The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 149 of 153

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a scarf: Hermès Les Parisiens in black

Someone asked me to suggest a few outfits to go with the lovely Les Parisiens scarf.  This particular coloring is a perfect opportunity to mix warm beiges or browns with black, so I took that as my motif.Please note that I'd be more than happy to suggest outfits to go with any scarf - it certainly doesn't have to be Hermes.  Just post a comment with a link to a picture of your scarf, or email me a picture at [email protected], and I'll take a look!

Dress – Ralph Lauren, pumps – L.K.Bennett, black sweater – Steven Alan, suede jeans – Current/Elliott, boots – Nicole Ranger    

Brown pants – Burberry London, black silk & cashmere v-neck, two-toned leather flats – Sesto Meucci, black cashmere ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with a scarf: Hermès Egypte in bright green

I received a question about what could be worn with a specific Hermes scarf - one with a lot of brown, beige and camel tones in the center, and a bright green border.  My suggestions include all of the shades of brown, gold, white, and navy, which is always so nice with bright green...And a lot of these clothes come from J. Crew.  I've been spending a LOT of time lately in the local J. Crew store, gift shopping, and I've found that they stock a large number of nice-quality basic garments.  Maybe not to your taste, or your budget, but certainly they are good "thought-starters".

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Hazelnut dress – Diane von Furstenberg, metallic sandals – Giuseppe Zanotti, ivory sweater – ... View the Post

Customizing the Classics: The Navy Blazer

Navy blazer – Armani Jeans    

Biker – Dorothy Perkins, silk twill – Jil Sander, wool – Balenciaga, silk tussah – Stella McCartney, waterfall – John Lewis    

Double-breasted cardigan – Marc by Marc Jacobs, self-belted cardigan – Steffen Schraut, leather belted cardigan – Michael Michael Kors, silk cardigan with pockets – Marc Jacobs    

Grey, black and taupe blazers – Topshop, brown blazer – Jil Sander    

Navy merino cardigan – J. Crew, black cardigan – Zadig et Voltaire, beige belted cardigan- Schumacher, white drawstring cardigan – Hugo Boss     ... View the Post

A Black Dress: From Conference Room to Cocktails

I did a "conference to cocktails" post over at Tish's last week, and quite a few people asked me to replicate the project with a neutral-colored dress.   A very near version of this LBD is in my closet already, so this was a lot of fun to put together!   Any other requests?  Pants?  A suit?  Let me know...  

   

Bracelets – 1928, Red scarf – Yves Saint Laurent, red ballet flats – Repetto, black & white beaded scarf – 

Kate Spade, black wristlet – Stella & Dot, black diamond & pearl earrings – Astley Clarke, 

slingback shoes – Robert Clergerie    

Black & white cardigan – L’Wren Scott, black diamond stud earrings – Lord ... View the Post

Customizing the Classics: the trench coat

Trench – A.P.C.  

Yellow – Burberry, blue – Burberry, green – Lanvin, bright indigo – Burberry, purple – Max Mara, red – Burbearry, raspberry, orange – Burberry  

Sage green – Wallis, white – Ann Demeulemeester, pale grey – Moncler, olive grey – Organic by John Patrick, apricot/lt. blue – Dries van Noten, light denim – Derek Lam, grey – Preen, yellow – L.L.Bean  

Trench coat with ruffled hem – Miu Miu, drawstring hem coat – Acne, san suede waterfall-front coat – Ralph Lauren Black Label, cotton belted coat – Carven, leather jacket – Preston Knight, beige coat with black leather piping – Marni, short waxed cotton jacket – Vince, military style jacket - Gryphon  

Metallic brown ... View the Post

Scarf tying: the square knot, two ways

I don't wear this knot terribly often, but it's very handy to know, as there are two variations using a square knot, and once you know how to tie this one, you can do it without a mirror...

Start with a bias folded scarf, or a rectangular scarf, and center it behind your neck like so:

 

  Bring the left part over the right part:  

    and loop it over and through - standard knot-tying procedure:  

Now here's where many people go awry.  Your normal instinct is to take the "new" left end and take it back over the "new" right end.  Resist such instinct, and instead, bring the RIGHT SIDE OVER THE LEFT SIDE.  (I could get into a technical explanation of how changing direction ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Statement footwear

 

Navy sweater – Acne, navy bag – Debenhams, Striped tunic - Jaeger, sunglasses – Cutler and Gross, Melange sweater – Black Fleece, Jeans – Alexander McQueen    

Silk blouse – Stella McCartney, earrings – Tiffany, silk sweater – Private B, gold necklace – Ben-Amun, tee shirt – Burberry Brit, 6-button cardigan – John Smedley, drop-collar cardigan – Eastex, Navy pants – Joseph,    

Silk blouse – The Row, hat – Topshop, turtleneck – Woolrich, tee shirt – Isabel Marant, floral scarf – Erdem, boucle coat – Jil Sander, Navy skirt – Debenhams, navy tights – Falke     

Ruby earrings – Lord & Taylor, Paisley drop earrings – Max and Chloe, ¾ sleeve dress – Crumpet England, ... View the Post

I Don’t Own the Eiffel Tower

It happens all the time: you wander into a store, see something ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL, and buy it.

On the face of it, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this, but do you truly think that every beautiful thing in the world must belong to you? Of course not...

We can easily distinguish between our admiration of a beautiful painting, or structure, or city, and our need to own that object of beauty.

However, when it comes to beautiful things that are available for sale, we often lose our sense of perspective. Just because a garment, scarf, handbag or piece of jewelry is aesthetically pleasing and well-crafted does NOT mean that it's appropriate for us to purchase.

Your closet is not a museum, and you are not responsible for being ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Bright Pants

Coral pants - Maxmara    

Pearl & gold earrings – Lord & Taylor, brass & pearl bracelet – Alcozer & J, coral earrings – Roberta Chiarella, ring – Del Gatto, tee shirt – T by Alexander Wang, sleeveless tee shirt – Topshop, white sleeveless shirt – Joseph, flats – Modcloth, woven sandals – Monsoon, spectator flats – Circa by Joan & David    

Aquamarine earrings – Lord & Taylor, tourmaline earrings – Amrita Singh, hot pink earrings – Asos, orange resin earrings – Amrita Singh, Blue bracelet – Alexis Bittar, green & gold bracelet – Rodarte, hot pink bracelet – Kate Spade, Blue tank – Splendid, green tee – Bruuns Bazaar, pink tee – Topshop, floral bag – Kelly & Katie, striped ... View the Post

Shopping: The Logical Flaws of the “10 Must-Have Items” lists

If you search on the internet for "2012 must-have items", you get more than three hundred MILLION hits.  Even if you assume that most of these won't, in fact, tell you to buy something, that's still a tremendous number of people bossing you around about how to spend your hard-earned money!

And these lists are full of logical flaws:

If these are truly must-have items, why don't all of the lists agree?  Or at least have a significant degree of overlap?  After looking at the first handful of "top-ten for spring" lists, I saw at least 50 different items I absolutely have to buy if I'm going to be able to show my face in public. Why do all of these lists assume that you can't look around a store and make your own choices? ... View the Post