Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
I've been called away for another family medical emergency. I'll be away until at least the first week of August... so the color file will be arriving later, and post #1,000 will just have to wait.
Don't have too much fun without me!
love,
Janice ... View the Post
July 26, 2014
Sometime very soon I'm going to HAVE to do a capsule wardrobe based on mallards or some other duck that shows this color in a natural palette. I'm beginning to believe that I can't go wrong looking at nature for ideas. In the meantime, this is a great color to transition into the end of summer/hot days of early autumn. As much as we'd all like to start wearing fall clothing the first day of September, it's sort of insane to really consider it (at least in Chicago) until the last week of the month. A color like this at least lets you FEEL a little bit autumn-ish!These earrings are silk, and the bracelet is leather - what WILL they think of next?
Earrings – Dorus Mhor, tee shirt – Dorothy Perkins, leather bracelet – ... View the Post
July 25, 2014
Coral comes in a range of tints - there are more "pinkish", less "orangish" versions out there too if those would be more flattering. But any of them will look completely appropriate and attractive with all of our neutral color usual suspects. And as we move into August, and what is for many of us the end of summer (my great-nephew goes back to school IN 10 DAYS!!!), this might be a good wardrobe refresher, as well as a low-commitment way to test drive a new accent color for your wardrobe.
Please note - this tunic-length top is going to be "iffy" with some cardigans; I personally can wear a top hanging out below my cardigan without worry, but you might want to bear this conundrum in mind when you choose your coral ... View the Post
July 24, 2014
As I spend hours each day getting the big color combination document ready, I notice that there are a handful of colors that turn up in almost every color palette. They are colors that you might not like, or that might not look good on you, but they are colors that you might want to consider for a late-season capsule wardrobe refresh, or for an experiment in accent colors.Here, I'm showing a tee shirt and two pieces of jewelry; you could certainly go with only one piece of jewelry, or include a pair of sandals or casual shoes instead. But here, by adding just two or three pieces, you can see how each of the Starting From Scratch wardrobes can be updated.
I like the shirring on the sides of this tee ... View the Post
July 23, 2014
I have to confess, I think pigeons are beautiful. Annoying little sky rats, yes, but beautiful; their shades of grey, with iridescent green and purple...
So when I was asked to build a wardrobe based on a photograph of a pigeon, I was happy to do so. But there's no way I'm addressing those red eyes!
I think this makes a lovely wardrobe...
love, Janice
Updated on June 30, 2017 ... View the Post
July 22, 2014
It seems to be almost the uniform of the weekend - roll up the sleeves of a navy linen tunic, pull on some white cropped trousers, and accent with brightly colors jewelry and sandals... The jewelry isn't all precious stones, and the sandals are casual, but the effect of the bright accents was very eye-catching.I think you can learn a lot about your personal color preferences based on which of these looks appeal to you, or which you swear you could never wear!
love,
Janice ... View the Post
July 21, 2014
Business travel is a conundrum for many of us, so I'm going to try to suggest a few ways, now and then, to approach the packing...Suppose, for example, that at the end of October, you are going to have/get to come to Chicago for a two day sales conference. Literally only a day and a half of meetings, and then back on the plane. You're going to have to bring a briefcase with both your laptop and tablet, so you don't really want a lot more to carry. And being able to NOT check a suit case would be delightful...
Enter this:
So you can choose to wear anything from this little machine for travel - probably a cardigan, tee shirt and jeans, right? And pack the other six garments, as well as these accessories (you're ... View the Post
If you can wait a week or two, I'm going to have a GIGANTIC color scheme file available to buy - it will be 191 pages, and contain 1,456 different suggested color schemes. Each suggestion will include two of the neutral colors from the "Combinations of 3 Neutrals" file, plus two additional colors to act as accents. Some of the schemes will be quite bright, some very subtle, and some almost monochromatic. And I think you can assume that there will be some things here that you never expected!
Right now, I'm going back through all 985 posts on The Vivienne Files to make sure that I capture every color combination that I've used here on the blog. I will additionally refer to my collection of color reference books, and of ... View the Post
July 19, 2014
Someone specifically requested a Starting From Scratch capsule wardrobe in these colors, and many of you have expressed concerns about how to implement this plan if you're dealing with scorching hot summer weather. I really felt like I wanted to go through an entire wardrobe in one post, just to clarify and illustrate one more time how I see this project working. So here you have it!
Please note - the white garments here really ARE white - they just show up looking sort of beigy/grungy against the background. I generally don't promote the wearing of mungy clothes...
The first three steps are pretty straightforward: pants and shoes, then a cardigan and tee, then a neutral top and jeans. The biggest differences ... View the Post
As we get well and truly entrenched in summer, many of us find our minds wandering longingly toward autumn clothing. There's something about that whole image of snuggling in front of the fireplace in a big squishy sweater, cup of tea in hand, Golden Retriever at our feet, book of poetry in our lap... (I'm only missing the fireplace and the dog!)
Retailers know perfectly well how we're feeling - in Chicago, autumn clothing is already beginning to hit the stores thick and fast. It would be terribly easy to wander into a store and pick up a sweater, or a snuggly wool dress, or boots. OOOOOhhhh, boots....
(I'm sorry, Southern Hemisphere, it's not lost on me that all of this is backwards for you!)
Let me toss out ... View the Post
July 17, 2014
Remind me, when trench coats are back in stores, that we want to revisit these capsule wardrobes and make some additions. If you think of anything else we should address (December holiday attire?), send me a note at theviviennefiles at gmail dot com.
I broke everything out into two pages; I might have been able to fit everything on one page, but we wouldn't have been able to see anything - the earrings would have been teeny little dots on the page!
And I think the links are working - let me know if you find some that are broken and I'll look into it...
thanks, as always!
love, Janice
PS - For more color inspiration, you can find the latest Pantone Color Planner ... View the Post
Just because I can, and because I know some of you love to tinker in Excel, I'm made the Excel file available here:
and because I know that a larger print version will be handy if you want to do a lot of note taking, I made an eight-page, landscape layout version of the original worksheets, available here:
As with all things here at The Vivienne Files, if I can do anything to make your life easier, please let me know.
And thanks for reading my work - I appreciate it more than you can imagine!
hugs all around, Janice ... View the Post
