The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Six Paintings Archives - Page 9 of 13

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

June 5, 2025

This painting is really starting to grow on me; it's certainly NOT colors that I usually wear, but the image itself is stunning. Anyone who can paint lights, water, and reflections impresses me!

At the end of May, our heroine had clothes from each season of the year, which makes sense. As with all of the wardrobes this month, we're going to try to fill in some gaps!

If you're ever going to wear sleeveless tops, right now is the time to buy them! Nice swishy pants for warmer weather are a good choice too. And thinking of cold weather (and price increases) to come, our heroine treats herself to an ivory cashmere turtleneck. For some of us, this is the kind of purchase that could last the rest of our lives! Good ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

June 4, 2025

I love this painting - I imagine living somewhere with changing seasons, but nothing too drastic. (maybe Ireland?) Soft knits and soft colors...

This heroine has a pretty good handle on her various seasonal garments, but she's going to try to stick to filling in her template. As always, I remind you that this list is a guideline and NOT a rule. For example, if you never wear dresses or skirts, you're going to have to change at LEAST the bottom row of garments...

And that's as it should be; you should personalize any guidelines to suit what you most love. It's YOUR wardrobe, after all.

A tank top and shorts in one of your neutrals is always a wise purchase for hot weather! A perfect accent color polo shirt is ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

June 3, 2025

Every month, I look at this painting and think that this would be how I would dress if I was starting from scratch (well, the wardrobe based on this painting or on the Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay!)

Navy appeals more and more, beige is timeless, and blue/green accents call my name. But at this point in life, I'm NOT re-doing my wardrobe! Sometimes you just have to admire the painting and the clothes, and stick with what's worked for you for the past 40 years...

So let's admire the lovely colors and fluid, relaxed lines of this masterpiece:

This heroine is also going to try to stick to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for a while, when shopping. At the end of May, her garments fitted into the template like ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – Of by Elizabeth Magill

June 2, 2025

Remember, there will be a blog post EVERY weekday this week. The first week of the month is when I always push out all six of the "Six Paintings - 12 Months" posts over six weekdays. I feel like these posts benefit from being seen close together - what do you say?

The more I look at this painting, the more I like it! There's really quit a lot going on here to admire:

This month, I'm feeling like I need to be really organized for all SORTS of things, and that's going to show up with these wardrobes! I think we're going to start with each heroine's Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, and try to very logically fill in four items that are missing.

I'm not at all sure that any of these wardrobes will, in December, have a ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6 – Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

May 5, 2025

Finally, we get to the final painting in our series of six! I particularly love this painting, and this wardrobe. Three neutrals with one accent color is an unusual balance, but it's classic, and uncomplicated.

This heroine's wardrobe is pretty classic, but she has some really wonderful accessories that make a LOT of difference. Here again is a wardrobe that would see you through a world-wide travel extravaganza:

Our heroine was thinking, as she started her shopping, that she could use something kind of dressy - not strapless sequins, but something that would work for meetings, and that included a skirt that might be handy for outdoor weddings or garden parties...

Her 24-piece wardrobe, with the addition ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

May 2, 2025

You know, if you chose to build your wardrobe around this painting, you'd have more colors available that I show in this wardrobe. (I've got to draw a line somewhere, to avoid being completely overwhelmed!)

There's some lovely blue in the water here, for example:

This wardrobe would serve one well for much of the year, or for a range of weather conditions. I wouldn't want to go somewhere blisteringly hot with this, but anything short of that would be just fine:

With upcoming hot weather in mind (in the Northern Hemisphere!), our heroine grabbed a pair of shorts and another pair of sandals, as well as two summer tops. And a really cool sweatshirt, with a quilted cable pattern in it. I love a good ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

April 30, 2025

Every time I work on this wardrobe, it appeals to me more! I could easily see the merits of having clothes that were all earthy or leafy colors...

A wardrobe with everything from boots to sandals, and from tee shirts to warm sweaters... If I wore a uniform most of the time, this might be a nearly complete wardrobe for my "real" life.

Our heroine found a scarf that's perfect for her wardrobe! After that, she decided that maybe this is a good month to fill in gaps in her wardrobe, and stock up on basics.

Maybe these aren't the most exciting clothes one can buy, but when you have these kinds available, it's SO much easier to get dressed.

And that pointelle cardigan isn't really boring!

Here again, ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

April 25, 2025

If all goes as planned, I will be in Ireland when you read this!

Let's look for a moment at this quintessential summery painting:

When we last visited this heroine, her 20-piece wardrobe looked pretty great - this is another one of those collections with which one could travel for a really long time!

This heroine is SO ready to be outdoors, but she's also smart enough to realize that it's not all that warm, yet. A sweatshirt is always handy, and a long-sleeved shirt is almost 12 month clothing. Sleeves can be rolled!

And is the bracelet perfect for her?

Her 24-piece wardrobe feel exactly the same. More garments, more functional, but the same personal style!

And her accessories are - as is ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – Of by Elizabeth Magill

April 23, 2025

I often wonder about having a wardrobe that is essentially just two colors; for literally decades, I wore only black and white. That might be a bit stark now, but shades of grey, and shades of burgundy/pink? Hmm...

This heroine's 20-piece wardrobe from the last installment is the kind of thing that I would pack and run with for months... Sigh...

When our heroine saw that Eileen Fisher was offering graphite linen pieces, she was sold! Although the vest and pants are linen, there's really NO reason (except warmth) that they can't be worn all year. The vest has a lot of potential over shirts, tee shirts, on its own...

And who could resist the French lilac top and the floral scarf?

Her wardrobe doesn't ... 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 #6 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

April 8, 2025 It's snowing in Chicago. It might just be "lake-effect" snow - I live within sight of Lake Michigan - but it's still startling, in April.  But this heroine, big fan of the warmest, most intense colors, is ready for Spring! As has been true for all of our heroines, her 16-piece wardrobe from the end of March would be a great wardrobe for travel that included a range of temperatures: This heroine feels that her colors are hard to find, and she therefore grabs things that she sees in her colors as soon as they're available. I'm not actually certain that these colors are all that rare; I suspect we might find that we need to really stock up on olive and off-white at some stage. But she's right - who could resist this ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

April 7, 2025

I think I say the same thing with every painting - if I were starting from scratch, THIS color palette would really tempt me...

One of the things that always attracts me are the 16-piece wardrobes. This is a level at which you're looking at an appropriate number of garments for travel - wear 3, pack 13. This wardrobe would cover you - literally - from cold weather (a down jacket stuffed into the outside pocket of your suitcase?) to quite warm days - a tee shirt and shorts, with sandals.

I'm just itching to travel... Which is good, since we're leaving for Ireland (Fingers crossed!) at the end of the month!!!

Our heroine's current wardrobe has three teal sweaters, which is a lot! But this happens sometimes ... View the Post