The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Archives for 2014

2014 - Page 10 of 26

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

August 25, 2014  

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 ... View the Post

Another Milestone – 10 million pageviews?!!!

August 23, 2014

  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 ... View the Post

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

August 22, 2014   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 ... View the Post

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

August 21, 2014  

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 ... View the Post

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

August 20, 2014   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 ... View the Post

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

August 19, 2014  

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 ... 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

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Grey, Green and Gold

August 16, 2014  

One last visit to these four grey garments - this time, a entirely different color scheme!  

Making grey work with otherwise warm colors isn't difficult if you keep a few simple things in mind. In order to make everything hang together here, I made sure that the accessories mixed cool and warm. For example, the brown linen bracelet has silver beads, the smoky quartz earrings are set in sterling, rather than the most obvious gold, the brown leather band is on a stainless steel watch - even the grey boots have brown heels!  

These little touches make a lot of difference to the way things look to me...

Today, let's start with the colors:

  Starting with the brown ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Denim, Grey, Pink and Rose

August 15, 2014  

The same grey clothes are going to get a bit more mileage - this time, combined with denim, and softest shades of pink and a kind of lavender-ish rose.  When I built this color scheme, my thinking was that when the accent colors are so closet together and have so much the similar feeling and mood, that it sort of gives you the freedom to use any color within that entire family.First up, the finished capsule wardrobe:

  This is the color scheme, with that absolutely annoying grey that will NOT show up well once it's transferred into a PDF.  Sheesh....  

  When using denim as one of your neutrals, it's can be helpful if some of the denim has some texture or pattern, so that ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Grey, Camel and Cream

August 14, 2014

Yesterday, someone asked if it was possible to change the colors in the Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe.  

Well, yes, I plan to show a whole BUNCH of these so that we can see some of the color schemes from The Vivienne Files Color Planner in action. (that's why I asked which combinations are your favorites; so I can work specifically with them)

All of yesterday's grey garments are still here, but the other three colors have been switched. If I were building this wardrobe for myself, I would ABSOLUTELY buy the scarf first and then very gradually build around it. This is a scarf that would be an ideal long-term focal object for all purchases; the colors and the design are just that perfect!

This is the capsule ... View the Post

A Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Grey, Teal and Burgundy

August 13, 2014    

The Four by Four capsule wardrobe - in which you focus on four garments at a time - is a great way to move toward a complete wardrobe when you can't face a ton of shopping at one time. The fours can easily be pulled from your Step by Step Capsule Wardrobe; this is sort of Step by Step with lots of resting in between steps!

One of the great beauties of Four by Four is that sixteen garments, plus accessories, is a great quantity of clothes for travel...

While these sixteen items could be purchased in any order or combination, I've got to admit that I would be VERY tempted to get all of the solid navy pieces at the same time, and maybe even from the same place. Navy is not a color that can just be ... View the Post

Starting From Scratch Summer Office Wardrobe in Navy and White

August 12, 2014   Yes, it still exists: the office with the strict dress code.  Pants only on Fridays.  No visible knees, nor underarms.  Absolutely  no HINT of cleavage...   This is even more challenging in the summer, when it can be sweltering outdoors, but the office will invariable be quite cool.  The rules are made, and the thermostats are set, by men in wool suits, long-sleeved shirts, and an undershirt.  (why, if they dress like this in the heat of summer, do we let them run the world?)   But you can still have a great, fun, spiffy capsule wardrobe!  

Remember this color scheme?  A few weeks ago, I showed a very casual summer wardrobe using these colors. ... View the Post