Archives for July 2015

July 2015 - Page 2 of 3

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The White and Green Hat by Georgette Agutte

July 17, 2015

How did I make it so far into my life without knowing about Georgette Agutte? She was French, and she painted some really wonderful paintings; I encourage you to look her up. You're going to be seeing more of her on The Vivienne Files, I can promise! Someone suggested this lovely painting - she seems like she would be a kind and gentle friend, doesn't she?

As with most paintings, there are a variety of ways to approach the colors, but I've gone this direction:

"Doesn't she look like Grandma?" Your sister said, and just like that, the whole idea got started... So now, you and your older sister are going on a road trip, starting with ... View the Post

What’s Going On in My Wardrobe

July 16, 2015

For those of you who have been wondering how I'm dressing these days, I offer up the following snapshots, taken from my Instagram account:

I will get back to posting my Wardrobe Diaries, when I don't have so many other beautiful things to discuss!

But if you want to follow me on Instagram, I post about 3 or 4 times a week about what I'm wearing, or other nifty and beautiful things I see.

You can follow me hereby clicking on the little tiny navy and grey camera up in the top right corner, above my photograph, and the Google search bar. I'd love to see you there!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Gentian Blue by Yuh Okano

July 15, 2015

I've really admired scarves from textile artist Yuh Okano for a while, but it wasn't until I held one in my hands that I realize how truly wonderful they are. Her scarves have that beautiful reflectiveness and iridescence that's characteristic of organza, but they're not "crispy" or difficult to wear... I'm smitten! But best of all, if you leave me a comment on today's post, you will be entered to win this gorgeous scarf shown here! It's all silk, 70 inches long by 13 inches wide (or 180 cm x 33 cm for most of the world), and is gorgeous. (I have it here in my apartment, and I can assure you that giving it away wont be easy!) commenting closed 7 a.m. Chicago Time July 22, ... View the Post

How Many Pieces of Clothing do You Need?

The question I'm asked the most often: How many pieces of clothing do I need to have in my wardrobe?

Nothing like a simple question to keep me thinking!

But I've figured out, finally, that if you can answer four questions (two easy, two more difficult), I can tell you EXACTLY how many pieces should be hanging in your gorgeous vintage armoire.

1. What is the time period for which we are planning?

For planning out your completely wardrobe (not including gym clothes or leisure attire), you'd start with the number 365 - we're planning a wardrobe for a year. But the nice thing about the formula I figured out is that you could also answer 180, if you wanted to know how many pieces of cold-weather clothing you should have, or you ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of a Girl by Marie Laurencin

July 13, 2015 Why yes, she is my favorite artist! Does it show?

In the Rare Books Department, you have to wear a lab coat... and after years of showing undergrads how to work the copy machines, and shelving books, and fixing microfilm readers, you've been promoted to work there... Rare Books is a department that's always warm, always spotlessly clean, and which has a surprisingly casual dress code.

So you've decided that you're going to indulge your love of pastel colors and focus your work wardrobe on your favorite blush and aqua shades...

Because of the fanatically dust-free environment, most of the staff wears light colors under their lab coats. Some ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with A WALL?? Pulling out all the stops, in Grey, Burgundy and Gold

July 11, 2015 Seriously. I was waiting for a friend at his gym yesterday, and I noticed that the walls in the entrance areas were painted in a mottled (maybe sponged?) pattern of shades of grey and burgundy - mostly dark - accented with metallic gold. Unexpected. Eye-catching. And it got my mind wandering...

"I view marriage as a merger of financial statements..." Two weeks before graduation, he drops this little bombshell on you, and breaks your heart. He's always made it clear that he doesn't think your chosen work is going to be lucrative, but you didn't realize quite how much the money mattered to him. I guess that's a bullet dodged, but it still hurts. ... 25 years ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2, Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke

July 10, 2015 I was going to wait a few weeks to do this for autumn, but I found myself thinking about these colors so much last night that I thought I'd best just go ahead and jump into it! For cooler weather, I swapped out the pink for that strong green, and I darkened all of the colors a bit; I particularly wanted to make sure that the navy on the left of the painting was included, since that's a pivotal neutral for me here.

The last weekend at the lake, for this year As soon as you can escape from work, you're headed to the cabin. There's always work to be done to make sure things are ready for winter, and this may be the last non-snowy weekend you can all get there. So even though you had to wear a suit ... View the Post

Start With Art: Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke

July 9, 2015 This painting is great - I want to revisit this one with a more fall/winter orientation. For warm weather, my first thought was that the shades of blue reminded me of denim and chambray, accented with that YELLOW, the rose, and some acid green (which I didn't address here, but might in the future!)

So this is my warm-weather color scheme:

Everyone is at the lake but you... Yes, everyone else went to the cabin last night. But you KNEW that you had to go into the office this morning - that client report wasn't going to write itself! But if you put your head down and WRITE, you can be out of the office by 2:00 or so - in time to get to the lake for ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Self-Portrait in a Green Bugatti by Tamara de Lempicka

July 8, 2015 Yesterday, after I worked on Camposanto, I was thinking about the inherent utility of a wardrobe that had a khaki and white core, and how virtually any accent color would work well with those 2 neutrals. And of course, I'm thinking about tossing black into the mix... So in the comments, someone mentions this MOST elegant and compelling painting!

White would also work beautifully here:

In the interest of showing how versatile a simple, solid core of clothing can be, I kept yesterday's Core in camel, or tan, or whatever you wish to name this color.

When looking for the black Core, I tried to find pieces that had some swish to them. Tamara has always looked like ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Camposanto by J.M.W. Turner

July 7, 2015 To the seaside!!! Everyone told you that you couldn't have purple as your favorite color for your entire life - but YOU know better...

Did you have a favorite color as a child? I never really did, but I always wore my older sister's clothes, so it's maybe just as well that I didn't have strong feelings about it! love, Janice ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Sisyphus by Titian

July 6, 2015

Sometimes you feel like you work and work and don't really make any progress, or go anywhere... Seeing Sisyphus reminds me of business travel that's not really travel!

Your client is Milan is... amused... that there's a blizzard bearing down on Chicago. But not amused enough that they will let you off the hook for having the samples in the hands of the courier by Friday afternoon! This isn't work that can be phoned in - you have to cut fabric, assemble muslins, put together swatch cards and sample cards of the trimmings - your team has to be IN the office for the duration. What do you do? You get everybody into a conference room. Even though you all know full well that the blizzard might not ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait de Jeune Fille by Marie Laurencin

July 3, 2015 I love this painting - I'm a big Marie Laurencin fan anyway. This girl's expression is so very much "I know what I'm doing, probably a whole lot better than you do..." I respect that kind of quiet confidence!

This color scheme is feminine without being frilly or lacy - I see the femininity here conveyed in soft lines, sheer fabrics, and a calm attitude. These are the colors of The Vivienne Files, too!

In honor of this young lady's calm assurance, I was thinking of this as one of those business trips where you're the only person with a clue. We know this kind of trip: You wrote the macro. Not ANYBODY at the home office - YOU. But now, they want you to COME to the home office ... View the Post