Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 25 of 153

Looking for a Fresh, Bright Summer Accent? Start with Art – Morning Glories by Suzuki Kiitsu

May 17, 2024

If only one could find clothing as vivid and compelling as this image:

Please note that this is just a detail from the much larger room screen that is the original artwork...

Our heroine loves her navy wardrobe, but she feels the urge to really get bright this summer! So she decides to work with her favorite image, and to add this palette to her classic wardrobe core:

Her core wardrobe already includes one green top... she's ready to pile on with the green!

This heroine knows that Boden is the place to look for a vivid accent, and a pretty dress! She takes her time, and assembles the following French 5-Piece Wardrobe for hot weather:

If you're looking for an accent color dress, but this one ... View the Post

Want to Expand a Core Summer Wardrobe? Start with Art! Untitled (Red) 1956 by Mark Rothko

May 15, 2024

Sometimes, you don't have any explanation for what you love... Our heroine felt completely smitten when she saw this:

She already has her core summer wardrobe in hand, with navy and white, and coral accents.... but these colors. OH THESE COLORS!

I feel this way about shades of purple, so I'm sympathetic...

She takes a good look at her current summer wardrobe, because you don't want to just fly off in all directions without any thought at all...

And then, she shops! This might look like a ton of stuff to add to your summer wardrobe, but I have a hunch that if many of us collected everything together that we buy between early May and the end of August, it's as much as this or more!

I know that I can ... View the Post

Want to Shake Up Your Routine? Start with a Scarf – the Stephen Bliss silk scarf from Echo

May 10, 2024

She knew it was time for a change; for years, she was known for her subtle wardrobe of shades of ivory and beige... She loved it, but she knew that it was time to brighten things up a bit.

She's been dressing like this for ages:

And then this caught her eye. She even felt that - when much younger - she had looked like the woman in the scarf.

After thinking about it for a few days, she finally took the plunge and ordered!

She looked at her scarf - very closely - for quite a while. After sleeping on it for a night, she isolate this color palette as a starting point for her wardrobe evolution:

Some patience, and a little bit of shopping, got her to these slight but meaningful changes in her ... View the Post

A Dressy Week of Travel? Start with a Scarf – The Camilla Stærk Silk Scarf By Echo

May 8, 2024

A week of operas - well, four operas in seven days!

Not for the faint of heart, for certain...

And she also needs to cover her head every day - she wants to find a classic, simple scarf that she can wear with everything...

This might be perfect!

Her plan is to take a two piece black "dress," and another simple black dress, and accent them with her favorite bright colors. There will be so many people attending these operas - nobody's going to notice what she wears! But of course she wants to be appropriate and comfortable - as well as being nicely attired when she heads out for a super-late dinner...

The one outfit that she's already sorted out includes the coolest little clutch bag...

For ... View the Post

Want to Break the Mold With Your Accessories? Start with a Scarf – Mary-Louise Parker Silk Scarf from Echo

May 6, 2024

Our heroine has the world's tiniest travel capsule wardrobe planned, but she wants something really unexpected for her accessories. This scarf caught her eye, and gave her an idea...

She's been planning to pack denim, black and white - well, just a white tee shirt (and maybe a button-front shirt...) but she felt that black accessories were too predictable. But BURGUNDY accessories? Hmm...

She expects to be leaving from a cool-ish day - so a cashmere sweater, corduroy pants and her cool denim coat are her planned travel outfit.

But if she starts with the Mary-Louise Parker scarf, adds a fun lapel pin, and burgundy boots, then she can pack her clothes in her Hurley backpack... Talk about ... View the Post

May 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

May 1, 2024

"It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May..."

Well, maybe that's a bit of an overstatement, unless you live in Camelot!

But we've got beautiful things to admire and consider, and we have each other - what else do we need? (yes, we could make a list...)

First up, this most lovely of paintings, which gave us a most unusual color palette:

This is her wardrobe at the end of April - I'm mostly struck by the small number of light blue items, and a little bit concerned that she still only has one 2nd layer in her only neutral...

So we went looking:

Seriously, could there be a better scarf?

Now, our heroine's wardrobe looks more "strongly beige" - a phrase which may never before have existed. ... View the Post

Love Neutrals? Start with a Scarf – The Laura Ridloff Silk Scarf By Echo

April 29, 2024

It's perfect, she thought... Just what she needed to focus her summer city packing...

The brown in her new scarf is actually sepia, but she knows better than to try to spend the rest of the summer looking for sepia clothes! So she accepts that her favorite brown is going to be pretty close - certainly close enough! - and she has her color palette ready!

Next, she just start taking things out of her closet, and assembling outfits that fit the palette and the scarf. Some outfits are perfect for travel, others for the occasional business meeting, and some are flat-out casual!

Although she won't be doing a lot of business "stuff," she still likes to always include a dress - you never know when you'll be ... View the Post

Eight Outfit Ideas, based on the Christiane Lemieux Echo 100 Limited Edition scarf

April 22, 2024

She loves neutrals - ALL the neutrals. When she saw this scarf, she distinctly heard it calling her name. (don't tell anyone - they'll think she's daft!)

But yes, this sometimes happens...

She admired the scarf extensively, and studied the colors for quite a while, too...

Her first thought was how lovely this scarf would look with her favorite summer dress - perfect for those days when she can't get out of going to her office:

Weekends? This scarf is just the right touch with a classic black and gray outfit:

Another outfit that could go to work or out for any sort of activity with friends - the scarf breaks up the severe monochromatic outfit perfectly:

But should she bust out? She's ... View the Post

April 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Hopeful Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

April 19, 2024 Blue Skies, Smiling at Me... She's finally feeling a change in the weather, internally and outdoors!

And she's making a small but meaningful (to her) change in her wardrobe, to celebrate her newfound optimism. First, she treats herself to a beautiful set of bracelets:

For years, she's always dressed for summer in a simple mix of beige and white... This year, she's adding a dash of blue-green to match her eyes and the brighter lights in her heart.

She quite likes her core summer wardrobe - it's light, and so easy to wear. You literally can't put a foot wrong with these classic pieces:

But then she saw the blue/green carried at L.L.Bean, she new that it was time to add some pizzazz to her ... View the Post

Do You Have a “Signature” Painting? I Finally Found Mine…

April 17, 2024

My Mother's 90th birthday!

It's something that fascinates me - people who know themself so well that everything about them seems to be made for them. You can't imagine them dressed differently. You know that their home is perfect for them, as is their car, and the books that the read, and the music that they love.

"Know thyself." Is there harder advice? When we're buffeted by advertising and entertainment that encourages us to try new and different EVERYTHING all the time (got to keep the economy churning, you know), being loyal to your personal style is far from simple...

Enter Emilio Pettoruti, and this wonderful painting:

Yes, I used this here on The Vivienne Files back in October, but it took me a while ... View the Post

Committed to Neutrals? Start with a Scarf – The Saïdou Dicko Silk Scarf By Echo

April 8, 2024

A new scarf! And a stunning one...

One certainly could include the vivid red and gold in a color palette too, if one was inclined... but I'm going to focus on the beautiful blue:

Today's heroine is quite committed to wearing black and white, and ONLY black and white. It's her thing, and it makes it possible for her to buy the very nicest clothes she can afford.

Also, it opens the door for her to own all kinds of accessory families, in all kinds of colors. Imagine gold, silver, bright red, soft pink...

So she's planning outfits for a summer trip around her new and cherished scarf - they look like this:

I suspect this might be her travel outfit...

So all of her chosen items, ... View the Post

Part 2 – Do You Need Accents? Or Neutrals? 6 Paintings, 12 Months April 2024

April 5, 2024

The second half - I hope you like them as much as you did the first three wardrobes!

First is this subtle, somewhat muted painting...

At the end of March, our heroine didn't have much for olive in her wardrobe! This is excusable though, because she had had some good luck finding the camel that's so predominant in this painting. Sometimes, you add what you an find to your wardrobe, and wait for other things to become available...

So she shopped mostly for green:

Just these three new green garments bring a new balance to her wardrobe, with almost equal distribution among beige, green and black. If she ever runs into a lode of rust, she's going to go a wee bit nuts!

She's quite excited by the ... View the Post