The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Home » Archives for 2016 » Page 8

Archives for 2016

2016 - Page 8 of 23

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

September 7, 2016   I'm not sure that I love this, exactly, but I have to admit that it's memorable, and it's sort of mesmerizing...  

   Class Reunion/Homecoming Weekend

   

"What about your old girlfriend? Is she going to be here? I heard that she's a police officer?"

 

 

"Nope, no mere police officer. She's a forensic pathologist with the police...."

 

"Oh man, I know you passed your biology classes because of her, but I never imagined..."

Of course they didn't imagine. Are we surprised?

love, Janice

 

  ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris

September 6, 2016   I see this painting frequently, and am always riveted by the impact that two colors can provide:  

Class Reunion/Homecoming Weekend

  "I don't know if she'll make it - knowing her, she's probably living in an ashram somewhere..."

  "Maybe... but I think she became a writer. You know all of those murder mystery novels that just became a television series? I think she's the author..."    

"Are you sure? I thought I read on LinkedIn that she was running an art gallery in Berlin..."

  Doesn't it occur to these guys that all of these facts might have been true, at one time or another?   love, Janice  

  ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of a Young Woman by Henri Regnault

September 5, 2016   She caught my eye, across the room, at the Art Institute of Chicago:  

  Class Reunion/Homecoming Weekend

  "Is she going to be here? I hear that she's a CEO somewhere..."

"I certainly hope so - seeing her is practically the only reason that I came..."

"I wonder if she still always wears blue every day..."

 

"Well, I wonder if she still has that hair..."

 

If this is how the MEN feel, imagine what the WOMEN in her class must be saying...

Love, Janice

p.s. No, I'm NOT in Italy... We've postponed for 6 weeks. Bright side? Less expensive flights, and we're staying for 12 days, rather than just a week... ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Muted Accents

September 2, 2016

One last adventure with this dress - this time, with muted accent colors like olive, burgundy, and mustard! (I have been hungry 24/7 for a week...)

You might notice more or less immediately that I'm reusing a TON of accessories from the recent post with the grey dress. I'm not doing this because I'm lazy, (well...) but because it all fell into place, unexpectedly.

When I put together posts like this, which are variations of previous posts, I reuse the original PowerPoint file. For this, I went through each page, deleted the original grey dress, and pasted in the navy dress. Then I changed the color of the divider stars... It was only when I went to the next step - changing the accessories - that I realized that I ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in 6 Capsule Wardrobes: September

September 1, 2016  

It's really starting to sink in with me how big this file is!  31 pages of images, all but 1 of which gets changed each month... But it's such a fun exercise! As always, let's first look at the scarves around which we are building the 6 capsule wardrobes:

  For all six outfits for September, I included a flannel shirt, corduroy pants, shorts boots, gloves, a scarf, and some kind of vest. Within those fairly strict guidelines, I still was able to pull together some wide-ranging looks!  And yes, I would wear a plaid scarf with a plaid shirt. In a heartbeat...

Only 21 pieces of clothing, but it just feels like more, doesn't it?

 

 

The new additions are going ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Brights

August 31, 2016

I always intended to do 3 posts with this dress, yesterday's pastels, today's bright colors, and on Friday I'm going to look at some muted shades... (tomorrow is the first of the month - time to revisit those "1 Outfit per Month" wardrobes!) So today, I changed the shoes, but kept to the same general theme of working through a range of colors.

(These seven images look really great together on my computer; I don't often notice this, but I've got this lovely rainbow running down the side of my desktop right now...)

The color spectrum isn't quite the same as yesterday, but I still worked my way around the color wheel. Doing this ensures that I don't miss any possibilities; it's something to consider when you're looking ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Pastels

August 30, 2016

 

This is a great dress - it appears to be fairly trimly cut until it reaches the hips, and then swish!

I took a little bit different approach to this dress - I found simple, classic navy shoes that I've included with all of the pastel colors. And there's a pretty straightforward formula for these - I looked for scarves, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and bags in the accent color, and then chose the pieces that I liked the most! My criteria were pretty much that the accessories should be as close in color to the cardigan as reasonably possible, and that they share a feeling or aesthetic. (that last part is hard to define, but I know what I like when I see it!)

This is an obvious color scheme, if you ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Wing of a European Roller by Albrecht Durer

August 29, 10`6   Durer was, unquestionably, a genius:  

There are only about a TON of colors here (yes, ton is not a number, but you know what I mean...). I actually went back to the Internet to look at photographs of the actual bird in order to get a sense of what they really look like!

Uncompromising She knew that she had some... difficult... preferences.

shirt – Lands’ End; earrings – Aurélie Bidermann; boots – Frye; scarf – Etro; jeans – L.L.Bean; cardigan – J.Crew; watch – Nixon; tote – Allsaints; suitcase – Bric’s  

Even though her wardrobe is largely black and white, she prefers brown leather. She doesn't care if anyone else thinks it's a good idea...

Shirt – Lands’ End; loafers ... View the Post

One Dark Grey Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

August 26, 2016

I could wear this dress a lot...

  At its most basic, you can approach this dress with simple metallic silver accessories, or you can combine silver and shades of grey:

I love the contrast between the deep, cool color of this dress and the equally strong, but warm shades of camel or caramel. Mixing warm and cool colors isn't off-limits, if you balance the strength or intensity of the colors.

Truly, I don't think there's a color in the world that doesn't look good with navy. I particularly like the subtle contrast between these 2 dark colors...

Back in the '80s, there was an approach to dressing that encouraged you to find your best lipstick and blush colors, and the to find clothes that ... View the Post

Essential Accessories for a Travel Capsule Wardrobe: What I’m Packing: Italy, September 2016

August 25, 2016     As of 6 pm Chicago time on Wednesday, I have no news about the town that I was going to visit next week. It is about 50 miles from the epicenter of the earthquakes, so I suspect that it avoided much damage. Nonetheless, we are considering the possibility of just staying in Rome for a week, and avoiding the region entirely. No decisions have been made yet, though... Of course, let's keep the earthquake victims, (and all victims, everywhere) in our hearts.  

  Let's jump right in! I've known for weeks what my travel outfit is, including shoes, so let's start building around that:    

For what it's worth, I'd buy the same Munro oxfords again when these wear out; they're ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Approaching Storm by Eugene-Louis Boudin

August 24, 2016   I hope these ladies don't have to sprint too far to escape the storm; they're not dressed for the 100 yard dash...  

But it's a beautiful painting, and it so vividly evokes that feeling when the weather is about to turn. I was particularly drawn to the simple, neutral color scheme:

 

  Other Things on Her Mind She travels with a lot of gear...

Actually, she's ALWAYS carrying bags and bags of photography equipment, even if she's not traveling. Photography is what she does, and she does it well.

 

So she decided ages ago that she was going to be very disciplined in her wardrobe. Not drab. Not boring. Just in control. For example, she wears jeans. Only jeans. ... View the Post

My Travel Capsule Wardrobe Packing: Italy, September 2016

August 23, 2016

We're leaving for Italy in less than 2 weeks, which means I need to get this travel capsule wardrobe sorted! I'm notorious for having my suitcase out a month ahead of time...

But seriously, I should start setting things aside so that (a) I don't forget anything, and (b) I don't carelessly wear something that I want to pack, 2 days before we leave, and find that I have to do laundry at the last minute. There'll be quite enough laundry the last morning, because we like to return home to clean sheets, clean towels, and as little in the laundry bags as possible!

As always, I start with what I'm going to wear on the flight. I'm still undecided about accessories (probably an upcoming blog post?) but I know that I'm going ... View the Post