The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Accessories! Revisiting Dance Dance by Jacqueline Osborn

April 16, 2021

Who doesn't love this painting?

Our heroine from Wednesday has assembled a really lovely, warm-toned and warm-weather travel capsule wardrobe:

Now she needs accessories! She knows that her color palette for her accessories will be the same as for her clothes, with the addition of gold for anything metallic:

She takes a look at the 24-piece accessory wardrobe that has been used before on The Vivienne Files; it seems like a LOT of things for a trip...

And she also looks at the suggestions that I made once upon a time:

And then she realized that if building her wardrobe 1 piece at a time worked so well, it might be a sensible way to assemble her accessories too!

She started with an ... View the Post

Start With Art: Dance Dance by Jacqueline Osborn

April 14, 2021

She's Been Cold... for over a year. Not really physically cold, so much as missing the "chaleur humaine" - the human warmth of society...

So when she knew that she was going to finally go on vacation, this was her heart's desire:

okay, just feel free to pause right here and go admire this artist's work - I will forever be grateful to readers who send me links to new artists!

After a year of stress and tension, she's determined to be in complete control of her travel wardrobe! She decides that a "one piece at a time" approach to packing will suit her just fine...

After she gets that essential 2nd top in her bag, she starts with the easiest of packing - a dress!

She knows that she will be ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #5 – Denim Capri or Cropped Pants

April 12, 2021

Before we go anywhere, I MUST tell you about Red Thread... They make just a handful of garments - mostly black pants. But they make them BASED ON YOUR BODY... no sizes!

When you start an order with them, they send you a link that guides your phone through the process of taking 2 photographs of you - pull on your swimsuit, or leggings and your swim top (that's what I did...) and the phone tells you what to do. It's sort of weird, but fun!

And in 2 weeks or so, you have a pair of pants that fit amazingly well. I ordered the ankle pants, which are styled a lot like ski pants - they have stitched creases in the front and back, and deep pockets of sturdy fabric, with zippers on the pockets. The fabric is ponte knit - one ... View the Post

Accessorizing a Swim Suit-Centered Wardrobe

April 9, 2021 She's Going to Swim, This Year On Wednesday, we started with this:

Our very happy heroine's travel capsule wardrobe is this:

But she can't travel - and she certainly can't go to the beach - with only 1 pair of shoes, no sandals, no hat, and no sunglasses!

So let's work our way through getting her travel wardrobe completed!

This is 2 of the most important things to pack; surely by now we all understand the need for covering up from too much sun, right?

If she's outdoors a lot, she may not need a mask constantly, but we're all going to want to have masks with us for the foreseeable future. Of course she wants a towel, and good sandals... I couldn't resist a cover-up too!

Simple earrings, the ... View the Post

Start with Swimwear: Paradise Aqua Space Dye Tankini from Lands’ End

April 7, 2021 This Year, She's Going to Swim...

She read last year on her favorite blog that these swimsuits were so flattering that any self-consciousness about being seen in public in swimwear will change forever! So true, and after a missed year at the beach house with her extended family, she's not going to skip anything...

This is her planned palette:

Most relatives will drive to their MASSIVE shared beach house, but she's going to take the train... Experience has taught her that she really needs a cardigan; those trains can be FREEZING in warmer weather!

She's thrilled to see a long-sleeved swim tee! And a swim skirt - now she has 4 swimwear pieces, which gives her 4 combinations... She could even be tempted by ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #4 – Accent Color or Print Tee Shirt

April 5, 2021

Ah, if I were assembling a wardrobe from scratch, this would be when I start grabbing striped tee shirts - you don't even want to THINK about how often I wear a black and white shirt...

But I couldn't find a print that really blew my hair back, so I went with a favorite color of many of us, just to see how well it would work in a range of outfits. For starters, it looks pretty cool with olive green:

 

Note that I tried to keep quite a few items from last week, just to see how versatile our accent color might be. Generally it worked pretty well!

This color is called Beach Glass - something that makes me think of ghastly gashes in the sole of one's foot, and copious bleeding! This is much prettier, isn't ... View the Post

April 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

April 2, 2021

What rudeness on the part of Mother Nature - we will need our parkas today to go outside!

But we carry on with our Starting From Scratch building of 6 wardrobes - this months we're stocking up on tee shirts, and adding in a few accessories too! This exercise has made it really clear what additional pieces are needed in some places... It's interesting (at least to me!)...

These wardrobes were all somewhat out of balance in that they didn't have enough tops, so we're adding a few! Plus a pretty necklace and a simple, almost neutral scarf:

The first thing I've learned: this wardrobe either needs to embrace the purple and gold, or walk away! This gold tee shirt looks forlorn here, although it comes together ... View the Post

Start with Art: Involvement Series by Wanda Pimentel

March 31, 2020 You Don't Have to Wear the Polo Shirt and Khakis... She's the only woman going to the trade show. She plans to sell rings around the rest of the delegation.

But they want her to wear red, black and white every day. Oh my...

Since she's the only woman going from her company, she will get her own room. That's ideal - she will leave the ironing board up the entire week. She wants to be crisp and fresh every morning, knowing full well that by the end of the day she will look like a crumpled tissue!

So she's going to be inspired by this - except for the enigmatic and faintly menacing toes behind the ironing board:

Her color scheme is going to brighten up the beige to a more true white (to match her employer's ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #3 – Accent Color Tee Shirt

March 29, 2020

I couldn't choose which color, so I included two!

just for reference, here's the master list of 52 garments for 52 weeks of the year:

Back in the dark years of my retail career, there was a rule of thumb that if you didn't know what accent color to suggest to someone, you should try:

(1) the color of their lipstick (this was back in the days when a department store would actually HAVE a range of such colors),

(2) the color of their blush (ditto),

(3) some shade of coral - from quite close to pink to quite close to orange, or

(4) turquoise - anything from almost green to almost pure blue.

We had good luck with these ideas! Yes, this tee shirt isn't turquoise, but it's a very wearable blue for a ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Revisiting Tiger in the Grass by Echo

March 26, 2021

She's going back for another long weekend, after she set everybody straight back in December...

This is still her favorite scarf - she's not so fickle that she would find a new favorite in just a few months!

But she's changing her color scheme to something softer and more approachable; after her last visit, she doesn't need to be as assertive as before!

For the first meetings when she arrives, she's going to be positively quiet, and let everyone else air their opinions, grievances, and silly ideas:

The balance of the long weekend is going to be casual - informal conversations and projects, so she packs an assortment of relaxed clothes that all still echo the colors of her scarf, albeit in a lighter ... View the Post

March 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Illuminated Lynx

March 24, 2021

The Pantone colors for 2021 are Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray - these are our inspirations this month!

She loves the idea of illumination, so when she was invited to go to the retreat with some friends, she jumped at the chance!

Quiet, meditation, small groups talking about life... She's more than ready to spend a long weekend at this! 

Thus, she chose soft yellow and medium grey - symbolic of the sun breaking through clouds?

The weather will be uncertain - sunny but cool in the evenings. And the agenda is very relaxed; she's been assured that some participants will show up in sweat clothes and wear ONLY sweat clothes the entire time.

This isn't really about how you dress, and she knows ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #2 – Dark Neutral Tee Shirt

March 22, 2021

Hurrah! I love these posts...

And I've been really disciplined about NOT showing you yet another black tee shirt. While in my world, a stack of black tee shirts is a necessity - almost as important as coffee! - I know that for many of you, black is anathema...

So let's go olive!

Just for reference purposes, here's the master list. I'm going to try to replicate the 13 items for Spring in my own wardrobe, soon...

This is a great color - hard to find, but lovely, warm and rich:

This is a perfect color with beige...

If you feel like your skirt's a little bit dressy, a simple tee shirt will bring down the dressiness quotient a lot!

And don't miss this handbag; it costs as much as a rent ... View the Post