September 5, 2025
I think if I had to use just one artist on The Vivienne Files, it might be Georgia O’Keeffe…
Our heroine made very disciplined clothing choices this month, and then treated herself to a necklace and earrings! That’s a reasonable balance of shopping – a mix of basics and pretty adornments:
Turquoise earrings – Nellou Jewellery; plaid flannel shirt – L.L.Bean; turquoise necklace – Nellou Jewellery; teal turtleneck – L.L.Bean; navy turtleneck – Lands’ End; ivory corduroy barrel pants – Lands’ End; boots – Comfortview
Her plan for her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is going well. It might be difficult to find sleeveless tops between now and the end of the year, but these plans just don’t usually go perfectly.
When I divide this wardrobe by colors, it shows a lack of balance that at first seems alarming. But upon reflection, there’s no compelling reason that she MUST have an equal number of beige and blue/green clothes. The fashion police don’t know how to count…
Our heroine is beginning to really appreciate the degree to which jewelry and scarves (as well as other accessories) make a big difference in a simple, classic wardrobe. Thus, when she saw the turquoise necklace and earrings that she bought this month, she didn’t hesitate!
What excellent shoes! Of course, if you’ve got green striped shoes, everything else is going to look snazzier along side them…
It’s pretty easy to see how to wear her new clothes – they go together nicely, without adding anything else. But that’s not how we roll – we expect each garment to be wearable in at least THREE different ways… I just show two!
Hmm… This wardrobe would be interesting with navy, ivory, and a dozen shades of purple, wouldn’t it?
love,
Janice
Earlier blog posts about this specific wardrobe can be found here: Christmas Day Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
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This is my favorite this year, although have to say, I’m enjoying all of them in the attention to detail that you kindly share with us. Brava Janice!
The additions are very practical this month, especially the plaid shirt and the jewelry. For me, I’d swap turtle for crewnecks and barrel for wide leg trousers. Is still very hot here, but this year due to retail craziness, I did my homework early to fill some gaps and bought a highly discounted cashmere forest green sweater and navy wool lined pants.
Happy Friday, all!
I’m with you on switching the turtlenecks for t-shirts or v-necks. Turtlenecks make me cringe! And to think I had them in every color as a young person working in retail. They were acceptable if worn with a jacket or sweater. I do love this collection – the colors are right up my alley.
I am another complete no-turtleneck wearer, in my case because I don’t want to commit to something that warm around my neck. (Even in the depths of a Minnesota winter, I can overheat indoors too easily.) I treat “crew/V neck + scarf” as my adjustable turtleneck alternative. I admit that it doesn’t layer the same under a button up shirt, etc., but I’m not a huge fan of that look anyway so it’s not a problem for me.
What about mock neck tops? That’s by far the most flattering neckline for me. Turtlenecks flatter my 72-year-old neck, too, but as sally in st paul said, they can indeed get uncomfortably warm.
I love the preppy, coastal feel of this wardrobe. It says Outer Banks or New England to me. That being said, as a woman with two 100 lb. German Shepherds, who does live on the Maine coast, this amount of white/light colored bottoms just wouldn’t work for me. Dog feet, mud and my own tendency to spill would have me changing multiple times per day. That being said, I am deeply attracted to this wardrobe in theory, but I am self-aware enough to know I couldn’t make this work. That being said, I adore the overall vibe. Plus, this the wardrobe with the adorable pretzel earrings! Who couldn’t love those?
I’m thrilled that you can gather such wonderful, lovingly selected pieces every day, Janice. (and that after your illness)
I hope you’ve recovered?
That shade of green is fantastic, and I can’t say no to that plaid shirt either.
Oh, I think the picture with the stars is missing.
I do believe this is my favorite this year. All are colors I love and wear. Adding a dozen shades of purple would make it complete for me!
Well, now! When separated by color this wardrobe looks very different. Personally, I could leave out the beige/off white clothes altogether and just have navy, denim and blue/green/teal. It would then become my hands down favorite. Seasonless. Easily blended. And readily available. And kind of what I’m working towards in real life. And if any part of it has a granny vibe, well that suits me just fine…. Love that flannel shirt!
Ditto to almost everything, Sandy! I’d keep some ivory/oatmeal knitwear. 😊
Exactly! While I love the idea of ecru pants, they never become a reality for me. But the blues and greens are absolutely beautiful. And the whole feel of the wardrobe is classy casual. It would suit my lifestyle very well.
I would also major on the navy teal, sea green and azure blue with a few ivory/white tops/jumpers. I can’t wear white trousers but have had a winter white coat in the 80’s/90’s.
I was determined to increase teal as an accent. I have a teal plaid shirt and a couple of teal long sleeve tees. I would like a teal poloneck.
My best find this year was a thick cotton shirt with a ditsy floral print – light to mid blue, teal and lilac – on a navy background. I’ve always found that prints expand my wardrobe options as suggested by the look-back. Prints are a great way to introduce accents or try different colour combinations.
I would love to know where you found that ditsy print shirt! Those are my colors too.
Charity shop! The brand is Edinburgh Woollen Mill. Similar floral shirts can be found at Seasalt, White Stuff, Fat Face, Cotton Traders.
Charity shop! I wasn’t hunting for a teal shirt, I just saw it and realised that it could coordinate many different ways.
The brand is Edinburgh Woollen Mill but you can find similar patterned shirts by Seasalt, White Stuff, Fat Face and Cotton Traders.
I love this wardrobe. Like Ellen S I would have to sub out all the beige/light colors. So maybe what I’m saying is I love the shades of blue and green in this wardrobe! :)
I also don’t like all the beige/ivory for myself personally, though I think it looks stellar for a person who wears beige/ivory well, especially in pants. But without the beige/ivory, it feels too overall dark for my coloring and my taste. I think I would shift the beige/ivory to soft white and light-to-medium grey to create a personalized palette.
Sally, that’s exactly what I’d do with this wardrobe. I’d keep some true white for summer (I love white linen) and switch the ivory and beige for light gray.
I can’t see purple in the wardrobe. Although I constantly hear that navy and purple coordinate well, I have never been able to it as anything other than a major clash. I’m not sure why I have this prejudice, but I can’t see past it.
Even if I have a problem with purple, I am certain you could make it work and that others would love it.
I often seen the paler shades of purple (which I would call mauve, lilac, lavender, periwinkle, etc) just “purple”. Like you, the idea of navy + true purple doesn’t appeal to me but I love navy paired with lavender, etc.
Just loving all the wardrobes in this series whether my colors/style or not. It’s just so helpful to see what Janice adds and to read the comments from everyone. I’m still going to pack the Magill colors for an 18 day trip.
Shoe wise I would add another pair of colored tennies to the O’Keefe. The metallic ones are great but there are so many in colors and as was mentioned fun shoes really jazz things up. An added bonus is tennies are easy to walk in.
Yay, my favorite!! Love the plaid shirt- the perfect fit for this wardrobe. I think the creams are lovely. I have a pair of cream denim wide leg pants and they are infinitely wearable because everything matches. The navy is really dark in this wardrobe – they pretty much read as black, so my personal preference would be to lighten up that shade of blue.
Janice, you have really made it difficult for me to find a favourite as this series progresses, they are all beautiful! I do love the blue and green accents as I also wear a lot of these colours. This summer has been so hot, I have been wearing a lot of white and light colours. Living with 2 dogs and being around toddler grandchildren, I did feel like a Barbie doll changing often, but really I have not minded as much as I thought I would. I think winter would be harder with muddy paws, etc so I would be less inclined to wear light pants and tops, so I will keep my lights for summers only.
The look back was a great example of how one person’s variety is someone else’s more of the same. I am most attuned to color in an outfit over texture, silhouette, fabric, fit, style vibe, garment details, etc., so I see three varieties of outfit here: (1) all black, (2) black with a black/white print, (3) black with grey (at any distance, some of the small black/white prints read as a grey false plain). And since these are all achromatic shades, it kind of boils down to “outfits with various shades of black,” which feels to me like it’s one thing ad nauseum.
With my color sensitivity/priority (or whatever we want to call it), I would feel more variety in wearing the identical outfit formula every day – e.g., the same style of blue jeans and a different colored but otherwise identical pullover sweater/jumper – every day of the season than wearing the 108 “different” outfits from the achromatic capsule! Allow me to add accessories like scarves, jewelry, and shoes to the outfit formula and I’d be pretty happy with the variety. (I do need print pieces, but in cool weather, I can get that from scarves and footwear plus the multi-colored jewelry that I make.)
I think it really helps for each heroine to understand what she needs in a wardrobe to get the level of variety she wants, particularly in a small curated wardrobe of the type we see on TVF. I’m sure starting with a strict color palette and selecting different styles of clothing works well for many, perhaps even most, especially if they are trying to cover their bases for a wide range of activities that require different levels of refinement in their outfits. But I suspect there are others who might be happier with their wardrobe if they started with selecting a couple/few outfit formulas for the season and then strategically considered how to allocate colors to those pieces.
Sally, my second reply to a comment of yours today. I think we may be sisters of different mothers! My fall/winter wardrobe in retirement is basically a knit top, corduroy or RPL pants in one of several cool neutral colors (navy, gray, black, tweed), and different colors of cashmere or wool cardigans. I add scarves and jewelry and “cute shoes” to liven things up. I do love skirts and have a few in similar neutral colors. And I have a couple of bottoms in camel because I love the color but it doesn’t love me. So it stays firmly below the waist. I find this a very easy way to dress with a lot of variety in color to keep me from getting bored.
If you look at it from a standpoint of beige AND navy being neutrals, and the lighter blue and greens being the accents, you have roughly 1/3 of the wardrobe being navy, 1/3 beige, and 1/4 accents. So it’s fiiiiiiine! Hehe
Oops. 1/3 accents, not 1/4.
I love this wardrobe! A question: are all the shoes navy or are some black? I can’t really tell
I’m going to compare these items to what I have and fill a few things in that are really speaking to me. I can see me having two slightly smaller capsules- one with the accent colors and one with plum and rose (at least I think it’s rose. I know it when I see it). One question about the barrel pants. What body type could wear these the best? I’m not sure if they would be flattering.
Sadly, that LL bean flannel shirt in the teal plaid doesn’t appear to be on their website, could your fans have ordered them all?
Angelia, I selected the link and it took me to it. All sizes are available, at least in the regular that I checked. It is the women’s 1912 field shirt, if that helps.
Thanks Sandy. I tried again and it shows up now … I love that shade of teal, so I just ordered it!