trip to sign some legal documents...

Now, she knows that she's going to be working from home for the rest of the winter (at least), and she wants to be organized. Spending time each morning thinking about what to wear is SUCH a waste of time, and she wants to stop doing it!

This is such an enigmatic painting, when you look at it - why is the woman on the wee balcony handing keys to the woman on the horse? Is she coming in to visit them? What is going on here? Can't she just get off her horse and come in? Or is she ... View the Post