The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Two Geese in the Snow by Komori Soseki

January 25, 2023

Plenty of Firewood... She agreed to go up to the cabin for the weekend, with the understanding that (1) they would stop at the deli on the way out of town and get enough food, (2) there is enough firewood up there for at least 5 days, and (3) there are NO chores for her to handle!

Oh yes, and there are birds about...

In all fairness, she has 2 books she really NEEDS to finish in the next few days (for work!), so it's not all just hanging about reading gossip magazines...

She will, of course, walk outdoors from time to time, to catch some sun (if it's out!), visit with any animals that are about, and take a break from her work.

In addition to using a favorite painting as her inspiration, ... View the Post

Accessories! Project 333 based on Composition by Ernest Mancoba

January 20, 2023

It's the 20th already? Holy chocolate-coated Buddha on a stick... So Far, So Good... Our heroine has her color scheme all sorted:

And she has all of her clothing (except for 1 piece - that's the bonus #33 item!) chosen, too:

At a minimum, I'm thinking that this heroine needs 3 pairs of shoes, a couple of bags, and some jewelry. Maybe a scarf or two...

The best way I've found to make sure that you have what you need - packing, or planning a Project 333 Wardrobe - is to work your way through a number of outfits and think about what you want to wear with the clothing.

She can't easily resist gold loafers, and a matching handbag...

A backpack is always handy - many of us have started carrying ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition by Ernest Mancoba

January 18, 2023

She had always liked to wear ivory, bone, stone - those light, neutral colors.

And denim. ALWAYS denim...

So when she saw this:

She saw her color palette for the rest of the winter, right in front of her!

Although her favorite colors are lighter and brighter, she will include her black pants, at a minimum! Sometimes, you need dark pants...

To start, she pulls her 3 favorite outfits from her closet:

She realizes early on that she's not going to have a "Whatever's Clean" wardrobe - some of her clothes just aren't going to go together. That's fine, so long as the majority of her garments play nicely together and give her options...

An excellent pair of black pants are so ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Waterfall by Morris Graves

January 11, 2023

Do you think maybe I'm drawn to green because I was sick, and green feels like renewal? Hmm...

  Not Blending In... She's going to the conference too. Not presenting, but she will be attentively listening, and taking notes, and learning...

She doesn't know for certain, but she thinks it possible that someone else from her corporation will be there. They probably don't know her, and she certainly doesn't know them!

Frankly, it doesn't matter. She's not attending this conference to meet and greet, or to grab some handle on some higher rung of the professional ladder.

She's just there to learn, and to meet interesting people. They don't have to be positioned to help her advance - she can ... View the Post

Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Mountain Lake by Dorrit Black

January 4, 2023

Flexible...

After watching the travel chaos over the Christmas holiday, she decided that she was going to be flexible with her plans...

If her plane doesn't depart in time to get her to her destination for dinner, she's going to go back into the city and take the train...

If she can't get the train for some reason, (it could be full!), or if it doesn't run at all, THEN she's going to go over to the docks and catch a ferry across the Sea...

All she wants is a long weekend away - she's not terribly choosy about exactly WHERE she goes. There are a lot of lovely destinations within an hour or 2 of where she lives!

She can carry her bag wherever she needs to go - she has NO intentions of checking ... View the Post

Six Paintings, 12 Months – January 2023

January 2, 2023

Well THAT was weird to type...

Our six heroines all decided that they wanted to go shopping to augment the TWO garments with which they started our year-long adventure. 

If you have something specific in mind that you want to buy, this is a difficult time of year to shop; lots of stores are sold out of all of the really nice things, and much of what's left is only available in a limited number of sizes.

But our heroines know that places like L.L.Bean will ALWAYS have a good assortment of timeless, classic garments. When you have very few clothes, buying trendy things is silly!

Let's visit our heroines and see what's up!

 

First up she thought that a black jacket would make sense. Being the ... View the Post

Six Paintings, 12 Months – a 2023 Preview!

December 23, 2022

It's like an early Christmas gift! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, it's just a gift, full stop.

This was quite a bit harder than choosing 6 scarves; there's something to be said in defense of any painting, so rejecting any of them was difficult...

Let's get started!

 

I couldn't resist this! Black and white with pink and purple, and just enough blue to include denim in the wardrobe...

Flash back to the wardrobe from when we first saw this painting.

I'm starting each of our heroines with some simple essentials:

Yes, we looked at this painting just recently...

But for those of us clamoring for brown, this is worth looking at some more!

Her basics are pretty lovely, ... View the Post

Start with Art: A Peasant Woman by Edgar Degas

November 30, 2022

 

Why yes, it suits her to a T...

The Confectionary Rep...

She goes to all of those gigantic food conferences - she's responsible for over a dozen of the booths that showcase small chocolate and caramel makers...

She doesn't have to actually be IN the booths - she hires lovely staff for that! But she does get to wander around, offering samples to people, and chatting with customers who seem to be legitimately interested...

She loves dressing in "chocolate and caramel" colors, with a touch of ivory whipped cream!

One company has mentioned that they might started making chocolate-covered cherries!

She sees a beautiful red sweater in her future...

love,

Janice

p.s. ... View the Post

Start with Art: Le Grand Bois by Auguste Morisot

November 18, 2022

This is where she's going, more or less...

1/4 Mile off the blacktop road... You know when these are the directions, you're going to be off the beaten track!

And that's what she needs - she has writers' block...

Normally, she would go sit in a café and people-watch, but this time she's going to look inside for inspiration, rather than outside.

She's only going for a couple of days. She's got enough coffee and food for breakfast, and maybe lunch. She WILL go into town for dinner...

But she will have no internet connection. No Wi-Fi, no streaming video, no texting... the cabin has a landline, and a television that gets 3 network channels.

Quiet, dark, and trees...

She's a ... View the Post

Start with Art: A Winter’s Tale by K. Neil Swanson

November 11, 2022

Wouldn't this make a wonderful scarf?

And for those of us who love navy, this is a beautiful inspiration!

Do You Know Someone Like This? Her Christmas tree is decorated with birds. She has bird feeders outside her windows. She just loves birds - she doesn't have to explain this to anybody!

And so when she's assembling a wardrobe for cool weather - especially for a trip! - she turns to her favorites animals for inspiration.

She starts with her essentials:

Her chosen inspiration has a wide variety of possible accents, but these are what she's chosen for this particular wardrobe:

She could probably pull together an outfit that clashes a bit, but generally speaking this is a "Whatever's ... View the Post

Start with Art: #96 by Marcel Rozek

October 26, 2022

 

Eloping...

Everyone assumes that they're already married - and that they've been married for years!

On Tuesday, they decided to make it legal, for so many reasons...

They dashed over to the Justice of the Peace in the middle of the afternoon, when they got a phone call that they could sneak in during a gap in the schedule. They went dressed in their "work at home" clothes!

And now, they're going to sneak off for a long weekend together!

They're going to their favorite city, for a few days of museums, concerts and dinners. Nothing over the top, but lovely and romantic!

She's never packed for a last-minute honeymoon before - but she things this will work just fine!

How can she ... View the Post

Start with Art: Version 2 Man in a Café by Juan Gris

October 21, 2022

Our heroine from Wednesday is back on the road, with a rather different color palette!

This trip is going to be both more casual AND more dressy - so our heroine is including both jeans and sequins!

note that she's packing exactly the same number of everything...

There's that one dinner (concert, opera?) that gives her permission to break out the really dressy top...

She loves the way this looks - it's just like her last travel capsule wardrobe, but it's NOTHING like it, at the same time. It's kind of magic...

She has lots of ways to wear these pieces too - it's built into her system:

Imagine what she could do if she packed BOTH of these for a trip!

do you think that this is a ... View the Post