Nature Archives - Page 2 of 5

Larkspurs! The Birth Flower for July

June 29, 2018

I have to admit, larkspurs are hard to find! And that's a pity, because they're so lovely... There are very bluish ones, and all different shades of purple... sigh...

But this at least gives us another look at purple! It's supposed to be the color for 2018, according to Pantene, but it's still terribly difficult to find many nice garments in a color even close to purple! When you type purple into a search, it's likely you will get everything from pink through burgundy... sigh...

But let's give a dash of purple a try, eh?

I think purple looks rather nice with beige - especially when worn with a scarf that ties the 2 together so well. If it's too hot to wear the scarf around your neck, tie it to your ... View the Post

Roses! The Birth Flower for June

May 28, 2018

Roses! What's not to love? (I'm a little biased, because I'm born in June...)

There are roses everywhere - if you want home fragrances, or perfume, you're in luck.

And if you want to add some accessories to your wardrobe, maybe pick 2 or 3 pieces that look happy to be together? Sort of an instant update to your neutral outfits... I would cheerfully buy all 5 of these items, just to wear with black...

Or if you wanted a more striking color palette:

Maybe pink roses are your favorites? If you wear black, you can certainly live in that first scarf, and the 2nd scarf would be perfect with denim...

Yes, you might not want to wear a floral watch every day, but if you wanted to find one that you ... View the Post

Start with an Owl – Adding Accessories to a Capsule Wardrobe

May 9, 2018

As much as it might be delightful to have a carefully curated capsule wardrobe, if you don't have shoes, a bag, and an earring or two, you're going to struggle...

Just as a reminder, this is the inspiration with which we're working:

And this is our heroine's wardrobe, chosen over the last 5 days in a deliberate, step-by-step manner:

Starting From Scratch wardrobes always include some accessories - it only makes sense - so let's see where we stand:

Many of us could function indefinitely with these accessories, but let's add a few more pieces, if only to be able to think through a logical and deliberate process for these purchases. I'm a big fan of relying on a good "coup de coeur" (literally a kick in ... View the Post

Final Phase of Building a Wardrobe, based on an Owl Photograph

May 8, 2018

Our heroine's living with a pretty versatile 25-piece capsule wardrobe for spring and summer:

But she wants to be absolutely certain that she's not missing anything important; it's better to think these things over before you have an upcoming event for which you're ill-prepared...

So let's look at her wardrobe, arranged by color. This might give us a hint or two...

Something that I noticed when I was putting outfits together yesterday - a pair of white (or silver?) shoes or sandals would go a LONG way toward making those white pants more wearable...

And she has all solid-colored garments; well, that 1 tee shirt has a bit of a print on it, but with a core wardrobe that's so complete, a bit of whimsy might ... View the Post

Fourth Phase of Building a Wardrobe, based on an Owl Photograph

May 7, 2018

Our heroine is making great progress with her owl-inspired wardrobe! It's important to remember that if you're doing this process at home, you don't have to accomplish all of this within any specific time frame; don't feel pressured to do a whole bunch of shopping at 1 time. That's a certain way to end up making mistakes and regretting some of your choices...

We left our heroine with this very tidy wardrobe:

As I scan over this wardrobe, and mentally divide it into categories, I see that our heroine has 3 "second layers," but that they're all black and white. It's time to find her an accent cardigan or jacket! And even though white pants are always a way to tempt fate, for warm weather there's just nothing more ... View the Post

Third Phase of Building a Wardrobe, based on an Owl Photograph

May 4, 2018

When we left our heroine yesterday, she had assembled a tidy 9-piece capsule wardrobe, ideal for travel, or for those days when you just don't know what to wear:

In order to give our heroine a bit more variety in her wardrobe, I'm going to add a somewhat dressy blouse (which can worn with any of the pants) and a simple black linen top - perfect with black pants and any of the cardigans. A beautiful, classic pendant in her accent color can be worn with anything from a tee shirt to the loveliest dress...

Our heroine still has only pants in her wardrobe. For many people, that would be just fine, but I'm going to assume that we want to add a skirt, a simple but pretty top, and a pair of sandals... Warm weather ... View the Post

Second Phase of Building a Wardrobe, based on an Owl Photograph

May 3, 2018

So far, so good. While we only have 5 pieces of clothing in this wardrobe, with a pair of shoes, these are important first steps - these are pieces that will be worn a LOT...

While this heroine is in need of some more clothes, let's first get her at least a watch and a handbag! Well okay, a few accessories... You don't really need piles of jewelry, or dozens of scarves, to make a big difference in how your wardrobe works for you.

I've always felt that it was a safe assumption that a wardrobe should include more tops than bottoms - the tops are more visible because they're at eye-level, they're close to your face, and they are more likely to need laundering before a pair of jeans... So let's pick up a couple more ... View the Post

Start with AN OWL! Building a Wardrobe 1 Step at a Time

I haven't done this for AGES, and it always feels like something that I need to think about at the turn of seasons. Now that warm weather seems to have finally arrived in Chicago, this might be what I should do in my own closet so that I have a solid capsule wardrobe ready for the fun to come...

I will never quit believing that every woman (except those who only wear skirts and dresses) needs a good pair of pants. Nothing rarefied, nothing that has to be kept for "special" occasions - just something to wear frequently, in order to dress a notch up from jeans or (heaven forbid) leggings...

If you're really starting from scratch, the 2nd step gives you both a "suit" of sorts, and then a top that gives you a complete outfit. A ... View the Post

Lily of the Valley! The Birth Flower for May

April 30, 2018

Well THIS was difficult - as much as it's really easy to find lily of the valley fragrances, and lily of the valley room fragrances, finding garments or accessories with lilies of the valley is pretty difficult. (if you see something, please post a link in the comments!)

But we persevere, right!

Yes, the blouse is absurdly expensive... but the jewelry is winsomely lovely...

So how can we channel our inner "lily of the valley" when we struggle to find something that obviously and specifically shows our flower? Maybe just adding a bit of spring green to our the neutral dresses that we break out at the first hint of warm weather...

The green that you bring into an outfit can be very subtle, and the floral ... View the Post

Exciting Stuff Coming Soon…

Well, it will be exciting when we get it all sorted out...

My brilliant consultants at RockFort Media are moving The Vivienne Files off of Google Blogger, and onto Wordpress.

I know, that means virtually nothing to most of you - I'm not really quite sure what's going to happen either. But I do know that The Vivienne Files will be prettier, and a little bit easier to search through, and that moving away from Google makes me look like a real grown-up blogger in the eyes of the big sponsors and advertisers.

So things will be nicer for you, and a better business for me. After I make it up the learning curve, it's going to be wonderful. (I keep telling myself that...)

For the next few days, there won't be any new blog posts, at all. ... View the Post

Daisies! The Birth Flower for April

March 27, 2018

I think that daisies are popular for lots of reasons - in real life, they're a great cut flower to buy because they're generally very inexpensive, last a REALLY long time, and the buds will actually open after you buy them...

For ornamental purposes, they're simple in design, familiar to almost all of us, and for many people have associations that make us smile...

So if you want to add a daisy or five to your wardrobe, you have options:

If you don't want the actual daisy - but the "feel" of the daisy, you could wear white with any color in the world (I don't think I need to show you how to do that!), or you could choose to add a dash of yellow to your wardrobe... (yes, this is indeed the 2nd month in a row ... View the Post

Daffodils – the Birth Flower for March! How perfect…

After watching the Six Nations rugby yesterday, and seeing daffodil hats, and lots of daffodils pinned to coats, it seemed only perfect that today we look at them as the March birth flower...(Daffodil Days are a Cancer Society fund-raiser...)

For many of us, yellow feels like an inherently difficult color, but never discount the impact (and the fun!) that you could have with a yellow pedicure, or yellow sandals... but you can always wear the image of the daffodil in silver - no worries about unflattering yellow!

And I'm convinced that the flower in the middle of that very bright scarf is a narcissus...

Disclaimer - Yes, I'm using the same pants and shoes for most of these outfits. This is NOT because I'm bone-deep lazy (although ... View the Post