Hilma af Klint - The Swan No. 24 Archives

Let’s Evaluate the Last 4 2025 Wardrobes

December 31, 2025

This seems a fitting way to finish up our year here together, doesn't it?

I love this painting; I always fear that I'm going to be absolutely sick of the six paintings by the end of the year, but it's never happened. Yet. Good art has legs...

One thing I noticed as I was sorting out the contents of these four wardrobes: If you start with a plan, and proceed in a pretty orderly manner (like we did this year, when we added four garments and three accessories each month, and each group of 4 garments included a "bottom"), you're probably going to end up with a great wardrobe.

There were very few glaring omissions in these - did you miss something that you thought should be included?

One of the real ... View the Post

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

December 8, 2025

The last day of the last painting! Unless, of course, I revisit these and analyze them a bit...

She had enough clothes - more than enough, as do we all. But she was really hankering after some more brown. There's something about wearing brown - especially with black - that's different from anything else she had ever worn...

Her wardrobe is all set, for now...

Our heroine would still really love to have a brown and black scarf, and you can easily see how useful it would be for her. But she has to find the right one!

Our heroine had a lengthy internal conversation around the purchase of brown shoes and a brown bag. Normally, she would keep her leather accessories to black, beige, or a metallic. ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

November 3, 2025

I'm always so excited to start these posts each month! Here's today very thought-provoking, but beautiful, inspiration painting:

So I seem to remember that most of us felt like the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template wasn't really serving a useful purpose at this point, so I've discarded them! Instead, this month especially I'm going to concentrate on getting all of our heroines dressed for the upcoming bundle of holidays.

Today's heroine is getting a couple of velvet pieces, which can be worn with other fabrics to instantly bring a festive feeling to any day. And I'm also giving this lovely lady a couple of cashmere sweaters - another instant upgrade for anything you wear. Yes, they're expensive. If cared for ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

October 2, 2025

Here's a work of art that's more than worth of a few moments of contemplation. It's a bit weird, yes, and enigmatic, and just not quite like anything else you'll ever see! Except, of course, for other of her works. She's worth our attention...

Our heroine is preparing for cold weather! She went into this month's purchases with the goal of sticking to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, but then realized that she didn't have a simple black cashmere sweater...

This is a garment that's right up there with the solid neutral long-sleeved tee shirt, in that it's amazingly versatile and probably belongs in most wardrobes. So the plan will be set aside for this one garment, and a useful choice will be ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

September 3, 2025

Something that's never happened before, in the history of The Vivienne Files...

Let's start by enjoying another look at this painting - enigmatic, a bit mystic, with gorgeous colors.

I've decided - after reading all of your comments - to switch the dark brown that I was using in August for a more rust brown. You were right that it would be interesting, and possibly very lovely!

Her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe plan is proceeding okay, but as with so many heroines, we're going to have issues trying to find all of the warm-weather clothes on her list.

Human error will play a role in anybody's wardrobe, right?

Dividing our heroine's wardrobe into dark and light gives us the following; please ... View the Post

August 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

August 6, 2025

Today, we're going to play fast and loose with our color palette!

No, we're not going to go completely off the rails, but we are going to make a modest modification to this color palette, in order to better serve the needs of our heroine. (OMG, she split the infinitive!)

As tempting as that rusty brown color is, it's two things that don't work for our heroine. First, it's quite difficult to find! And secondly, it's not always lovely with black - at least to this one particular woman. Always remember, it's YOUR color palette, and if you need to modify it, do it!

So we're going to incorporate a more classic, traditional coffee brown into this wardrobe. It's pretty, it looks really chic with black, and many of us ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

July 7, 2025

I need to get a biography of Hilma Af Klint... She's got to be an interesting person, don't you think?

Our heroine is smack in the middle of hot weather, and was luck to be able to find things that are perfect for right now. And I think this might be one of our heroines who doesn't wear dresses or skirts very often; she chose white jeans in place of a denim skirt! I don't blame her a bit...

This is what her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe looks like now; I've taken the liberty of making the change where she substituted jeans for a skirt.

You do know that this template is a guideline, and not a law? For example, if you abhor cotton turtlenecks, I would NEVER force you to own one...

This wardrobe has lots of ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

June 9, 2025

Our last painting for June - this enigmatic, entrancing, beautifully-colored masterpiece:

This heroine's wardrobe is interesting - nothing much at all for WINTER????

You could die in Chicago...

But that's not what we'll work on right now.

This heroine has decided to toss in just a couple more pure white garments; for hot weather, there's not much better. A couple of pretty sleeveless tops, some gold accessories, and summer's here!

Focused shopping for the season!

This is another wardrobe that would be useful and appropriate for just about any time and place:

And I love her accessories! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more scarves, and she really could use a necklace or two, and a ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

April 21, 2025

Well this feels weird, doesn't it? We just finished these paintings a few days ago, and now we're back with them.

Realistically (we can do realism once in a while, can't we?), this might be more the way a normal person would pull together a capsule wardrobe after cleaning out closets, or changing their life dramatically. It would be interesting to have just four garments for a month, then eight, then twelve garments in the third month, but most of us couldn't function very long that way!

So let's visit this heroine with her most enigmatic, yet alluring, painting inspiration:

When we just saw this heroine with her April wardrobe additions, she had a 20-piece wardrobe that looks as if it could get you through ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

April 2, 2025

I'm really liking this painting, and this wardrobe, more every month. The four colors in the background are perfect accents for the colors of the two swans - I wish all paintings were this easy to analyze!

At the end of March, our heroine's 16-piece wardrobe was pretty well organized, and would make a good travel capsule wardrobe for a destination with moderate temperatures - nothing too hot, nor too cold!

Our heroine already has three blush garments, including a quarter-zip fleece top. But she doesn't have a simple sweater, and so she grabs this one! Grey jeans and a grey tee shirt are in her color palette, but a kind of new feeling for her wardrobe. And if you want a tee shirt in a specific color - even a ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 5, 2025

Big news - my dear friend Scottie is having a sale on her scarves! Get thee to her website right now to see the possibilities!

A lovely, if deeply enigmatic, painting:

That wee geometric thingy on the breast of the white swan... Hmm...

At the end of February, this heroine had a pretty and very useful wardrobe:

This heroine decided to really emphasize spring clothes this month! Maybe she wears a size that's hard to find, or maybe she's been burned in the past by having things sell out that she really liked! And she decided to break out with a pure white top - she's not afraid of wearing white with ivory...

Her new additions make a big difference this month! Adding a pair of pants that aren't dark ... View the Post

The Fourth of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 6, 2025

I love this painting...

And I think that this wardrobe is going to be fascinating; we start with the world's most simple neutrals of black and ivory, and then add FOUR accent colors - one for each season. Yes, the idea of white as an accent color when we've already got ivory in the wardrobe is a little bit of a stretch. I'm interested to see what happens with this, since so many of us don't wear mixed shades of white and off-whites as often as we could.

When we happily ran screaming from the end of January, our heroine had a wildly versatile, if not super-exciting, eight-piece wardrobe:

It seems obvious to me that the coral/peach accent color makes a lot of sense for spring. Our heroine was ... View the Post