Start with Art Archives - Page 35 of 47

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerites by Conrad Kiesel

July 14, 2016

I'm in a real navy and olive mode these days; I started this a couple of days ago, before yesterday's navy and green outfits. One of my all-time favorite posts on The Vivienne Files is still this one - navy and gorgeous accent colors.How's this for a glorious painting?

There are of course a variety of ways that colors could be extracted from this, but these are what I've chosen for today:

In honor of all of you who are traveling to colder climes this autumn, I'm thinking about packing that includes a warm coat and waterproof boots. Especially for those of you going to Ireland in the fall, you'll want both sunglasses AND gloves!

Sunglasses – Tory Burch; scarf – Brooks Brothers; boots – ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Branch of the Seine by Claude Monet

July 12, 2016 It's hard not to love something this beautiful:

The Last Laugh She's been saying for ages that the photographs of the structure don't look right, and that there are integrity issues. But did they listen to her? (you know the answer to this, right?)

So she's flying in to do an in-person inspection, and recommend what needs to be done in order to make the entire rig safe for workers.

They won't be thrilled to see her, but she will only need to be there a couple of hours...

There are some amazing restaurants on the mainland, and she's flying a really LONG way. So she plans to stay for at least 3 days. Nobody's going to ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Owl on Ginko Branch by Ohara Koson

July 9, 2016

Just wonderful:

While the vast majority of this painting is in shadings of beige and black, there are a couple of glorious accents of russet and olive...

She Works Nights Someone has to monitor those data servers - they run HOT, and they have to be watched 24/7. She loves the night sky, so she took the job...

So she works for 5 minutes, and then looks out the window for 5. It keeps her moving around, and she's learned a lot about the night sky.

Now that her company has grown, she's called on to work with people in other offices. Still at night, when the regular staff is at home, and just the emergency teams are in place.

Everyone marvels at how well she does during ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Girl on a Sofa by Philip Wilson Steer

May 28, 2016

Doesn't this look comfortable?

And this painting could single-handed provide someone with plenty of colors to have a wardrobe with great variety, and a lot of options:

I've been thinking a lot about packing (big surprise, eh?) and about the wisdom of packing your favorite outfits and letting the chips fall where they may. So let's explore that idea a bit!

In keeping with the relaxed feeling of the painting, I've tried to keep everything soft, rounded, flowered or flower-like, and just a touch slouchy.

First up, a simple column in a muted navy blue, with a soft white blazer, gold jewelry, and some brown leather accessories. This could be the outfit for the meeting, or the presentation, or ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 26, 2016 Okay, I'm more than a little bit smitten with Ms. Gontcharova's work...

For someone who wanted to base their entire wardrobe around this work, there's also a bit of green in here:

When I Am An Old Woman... (blah, blah, blah) Yes, we know, you'll wear purple. But she's been wearing purple FOREVER...

earrings – Matta; watch – Fendi; pants – L.L.Bean; tee – Uniqlo; cardigan – Viyella; scarf – Halston; flats – SoftWalk; cross body bag – Longchamp; suitcase – Victorinox

She wears every shade of it. She buys her entire wardrobe with an eye to how well it will work with "her" color...

Henley – Majestic Filatures; skirt – Uniqlo; sandals – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: 2nd of the Portraits Theatraux by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 25, 2016 I don't know how many of these Ms. Gontcharova did, but I'm going to try to find them all:

Not a color scheme we see every day! I opted to use pure white, rather than try to match that "faded paper" color. My assumption is that the original might have been on white paper - can anybody confirm or deny?

She Yins, She Yangs "Do you think she's completely... normal? I mean, sometimes she looks so aggressive, and other days she's just so calm and quiet..."

Earrings- Louise et Cie; watch- MVMT; linen pants – Boden; tank top – Uniqlo; scarf – Hermès La Marche du Zambeze; shoes – Sam Edelman; cardigan – Sarah Pacini; bag – Patricia Nash; tote – Sole ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Noon – Rest from Work by Vincent van Gogh

May 24, 2016

So beautiful:

And a color scheme that includes extremely warm and very cool colors, with enough neutral off-white to give a base to everything:

Why yes, you DID see this travel outfit (with a few tweaks) just a few days ago, here. I didn't include it just to be lazy - I wanted to show that there's a lot of versatility in just a few pieces of clothing, and that you could easily merge a couple of different color-schemes to design your perfect capsule wardrobe.

Everything here from a sun hat to warm scarves! But when you expect to go out in sunny warm temperatures during the day, and then sit around a fire after dark when the temperatures dip, you have to be ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Study for the Muses by Brice Marden

May 20, 2016

This lives just down the street from me, at the Art Institute of Chicago. I'm quite taken with it:

I could have included all three accent colors, but I wanted to think about a small, long-weekend packing wardrobe, so I limited myself to these two glorious shades:

Off Season "You can't go to the beach house NOW! You'll never be able to go outside..."

It is possible to dress warmly. And just because the calendar doesn't specify "beach" anywhere, doesn't meant that it's going to snow! The weather is often very lovely this time of year...

Yes, she seems rather feminine - pastels, round collars on her shirts, the whole "girly" 9 yards. But that ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portraits Theatraux by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 13, 2016

I saw these in Paris, and was immediately captivated!

The color combination here opens up the possibility of lots of unexpected juxtapositions, which is always fun:

It's good to be surprising... She has a man's first name. She's had it her entire life, and she uses it to her advantage, especially when traveling for business...

Cardigan - Mango; tote - Givenchy; earrings – Kendra Scott; scarf – Nordstrom; watch – Morphic; tee – Twin-Set; pants – J. Crew; loafers – Santoni

When she arrives, everyone is already a little bit panicked, because she's an auditor. And then they're expecting a man, so she REALLY catches them off guard...

Bracelet – Dee Berkley; print blouse – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition a Cercles a Bras et Rectangles by Sophie Taeuber-Arp

April 19, 2016 Another painting that I saw last week in Paris. That vacation seems so long ago now...

At first this seemed like a pretty straightforward color scheme, but there are a LOT of possibilities here:

She Does Modeling...

Square scarf – Isabel Marant; shoulder bag – Allsaints; cardigan – Simply Be; yellow diamond hoops – JCPenney; watch – Isabel Marant; tee shirt – J. Crew; pants – J. Crew; suitcase – Longchamp; loafers – Patricia Green Financial modeling, that is. The hardest work in the office, in many opinions.

Yellow silk shirt – Theory; leather bracelet - Bottega Veneta; silver square earrings – Gurhan; blazer – Nina Ricci; ivory top – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerite au Chat Noir by Henri Matisse

April 18, 2016

Yes, I saw this in Paris last week!

Aside from the charm and beauty of Marguerite, I was immediately attracted to the colors:

Quietly Rebellious

Cardigan – J. Crew; pants – Boden; tee – J. Crew; skirt - A.P.C.

She seems like the most conventional of women. Very pretty, always very nicely dressed.

Cardigan – Stella McCartney; jeans – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – A.P.C.

She's rather quiet, a bit shy, and well-suited to her work in the library...

Blue top – Part Two; ivory shimmer tee – Mint Velvet; soft teal tee – L. L. Bean; salmon sweater – Odeeh

And yes, she owns a cat!

Tie dye tee – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Macaws over River, Peru by Frans Lanting

April 11, 2016

A truly breathtaking photograph:

The most straighforward of color schemes:

Freedom She just needs to be free. Mostly free to sleep late if she wants to... to eat what she wants, when she wants... to get dressed without thinking about it...

She she settled on khaki. ALL khaki. Mostly from 1 store. With bright colors. Tee shirts and scarves. She walked into 1 store and bought all of her jewelry. She wants bags that keep her hands free. It's all about FREE...

She's not even sure where she's going, yet. But she knows that it's going to be someplace where she doesn't know anybody, so she will be free to be as quite or as outgoing as she ... View the Post