The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Weekly Timeless Wardrobe Archives - Page 8 of 12

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 41: A Dark Neutral, Sleeveless Top

May 11, 2020

Well, a dear friend of mine is currently moving her plants indoors, because the weekend is supposed to bring freezing temperatures, and I'm writing about summer clothes! (I'm writing this on Friday afternoon May 8th)

Getting the best clothes often requires planning ahead; you can't imagine how often I will see something that I think is perfect to share with you, only to find that there are only 2 sizes still available...

So let's plunge into the possibilities of a simple, dark tank top or other sleeveless top!

For those who are following along with the "6 Scarves, 12 Months" series of posts, these are the tops that I would suggest for a wardrobe based on each of the scarves:

As always, I've got ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art – The Visit by Marie Laurencin

May 8 2020

I couldn't resist coming back to this painting, and to the wardrobe based on these colors!

First, let's look back at the spring wardrobe with a core of grey and white garments, and then a few accents in blue and pink (including that blue cardigan that keeps catching my eye!):

I'm looking for accessories that are somewhat "soft" in feel, to compliment the softness of the colors here, and also for things that will look good with more than one outfit...

For our blue dress, I wanted a scarf that our heroine could wear around her shoulders (although of course she has her white cardigan that will be perfect for that!), and some earrings that also were organic in theme. Silver sandals will be useful with pretty much ... View the Post

Start with Art: My favorite puppy’s Life by Fiona Rae

 

May 7, 2020

The capitalization of the painting is the artist's; artists see things in ways we hope to learn, some day...

While there are quite a few really fun colors in this painting, any heroine worth her salt knows that you've got to limit yourself a bit, at least at the start of a wardrobe "build."

First up, our wise heroine decides to make certain that she has a solid base for her wardrobe in navy and white:

Her heart was SET on hot pink and purple... but the marketplace of clothing didn't really help her out much!

This is one of the hardest parts of putting together any wardrobe - deciding that you KNOW what you want, but then finding that your lovely dreams are not readily available in the retail ... View the Post

Start with Art: Yellow Calla by Georgia O’Keeffe

May 6, 2020 The Need for Zest... She's doing fine, really. But she does acknowledge that only being able to go outdoors every few days, in a mask, hurrying to get errands completely and back to the safety of her home, has caused her to feel... muted.

Not that she doesn't love her grey and white core wardrobe! But the need for a bit of zing, a touch of excitement, or the jolt of an unexpected color, is beginning to be felt in her heart.

So when she saw this, she was smitten!

It wasn't too difficult to distill her spring and summer color palette from this gorgeous painting:

She's going to indulge for warm weather, this year. She still has to be on a camera conference call at least once a week, and she often has to stand ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 40: A Light Neutral, Sleeveless Top

May 5, 2020

Yesterday felt like summer; does that count?

Today feels like autumn... sigh...

But lets prepare for warm weather - we all know that it's going to get here eventually!

Every summer, I buy at least 1 or 2 of these, to take the place of the ones that I wore to PIECES the previous year; I keep these in my closet all year, because they are great under winter clothes too!

As always, I've thought of a few things to keep in mind as you consider your summer supply of tops:

These outfits all appeal to me right now; maybe it's because I'm inside, and maybe it's because we've only had intermittent 1 day periods of nice weather!

And as always, accessories seem to make a LOT of difference! I know you're ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art: Resting by Paul Klee

April 30, 2020

This heroine knows full well the degree to which the right accessories can make a TON of difference in an outfit! First up, she's starting with this compelling painting, and lovely color palette:

Our heroine is starting with this most wonderful wardrobe in soft colors and timeless styles:

She knows that she's going to want to wear very simple monochromatic outfits sometimes, and that on other occasions she's going to break out her accent colors. Her plan, then, is to pull together some representative outfits, and accessorize each of them...

All accessories do NOT have to be neutral - blue suede shoes tell you what you're going to be humming all day!

She wants to be able to look pretty in a dress ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Visit by Marie Laurencin – grey and white and relaxing…

April 29, 2020

When she saw this painting, the first thing she thought was that the poor woman on the horse will NOT be invited in, because she's got to stay 6 feet away from the other women...

But she also thought that the colors would be idea for her wardrobe!

Now that her employer has become the last company in the world to start doing video meetings, she realizes that she needs to look a bit pulled together, and calm, and in control. At least from the waist up!

So she isolates her colors for Spring...

And then she pulls together her core Weekly Timeless Wardrobe in grey and white. She loves grey, but finding grey clothes in warmer weather isn't always easy!

She realizes immediately that she has a lot of ... View the Post

Start with Art: Resting by Paul Klee, and a Beige Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for Spring

April 27 2020

Finally, she's getting a break... And she's going to take advantage of being able to stay home.

Her plan is to sleep, read, go for walks in the park behind her home, bake excellent stuff, have a cocktail or two, and then sleep some more!

She's starting here - the colors of calmness, for her...

She starts with her favorite beige (there's some advantage to being blonde) and then adds in some denim-y blue, and some shades of rose:

For warm weather, she could probably live in shades of beige and ivory. From these 13 items, it might be possible to dress for weeks.

After what she's been through in the last few months, she doesn't care if her clothes get dirty or spotted; she knows that there are more ... View the Post

Adding Pastel Wardrobe Accents! Expanding a Beige & Olive Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

April 22, 2020

She, too, has a wardrobe core of olive and beige, just like that of her friend from Monday's post. But her inspirations for accent colors of quite different!

She saw this painting in Paris, years ago, and took a photograph of it. She has, since then, found a poster of the painting, and hung it in her bathroom! Why not... It reminds her, and keeps her focused.

While there are quite a few possible accent colors hidden in this wonderful work of art, our heroine made her choices:

Of course, she's going to start with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe 13 core garments, in her 2 neutrals:

She knew in her heart that she was craving light, and softness, and prettiness. She decided to listen to her heart, and ... View the Post

Adding Wardrobe Accents! Expanding a Beige & Olive Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

April 20, 2020

After being indoors for AGES (I'm in my 6th week...), I find that paintings full of "nature" colors really appeal...

Today's heroine realizes that she's going to need to move toward some navy, maybe by the time summer rolls in... Her current Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for Spring is lovely beige and green, but she understands that the green is just too difficult to find.

This is her inspiration:

She's going to indulge in some accent colors, before she starts gradually working on her 3rd neutral...

Here's where she's starting:

For so long, she's been comfortable with muted colors. But now that she's free to be out and about, she is really in the mood for something bolder and brighter!

After much ... View the Post

Adding Wardrobe Accents! Expanding a Navy & White Weekly Timeless Wardrobe

April 13, 2020

It's time for more brightness! And a bit of practicality...

Let's go back to the idea of the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe. Say you've got your 13 items for spring all set in your closet - navy and white are classic!

It's a great year for some cheery, bright colors, and so our heroine has been thinking that red and yellow might be a nice addition for the upcoming season(s):

You don't have to buy dozens of garments in order to bring something new into your wardrobe - our heroine had considered at some length adding a red cardigan too, but realized that it wasn't necessary. She was much happier taking care of her wardrobe basics with white shorts and capris, and then indulging in some floral prints...

Her new ... View the Post

Some “Not Quite Perfect” Weekly Timeless Wardrobes, and Some Fixes

April 6, 2020

I'm going to take a break for a couple of weeks from the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe "1 garment per week," in order to let the lagging clothing markets catch up to the season!

But I do want to look back at some of the wardrobes from Spring that sort of evolved over the last 13 weeks, and see how they turned out...

I just opened ALL of the files of each post from the last 13 weeks, and accumulated the "example" garments I showed into 6 wardrobes. THIS was a laptop-killer...

First up - almost perfect...

You saw me do this last week in the last wardrobe - the one that sort of mirrors my own wardrobe. That red tee shirt is fine - you don't have to wear it with the pink top, or with the awesome madras dress. But the ... View the Post