The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Archives for March 2014

March 2014 - Page 2 of 3

The Week Ahead

If all has gone according to plan, as you're reading this, I am in Paris... but this coming week, I've scheduled posts that flash back to guest posts that I did last year for A Femme d'un Certain Age. They're all about travel...

If you don't already follow me on Instagram, you might want to consider.  If I take any great photographs, that's where they will be first. The bizarre little logo below this is how you get to Instagram.  I think...

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Travel and Love – Remembering What’s Important

Today, we leave for Paris.  To say that we're excited would be accurate, but it's more of a "warm, thrilled to be able to go away together" kind of excitement, rather than an "OMG WE'RE GOING TO PARIS" kind of thing.  Because it's every-present in our minds that, a week from today, we'll be in Paris, but TWO weeks from today, we'll be back in Chicago, and the vacation will be an accumulation of beautiful memories, credit card bills, and a few gorgeous items we purchased...

Travel is hard - there's no question.  You're out of your usual routine, all of your normal "stuff" is either somewhere else completely, or crammed into bags, and for many people, you're someplace where you don't understand most of what's going on around ... View the Post

I Love Ornate Details…

March 13, 2014

Maybe your living room looks like this...

Okay, maybe your dream living room looks like this!

 But like so many of us, you have a simple wardrobe that works for your everyday life:

But if you pay attention to the details, you can incorporate that style that you love into your everyday outfits.  A touch of lace, a bit of muted floral, and some silk in the place of where many of us would wear cotton.

 So you have quite a few outfits that are still very low-key, appropriate for your life, but still include that touch of luxe that warms your heart.

Keep to the same philosophy for your accessories - scarves can be soft and textured, your everyday tote bag can have some pretty ... View the Post

What’s on The Vivienne Files Bookshelf?

March 12, 2014   #1.  The Triumph of Individual Style by Carla Mason Mathis and Helen Villa Connor

 

Yes, the book is blindingly expensive, but if you've never felt like you are beautiful or that your particular "type" is lovely, this book might change your mind forever. The authors site a wide variety of fine art from throughout history in order to demonstrate that everyone is beautiful. Period.   I'm not completely convinced by every one of the exercises in the book; I've never been sold on the "your best red is the color of the blood drawn from your right kneecap at midnight under a full moon while chanting the lyrics of the full Partridge Family oeuvre and facing east" school of colors, but if it works ... View the Post

I Want to Dress Like a Chalet…

March 11, 2014

These kinds of rooms are really popular, and many of you wanted to know if this whole feeling or sensibility can be conveyed in a wardrobe.

What can we take from this photo and those of similar rooms that will help us make informed choices about what to add to our neutral wardrobe?  Words that I immediately identified included wood, bone, beige, ivory, ethnic and Native America prints, warm textures, tone-on-tone layering.

Starting with this base wardrobe:

Three garments that aren't a really wild stretch, but that start expressing your taste:

Lots of easy ways to wear these...

Add in some accessories:

These work beautifully with your ... View the Post

I Love Baroque, but I Live Simple and Contemporary

March 8, 2014

Maybe this is the living room of your dreams:

But your core wardrobe is our usual:

So let's try the same exercise we did before - find three garments that reflect the warmth, the rosiness, the ornate and filigreed nature of the room...

You have to keep, somewhere in the back of your mind, the reminder that you need to work with neutrals of black, white and khaki.  Otherwise, let your heart go wild... and you will have lots of ways to wear them.

If this feels comfortable for you, you can branch out and add a few accessories that also share you sensibility...

These will work beautifully with what you already own...

and you can always find ... View the Post

I Worry too Much about Packing, Especially for Paris…

March 7, 2014

Do you worry too much about what to pack? Anticipation is a lot of the fun, but it's possible to reach a point in preparation where you drive yourself slightly nuts; I have reached that point with preparing for Paris next week.  For a while, I would just wear something that I really loved, and then (after laundering) hang it onto the rack designated for Paris packing.

Okay, so now about 50% of my closet is ready to pack.  Clearly not going to work out, eh?

And then I get panicky - what should I take?  What if I forget something I really love?  Will it all fit in my suitcase?  You would think that I'd never done this before, or that what I pack will be the most important thing about the entire vacation.

So first ... View the Post

My Favorite Style is Inappropriate for my Life!

March 6, 2014

I think many of us wrestle with this - we really adore an aesthetic and style that just does NOT translate into our day-to-day life. For example, say this is your idea of a great room - Diana Vreeland certainly thought so:

But this is your typical wardrobe - simple, high-quality neutrals that really don't reflect that colorful exuberance above:

For starters, a red tee shirt seems like the easiest thing to slide into this closet. But consider a richly patterned cardigan and/or skirt. Remember when making your choice that you want to work with your neutral core, so you should look for elements of black and white, if possible. And more importantly, these items should satisfy that longing for ornate opulence that ... View the Post

Building Your Personal Style Vocabulary: Colors

It's fine to say "my favorite color is blue", but realistically there are dozens and dozens of shades of every color, and lots of color words that are open to a range of interpretation. So I'm suggesting that you consider being really precise in the description of your favorite colors. Don't just capture the color itself, but search for words that share the spirit and essence of what the color is in your life. The more clearly we can define ourselves and our preferences, the more focused we can be when we put these color into practice in our wardrobes and our homes...

What words did I miss?

love, Janice

PS - You can find the latest Pantone Color Planner and other documents in the Planning Documents section of the website. ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: Are Accessories Necessary?

March 4, 2014

Do you have to buy and wear accessories?  Absolutely not - except most of us will have to wear shoes... But I very strongly feel that just a few well-chosen accessories can make a world of difference in how the simplest of garments come together into ensembles.

If you're not comfortable wearing scarves, find a way to just throw one around your neck one day and then do your utmost to ignore it for as long as possible.  Make sure your first scarf isn't anything floaty or filmy that's going to blow up into your face at the first opportunity.  Maybe something quite small, tied up and out of the way so that you won't even really see it...

Jewelry is also pretty useful - earrings especially are the easiest of things to put ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: What if I Don’t Wear Black?

March 3, 2014   I knew this would be the next question - what if I don't wear black?  You have all of the rest of the spectrum from which to choose, but realistically, grey, navy, brown or tan/khaki are the most obvious other options from which to choose.  Let's try the same exercise as before, but with warm colors.   Say you at least know that you prefer mostly warm hues - and these are your favorite recent purchases:  

  There's no outfit to be worn from these four - it just simply isn't possible for most of us to put together an ensemble here.  But if you started with a basic core of neutral clothes in warmer tones (except for jeans, which are sort of the ultimate ... View the Post