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Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Mariana by John Everett Millais

August 2, 2016  

 

  Deceptive But not in any damaging way; she doesn't meant to mislead anyone...

But in her heart, she longs for castles, and brocade hangings on stone walls...

  In reality, her life is casual. Relaxed. No need for ANY dress - certainly not a fluid, draped, swinging and swaying swath of velvet in a rich, luscious color... But she keeps these feelings in mind when she's shopping: rich colors, intricate prints, and indulgent details and trims.

  The boldest thing she might do is mix a pair of deep, saturated colors. She does dare to wear a velvet hoodie, as well as one in cashmere. They are small rebellions, but essential for her well-being.

  Her jewelry ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Avenue in the Park by Gustav Klimt

July 26, 2016

Don't you want to walk down this avenue? I'm hoping that there's a lovely person with some iced coffee down there in that intriguing yellow building...

While green is the dominant color in this painting, there's no way to build even the smallest of capsule wardrobes around that shade of green, unless you make the garments yourself. So I've chosen the lovely grey of the tree trunks and branches as our neutral.

  Life List She's taking just a short break, but with a very specific purpose in mind...

She's packing just enough for a few days of walking outdoors, followed by casual dinners and long nights of restful sleep:

When her friends hear her mention her life list, they always assume that ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Great Nebula in Carina by Damian Peach

July 20, 2016 Insomnia, Part 2 (see part 1 here)   So she's walking around Paris late one afternoon, and sees this:

Oh. My. Her favorite night sky, with one point two million different shades of pink and rose... sigh....

 

Let's remember, when she took off on this "night walker" vacation, this is what she packed:

  But the image sticks in her head, and when she's walking through Gucci, she sees a scarf that speaks to her. Not the moon and stars, but FLOWERS. Something from daytime, and sunlight!

That evening, at dinner, her very attractive waiter mentions to her how very flattering the pink flowers are to the roses in her cheeks. She blushes even more....

So the next day, she decides that it ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Moon with Jupiter and 4 Moons by Christian Fattinnazi

July 15, 2016   So simple, and so striking:  

This is a color palette that doesn't need any embellishing. It might be too austere for some, in the long run, but for a short-term travel adventure, this is nearly foolproof!

 

  Insomnia She's been awake at night for WEEKS... looking at the night sky much more than she would normally like. So she's decided to take her sleep-deprived self to Paris. It's far enough away that she won't know if she has insomnia or jet-lag!

  Because she doesn't trust herself to make finely nuanced style decisions when she's traveling, she decided to pack the most mistake-proof wardrobe possible. This is literally a "Whatever's Clean" ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerites by Conrad Kiesel

July 14, 2016

 

I'm in a real navy and olive mode these days; I started this a couple of days ago, before yesterday's navy and green outfits. One of my all-time favorite posts on The Vivienne Files is still this one - navy and gorgeous accent colors.How's this for a glorious painting?

There are of course a variety of ways that colors could be extracted from this, but these are what I've chosen for today:

In honor of all of you who are traveling to colder climes this autumn, I'm thinking about packing that includes a warm coat and waterproof boots. Especially for those of you going to Ireland in the fall, you'll want both sunglasses AND gloves!

Sunglasses – Tory Burch; scarf – Brooks Brothers; boots – ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Branch of the Seine by Claude Monet

July 12, 2016   It's hard not to love something this beautiful:  

  The Last Laugh She's been saying for ages that the photographs of the structure don't look right, and that there are integrity issues. But did they listen to her?  (you know the answer to this, right?)  

  So she's flying in to do an in-person inspection, and recommend what needs to be done in order to make the entire rig safe for workers.

 

 

  They won't be thrilled to see her, but she will only need to be there a couple of hours...  

There are some amazing restaurants on the mainland, and she's flying a really LONG way. So she plans to stay for at least 3 days. Nobody's going to ... View the Post

I REALLY Need Your Opinion…

First, something pretty, just down the street from my home, on Michigan Avenue:

As I return from my sabbatical, I realize that I need to limit my number of blog posts to 5 per week. I've been doing 6, most of the time, and that generally requires me to either work a few long days, or work on weekends. That's becoming unsustainable, both for my physical and mental health.

So, my question is this:

Would you rather have me post on Monday through Friday?

or Tuesday through Saturday?

It's pretty much all the same to me, but I want to do what the majority of you find most enjoyable and compatible with your reading habits.

Even if you've never commented before, you can comment anonymously, and just leave a comments of Monday-Friday, or ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Owl on Ginko Branch by Ohara Koson

July 9, 2016

Just wonderful:

 

While the vast majority of this painting is in shadings of beige and black, there are a couple of glorious accents of russet and olive...

  She Works Nights Someone has to monitor those data servers - they run HOT, and they have to be watched 24/7. She loves the night sky, so she took the job...

  So she works for 5 minutes, and then looks out the window for 5. It keeps her moving around, and she's learned a lot about the night sky.

Now that her company has grown, she's called on to work with people in other offices. Still at night, when the regular staff is at home, and just the emergency teams are in place.

 

Everyone marvels at how well she does during ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Girl on a Sofa by Philip Wilson Steer

May 28, 2016

 

Doesn't this look comfortable?

And this painting could single-handed provide someone with plenty of colors to have a wardrobe with great variety, and a lot of options:

 

I've been thinking a lot about packing (big surprise, eh?) and about the wisdom of packing your favorite outfits and letting the chips fall where they may. So let's explore that idea a bit!

In keeping with the relaxed feeling of the painting, I've tried to keep everything soft, rounded, flowered or flower-like, and just a touch slouchy.

First up, a simple column in a muted navy blue, with a soft white blazer, gold jewelry, and some brown leather accessories. This could be the outfit for the meeting, or the presentation, or ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 26, 2016   Okay, I'm more than a little bit smitten with Ms. Gontcharova's work...  

For someone who wanted to base their entire wardrobe around this work, there's also a bit of green in here:

 

  When I Am An Old Woman... (blah, blah, blah) Yes, we know, you'll wear purple. But she's been wearing purple FOREVER...

She wears every shade of it. She buys her entire wardrobe with an eye to how well it will work with "her" color...

 

And she mixes multiple shades of purple without hesitation, and without apology.

 

 

 

Someone once told her that she had eyes like Elizabeth Taylor's; but she knows that it was only the reflection from ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: 2nd of the Portraits Theatraux by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 25, 2016   I don't know how many of these Ms. Gontcharova did, but I'm going to try to find them all:  

  Not a color scheme we see every day! I opted to use pure white, rather than try to match that "faded paper" color. My assumption is that the original might have been on white paper - can anybody confirm or deny?

  She Yins, She Yangs "Do you think she's completely... normal? I mean, sometimes she looks so aggressive, and other days she's just so calm and quiet..."

  "I don't know if she's normal or not, but she must have a GIGANTIC wardrobe..."

 

"And EVERY Friday, she's got that tote bag with her... Who's she kidding - she goes away EVERY ... View the Post