Archives for July 2016

July 2016

A Winter Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Red and White

After yesterday's fun with packing capsule wardrobes, I couldn't resist changing the accent color, just to see how it would look! So let's revisit the first outfit, and change the shirt color from blue to red (as well as swapping out a different scarf and socks). I've changed the earrings for something more round, so that we can look at softer or rounded shapes for prints and accent items. This, of course, will change our color scheme, too:

The 2nd outfit only sees a change of shirt and earrings - as much as I was considering a softer print for the shirt, the idea of a flannel shirt in Ireland and England just makes TOO much sense to abandon!

The 3rd outfit - our indoor activities ensemble - gets a great scarf, and some fun socks. ... View the Post

A Winter Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Blue and White

Someone out there's going to Northern Ireland, and then over to England. Envy.... sigh.... I know a couple of garments that are on the packing list, but I'm going to do some imagining around those few things. For starters, let's say that this is the travel outfit in question, and thus our color scheme is set:

In addition to having a chosen color scheme, I've decided to focus on the tile-like pattern of the scarf, as well as the woven detail of the tweed jacket as our focal motif - a woven handbag, square earrings, etc. You'll see this detail in more pieces of jewelry, as well as the nice squared plaid of the flannel shirt, too!

Knowing that it can be cold, wet, windy and changeable in both locations, a nice warm outfit with ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Khaki and Pink – Additions for Fall and Winter

You asked; you get! What does the woman with the "chocolate box" wardrobe buy for cooler weather in fall and winter? First off, let's remember that we left her (here) with this capsule wardrobe:

By the time August rolls around, even if you don't NEED warmer clothing, you're certainly thinking about it! A long-sleeved shirt can layer under anything, warm socks in pink are just plain fun, and a sweater that combines all of the chocolate, caramel and cream colors can be worn A TON...

For illustrative purposes, here are a few new outfits that result from the modest shopping excursion show above; There are certainly more combinations than these:

Next up, the weather takes a decided turn, and some warm snuggly ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Avenue in the Park by Gustav Klimt

Don't you want to walk down this avenue? I'm hoping that there's a lovely person with some iced coffee down there in that intriguing yellow building...

While green is the dominant color in this painting, there's no way to build even the smallest of capsule wardrobes around that shade of green, unless you make the garments yourself. So I've chosen the lovely grey of the tree trunks and branches as our neutral.

Life List She's taking just a short break, but with a very specific purpose in mind...

She's packing just enough for a few days of walking outdoors, followed by casual dinners and long nights of restful sleep:

When her friends hear her mention her life list, they always assume that she's talking about birds, but that's not the ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

She was enjoying the shopping...

Of course, she had to start with shoes. There are women in the world who don't need shoes, but that's not the general rule. So she started with something in her favorite dark chocolate brown:

She couldn't WAIT to get some earrings - she'd been wearing demure, tiny studs for years, and she wanted something more fun. And something PINK!

And a scarf, too! While she had been able to wear smaller, more traditionally patterned scarves for her job, she had never been able to just bust out with some big swishy piece of gorgeousness. And MORE PINK!

She wanted a new watch, too. She had been wearing a very lovely, small watch for work, and while she wasn't going to get rid of it, she really was looking ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

No More "Dress For Success" Every day, every year, the same.... Navy suit, white shirt. Grey suit, white shirt. Navy grey white navy grey white.... It served her well - she was very successful. She worked 7 days a week; she really didn't have a leisure life - her idea of being dressed down was to wear an old work shirt with old pants from a pantsuit. Jeans? Not in her vocabulary. A cardigan? Would get you a visit from the chairman of the firm... But now that she was leaving the office world, her heart cried out for brown. The color of dirt. The color of chocolate. And khaki - sand, and stones, and natural things.... And PINK. Because she would never have dared to wear pink in her old, very conservative, work environment. So her first ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Tarantula Nebula by Gendler and Colombari

Insomnia Part 2 - Version 2 see first installment here, and Part 2 Version 1 here) Our sleepless protagonist is browsing in a bookstore - immediately drawn to photo books of space phenomena - when she sees this:

She admires it, registers it somewhere in her brain, and goes on about her day/night.

Later that morning, she's wandering in a department store, and sees the Image Consultant area. The staff seems to be at loose ends, so she plucks up her tired courage and asks if she can meet with the consultant...

An hour later, her universe has been rocked. While she's told that her neutral navy is perfect for her, she's encouraged to add warmer accent colors to her wardrobe! Part of her recommended palette looks sort of like ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Great Nebula in Carina by Damian Peach

Insomnia, Part 2

(see part 1 here) So she's walking around Paris late one afternoon, and sees this:

Oh. My. Her favorite night sky, with one point two million different shades of pink and rose... sigh....

Let's remember, when she took off on this "night walker" vacation, this is what she packed:

But the image sticks in her head, and when she's walking through Gucci, she sees a scarf that speaks to her. Not the moon and stars, but FLOWERS. Something from daytime, and sunlight!

That evening, at dinner, her very attractive waiter mentions to her how very flattering the pink flowers are to the roses in her cheeks. She blushes even more....

So the next day, she decides that it would be just PRACTICAL to buy a nice pink blouse, to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Black and Beige

Ah, let's add some accessories to yesterday's black and beige travel capsule wardrobe, shall we? Remember, we started with this outfit, to which we MUST add shoes. There aren't a lot of wardrobe essentials in the world, but shoes, when traveling, might qualify:

And I always like earrings for travel - they can be out of your way, but still add a nice touch of ornamentation to your outfit, and draw some attention to your smiling face.

Oh yes, and a scarf can be very handy if you're going to be on an airplane or train which might be freezing cold!

Some people never wear watches, and many of us wear some sort of step-measurement device. But I think watches look really nice, so I think that they deserve to at least be ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Black and Beige: 1 Piece at a Time

It seems that there are some among us who are struggling to pull together what they want to pack. This isn't particularly surprising - travel is stressful enough, and the unknown factors of weather and activities can throw almost anyone into a small panic. So I'm going to approach the "1 Piece at a Time" idea with the thought that we're packing a suitcase, rather than assembling a capsule wardrobe.

Let's assume that you know what you want to wear for traveling - you've got a gloriously beautiful cardigan that MUST go with you:

Based on this outfit, it will be really easy to work with a core of black neutrals, and then add in some beige, too. There's enough white in the cardigan to make white shirts or blouses an option, too. While ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Moon with Jupiter and 4 Moons by Christian Fattinnazi

So simple, and so striking:

This is a color palette that doesn't need any embellishing. It might be too austere for some, in the long run, but for a short-term travel adventure, this is nearly foolproof!

Insomnia

She's been awake at night for WEEKS... looking at the night sky much more than she would normally like. So she's decided to take her sleep-deprived self to Paris. It's far enough away that she won't know if she has insomnia or jet-lag!

Because she doesn't trust herself to make finely nuanced style decisions when she's traveling, she decided to pack the most mistake-proof wardrobe possible. This is literally a "Whatever's Clean" wardrobe!

If she can't sleep, she'll go to the movies. She'll go out and walk around. ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerites by Conrad Kiesel

I'm in a real navy and olive mode these days; I started this a couple of days ago, before yesterday's navy and green outfits. One of my all-time favorite posts on The Vivienne Files is still this one - navy and gorgeous accent colors. How's this for a glorious painting?

There are of course a variety of ways that colors could be extracted from this, but these are what I've chosen for today:

In honor of all of you who are traveling to colder climes this autumn, I'm thinking about packing that includes a warm coat and waterproof boots. Especially for those of you going to Ireland in the fall, you'll want both sunglasses AND gloves!

My assumption is that our packer is starting with her 3 favorite outfits, and will then build around ... View the Post