September 4, 2026
Starting with a beautiful painting, and finding yourself with a lovely, subtle wardrobe…
At the end of August, our heroine had the following wardrobe – a balanced mix of yellow accents with a touch of grey, and a wide range of cool-ish, dusty browns:
And her accessories are a thing of beauty – I’m always SO smitten with each heroine’s combination of essentials and ornamentals!
Our heroine doesn’t have any one thing she desperately needs, but she quickly saw the usefulness of a matching cardigan and pair of cords for cooler weather! And she’s learning that any time she sees a classic top in a “new to her” shade of beige or brown, it’s worth a second look…
Cotton cardigan – J.Crew; earrings – VIEA; bracelet – Saachi; hickory ash tee – J.Crew; poplin shirt – Banana Republic; corduroy pants – Coldwater Creek; sneakers – adidas
She finds the 56-garment Template useful in that it gives her a clear overview of everything in her closet without having to actually LOOK in her closet. When you’re shopping, it can be handy to refer to a sheet of paper or your phone, to be sure you’re not duplicating purchases!
Don’t ask how many times I’ve bought more black pants than a woman can ever justify owning!
Arranging her wardrobe in her closet gives her so many ideas…
Her accessories still look wonderful – just a little bit more abundant!
This is one of the easiest wardrobes possible for day-to-day dressing! But our heroine always brings her new purchases home and immediately tries on new outfits (before her new things go into the laundry!). If something isn’t going to work, it’s best to discover that while the garment still has its tags…
This wardrobe could be re-created with an accent color other than yellow… What might be nice? Green, definitely. Rose pink could be interesting….
love,
Janice
If you would like to see the steps that got our heroine to this point, you can follow along at these posts: Christmas Eve Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August
p.s. Ten years ago, we started with a lovely Portrait of a Young Woman by Henri Regnault, and assembled a wardrobe in navy, brown, blue and white. Our heroine was heading to a class reunion…
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This is such a beautiful and calming wardrobe.
I would definately swap the yellow for a lovely soft pink. Pink/grey or pink/taupe are very calming.
here with pink:
https://www.theviviennefiles.com/2016/07/brown-khaki-and-pink-additions-for-fall.html/
This is one of those wardrobes that, while I like many of the individual pieces (particularly the yellow in my case), the whole palette feels a bit sad to me. I’m aware that most TVF-ers love this and I applaud you…and of course, Janice. I don’t know why it makes me feel sad. It just does. That being said, I love the painting.
For anyone who loves this painting, if you find yourself in the American southwest, particularly in Santa Fe, New Mexico, you must go to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. It is a GEM of a museum and it’s in a beautiful, unique town. Long story short, I used to have to drive my mom and her dogs back and forth between Camden, Maine and Scottsdale, Arizona each Spring and Fall. We always made a stop in Santa Fe and we never, ever regretted it…even though it was a little bit out of our way. This museum is worth going out of your way for!