Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
September 1, 2022
Today's the day! I'm excited to see how I feel wearing the same dress for 3+ months...
I'm meeting a friend for lunch today - she started her 1 Dress 100 Day adventure in the middle of August. We're wearing the same dress, but we will NEVER look very much alike!
Here's my first day - a lot of necklaces, and a shirt to protect my shoulders...
love,
Janice ... View the Post
August 31, 2022
Tomorrow, I'm going to start the "1 Dress, 100 Days" project, sponsored by Wool&, and completed by hundreds of other women. I'm very excited...
My dress will be the Sierra Tank Dress - 100% wool and softer than you can imagine. Mine, of course, is black!
I plan to Instagram what I wear every day and put it here on The Vivienne Files. That means there will be posts here EVERY DAY for the next 100 days - although many of them will be pretty brief. On my normal "off days," I will show you what I'm wearing and make any observations or comments about what I think about the whole process.
But what can one do with the same dress for 100 days?
Wear it alone, with accessories, or wear it with something under ... View the Post
July 18, 2022
For those of us who really already have enough clothes, this can be a weirdly sad time of year. Lots of people are throwing themselves willy-nilly into pre-season sales (and buying some things that aren't really all that nice...), and we just can't justify buying yet another black skirt, or pair of navy pants...
But we can buy accents and accessories!
Like this deeply, profoundly beautiful scarf:
I think this scarf is so beautiful that I gave it it's own page!
But that's just the start - I think that this lace collar is so pretty; I can see it over a crew-neck sweater or dress is any number of colors...
For those of us who really love purple, there are so beautiful scarves available. ... View the Post
December 10, 2021
I am asked 2 questions pretty often - how do you build a wardrobe around a specific garment, and how do you decide WHAT to pack?
This post is going to try to answer both questions!
First up, let's start with this classic sweater, perfect for this time of year in much of the Northern Hemisphere:
For me, the 1st step is to look, really look CAREFULLY, at the colors in our focus garment. You're looking for the easily seen, visible at a moderate distance colors.
Like these:
By now, you know full well that I'm going to go a bit nuts emphasizing how important your travel outfit is - you could easily have to wear it for 36 hours, so you need to love every stitch of it!
It's an obvious ... View the Post
September 22, 2021
It wasn't a complicated request, but it has someone stumped: "Can I build a small wardrobe for going back to my office, using this sweater as the inspiration?"
My answer to most questions: Heck yes!
First things first - what colors are in this sweater, anyway?
A pretty straightforward color palette!
Let's start with a couple of outfits that our friend had in mind, and then a couple more that I imagined. You know that I'm always going to find a pair of ivory corduroy pants if at all possible:
Our friend very much wanted a light blue shirt - and I was able to find one that seems to be very close to the same shade as found in her sweater!
I love a grey shirt - I can't explain it at all! ... View the Post
Ma7 21, 2021
Just in the last few days, 3 people have contacted me about cardigans from Talbots! These kinds of "confluences of interest" happen often - I find them fascinating...
But the cardigans are pretty amazing too! Some lovely prints...
excuse the image quality - I had to do some scary digital magic to get this together!
I love this sweater - some of us were debating the merits of using bright colors for accents, and this cardigan sets us up for a summer of black, white and brights:
Let's assume for working purposes that our heroine already has her black and white Common Wardrobe all sorted out...
Now, she decides that she's going to base her accent colors for this year on her new cardigan!
First up, ... View the Post
May 12, 2021
I'm sure you don't think about these things, but my schedule is always a mixture of looking back (at blog posts upon which you are currently commenting, but which I prepared 2 or 3 days ago) and forwards - what I'm going to post Friday, Monday, next month...
I share this, because BEFORE I EVER PUBLISHED MONDAY'S POST, I had an impassioned request for a wardrobe based on this shirt!
Our friend has her color palette selected; she's not worried about getting dirty because she doesn't live that kind of life! She's focusing on 3 pastels, with chambray/denim blue and white as her neutrals:
She's even got ONE outfit chosen - this is where she began to experience "wardrobe planning block"...
I'm VERY sympathetic ... View the Post
April 7, 2021 This Year, She's Going to Swim...
She read last year on her favorite blog that these swimsuits were so flattering that any self-consciousness about being seen in public in swimwear will change forever! So true, and after a missed year at the beach house with her extended family, she's not going to skip anything...
This is her planned palette:
Most relatives will drive to their MASSIVE shared beach house, but she's going to take the train... Experience has taught her that she really needs a cardigan; those trains can be FREEZING in warmer weather!
She's thrilled to see a long-sleeved swim tee! And a swim skirt - now she has 4 swimwear pieces, which gives her 4 combinations... She could even be tempted by ... View the Post
December 23, 2020
She loved the whole idea of a ruana, and when she saw this one, she was smitten:
She magnified the image as much as she could, and finally decided that these might be the colors that she would wear with it... if she decides to buy it!
But before she buys anything, she's going to sit down for a few minutes (maybe with a piece of paper and her favorite pen) and think about how she might wear this beauty...
Obvious 1st choice might be black pants and a pink sweater, but her pants will be her favorite velvet jeans, and the sweater will have some lovely textures. And fun socks - of course!
Now she stands for a good, long minute in front of her closet, thinking about the beige possibilities...
A ... View the Post
December 18, 2020 She Knew Ahead of Time...
It's her favorite accessory - it includes all of her favorite colors!
So when she dressed up, rather more than usual, for the staff meeting, she knew that she wanted to wear it. As well as some rather... bold accessories!
Because when they announced that she had won the employee of the year award, which comes with an extra week of vacation, she was READY!!!
She had her suitcase stashed in her office; her boss already knew that she was taking the next week off. She's good at planning...
It's not mad cold where she's going - just cool enough to layer up sweaters and scarves! And walk, walk, walk, all around town...
The "normal" people in her office thought it ... View the Post
October 23, 2020 I'm the ONLY Person Available?
She knows the answer... When the tech who works at the clinic finally took a few days off, there would have to be someone on-site in the data center, and there really isn't anyone else who knows how to repair things. ("Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?")
So she's going to suck it up and wear her new sweater! In fact, she's going to build her entire travel wardrobe around the colors of her sweater. Why not? She's going to either be in the data compound or quarantined in her room at the visitor's center...
She starts with 3 outfits that she knows she wants to take with her:
They've already seen snow, so she's wearing her serious boots for the ... View the Post
June 4, 2020
Today's interesting warning - if you're wearing a mask frequently, be ABSOLUTELY sure that you're washing both the mask(s) and your face every 5 minutes or so. I currently have a really painful broken-out face from mask irritation. It's both ugly and sore...
But let's look at helping one of our friends get some good use from a beautiful garment, eh?
This isn't the exact tunic, of course, but it's sleeveless, and includes the colors royal blue, black and white, just like our friend's tunic. So I'm hopeful that any advice I can think of will be useful!
With a little bit of thought, this top could be worn for most of the year - I know it's odd to think of wearing sleeveless things in cooler weather, but stick with ... View the Post
