The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Version 2 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 13,  2022

Why yes, many of you got a lengthy preview of this post on Thursday! My domestic responsibilities managed to do a distract me from my normal organizing skills (ahem...), and I neglected to put an appropriate scheduling time on the release of this post. Sigh...

Love,

Janice

 

They love this scarf for very different reasons...

And they will all find something different in it...

Clary Yes, they all suspect that her real name is Clara. She publishes historical romance novels, and that soft, flowery, ruffled aesthetic seems to permeate much of her life!

She's the woman that you see walking along the beach in a long skirt - perfectly, winsomely tied to keep it dry! She has these ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Slav Epic by Alfons Mucha

May 4, 2022

Wear Your Colors She always took it to heart - auburn hair, ivory skin, lots of golden freckles...

So when she was invited to her friend's country home for the weekend, packing was easy! These weekends are basically a lot of eating, a lot of laughing, and a LOT of napping...

After dropping by her office for a few hours, she catches the bus; she will have to walk a bit when she arrives, but she will be nice and hungry when she gets there... Dinner is always late on Friday nights!

Many of the friends assembled there will sleep late - although there are always a couple of ambitious people who get up before dawn to go hiking!

Brunch will last for HOURS... followed by naps for most of them. If you're not ... View the Post

April 2022 Start with a Bracelet: The Nourishing Lynx Bracelets

April 15, 2022

You know those organizations that always show up where there's a war or a natural disaster, and they feed (literally) millions of people? That kind of service doesn't just spring up out of the ground, you know...

There are people who figure out how to actually COOK those huge amounts of food, and make it palatable!

Our ENTIRELY IMAGINARY heroine is off to meet with a group of volunteers that are preparing to travel to one of the current locations where food is needed...

She has accumulated lots of useful information - how to use what's available, no matter how unusual it might be. How to season vast pots of soup and stew so that it's tasty, but not overwhelming for people who haven't had enough food ... View the Post

Version 4 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 13, 2022

She's An Actress...

She's been a star of a daytime drama for years, playing the good twin and the evil twin...

Part of the fun of being friends with her is that her expressions and emotions can run the gamut from intellectually serious to hysterically funny in a matter of moments...

So nobody is surprised that she has included ALL of the accent colors in their "scarf-centric" wardrobe, nor are they amazed to see that SHE bought the kimono, and not the scarf!

It's still a pretty versatile wardrobe:

Rumor has it that the writers on her show are about to introduce a long-lost triplet...

love,

Janice

p.s. Approximately seven years ago, I shared with you my shortcut to calculating ... View the Post

Version 3 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 11, 2022

They all seem to have chosen the same scarf...

  Executive Coordinator of something or other... She came directly from a training visit to one of their branch offices...

Her company's name is just a long list of letters, with an ampersand in there somewhere; her friends can NEVER remember...

And they could not BEGIN to explain what it is that she does. What they do know is that she's important, travels a ton, and has the bold confidence of a pride of lionesses!

She has been packing for 2 or 3 day work trips for years, so going from meetings to friends and then BACK to meetings doesn't faze her in the least...

9 garments is plenty for her - options for operas and dinners with friends, ... View the Post

Version 2 Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 8, 2022

The Soccer Coach...  

Green eyes, and an auburn pixie hairstyle... But a serious Division A college soccer coach. Her friends from childhood never doubted...

They often joke that she chose the University at which she works because their colors are green and white! When she got the gig, they all chipped in to get her a pair of emerald earrings, which she wears almost constantly...

What might be most surprising about her is that she manages to get dressed up for some of their get-togethers without sacrificing a smidgen of her personal style!

She knows that her friends love to see her wear green, because they so admire how it flatters her - so she packs to oblige! In all fairness, she does have ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Blue Rural Landscape by Jessie Zhao New York

March 8, 2022 It Just Felt Right...

She knew that she wanted a fresh color palette for spring and summer this year - this year when she was finally going to be able to get out and do some things...

When she saw the scarf, she knew that THIS was what she wanted!

She and her sweetheart are going away for a weekend, and she thinks that this will be the perfect opportunity to try out her new color palette...

Their activities will be mostly city-type things - museums, window-shopping, café-sitting and DINING... Nothing insanely dressy, but she wants to look pretty!

When she takes a look at her travel capsule wardrobe, she just feels happy; these colors are built for happiness!

But of course, because she's a ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Sunflowers by PJ Studio Accessories

March 4, 2022

 

Those of you looking for a bright yellow and blue sunflower scarf to wear as a visible sign of your support of Ukraine - get thee to Etsy.com and search - they have TONS of them. But make sure that you're looking at vendors based in your home country - specify in the filters where you want your items to be located!

Love, Janice A Small Gesture...

She would be a lot more comfortable staying home to watch the news, but she really needs to go on this little trip...

So she grabs her Sunflower scarf to get her started with her packing. It doesn't really look like what one expects from a sunflower - nothing big and bright gold.

But it's the thought that counts...

She's been pretty ... View the Post

Start with a Sweater: An L.L.Bean Fair Isle Sweater, and a 1 Piece at a Time travel wardrobe

December 10, 2021

I am asked 2 questions pretty often - how do you build a wardrobe around a specific garment, and how do you decide WHAT to pack?

This post is going to try to answer both questions!

First up, let's start with this classic sweater, perfect for this time of year in much of the Northern Hemisphere:

For me, the 1st step is to look, really look CAREFULLY, at the colors in our focus garment. You're looking for the easily seen, visible at a moderate distance colors.

Like these:

By now, you know full well that I'm going to go a bit nuts emphasizing how important your travel outfit is - you could easily have to wear it for 36 hours, so you need to love every stitch of it!

It's an obvious ... View the Post

November 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Fierce Optimism Bracelets

Robyn! Coordinated Granny Woodstock!  Send me your mailing information, because YOU have won the Mumbai Paisley scarf!

 

 

November 26, 2021 She Has Complete Confidence...

The weekend is going to be pretty much ALL parties. Well, after almost 2 years, everybody wants to get together. They won't all be full-on "parties" with decorations and centerpieces and such, but they will still be festive gatherings...

There once was a time when this kind of trip would fill her with dread; she would pack 2 big suitcases, and bring a huge chunk of her wardrobe with her. Even then, she never felt that she was dressed appropriately.

It weighed on her mind, on her confidence, and on her self-esteem.

But after ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Understanding by Parscha Mirghawameddin

 

November 24, 2021

Remember this heroine? Nobody seemed to think that she was beautiful, except her! And possibly someone that she met while traveling....

"Did You HEAR What She Told Her Great-Nieces?!?!"

"You mean the part about moving to the city?"

"NO!!!! The part where that silly frog ring is her engagement ring!"

silly is in the eyes of the beholder - this ring is legitimately very fine jewelry...

"Well, I knew that she met someone while she was there, but I assumed that it was just a platonic thing; what's someone her age doing getting involved romantically?"

What's someone her age doing? Feeling beautiful, feeling loved, having buckets of fun, and treating herself to all sorts of frog ... View the Post

Start with Art: Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

November 19, 2021

Remember our old friend, the expert in Gothic Architecture iconography?

She's worked from home; 

with a wardrobe to which we added lots of accessories!

She also visited a college campus to lecture; 

and she took students to The Cloisters in New York; 

and she's been working with Paris officials on Notre Dame.

You can tell that she's a favorite heroine of mine!

This is her inspiration:

She Could Work from the Photographs that the church in Dublin sent to her, but she decided to go actually see the carvings in their location within the building. The church members had taken advantage of the pandemic to build scaffolding and climb up to clean decades of candle smoke and incense ... View the Post