The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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I Don’t Know Where to Start my Wardrobe…

May 3, 2019

I've been asked this a couple of times in the last few days - what do I do when I really have no idea where to start with my wardrobe?

Years ago I tried to think of how one could start a wardrobe from scratch; I think that my ideas might still be useful...

First up, I want our heroine to have some unifying inspiration to get her started; she's not stuck with this for the rest of her life, but it will at least help her focus her initial choices:

I can't emphasize this idea of mine enough - if you struggle to get dressed, make certain that you have a really GOOD, basic, neutral pair of pants. No studs, no embroidery, nothing that will make it difficult to wear your pants with all kinds of things...

And shoes. ... View the Post

Packing Small for a Group Trip – Warm Weather Ideas

April 26, 2019

Oh my... She knows that she's going to have a good time, but she's also a little bit concerned about the logistics of traveling with so many friends...

Mostly, it's about luggage! Everybody has been instructed that they can bring ONE 22 inch suitcase, and a carry-on bag that's small enough that they can hold it on their lap for at least an hour. That's pretty specific.

So she suggests the following thoughts to her friends:

She has also given some thought to what her friends should consider when they're choosing what to pack. It might be over-managing, but she thought that it might be useful if everybody was on the same page, so to speak...

Her personal travel outfit? Her favorite warm-weather standards, ... 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

April Travel: Start with Art – Briqueterie a Tortosa by Picasso

April 8, 2019

 

Remember our friend who designs installations for solar panels?   Happy for her, she's now traveling in warm weather! No more the "leave the snow, get off the plane in sweltering heat!"

So she's packing light - just enough to visit her clients, and the construction sites...

This painting is her inspiration:

She's driving to her next clients, so she's wearing sandals on her trip! Normally, she doesn't fly in sandals...

Many of her clients can be hard to read, at first. Some of them want her to put on a hard-hat and steel-toed boots and climb ladders (she doesn't go quite that far...) and other just want to sit over a cocktail at the country club and review the plans. So she tries ... View the Post

April Travel: Start with Art – Between Breath and the River 4 by Susan Osgood

April 5, 2019

Remember our friend the flooding expert? She's very busy...

This is her art inspiration, and her wardrobe color palette:

She's traveling to the Midwest United States, to help determine where bulldozing or other changes in the immediate terrain might help clear standing water from some flood areas. She's studied the maps, and thinks that she knows what her suggestions will be. If her map analysis is correct, she only expects to be on-site for a day or two...

Still, she's not sure if she's going to have to actually go out and SEE any of the locations in question. (there's one that spot she really feels that she should visit in order to be exact about her plan for drainage...)

So she's going to have shorts, ... View the Post

Start with Art: Grey Fireworks by Helen Frankenthaler

March 11, 2019

She's running for office... Not a big office, nothing that will require travel beyond an hour's drive from her home in order to campaign. But she's serious about it! This is what she's using to help her focus her campaign wardrobe...

She enrolled in a 3-day workshop for women running for office... And she's going to use this trip as her dress-rehearsal for some of her campaign outfits!

She's taken a close look at other women who are running for office, and she's noticed that some of them wear a very neutral "core" outfit (often black tops and pants) with accent jackets... She's going to emulate this idea, using dark grey as her neutral, and 4 accent colors taken from her favorite painting.

Since she ... View the Post

Choosing Accessories to go with a Blue and Grey Travel Wardrobe (for Ireland!)

March 4, 2019

It's all well and good to have your clothes sorted for a trip, but you really MUST pack accessories. Not necessarily all that much stuff, but some shoes are critical, as well as a few more odds and ends...

As a reminder, this is the photograph that was inspiring us, and the color scheme that we were using:

You've got to have shoes - there aren't terribly many places you can go and NOT need shoes... Even though the dress shoes aren't as important as hiking shoes, let's start here anyway!

If you're not going to do hard-core hiking, you might adjust your choice of hiking shoes to be something a little bit less rugged, but it always makes sense to have something very comfortable for lots of ... View the Post

March 2019 – 12 Months, 12 Outfits – Based on 6 Hermes Scarves

March 1, 2019

Possibly my favorite blog post every month!

You can see the January post here, and the February post here...

First up is this quite abstract scarf, in my favorite black and white with 2 shades of blue:

Normally I would look for a solid skirt for this outfit, but I couldn't resist the stripes here! And the juxtaposition of more stripes appeals to my fondness for pattern mixing:

Next is this lovely scarf with all of those shades of purple, lavender and pink. I'm not sure how it's all going to look when this is finished, but I love the colors together!

I'm on a one-woman mission to convince everyone that skirts don't have to be dressy...

The balance here between warm and cool colors is going ... View the Post

Trying to Forecast Weather – Packing for May in Ireland!

February 25, 2019

Honestly, if I could tell you with any degree of certainty what the weather is going to be in May in Ireland, I would be doing something to make a fortune, like buying penny stocks and selling them for millions of dollars. The weather requires that level of omniscient genius!

But you can be strategic, right? Let's start with a beautiful photograph of an Ireland shore, to help define a color palette:

Okay, time for strategy. First, you can't take ALL of your wardrobe with you, so you have to make some smart choices. If we accept that it's not possible to pack for every possible kind of weather, I submit that it's smarter (in the spring and summer) to carry with you clothes for cooler weather, working with the ... View the Post

February 2019 -12 Months, 12 Outfits – based on 6 Hermes Scarves

February 1, 2019

First things first: after much consideration, I'm going to continue to use the Appaloosa des Steppes scarf, even though the design elements in the scarf are indeed from Kyrgyz rugs. I contacted the Kyrgyzstan embassy to ask if they were concerned or offended by this, and never received a response. After I read the Hermes website description of the design, I felt that they were using the images respectfully. I can't swear to this, but unless I get better information, I'm going to carry on. (to catch up on this conversation, check the comments on last month's installment of this series)

But don't ever hesitate to contact me about things like this; I will always take your concerns very seriously, and try to respond ... View the Post

Traveling with a Group – Keeping Your Luggage Small when Your Gang is Large!

January 23, 2019

I heard from her last week - she and TWELVE of her friends are traveling to England and Scotland in September! Twelve... oh my...

They share an interest - somewhat of a hobby, a little bit of an obsession. It doesn't matter if it's growing a particular flower, or baking a specific delicacy, or delving into the history of a certain historic figure. They've all decided that they want to travel together! I admire and respect this in so many ways...

But everybody is going to have to come to an agreement about not packing stacks of luggage. It's a sure way to slow things down appallingly, run the risk of losing things, and over-crowding hotel rooms.

Thus, there has to be an understanding among these women, which (in ... View the Post

Winter Travel: Madame Leon Clapisson by Renoir

January 14, 2019

Oh my... She sings in the opera. Not one of the stars, but she works all the time, and enjoys it immensely!

Even though she's not the primary singer, she's still a bit of a diva; she identifies quite a bit with the woman in the painting:

So when she purchases her clothes, she uses this color scheme - enough neutral colors that she can find what she needs, but with lovely soft accent colors that appeal to her feminine side:

Her opera company is travelling to give a few performances in another city. She will be spending most of her time rehearsing or performing, but she will have a bit of time to sight-see, shop, and dine.

She's quite dressy...

She realizes that packing only dresses and cardigans ... View the Post