The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Start with Art: Revisiting Festival in Montmartre by Gino Severini

May 28, 2020

We haven't heard from this heroine is a long time! She was, for years, a caregiver to both her parents and her children. After her parents moved into a care facility, our heroine got a job in a corporate environment, which she loved. She excelled to the point that she was given a huge promotion, and then within a few months earned a gigantic retention bonus and raise; she and her sweetie took off for a very long weekend vacation!

Holy handbags, which a history!

This is her favorite painting - neutrals with brights - sort of like being business-ready, but still having some spark and some personality...

It all seemed as if it was going swimmingly. Until one day, they wanted her to lie about some statistics. Not ... View the Post

Rescuing Forgotten Garments: A Leaf-Print Skirt

May 27, 2020

It wasn't a sad email, but it definitely was a cry for help! She loves the skirt, but so far has only worn it with a white tee shirt or white tank top. She owns lots of other clothes, so there MUST be more possibilities...

Note that this skirt does NOT have a bunch of gathers at the waist - thus untucked tops will not look awkward when they extend below the waist. Of such small details is a versatile garment made!

So, as I've done before, I tried to think of how this skirt could be worn each of the next 4 months, in 2 different ways.

First, for June, a pretty blouse is 1 option, or a linen tee shirt (which is available in ELEVEN colors). I'm still smitten with these ruffled espadrilles; espadrilles aren't always ... View the Post

Raiding my French Books: 4 Season Dresses from Chic! by Christine Lombard & Lucille Renié

May 26, 2020

It's an occupational hazard - I read French personal style books. Well, "read" is charitable because I don't fully grasp every last single solitary word that's there, but I manage okay...

And I find some of their advice to be interesting and possibly useful for us! All of these books have some sort of "must-have garments" list (which I of course think is errant nonsense, and should never exist...); my current book strongly promotes the idea of having a dress in a floral print that could be worn all year... hmm...

This is the book in question:

 

Seriously, ladies, a book will NOT give someone style. It's a fun book, nonetheless!

In response to this suggestion, I found a couple of dresses that I thought ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 43: A Sleeveless Print or Accent Top

May 25, 2020

I'm still ready for warm weather, and the weather in Chicago is still not ready for me... But I can plan - when it finally gets warm, I'm going to be ALL SET!

As I try to do most weeks, here are some tops that will look good with wardrobes based on these scarves. When one is building a wardrobe around the colors in a scarf, it's difficult (but important) to remember that every single garment won't be worn WITH the scarf - especially in hot weather! So you needn't be worried about how you might arrange the scarf with these various necklines...

Tying a scarf to your bag is always the easiest option! Or tying it around your ponytail, or worn as a headband, or even a mask! Has anybody gone full-on silk scarf mask yet? ... View the Post

Adding Accessories: Coastal Image by Theo van Rysselberghe

May 22, 2020

Since we're having so much fun with accessories (oh yesterday was AWESOME...), I thought I'd go back and take a look at this beauty; it couldn't be more different from yesterday's wardrobe:

For me personally, I'd need another pair of shorts or 2, and maybe a dress? But this is so pretty, I think I'd manage!

Let's look at a stack of outfits to see what might be either useful or decorative! First up, sandals, earrings and the "always important for summer" tote bag:

I seldom show belts, but a simple gold belt would be lovely with so many of these outfits:

For those of us dealing with hair that's a bit over-grown, a gorgeous barrette is unmissable:

I love the endless softness of pale yellow and ... View the Post

Adding Accessories: Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

May 21, 2020

Let's look back for just a second at our saints, and appreciate the choice and balance of colors. There's a reason that I like to start with paintings - the artists put a LOT of thought into every choice, and we can learn from this...

And let's take a look at her wardrobe:

Our heroine is a BIG fan of accessories, so she assembles a dozen outfits and accessorizes them! She limits herself to 6 pairs of shoes, but otherwise the sky's the limit:

She realizes that she might not need a handbag all the time, but it wouldn't do to be unprepared if she finds that she has to step out!

Note that when she chooses shoes to wear with her onyx jewelry, she finds some mules with teeny round perforations, and wee ... View the Post

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

May 20, 2020

Oh, we haven't heard from this heroine for a while... Remember her when she first visited a college campus for some lectures (and brought the house down!), then she took some students to The Cloisters, outside of New York.

She's been working off and on in Paris, since the fire at Notre Dame. Now, of course, she's working from home. But her intricately braided white hair remains flawless (how DOES she get it cut?) and her nail polish and lipstick are still works of art that defy normal wear and tear...

This is her inspiration:

Her color palette is firmly in mind any time she shops - this is not a woman often given to wardrobe impulse! Someone once remarked that red and green seemed "Christmassy" to them - she ... View the Post

Start with Art: Coastal Image by Theo van Rysselberghe

May 19, 2020 We're Working from Home Indefinitely The work environment at her office is usually super-dangerous, from a virus perspective - people in each other's faces all day, sitting too close, yelling back and forth, passing food...

So when they announced that she would be working from home for at LEAST the rest of the summer, she was delighted!

She's working towards calmness; this is her inspiration:

Her color palette is light, and soft. She's working at home, so she won't sit on something disgusting on a bus or train. She doesn't eat at her desk, so she's not worried about spills...

 

She's not on screen that often, but she knows that she needs to be prepared every day to pull on a cardigan or over-shirt, ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 42: An Accent Color Sleeveless Top

May 18, 2020

Oh, if ONLY it was warm enough to wear summer clothes! I know, I'll be griping that I have to run the air conditioner too often... But these colors appeal to me right now...

The nice thing about these tops is that you can pretty much always find something in a color that you like, and then you have an easy, inexpensive accent for almost any outfit!

It wasn't tough at all to find tops that look good with our favorite (current favorite?) 6 scarves:

As you probably can assume, by now - I have some ideas, suggestions, thoughts, observations...:

 

I love navy with bright green; in cooler weather I might turn the green "down a notch" into forest green, but I could still see navy, green and white ... View the Post

Adding Accessories: A Work Wardrobe in Navy, Plum, Teal and Lavender

May 15, 2020

Our heroine from a couple of days ago now has a good work wardrobe for her needs - not terribly dressy, but still serious enough that she will stand out from her former co-workers. If you're in an environment where people wear jeans and very casual clothes for work, it doesn't take a lot to stand out!

My system, such as it is, for most wardrobes, is to assemble a half-dozen outfits, trying to include all of the "bottoms" and as many of the tops as possible. I of course try to include all of the colors, and as broad a range of dressiness as makes sense for the heroine in question.

I'm sure I miss something this way, but I'm still looking for a better approach! Any suggestions?

First, let's start with a serious ... View the Post

Start with Art: Dans la Forêt: Portrait de L. Massine by Natalia Gontcharova

May 14 2020

Remember the accountant? With a man's first name? Well, she's been doing quite well; the last big engagement in which she was immersed resulted in 3 people being charged with financial fraud, and a handful of other officers resigning in the dead of night and vanishing...

She was made partner...

Her color palette for her wardrobe is unusual - just when someone thinks that all she wears is black and shades of beige and brown, she trots out some cobalt blue!

She's got to go back. Yes, during the pandemic. She's assured that nobody is there, and that this is the very best time to take a team in and go through some of the really old "on paper" records that seem to have been... forged? Expense ... View the Post

What Do I Need in My Wardrobe? Navy, Teal, Plum and Lavender

May 13, 2020

It was a sort of urgent email - I get those sometimes! In the middle of quarantining and lots of disruption, SHE GOT A PROMOTION!!!! A big one...

After much back and forth, we settled on the 4 colors in our palette, and she has already isolated these 8 things to launch her work wardrobe:

 

These are her chosen colors:

She's going to need to travel some, and be on screens for teleconferences a lot, so I'm targeting - eventually - a 20-piece wardrobe for her for these "visible" work activities. I thought maybe this template would help me be organized in making recommendations:

So the first thing we need to do is show her 8 existing garments in this template, so we can see where we have ... View the Post