The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Are You Thinking of Autumn? A Rainbow of Sweaters…

August 20, 2021

For much of the Northern Hemisphere, the weather is still decidedly summer. But (I know I've said this before!), if you have a specific desire for your cool weather wardrobe, this is the time to look!

I think that this is especially true this year, because so many retailers are keeping inventories very small; I've been interested in items that - literally a day or 2 after my first look - will be sold out.

So let's dream about sweater weather!

This first ensemble has my name written ALL OVER IT... sigh...

For those among us who are eager to cuddle up in something warmly brown and gold, this might do the trick:

If you live in jeans, you can still look amazing!

Some of us try to avoid things ... View the Post

Adding Accessories to a Wardrobe for a LONG Trip

July 28, 2021

It's fun to look at cool weather accessories when the upper Midwest of the US is under a heat bubble...

Let's flash back to Friday, when this wardrobe, for a multi-month trip to Poland, was our focus:

We were told specifically that our heroine already has silver slip-on sneakers, and intends to pack short boots. The conversation in the Comments made it clear that she would also need warm, waterproof boots...

So to get enough accessories, chosen to go with this wardrobe, let's look at a bunch of outfits and see what might be pretty with each of them!

Starting - I'm ALWAYS going to suggest a watch. I think it's not lovely to constantly look at one's phone - and I'm a big offender at this...

So she has ... View the Post

Accessories for 2 Spring Weekly Timeless Wardrobes – beige & rust, beige & green

June 23, 2021

As much as I loved these wardrobes, THIS is where the fun starts! Even accessories as simple as earrings and sandals can make SO much difference...

Remember this wardrobe?

 

 

We need accessories for this, but I don't want to just jump into things willy-nilly! This isn't a definitive list for every woman alive, but it's a nice start for our purposes:

With this very general guideline in place, I've assembled 4 outfits from this wardrobe, and put accessories with each of them. Of course, I didn't really stick to the shoe suggestions...

I know some of you can't imagine wearing a cardigan AND a scarf right now, but today in Chicago it's going to top out at 70 degree Fahrenheit, so indoors it ... View the Post

Accessory Accent Colors – Pantone Fall 2021/22

May 14, 2021

Just when it feels as if we're NEVER going to wear warm weather clothes, and when all of my things start to look... too familiar... some new colors (ahem...) are introduced! Some fresh accessories could brighten up our cold-weather clothes as they finish their run, or could be all you need for warmer weather!

yes, there are THREE shades of blue in these 10 colors - I used these sandals more than once, because frankly I really like them! They look comfortable...

Great happiness - if you look good in yellow, GO FOR IT! The rest of us like it but don't wear it to our best effect...

I love this next color - with navy it would be glorious, but against white, in hot weather, it would be great fun...

yes, ... View the Post

Accessories! Revisiting Dance Dance by Jacqueline Osborn

April 16, 2021

Who doesn't love this painting?

Our heroine from Wednesday has assembled a really lovely, warm-toned and warm-weather travel capsule wardrobe:

Now she needs accessories! She knows that her color palette for her accessories will be the same as for her clothes, with the addition of gold for anything metallic:

She takes a look at the 24-piece accessory wardrobe that has been used before on The Vivienne Files; it seems like a LOT of things for a trip...

And she also looks at the suggestions that I made once upon a time:

And then she realized that if building her wardrobe 1 piece at a time worked so well, it might be a sensible way to assemble her accessories too!

She started with an ... View the Post

Accessorizing a Swim Suit-Centered Wardrobe

April 9, 2021 She's Going to Swim, This Year On Wednesday, we started with this:

Our very happy heroine's travel capsule wardrobe is this:

But she can't travel - and she certainly can't go to the beach - with only 1 pair of shoes, no sandals, no hat, and no sunglasses!

So let's work our way through getting her travel wardrobe completed!

This is 2 of the most important things to pack; surely by now we all understand the need for covering up from too much sun, right?

If she's outdoors a lot, she may not need a mask constantly, but we're all going to want to have masks with us for the foreseeable future. Of course she wants a towel, and good sandals... I couldn't resist a cover-up too!

Simple earrings, the ... View the Post

April 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

April 2, 2021

What rudeness on the part of Mother Nature - we will need our parkas today to go outside!

But we carry on with our Starting From Scratch building of 6 wardrobes - this months we're stocking up on tee shirts, and adding in a few accessories too! This exercise has made it really clear what additional pieces are needed in some places... It's interesting (at least to me!)...

These wardrobes were all somewhat out of balance in that they didn't have enough tops, so we're adding a few! Plus a pretty necklace and a simple, almost neutral scarf:

The first thing I've learned: this wardrobe either needs to embrace the purple and gold, or walk away! This gold tee shirt looks forlorn here, although it comes together ... View the Post

March 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

March 1, 2021

Hurray! February is OVER....

Let's check back with our 6 heroines who are assembling wardrobes loosely along the guidelines of Start From Scratch, and trying to stick to color palettes suggested by 6 scarves.

The guidelines in Start From Scratch suggest finding a core outfit in the 2nd neutral in our wardrobes, as well as an accent top and scarf...

Starting here!

This heroine has neither grey pants, nor a black cardigan! And a tee shirt that almost matches her pink oxford will give her a chance to layer the 2 together. Filling in those gaps gives us something that's not really an outfit, but more a group of useful wardrobe additions:

It makes more sense when you see the 8 garments, plus ... View the Post

Acessories! Adding Balance and Interest to Start with Art: Meadow by Mainie Jellett

February 24, 2021

This may or may NOT change your feelings about this wardrobe; I suspect that I'm going to revisit this at least twice! Maybe once use darker brown and olive to balance the red, and a second try to incorporate the mauve pink in place of the red...

This is where we started:

I already feel like the wheels are coming off - the red accessories that go so well with this outfit won't be worn with any other outfits except maybe an all camel ensemble...

This outfit screams "reading on the sofa for 5 hours" to me...

If you haven't had a haircut in a REALLY REALLY long time, a pretty hair clip might be smart...

The green puts our heroine in the mood for 4-leaf clovers, and who could blame ... View the Post

Need an Accent Color to Get Through the Rest of the Winter?

February 10, 2021

This post is partly for me - I'm hankering for something in a different color than my usual!

I've got to be really careful not to buy something without a LOT of thought; my wardrobe has been 95+% black and white for decades, so busting out with a blue scarf and tee shirt would be a MAJOR change...

But I see that my favorite tee shirt is available in quite a few colors; what might I do?

More pink is always a possibility; I know that I love pink, and it goes well with all my black and white:

 

 

I love the way these 5 things look together, but I'm not sure that coral is a direction I should go...

Yellow? I think not, but it's so pretty and cheery...

Oddly enough, Beach Glass ... View the Post

January 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

January 1, 2021

Amen and Hallelujah!

This year, I'm going to try to be a little bit more deliberate (from time to time) about how these wardrobes come together. There were years in which I just found the 6 most fun outfits every month, and watched the wardrobes either work or struggle. So maybe being just a tiny bit more practical is an interesting change...

First up, let's refresh our collective memories of the 6 scarves and the color palettes from them:

In choosing these first outfits, I referred back to the "Starting from Scratch" wardrobe building series that I wrote years ago. While the idea of starting with a nice pair of pants doesn't make a lot of sense for many of us right this ... View the Post

Merry Christmas! A Sneak Preview of Next Year’s Six Scarves!

December 25, 2020

First, and most important of all, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas! Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, may your day be peaceful and full of love, and may your holiday of choice be delightful!

SO... I've worked quite a bit this year choosing scarves. I started with my tally of the color palettes that have been most requested, and then the scarves that have been mentioned to me the most often.

First up, these were the "neutral combinations" which you asked for most frequently in the last year:

So after choosing these six "palette cores," I went back to the list of the most popular scarves and made everything work together. I think...

First up was black and grey - and many of you wrote to me asking ... View the Post