The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

New Colors? The Pantone Colors for Spring/Summer 2020

Oh hurrah, new colors.... Which of course is absurd, but it always give us a chance to look at a whole bunch of French 5-Piece Wardrobes (which is also absurd...)

These are little ensembles of a sweater and some accessories, based loosely upon the colors that Pantone has chosen to feature for the upcoming Spring and Summer. The items that I've chosen do NOT match the Pantone colors exactly, because that's the road to madness!

First up - RED! Always available, and a color that you either love or just never wear...

Saffron is the "Color of the Year" for 2020.  If you can wear it, jump in and stand out in the crowd - the rest of us will just stand back and admire...

This looks like a muted navy to me!

This might be ... View the Post

What Can You Do With a Weekly Timeless Wardrobe? Add an Accent!

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is enough clothing for a lot of us - enough different garments, and enough colors. But what if you bump into an accent color that you can't resist?

For demonstration purposes, I'm going to start with the Week 16 Wardrobe...

And then let's imagine that our heroine sees this shade of blue on the L.L.Bean website. And she recognizes the value of true "whappage" - that feeling when you walk away, and are still thinking about something hours or days later. It takes a while to really know the difference between a crush and real love, and in the same way you have to cultivate your sense of "I could wear the dickens out of that color" vs "gosh, that's pretty..."

She realizes that her love is real, and she ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 16: An Accent Cotton Turtleneck

Yes, if you live where it's cold, you might easily want a stack of these turtlenecks! If you don't anticipate that much cold weather in your life, or you just don't feel that you're going to need more than a couple of these tops, you can skip this garment entirely, or substitute tee shirts or button-front shirts...

As always, you make the rules; these are just guidelines, within which you plan YOUR wardrobe!

One other bit of advice when purchasing these turtlenecks: if you're POSITIVE that you'll absolutely never take off your top sweater in public, you can certainly buy the tissue-thin version of these. But if you're like me and it's entirely possible that you're going to pull off your sweater in your friend's very warm home, or ... View the Post

Finding Inspiration Anywhere! A Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Grey with Bright Accents

You won't probably be surprised to hear that I look for color combinations and wardrobe palettes in just about EVERYTHING I see! So when we were in the hotel in Kilkenny, the carpet in the halls caught my attention; on a ground of shades of grey were scattered bright color squares...

I struggled to get any sort of a photograph of the carpet, and failed miserable. Just trust me that these were pretty much what the colors looked like...

After Wednesday's VERY black and white travel wardrobe, I thought that this would be an interesting experiment. I'm going to keep neutral 2nd layers and pants, and use the accents for the tops. And lots of fun accessories, of course!

So let's start by getting our heroine on the road, eh?

I ... View the Post

What I Packed for Ireland – 3 Clusters and Some Carefully-Chosen Outerwear

I'm back from Ireland (and 1 night in England...)!

When we stopped at Kells Priory, there was not ONE SINGLE SOLITARY person there. It was an amazing experience! This is one of the best parts of traveling in the off-season - fewer crowds, and some completely deserted delights...

Of course I packed black! The first 24 hours of our vacation, I was wearing my denim shirt, black corduroy pants, and my great marled cardigan from L.L.Bean. I can't stress often enough how your choice of travel outfit is really important; you have no idea, when you're traveling long distances, how long you will have to wear that same outfit! You don't want to be unable to get into your hotel room in some lovely city for 3 or 4 hours, and be wearing pajama ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 15: A Dark Neutral Cotton Turtleneck

Planning for autumn makes me so happy!

Even if you're not crazy about these, it's worth getting maybe 1 or 2 if you have a fondness for big chunky sweaters that make you itch! These are like cotton "itch-proofing..."

If you have a sweater that's a bit... bold... the turtleneck can be a simple base. In this outfit, it gives you a nice solid core upon which you could wear all kinds of sweaters, cardigans, or a flannel shirt!

 

A cotton turtleneck can keep you nice and snug outdoors...

A cardigan and pants that don't match can feel awkward. Add in a cotton turtleneck that doesn't match either and you've got a nicely blended outfit. Notice that the scarf and the cardigan are from the same brand; if you're ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Yellow Tree by Linda Jacobson

Five years ago, I talked at some length about how to assemble a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, using this painting as the inspiration for the color palette. I used the most muted colors visible in the painting, at the time...

Someone recently asked me to take a look at the brighter colors - there are plenty from which to choose, aren't there?

So You Can't Travel Anymore? When her medical condition began to strongly suggest that wearing dresses or skirts was going to be MUCH better than wearing pants, her friends suddenly assumed that meant that she was going to sit at home, wearing your grandmother's mu-mu, and watch daytime television...

So she packed her tote bag, made dinner reservations and bought concert tickets, and headed for the ... View the Post

October 2019 – 12 Months, 12 Outfits – based on 6 Hermes Scarves

This month, I looked deliberately at each wardrobe to try to make choices that would be versatile and fill in some of the holes that I could see...

This first color palette still delights me:

A simple outfit; most of these wardrobes could benefit from the addition of a white shirt...

I have these lantern pants - I can't wait to wear them!

Everything still looks wonderfully coherent, doesn't it?

And each new garment added this month gives you plenty of new possible outfits...

I'm still loving these colors...

Yes, another white shirt...

Could you imagine finding this all in your closet?

Here again, the new pieces of the wardrobe fit right in...

When I first chose this next scarf, I ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 14: A Light Neutral Cotton Turtleneck

Even though the days are still lovely and warm in Chicago, the rational part of my mind knows full well that it's wise to start planning for winter!

In all fairness, the cotton version of these turtlenecks aren't particularly dressy! But if you need something a bit more formal, consider looking for merino wool turtlenecks; they're light and lovely...

For those of us who live in cold climates, layering these tops under another sweater is the single best way to stay warm. And I like the way they look; they frame your face nicely...

A simple, light color can be very versatile...

Blending shades of a color is always nice...

Your light neutral might not be white or ivory, right?

If you are concerned about ... View the Post

September Start with a Bracelet

Oooh....

Who needs lots of colors, when you have THESE????

The Manuscript Will be Available... For just a few days... She's going to be there lecturing for a week; it could NOT have been better timing!

She plans what she will pack - she knows that once she's there, she won't want to think about clothes, so she's making it pretty much foolproof.

Days in the Manuscript Conservation Room will be casual, completely with white gloves! And the lectures will be a little bit more dressy; she's quite certain that some professors there will sit in...

Since navy is her neutral, she knows that she wants to start here:

Since she's finally going to unlock the secrets hidden in that most elusive document, she realizes ... View the Post

Start with Art: Heron in Snow by Ohara Koson

Oh dear... I may never look at another artist... (except of course I'm going to the Art Institute of Chicago tomorrow, and I'll see something else that catches my fancy...)

But this artist is pretty amazing! His style lends itself perfectly to inspiring a minimal palette, and if you're using tan/beige as a neutral, the color of his backgrounds is meant for you...

  Ornithologists Have Conferences too... She's studied waterfowl since she could see. She loves herons, swans, pelicans... there's really no bird that she doesn't admire.

Her favorite Saturday activity is to get to the lake early, and set up her camera and tripod. Then she sits, quietly, sipping coffee from her thermos, and waiting for that moment! Her patience ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 13: A Dress

How fun! We finish the first 13 weeks - the Autumn segment of The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe... with a dress! (I love dresses... I find them the easiest, and possibly the most comfortable, thing to wear...)

If I still worked in an office, I'd have this dress in a New York minute:

Of course you might not want a dress, which is your choice. There are always options; you should insist on being yourself!

Yes, many of the accessories that you've used when wearing your earlier garments from the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe are equally useful with your dress...

It's NOT too early to start thinking about what you're going to want to wear for the winter holidays; the best dresses will be in and out of stores before you can blink ... View the Post