The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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From Desk to Dinner Party: Incorporating a Gem Tone into Neutrals

December 20, 2013   Many of you ask me about incorporating a brightly color blouse or shirt into their neutral wardrobe, particularly for evening events.  So I'm using the same basic "suit" type garments that we've seen before, and bringing in bright red, emerald green, and ruby...   Note that, while it's tempting to echo the color of the accent in shoes or another accessory, it's not strictly necessary.  So long as your accessories are festive, your look will be coherent and beautiful.   More tomorrow!  

  love, Janice     ... View the Post

From Desk to Dinner Party: More Silk Blouses

December 18, 2013

When combing through your wardrobe for something to use as the "key" piece in a day-to-night transition, remember that most of the focus will be on your face, especially if you're sitting at a dinner table.  Look for the key ideas of shine, sparkle, shimmer, any kind of texture-y interest, and don't forget that sleeveless often conveys a sense of occasion...Velvet pants are among my favorite garments - I wear them all fall and winter, for regular days as well as festive moments.  This mix of brown and black is a great opportunity to wear smoky quartz jewelry...

  A beautiful lace blouse is comfortably businesslike under a knit blazer, but can stand alone with feminine dash after business ... View the Post

From Desk to Dinner Party: Silk Blouses

December 17, 2013   If you know you have to go straight from work to a nice dinner, it's easy to plan ahead so that you can look special without having to do a complete change of clothes.   First off - even if you wear jeans, a nice silk tee shirt can spend the day under a cardigan and a scarf, but then can stand on its own with a gorgeous necklace and festive, but still comfortable, shoes.  

  A beautiful blue blouse (that matches your eyes?) looks perfectly serious and businesslike under a cardigan during your business day.  But lose the cardigan, pop on some dazzling earrings, and a slightly dressier shoe, and you're ready to go.   If you have any reason to believe that you're going to have to ... View the Post

Petrol, Black and White: A Six Pack for Uncertain or Changing Weather

December 13, 2013   Maybe the question I am asked most frequently - how do I pack when I'm not sure what the weather will be, or when I know that I'm going from cold to warm (or warm to cold) temperatures?   Things to keep in mind:

Avoid any garment that's overtly "one climate" - like a bulky cable knit sweater, or a filmy linen tunic. Try as much as possible to choose what you pack from that middle-ground of transitional clothes.  Consider:

merino sweaters (or cotton, or silk, or a blend of these), cotton blouses and tee shirts, pants in flat finish fabrics like crepe, twill or gabardine, and dresses that can be layered under a sweater or worn alone.

Plan around a color scheme that will be ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Scarves, Part 1

December 11, 2013  

As much as I love to use a scarf as an accent to an outfit, once the weather starts to get cold, I find that I often turn to my black, black and white, or grey scarves.  A little bit of texture, a subtle print, or a pattern can lend a lot of interest to a monochromatic outfit.Tomorrow, I'll show you scarves from the other 8 neutral colors - I'm now including rust and teal as neutrals!

  love, Janice ... View the Post

Wonder Kids – Solving Something I Do Badly

I don't have children, and none of my close friends have children.  There are pigs that know more about PowerPoint than I know about little kids...  Once a child reaches the age of seven or eight, and has some hobbies and some interests, I can treat them like a tiny, ridiculously cute, apprentice adult and get them cool grown-up stuff.  But small children - I'm clueless.

So Saturday, when I ran into the lovely people from Wonder Kids, I was thrilled. Cool bath towel capes, for home or the beach?   Bring them on!

I chose to post today about their products because I was so delighted to find a locally made, affordable, appropriate gift for small children, and I wanted to share the information in case there were other ... View the Post

How to Pack for a Long Weekend: Rust and Grey

November 25, 2013   This was today's inspiration - bronzy rust leaves with overtones of grey...    

 

Cardigan – A.F. Vandevorst,  earrings – Novica,  pants – Societe Anonyme, tee shirt- Diellequ, gloves – Acne, scarf – Hermes,  loafers – Tods,  Coat – Uniqlo,  tote – Tumi  

Brown sweater –Kristina Te, grey  sweater – Uniqlo,  scarf – Missoni,  dress – Edun,  necklace – Maria Xuan,  jeans – Paige, earrings – Novica,  flats – Kork-Ease  

Blouse – Diane von Furstenberg, tee shirt- Rag and Bone    

love,

Janice ... View the Post

Casual Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

October 29, 2013   Here are a couple of examples of how my Triple Top Secret selection of tops can work for a really casual trip (or just a day to day wardrobe).  First, I started with a cool flowered shirt, got really gutsy and tossed in a striped tee shirt, and worked from there.  Yes, I would wear the stripes and the flowers together...  

I realized after working with this idea for a while that there are, in fact, two "triples" inherent in this idea:

 

  Yes, the button-front shirt is critical!  A shirt that can both be worn as a jacket or 2nd layer, but also layered under a sweater or sweatshirt, is key.  

    Here's an example of how this can work with some ... View the Post

Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

October 28, 2013   I found, after a few days of travelling, that the shirts and sweaters that I had packed gave me a lot more options than I had anticipated!  A reminder: these are what I had in my bag:  

  Of course, I could wear any of these except the cardigan on their own.  But as the weather, and my location, shifted, I began to experiment with different ways to layer these 5 garments.  I discovered that, ultimately, I had a DOZEN options.  In the coldest weather, I was able to layer three tops together for maximum warmth, and thus the Triple Top Secret was born!    

But I quickly realized that, if I had chosen JUST a little bit more carefully, I could have had even more ... View the Post