Archives for August 2014

August 2014

Adding a “Pantone” Accent Color to a 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe: Mauve Mist

What do you do with a Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe if you want to dabble in a currently trendy accent color? This has been asked a couple of times in the last few days, and I think it's a pretty important thing to think about; we all know that stores will show colors WAAAAAY outside of our plan...

This applies to those of us will well-established Four by Four Wardrobes, and for any of us who are still considering what to use for accent colors. If you have a wardrobe that includes a LOT of your neutrals, sampling a seasonal neutral is a good way to give yourself some variety without breaking the bank.

I actually put together a little (relatively) document that shows all ten of this seasons "new" colors, juxtaposed against all ... View the Post

How to Pack for Paris, again!

Yes, there are lots more Four by Four Wardrobes on the way, but I like to mix things up a bit!

I don't leave for Paris and Amsterdam for 20 days, but I'm already starting to think this one through. This is a particularly interesting packing adventure, because I'm currently living in hot summer weather (well, hot, cool, stormy, and just plain strange...), but I know that it's going to be more comfortable in Europe. Unless it's not. Sigh...

As usual, I'm planning to dress in layers, so worst case cold weather means more layers, and worst case warm weather means just a shirt rather than a shirt and sweater. If it gets too extreme, I go shopping, or I stay in the hotel. One can't pack for every eventuality, ... View the Post

Questions about the raison d’etre of The Vivienne Files

A lot of questions recently have revolved around the origins of The Vivienne Files, and what it is that drives me to write it, and what I hope to have accomplished by all of this work. Good questions, and well worthwhile for me to consider from time to time.

I don't have any contact with Vivienne any more, but I will always remember her as the first person that I met who really made it clear to me that looking gorgeous and well-dressed was in no way related to having a big pile of clothes, or to shopping incessantly. She would never have gone into debt to buy clothing. She only bought things for which she had saved the money; she only bought things for which she had planned carefully; she only bought things that worked ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Smoky Blue, Pearl Grey, Navy and Grey

The same core of navy and grey looks a LOT different when the accent colors are soft and subtle!

I think this demonstrates that you can invest in a core of neutral colors, and then, as your preferences and tastes (and personal coloring...) change, you can shift into a different "feel" of accent colors, without having to completely redo your wardrobe.

I changed out a couple of these tops, in order to soften up some of the more crisp colors and graphics of earlier wardrobes.

Realistically, if you've chosen pearl grey as one of your accents, you've opened the lovely door to all shades of grey in your wardrobe. Grey is a great color to blend...

I chose a solid scarf for this wardrobe, in a shade ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Bright Blue, Ultra-Violet, Navy and Grey

This capsule wardrobe is a perfect case study in having to be really patient in the search for the accent colors! While navy and grey are pretty readily available, these particular beautiful, vivid shades of blue and violet were quite difficult to find! But that's okay - you've lived this far into your life with your current wardrobe, and even if you only have the navy and grey pieces of this wardrobe for quite a while, you've got plenty of options. If you settle for something that's close, but not exactly right, then you won't love your new clothes any more than you love your existing wardrobe, and that accomplishes nothing for anybody except the retailers!

Here's our color scheme:

First, the Core of Four in navy ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Apricot, Celadon, Navy and Brown

Sunday morning, I built a spreadsheet to analyze all of the color combinations that you've requested, and it turns out that navy is the most requested color (followed closely by brown and medium grey). So I'm going to persevere with the various ways to use navy as a capsule wardrobe base - are you more interested in seeing dressy/conservative office attire, business casual (which to me feels like an oxymoron, even though I lived with it for decades), or casual/weekend? Or shall I mix it up?

Let me know...

First up today is this excellent color combination:

The familiar brown core:

And the navy Core of Four. Don't forget that these four items, all on their own, give you FOUR outfits. It's easy to lose ... View the Post

Another Milestone – 10 million pageviews?!!!

Unless absolutely everybody ignores the Internet today, The Vivienne Files will pass 10 million page views some time today.

Leaving me pretty much completely humbled, and a little bit dumbfounded.

I've already thanked you all about a hundred times, but I want to thank you, all, again. For everything.

And I have one last dream that hasn't come true, with which I need your help.

Do you need someone who's cheerful, informative, somewhat funny, and full of love to speak to a group of people? Might I humbly submit myself as a possible speaker?

You won't be disappointed. I'm willing to speak in exchange for travel expenses, and we will all have a lot of fun, I promise.

And thank you, once more, for your ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Berry, Beige, Navy and Brown

I was going to save this post for during my Paris vacation (September 18 - 28!!!), but I really like it, and I think it shows two great accent colors that many of us could consider incorporating (at least in small doses) in our capsule wardrobes. The fact that the berry red is going to be pretty flattering for many people is worth remembering...

The same starting four in brown, with a really brown skirt...

And navy separates that look familiar too!

And these guys have been around too... I think the most amazing thing about the clothing from The Row - aside from their prices - is that they're designed by the Olsen twins. From Full House. I don't see that they have any fashion design, nor textile manufacturing, ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Mint Green, Grey, Denim and Brown

I've decided to change up the order of the colors in the titles, so that when we scan through a large number of them, the accent colors will be better emphasized. They are, theoretically, where the fun it!

So one of you (you know who you are, you scamp!) fell in love with a deeply INAPPROPRIATE scarf:

I would do hideously inappropriate things for this scarf in grey and pink, so I understand...

So this lovely scamp had pretty much committed to a color scheme with two neutrals of denim blue (not necessarily denim FABRIC, but that blue), and brown. Her first accent color was planned to be grey, and she had not settled on a 2nd accent. I proposed this color scheme to her:

Suddenly things start to look MUCH more ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Brown, Green and Beige

While these are the same neutral colors that we saw yesterday, these accent colors are much more subdued and much more frequently seen along with the neutrals. Therefore, this capsule wardrobe came together much more quickly and with greater ease.

This was my color scheme:

And this is our familiar brown Core of Four:

I've changed up the jeans for a skirt, since I'm going to swing this wardrobe a little bit more toward a work environment. If you don't need skirts, you could certainly keep the jeans.

I found ONE more sweater in this color combination - equally blindingly expensive... And I opted for a more tailored cardigan this round.

These tops were easy to track down!

And the scarves were ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe STRUGGLE in Brown, Navy, Leaf Green and Bright Pink

I know from my emails that some of you who are working on Four by Four capsule wardrobes are running into some challenges, and so today I'm sharing with you the hardest wardrobe (so far) that I've done. As we get to each step of the process, I'll tell you what (hair pulling) issues I encountered, and what my adjustments and accommodations to the normal process were.

First up, let's console ourselves with the final product:

The more I look at these four, the more I like them...

And these are quite nice too - although the blouse is silk, it's a quite casual style. Thus far, eight really good, classic, timeless items.

But let's be serious - I had NO IDEA that finding four garments that combined brown and navy was ... View the Post

Skincare, Sunscreen, Science, and Silliness

According to a few reports I've recently seen, somewhere between 10% and 30% of adults apply sunscreen when exposed to the sun...

We don't listen to really good science when it's provided to us; the link between sun exposure and skin cancer is pretty well documented.

But we DO listen to all kinds of nutty science claims that tell us that our skin will be revolutionized because of some new and amazing ingredient - preferably something natural.

Our capacity to objectively judge claims seems to completely vanish when confronted with the promise of looking younger. My favorite claim HAS to be anti-gravity.

I like the precision of 212% improvement, or 42% increased firmness. How is firmness measured?

sigh...

... View the Post