Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 60 of 157

April 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Gentle Lynx

April 23, 2021

She just wants to be calm. Quiet. To walk the streets and admire the architecture and the window displays. Rain or shine...

Her colors are simple - her favorite navy, with the pastels that reflect her desire for peace and harmony:

It will rain. The sun will shine. The temperature could be all over the map. She doesn't care! She can always sit in a cafe until the rain lets up...

She starts with her navy cardigan and skirt, so she knows that she has her neutrals covered! Then she adds a few tops, and her favorite yellow dress...

And why NOT 3 pairs of ballet flats? They're comfortable, they're flattering, and they make her happy - what else might anybody want?

It's not a wardrobe for everybody, ... View the Post

Start with Art: On the Train by Jacqueline Osborn

April 21, 2021

We've spent a lot of time together looking at the colors in paintings and other photographs, and building little wardrobes around those colors.

But what if a painting gives you a feeling - an urge - that's not really related to the colors in the art?

This painting has given one of us the desire to travel.... She hasn't been alone in over a year, but by the same token, she hasn't been out around strangers, in crowds, people-watching for over a year.

She wants to go, for a long time, alone!

She's going in the autumn; she will start in London or Paris, and as the weather cools, she's going to hop a train and go to the next city to the south! Lyon, Marseilles, Milan, Florence, Rome, Naples... It will depend on ... View the Post

Accessories! Revisiting Dance Dance by Jacqueline Osborn

April 16, 2021

Who doesn't love this painting?

Our heroine from Wednesday has assembled a really lovely, warm-toned and warm-weather travel capsule wardrobe:

Now she needs accessories! She knows that her color palette for her accessories will be the same as for her clothes, with the addition of gold for anything metallic:

She takes a look at the 24-piece accessory wardrobe that has been used before on The Vivienne Files; it seems like a LOT of things for a trip...

And she also looks at the suggestions that I made once upon a time:

And then she realized that if building her wardrobe 1 piece at a time worked so well, it might be a sensible way to assemble her accessories too!

She started with an ... View the Post

Start With Art: Dance Dance by Jacqueline Osborn

April 14, 2021

She's Been Cold... for over a year. Not really physically cold, so much as missing the "chaleur humaine" - the human warmth of society...

So when she knew that she was going to finally go on vacation, this was her heart's desire:

okay, just feel free to pause right here and go admire this artist's work - I will forever be grateful to readers who send me links to new artists!

After a year of stress and tension, she's determined to be in complete control of her travel wardrobe! She decides that a "one piece at a time" approach to packing will suit her just fine...

After she gets that essential 2nd top in her bag, she starts with the easiest of packing - a dress!

She knows that she will be ... View the Post

Start with Swimwear: Paradise Aqua Space Dye Tankini from Lands’ End

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

April 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

April 2, 2021

What rudeness on the part of Mother Nature - we will need our parkas today to go outside!

But we carry on with our Starting From Scratch building of 6 wardrobes - this months we're stocking up on tee shirts, and adding in a few accessories too! This exercise has made it really clear what additional pieces are needed in some places... It's interesting (at least to me!)...

These wardrobes were all somewhat out of balance in that they didn't have enough tops, so we're adding a few! Plus a pretty necklace and a simple, almost neutral scarf:

The first thing I've learned: this wardrobe either needs to embrace the purple and gold, or walk away! This gold tee shirt looks forlorn here, although it comes together ... View the Post

Start with Art: Involvement Series by Wanda Pimentel

March 31, 2020 You Don't Have to Wear the Polo Shirt and Khakis... She's the only woman going to the trade show. She plans to sell rings around the rest of the delegation.

But they want her to wear red, black and white every day. Oh my...

Since she's the only woman going from her company, she will get her own room. That's ideal - she will leave the ironing board up the entire week. She wants to be crisp and fresh every morning, knowing full well that by the end of the day she will look like a crumpled tissue!

So she's going to be inspired by this - except for the enigmatic and faintly menacing toes behind the ironing board:

Her color scheme is going to brighten up the beige to a more true white (to match her employer's ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Revisiting Tiger in the Grass by Echo

March 26, 2021

She's going back for another long weekend, after she set everybody straight back in December...

This is still her favorite scarf - she's not so fickle that she would find a new favorite in just a few months!

But she's changing her color scheme to something softer and more approachable; after her last visit, she doesn't need to be as assertive as before!

For the first meetings when she arrives, she's going to be positively quiet, and let everyone else air their opinions, grievances, and silly ideas:

The balance of the long weekend is going to be casual - informal conversations and projects, so she packs an assortment of relaxed clothes that all still echo the colors of her scarf, albeit in a lighter ... View the Post

March 2021 Start with a Bracelet: The Illuminated Lynx

March 24, 2021

The Pantone colors for 2021 are Illuminating Yellow and Ultimate Gray - these are our inspirations this month!

She loves the idea of illumination, so when she was invited to go to the retreat with some friends, she jumped at the chance!

Quiet, meditation, small groups talking about life... She's more than ready to spend a long weekend at this!

Thus, she chose soft yellow and medium grey - symbolic of the sun breaking through clouds?

The weather will be uncertain - sunny but cool in the evenings. And the agenda is very relaxed; she's been assured that some participants will show up in sweat clothes and wear ONLY sweat clothes the entire time.

This isn't really about how you dress, and she knows ... View the Post

Accessories! Revisiting the Photo Floral Silk Square by Echo

March 12, 2021

I couldn't resist revisiting this scarf; the colors and the stunning floral images really stuck in my mind! (and at this point in my life, anything that I can remember is a good thing...)

Here's the original post...

As we have done in the past, each outfit from the original post will be back here, but this time with accessories!

Also, as in the past, I will try to re-use a few accessories just to reinforce the fact that we don't have to have all-new (or different) accessories for each outfit. That's nutty, wasteful, and the road to confusion and over-consumption!

First up, I love the idea of accent socks, and these tie-dyed ones are the perfect color...

Some day I'm going to find socks of one of my ... View the Post

Searching for Balance: Start with Art – Meadow by Mainie Jellett – The 2nd Version!

March 5, 2021

Let's take another look at this painting, with a heroine who is looking for a balance of light and dark, soft and bright...

The original post is here...

Here color palette is more like this:

you'll notice that this heroine has chosen quite a few of the same garments as our heroine from a couple of weeks ago; I'm interested to see if this will work!

The pants that she's chosen as the base of her March (ish) wardrobe are a mix of darker and lighter:

From here, our heroine is going to choose 5 small, 4-piece clusters, and these 20 garments (plus 1 Wild Card choice) will make up her Garde-Robe du Mois for the next 30 days, more or less!

This will look familiar; with a great scarf or jewelry (or on ... View the Post

March 2021 – Six Scarves, 12 Months, 12 Outfits

March 1, 2021

Hurray! February is OVER....

Let's check back with our 6 heroines who are assembling wardrobes loosely along the guidelines of Start From Scratch, and trying to stick to color palettes suggested by 6 scarves.

The guidelines in Start From Scratch suggest finding a core outfit in the 2nd neutral in our wardrobes, as well as an accent top and scarf...

Starting here!

This heroine has neither grey pants, nor a black cardigan! And a tee shirt that almost matches her pink oxford will give her a chance to layer the 2 together. Filling in those gaps gives us something that's not really an outfit, but more a group of useful wardrobe additions:

It makes more sense when you see the 8 garments, plus ... View the Post