Archives for October 2015

October 2015

Scarf Selling Saturday: Hermes Les Instructions du Roy, in Light Blue

Another chance to buy one of my beautiful scarves! I have so much TOO much stuff; and this is a scarf that needs to get out and about and get some appreciation...

But first things first last Saturday's Venice scarf! Dear MzMary, who left the very LAST comment on that post, please send me a note at theviviennefiles@gmail.com so that we can arrange for your purchase of the gorgeous Frey Wille scarf...

So how might someone wear the scarf above?

First up, there are substantial touches of taupe in the scarf, so I envisioned someone in a simple taupe dress, a fabulous bracelet or two, and simple pumps, with the scarf tied in her hair - maybe holding back a low pony tail? Nothing over the top, but softly luxurious...

At the other ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Dantis Amor by Rossetti – Step 3

Now the fun starts! The clothes from yesterday are certainly very nice, if not mind-bending, but in order to give things just a touch of zest, and a sense of finish, some well-chosen accessories are imperative! (well, shoes are imperative, even if you never wear a scarf or a piece of jewelry; when pressed to offer up what piece of clothing every woman, without exception, should own, the only thing I can honestly think of is shoes...)

Reminders of our basic style source, and the clothes with which we're working:

As I said, shoes first! I always look for something comfortable - that's completely NOT negotiable. When men start wearing uncomfortable shoes, I will too. In the meantime, my feet are just as important as theirs...

This ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Dantis Amor by Rossetti – Step 2

Okay, now that we have our color scheme, we'll need to start picking clothes!

As always, I'm going to start with the neutrals, since they're the really essential foundation garments for your 4 by 4 wardrobe. First up, the elusive camel, or vicuna, or caramel, or walnut (although I think of walnut as darker), or amber, or whatever else this color might be called. This is one of the essential qualities that you have to bring to the clothing search - a real flexibility in how you describe what you want!

And look outside your normal comfort zone - Google images and see what comes up. Look on Polyvore, or other shopping sites.

This turned out to be a tremendously tough color to find, unless you were interested in spending four figures ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Dantis Amor by Dante Gabriel Rosetti – Step 1

You've been asking for years - HOW to I look at a work of art and devise a color-scheme from it?

Today is my attempt to explain a little bit of what I do...

First off, let's pick a piece of art that I personally really admire. The admire part is critical - you need to love the colors, the subject, and the style of the art in question, or there's no point in analyzing it in any detail. If you're looking for a piece of art to serve as an inspiration or a leitmotif for your wardrobe, it must be something with real "staying power" in your heart.

This painting would never work for me for my wardrobe - all the wrong colors. But otherwise, I'm a big fan. I can't pinpoint what it is that I love about Pre-Raphaelite painting, but I am always ... View the Post

Down Vests: Eight Outfits

For us in Chicago, it's that time of year when you haven't a clue how to dress for the weather - absolutely cold mornings turn into beautiful afternoons.. A down vest can be a useful, and fairly modestly priced, option.

I've seen a few really well styled outfits, so I copied them as best I could, and then I built on the core ideas to show a few additional options. Please note that these vests are pretty trim in cut, and have a very clever elastic inset at the waist, in the back. There are not your mother's puffer vests! (although I still wear mine...)

This was the outfit that got me started thinking about vests; what really elevated the elegance factor here was the cashmere tee, the gorgeous scarf, and the metallic boots. Pearl ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Music Party, East Cowes Castle by Joseph Mallord William Turner

It takes a minute or two for the images to become clear...

But it's worth the wait. These are great colors for this time of year!

Skipping the Reunion, Again

Every year, their school has a reunion. And every year, they get together in their favorite pub, and decide that they don't want to go! (everybody in the world did NOT love their school years...) It's become a tradition...

The someone pulls out the National Rails Timetable, and they haggle around a bit about where they go for a weekend away. This year, Edinburgh!

A few weeks ago, they knew nothing. Now, they're ready for one of the great castles in the world, beautiful scenery, excellent architecture, buckets of history, buckets of whisky...

Hanging out with ... View the Post

Scarf Selling Saturday: Venice Scarf by Frey Wille

As promised, here's the first of the scarves that I want to sell, and it's a really amazing one!

This is part of Frey Wille's "Homage to Venice" collection, which still has jewelry available here. I used to be quite mad about Venice, and when I saw this scarf, it was irresistible. That said, I don't remember ever wearing it, so it's in great condition.

Quality is very comparable to an Hermes scarf in terms of silk weight, size, and finish. It's difficult to see on photographs, but this scarf has a bright red contrast hemmed edge against the more deep maroon red right next to it. Imagine the skill it takes to (a) dye the edge of the scarf at just the right width to form the edge, and then (b) roll it and stitch it in place to form the ... View the Post

The Four T’s, in Brown, and in Pine Green

After I reported to you about how women were dressing in London (see here), I kept mulling over that idea of the four garments in the same color... There's certainly no reason that they have to be black! I think we can agree than many of us don't wear black, and that there's a lot of other options available.

So I replicated the same idea in brown:

Something I saw only a few times in London,but that I wanted to share, is women wearing their matching turtleneck and tights with a dress over it. While this will only work with the rarest of dresses it's worth remembering. A dress that's too bare for cooler weather, too dressy for day, or just well-suited to layering will work here. And a denim shirtdress is made for this. Many people ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Pigs on the Wing by wrq.e.d. Version 2

While the first colors that I saw in the scarf were greys and black, there's definitely enough beige and brown here to work with; maybe I see black and grey first because that's my personal capsule wardrobe focus? But this time, this is the color scheme. I like giving myself the full range of the blues and browns as options, I think it works well with the scarf, and makes the blending of different shades of one color possible. While there are a few colors that need to be matched pretty closely, others can blend all over the place and work well - I think brown is one of those!

I didn't mention this, but the border of this scarf reads:

my song was out of tune, my voice was cracked, but at least no chorus can ever sing it back.

Imagine ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Pigs on the Wing by wrq.e.d.

Such a great scarf... Do we all remember the Pink Floyd song?

I am going to work with this scarf twice - I have a warm color scheme in mind for this, too. But for now, I'm concentrating on shades of grey, and that glorious blue.

The Thinnest Veneer of Conformity

You have to visit the client. You developed the billing fee plan, so you've got to explain it to them. (those sales persons are such sissies...)

You've been briefed at exhausting length about how to dress. Like you haven't been dressing yourself for decades. But you're usually... somewhat... nonconformist, so I guess they might have reason to be concerned.

No worries, you are going to board the plane is style!

After the briefing, you're going to have to spend ... View the Post

What Women Were Wearing in London, or the Four Black T’s

If you want to blend into the London crowd, the first thing you need to buy is black tights! And a pair of very sensible low-heeled black shoes... We walked for about 26 miles over the 2 days that we were in London (yes, I'm really happy that we work out so much!) and about half of the women we saw were wearing either black tights or black trousers, with shoes in which they could easily walk. Many ballet flats...

And I saw a large number of women who had paired their tights or trousers with a lightweight top in black. Thus is born the Four Black T's: tights, tee shirt, trousers and turtleneck! (mnemonics help me remember things!)

In my ever-mathematical mind, this immediately translated into four possible combinations. Yes, you will ... View the Post

A Little Bit About a Lot of Things… and a Special Offer!

Back from vacation!

I thought about you all A LOT, and have all sorts of odds and ends to share...

My Packing

First off, 2 suitcases are 5 times the headache of 1 bag... But we did run A LOT, so I didn't regret having my running gear with me. However, I'm seriously going to think about how to whittle down packing every more - maybe do laundry even MORE often? We had laundry done on days 5 and 10... I should have used MORE packing cubes - to segregate dress from casual from spectator sport from running. No excuses on this - I have the cubes, and just didn't use them! Economizing on the number of socks one packs is just silly... Ditto lingerie... I used to pack a plastic vacuum bag, that you could roll, or sit on, and squeeze out all ... View the Post