September 17, 2025
We did this last year, and by popular demand, I’m taking a look at this year’s Boden plaid suit. Our heroine still works in politics, and her red plaid suit from last year became sort of a signature! She’s seriously thinking about getting this suit too, and really leaning into the signature of plaid!
This is a great suit, and from the photographs, it seems to be relatively well constructed. At least the plaids seem to be matched:
There are not a ton of colors in this plaid, but red and white are easy to spot, even at a distance. The more outgoing or creative among us can certain include the brighter blue, or something yellow! A yellow sweater… hmmm…
The first thing this heroine mentioned to me was that she would be able to wear this suit for the holidays – as if she couldn’t wear her red suit then. But I’m agreeable – she’s got a pretty holiday scarf, and a classic red shirt and navy corduroy pants. Why not red loafers?
Winter holiday scarf – RaluFineArt; navy enamel striped earrings – Talbots; red shirt – Alex Mill; blazer – Boden; navy corduroy pants – Alex Mill; red loafers – Talbots
Just because the weather is getting cooler doesn’t mean that you have to wear layers every day! And even a classic sweater can get a bit dressy with a brooch. Don’t forget about brooches!
Navy sweater – L.L.Bean; earrings – Ana Luisa; gold bow brooch – Grossé; red bag – Lux and Nyx; navy suede loafers – Birdies; pants – Boden
I’m sure this heroine already has a navy dress, but if she doesn’t, this one is simple and easy to wear for travel or for long days…
Blazer – Boden; red wool triangle scarf – Almina Concept; heart earrings – Annabel Aram; bracelet – By Virgo; navy ottoman dress – Boden; shoes – Talbots
And for long flights, you can look snappy but still be cozy! And if your hair goes wild after a night in the dry air, grab a knit hat and be both warm and attractive:
Turtleneck sweater – L.L.Bean; Donegal merino hat – Oubas; garnet stud earrings – Dower & Hall; pants – Boden; navy ruana – Lauren Ralph Lauren; waterproof boots – Blondo
Although our heroine has to be at least medium-dressy much of the time, she’s finally decided that she wants to travel with jeans and sneakers. I don’t blame her!
Blazer – Boden; white tee – L.L.Bean; scarf – Polo Ralph Lauren; vest – L.L.Bean; jeans – rag & bone; sneakers – Adidas
Here’s where the conversation got interesting, and I promised that I would ask for your opinions: Would you buy the plaid vest too? There’s are two dresses in this plaid too – a mid-calf one and a sheath…
Blue topaz earrings – Dainty London; vest – Boden; white shirt – Lands’ End; navy scarf – Elizabetta; navy suede loafers – Birdies; pants – Boden
And just to satisfy everybody’s desire for prints, I found a couple of striped things that will go with both of her suits (if that’s the direction she takes!).
So when all of these items – clothes and accessories – are gathered into one image (magic shrinking and re-arranging at work!), you can see that our heroine has a pretty excellent wardrobe for extended cool-weather travel:
We obviously already saw six outfits that she will able to wear constantly; let’s find six more outfits for her, just to be sure we haven’t gone off the rails:
I could picture adding a red tee shirt, and maybe a navy one. A red silk blouse? A yellow cashmere crewneck? She still has options!
If your work was “visible,” would you want to dress in a signature style? I could see doing reckless things with purple…
love,
Janice
p.s. Ten years ago, my favorite French fashion book suggested some items in accent colors; I thought we should consider how these things would be worn “in real life.”
p.p.s. I know that many of you are fans of Quince – I would show their items here, but they seem to NEVER have “good” photographs of their merchandise. But if you want to shop there, and still support my work, you can click on THIS LINK HERE WHICH GOES TO THE QUINCE SITE.
I’d be grateful….
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I inherited a really good wool suit in blue plaid & it’s been sitting in my closet lurking at me. This post struck some very useful sparks in my brain! If you think about it like a (very) elevated flannel shirt, all of a sudden the styling makes sense… Off to see what scarves might want work…
Thank you for the link to Quince. I do enjoy their products and supporting you is a worthy goal.
Another fan of Quince. Thank you for the link.
Girl, this is totally within my wheelhouse. As an unashamed preppy from the 1980’s, I have tried to modernize my aesthetic, which, honestly remains true, albeit updated. This wardrobe feeds right into that! I also love the colors!
Two things: One, These pants are awesome. While most plaid pants are, for lack of a better word, unflattering as most plaids pull across the thighs on many of us. These fit loose and give ample room in the thighs and seat. Two, everything I’ve ever bought from Boden has been EXCELLENT. I highly recommend their products.
If it were me, however, I’d skip the plaid vest, which seems like a bit of a silly, too Santa piece to me…but I’d add in the dress. I’ve actually been eyeing it for a few weeks now. You can easily put any of the sweaters or navy vest, over the top to make it feel like a skirt, too.
I adore everything about this wardrobe!
Same! I had a plaid jacket that I wore with all the associated colors for my work wardrobe. No one ever noticed that I wore it at least 2 or 3 times per week lol. I’m not sure about the bright plaid pants, but I would wear the vest with solid colors.
I wouldn’t “dare” any of the items in the French Book, except for the wine cardigan. Burgundy shades are always in style in the fall/winter.
I absolutely love Quince. Just purchased a long NAVY double-breasted trench fully lined. Just love it and couldn’t believe the price.
A bientot, Marie….
I love tartan and had a couple of skirts. However, they went straight to the charity shop after a ‘friend’ posted a photograph on FB of me wearing one. I looked as broad as I am tall! I stick to tartan scarves now.
There is a presenter on a BBC antiques programme called ‘Bargain Hunt’ who has a fantastic collection of tartan suits and who always looks fabulous but she is quite tall!
I’d definitely add the matching sheath dress. And a navy tee shirt, too.
Janice, can you include the Quince link every time you post? Rats, I just ordered some stuff from them…had I but known…
Same here.
What a fun wardrobe! Instead of the vest or dress, I’d pick up the matching skirt for maximum mixing-n-matching.
I really like the outfits you made with the pieces, though I think that suit is too much with the jacket and pants worn together, and I don’t think the striped garments work with it at all. I suppose some women could pull off the pants and tops at some events, but I think those women and events are pretty rare.
I was actually thinking that a leopard print sweater would be a perfect accent piece here. To me, the plaid, the stripes, the cable knit and – yes, the animal print – are all classic pieces that are essentially neutrals. I also love pattern mixing and wouldn’t even say no to a cabbage rose/dark floral silk blouse in the right colours. Like this heroine I worked in politics for many years and would have happily worn that with the Dr. Marten’s shoes and boots I also wore all the time for comfort.
I love a good plaid suit and all your options. These colors are great! I love plaids in general! I had a pastel plaid suit jacket with a light blue skirt for years. I know pastel plaids may not be popular, but it was not cheesy at all. (Or I did not think so!) However, moving to a HOT climate, I just never seemed to wear the pieces…and at that time…would not have thought much about wearing the suit as separate pieces! What a different world I live in now, where I try to mix and match everything. I love looking at your wardrobe choices and how you put things together. Even if “winter” clothes are something I wear for maybe a minute or two each year, I like to have something fresh. I would put together something like this if I lived in a cooler climate! I would also purchase the short dress and maybe not the vest – maybe a solid vest?!? So fun!
I would keep the plaid vest, but not the scarf? Maybe it’s the larger size plaid that threw me off, but I don’t like it with the rest of the images. I would wear the rest of the items in this wardrobe with no problem though.
I love that real pants are coming back and leggings are slowly disappearing! This suit is beautiful, but I would skip the vest. As someone who made her clothes
years ago, I really appreciate when the plaids are lined up correctly.
Might I suggest you put the Quince link up under your “support the Vivienne Files” heading. It would be great to see a “buy me a cup of coffee” link up there as well. I tend to shop in the stores when I can, but also want to support the work you do!
I refuse to treat leggings as if they were “real” pants. Too revealing for me, and many women might be better served to take a second, critical look at themself before they go out dressed that way. But they’re not going to listen to me!
love,
Janice
I would buy the vest, and probably at least one of the dresses. This is very “me” and I love it. I loved it last year too but like this suit better
I like this suit, and the wider leg trousers look like a great silhouette. I would personally skip over the waistcoat because it reads a bit costume-y but if the heroine can make it work for her style, go for it.
I love the striped shirt and sweater, not necessarily to match to the suit (though I’d definitely try the horizontally striped sweater with the plaid pants and the bit of stripes peaking out of remix #2 looks good)…but to give some of her signature linear/geometric integrity to outfits that do not feature the suit pieces…for example, the striped sweater, jeans, and striped scarf would look great.
And the suit-with-sneakers look is still going strong, so I can readily imagine the simple white t-shirt, the red suit, and the red sneakers worn together for a fun look.
I’m blonde so I would be looking to add a pair of gold shoes (loafers? oxfords?) for some snazzy bookending when wearing the suit pieces together in a straightforward way.
#bookend… I like your thinking.
While I like the plaid suit, I would not get the matching vest. That just seems way too masculine to me. I probably would get either the skirt or dress though. Next time I order from Quince, I’ll try my best to remember your link!
Another fun post. Really enjoyed the look back as well which is rather timely as pine green is popping up everywhere. I was almost tempted to buy a pair of pine green pants. Still very warm here, so hard to get into the spirit of fall shopping.have a wonderful week everyone.
I also love everything about this. I think it was during a COVID year you featured bright raspberry pink plaid pants with a solid top. J. Crew maybe? I loved those pants. I’m a big plaid fan. One of my favorite coats for years when I was in my teens was a bright yellow/orange/black plaid wrap coat. jheez… even then the color fiend in me was coming out. IN any case, I would buy the vest. Maybe not wearing all three pieces together but combine it with a coordinating print/stripe top and solid topper. If that makes sense. What a great way to start a Wednesday. Thank you!
Love this look. Personally I would definitely get the vest. I would wear it more than the jacket! I hope that’s why there are options. Yellow would be lovely with this. Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, many of my mother’s friends wore plaid pants such as these. The plaids always matched and they could wear so many different tops with them. These ladies always looked put together with ease. Probably a lesson in there.
my mom was a designer and had gone to couture school when she was young. she made me a suit set when i was about 18, ( in 1974/1975) it was pants, a skirt, a vest, a body suit and a jacket. it was in a sort of coppery gold heather and had the body suit and the vest and lapels of the jacket in a coppery gold/dark green/cream jacquard, it was THE most versatile set of clothing i ever had, i wore parts if it in combination and with other pieces several times a week. i used it for work and for school as well. i’ve often been tempted to use the same general idea and make me a set now. but somehow haven’t gotten around to it.
so i’m a big yes on the dress and possibly a sleeveless dress/jumper to go with.
My wardrobe life dream is a black & white tweed skirt, pants, dress and jacket. It will never happen, but I can dream!
hugs,
Janice
Janice,
While I like and utilize inside and outer columns, I do not care for the jacket and pants, and
vest and pants , worn together. Too much matchy matchy, but when used as separate pieces in other outfits, I think that they provide great versatility . However, a matching plaid skirt might work better, as some others have mentioned. That would seem a less overwhelming volume of the pattern. Personally, I prefer herringbone, as it is less intense to the eye. My ample bottom would look like a house walking if I wore those pants !
I think the striped shirt could work with the plaid pants if mostly covered up with a solid colored pullover sweater, so that only the collar is shown, repeating the geometric feel of the pants .
You have demonstrated that in Remix #2, but I would use a solid, non textured pullover sweater .
I think the suit looks like pyjamas, so I would definitely go for the sheath dress. The vest is a great addition. I could see that with the pants but the jacket… not so much. Risky for someone with width.
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I would definitely want the full 5 piece set! When you have all the accompanying supporting pieces it lends a ton of versatility. I would want several colors of T’s and sweaters of varying sleeve lengths, and colors, as well as silk shirts, maybe with a neck bow and small lantern sleeves that would fit under the jacket, and which would look good under the vest or the sheath dress. And maybe, if one is feeling adventurous, expand into that little bit of yellow, or bright blue, or possibly a rich forest or emerald green. Probably not olive though. That’s too muddy to pair well with these rich and saturated colors.
that is a very pretty capsule.
Cobalt blue would look stunning with this suit. I saw woman recently wearing a three piece suit. She looked very elegant but then she was young, tall and slim!
I like the addition of the waistcoat but would wear it either over a navy column or navy trousers and a red blouse. I’m glad that waistcoats are back in fashion. I’ve just acquired two floral cord Laura Ashley waistcoats from the late 80’s/early 90’s. I’ll be wearing them over accent blouses with trousers. An extra layer without bulky arms.
You ask: “If your work was “visible,” would you want to dress in a signature style?” I never seem to have the discipline to shop in a signature style but have been contemplating the idea of a signature style lately even though my life is not visible.
I wouldn’t personally wear this wardrobe in 100 years though I really like it, even the stripes with the plaid pants. Kudos to the (probably tall) lady who pulls this off. It is a fun idea for sure.
Yes to the vest! This whole set just makes my heart happy! :) So cheerful and fun. :)