Archives for March 2016

March 2016

How I Pack for Paris in a Carry-on Bag

Remember, my bag is a hard-sided Tumi carry-on, very much like the great-grandmother of this beauty:

My bag is pretty "whacked" on the exterior, but remains in very secure, solid condition! One of my better investments, I have to say...

One of the things about rolling bags that makes packing difficult is that the interior bottom of the bag is bumpy - the bars for the handle run through the bag and make the "floor" of your packing area bumpy. So the first thing I always try to do is use unwrinkleable things, like workout clothes, to level the floor. Here, I've taken running tights, rolled them into long cylinders (fold in half at the knee, and then roll a few times), and then placed a pair of these into each of the "ruts" in my bag. ... View the Post

How to Pack a Travel Capsule Wardrobe for Paris – the “Three Dresses” Version

Belovedest and I are going BACK to Paris on Friday! Yes, I was just there in December...

And I'm going to try the strangest variation on packing yet - since we're only there for 6 nights, and since I always fly back from Paris in the same outfit I wear for the flight over (with a change of tee shirt), I'm just packing three dresses, which will cover the 5 full days that we're there. Two pair of ballet flats, and a stack of scarves.... This is going to be interesting!

I'm sticking pretty close to my uniform for packing - tee shirt (with my one-of-a-kind star design!), cardigan, scarf, and pants that won't collapse after 8 hours of sitting. This cardigan is going to be really handy on this trip, as I can wear it over all 3 dresses, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Wrapped Oranges by William J. McCloskey

This is the 1,500th post on The Vivienne Files! If you're looking here for a specific color scheme, or general ideal, I encourage you to go to Google and enter "The Vivienne Files" and then whatever things you'd like to find. The chances grow greater every day that you might find something helpful to you in my archives! And if you don't find it, let me know and I'll build it, some day. I've got no intentions of stopping now... And thank you, very humbly, and very sincerely, for your continued support of my efforts. You each mean so much to me! love, Janice On with the show!!! What a simple, but lovely painting:

It's the kind of painting that you might walk right past during a museum visit, but which merits some attention; a painting ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Autumn Trees – The Maples by Georgia O’Keeffe

You have sent me SO MANY beautiful art ideas - I'm going to dedicate a few days to addressing some of them. Fear not, the "1 at a Time" wardrobes will be back....

A travel wardrobe not for the faint of heart - but what beautiful, subtle colors:

She Has 24 Hours Well, she could take longer, but her plan is to spend her entire 1st day in town walking around, looking, listening, feeling her responses. By the time she goes to bed the first night, she's going to decide - yes or no - if she's moving there.

If she decides that she won't move there, she has the rest of the long weekend to enjoy her time off. But if she decides yes, she has the rest of the long weekend to find an apartment!

Happily, she's whittled her ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 by Georgia O’Keeffe Part 3

Remember our friend in the cabin? She's made a bold decision...

WWSM

(Widowed Woman Seeking Man) for sporting events, opera, symphony, dining, and whatever else we want to do... (she thought about specifying an age range for respondents, but she really doesn't care if her new friend is just out of college...)

Must be a man who appreciates simple pleasures, and is unimpressed by logos, bling, and obvious displays of wealth or debt. (if they're hanging around with her thinking that they'll get written into her will, they've got another thing coming!)

I will buy tickets if you do the driving! (maybe this will give them a hint that she remembers when Nixon resigned...)

If you want a new friend with a wide range of ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 by Georgia O’Keeffe Part 2

When we left our heroine, she was unpacking her things in her new cabin... Remember, her original wardrobe inspiration was this:

After a few weeks of settling in, she had met new friends and discovered a new routine of activities, interspersed with delightful leisure... And she realized that her love of wearing jeans was a reflection of her need for relaxation, which was now being fulfilled! So she decided to invest in a few new ensembles, to give herself a few more wardrobe options. Her new home was a perfect combination of urban and rural: street lights on poles in the front, fireflies among trees in the back; city water in the front, a natural spring (far) in the back; mail delivery in the front, owls in the back. So she ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories: Denim, Stone, Pink and Soft Blue, 1 at a Time

This wardrobe is such a nice mix of casual fabrics with soft and pretty accents, I thought that I would try to continue the theme of femininity in the accessories, without getting too girly or sissy... I love these challenges! The original wardrobe is from yesterday; this is the starter outfit:

While I felt that jeans and a sweatshirt strongly suggested boots, I limited my choices to softer colors or boots with a metallic sheen to them. A lady-like boot might be a stretch, but these at least have a lighter feel to them!

For the first bag, I wanted to see something in the stone neutral, but with a bit of softness, or texture, or "pink-ness" to it...

An all-navy outfit strongly suggests a scarf that include navy, but also some lighter ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Denim, Stone, Pink and Soft Blue: 1 Piece at a Time

This woman is one who really love denim, and a good sweatshirt, but who also has a side that wants a bit of the feminine, and the softly colored... Her starting "favorite" outfit:

And this is the color scheme she has in mind. This is a really good scheme, in that the two neutrals are both typically available in a variety of casual fabrics, so they're a good "couple" to work together. And since both of the accent colors are equal in intensity and value, they will also be usable in the same situations, and very likely to appear together in prints and patterns. When your chosen colors have a certain "feeling" in common, you might find that they work better together than colors that are all over the map in terms of mood and ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories: Cobalt, Black and Grey, 1 at a Time

I love this wardrobe... This wardrobe was originally put together in this post; with the starting outfit I'm leaning toward a pair of shiny black flats:

And for no better reason than to show some variety, I think that we'll give our mystery wearer a nice clutch bag. If you're not usually a handbag person, maybe all you really need is one nice bag for dressy occasions!

I'm changing the order of the accessories here so that I can find a scarf to really tie this outfit together. This is another thing that you really want to bear in mind when you're finding accessories for your wardrobe - they should be sourced (purchased, gift-hinted, etc.) in whatever order you need them!

Comfortable shoes! They can be plain loafers, something ... View the Post

Six BIG Trends to Try (Maybe) for Spring!!!!

These lists always crack me up, but I think they're worth considering, from time to time. I see two sides of this issue:

I hate this, because I don't think you should listen to what someone tells you to wear unless you're in an organization for which a uniform is appropriate, or if you're in a wedding.... but It can be edifying to see what other people think of as "can't miss" because it can clue you into things that are going to be readily available in stores for a while, and maybe remind you that it's time to replace or upgrade something that you haven't purchased in years.

Yes, my name is Janice (like Janus, the god of beginnings, endings, doorways, portals, and both sides of everything)...

The '90s Neckline I don't remember this ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Asiatic God by Paul Klee

This looks a little bit clown-like on my screen, but in person it's much more compelling, with a lot of texture. Almost mysterious, dark, and captivating, with amazing color highlights.

The frame is maroon and grey, and there are tiny accents of teal... the pink on the face is, in fact, the color PUCE! (I was searching around for the precise RGB combination to show the color on the color wheel, and learned this...)

This cried out for denim, to serve as a base for texture and a variety of accent colors...

Yes, the image of this skirt is TERRIBLE, but I really wanted you to see this skirt. It's a departure from a lot of denim skirts, in that it seems to have more finesse. So I've compromised on the image. I HATE to do ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories: Grey, Blue, Lilac and Black, 1 at a Time

The more I look at these colors, the more I like them; for a wardrobe with only 16 pieces, there are wide-ranging options from somber black to gentle pastels. This shows the possibilities of just a few pieces of carefully-chosen clothing. Here's the original wardrobe, and this was out starting point:

I thought it would be nice to show the possibility of some metallic accessories!

And small, simple, classic silver earrings...

But you are always going to want a pair of neutral shoes. (well, I'm sure someone out there would be happy wearing silver shoes every day. If that's you, then do it!)

The Ted Baker floral scarf was perfect with our first outfit, so I thought that maybe his watches would look nice with these pieces, too. ... View the Post