The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start a Capsule Wardrobe With Archives - Page 7 of 157

April 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

April 6, 2026

I saw one of these in England! I think - it was at a distance, and I might have been dreaming... does it count if one sees something in a dream?

I'm quite sure that our heroine has seen one of these. Although she's not the person actually sitting out in a blind somewhere counting birds, she IS the person who takes all of those essential numbers and compiles and analyzes them. She must get out once in a while to actually LOOK at birds. I hope!

For whatever reason, she has chosen this bird as her style model, and is building her wardrobe around these simple but striking colors:

At the end of March, our heroine had 16 garments in her wardrobe. That's not a lot - all of this would fit in a medium-sized ... View the Post

April 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

April 3, 2026

Peace - so important these days!

For someone who listens to other people for a living, projecting a feeling of peace is pretty important! So our heroine has decided that she will base her entire wardrobe on the colors in this painting. It will give her a consistent, easy to get dressed wardrobe, and for her clients, it will give them a feeling that she is a consistent and reliable person.

Her 16-piece wardrobe at the end of March was warmly-colored, and quite versatile:

Our heroine was more than ready to start buying spring clothes, but when she saw this suede blazer, she re-thought everything!

This jacket is the kind of thing that might make it worth changing plans - it's an investment without being ... View the Post

April 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Ruffled Autumn Clouds by Emile Nolde

April 1, 2026

No April Fools here... Just a heroine who has her eyes on a bigger office, more responsibility, and a better paycheck!

She's chosen this vivid work of art as her inspiration and source of her disciplined color palette:

Her palette is here; she's decided that she's going to include white in this. White makes a ton of sense for almost every wardrobe, but it's particularly appropriate for an office environment:

At the end of March, our heroine had a 16 piece wardrobe for work. Sixteen garments is barely enough for a week of work, but she's been making it work, so far!

Our heroine looked (and LOOKED!!!) for her petrol blue accent color, and wasn't able to find anything she loved. So she decided that it ... View the Post

Expanding a Small Summer Wardrobe – Start With Art: Florentine Villas by Paul Klee

March 30, 2026

I'm sure you remember back to Friday, when we met our heroine who was going to try to have a more organized "weekend and vacation" wardrobe for the upcoming warm weather.

Her favorite painting, and her wardrobe color palette, are this:

She never wears blue. Nor purple, but I still like her!

When she arrived for her first weekend this year at the summer house, she has the following wardrobe:

 

 

The weather was cool back home, so our heroine decided to wear this outfit to drive home, and then she just wore the same thing on Friday evening to come back up to the gathering family and friends at the house:

 

 

Our heroine has a pretty clear vision of how she wants to ... View the Post

Starting A Spring and Summer Wardrobe – Start With Art: Florentine Villas by Paul Klee

March 26, 2026

She likes these colors, and the angular, graphic qualities throughout this painting:

She discovered at the end of last summer that she just doesn't wear blue - not denim, not chambray, not a tee shirt...

This summer, her wardrobe is going to be these colors:

Last summer, on the last weekend they were at the summer house, she carried out enough clothes to outfit her entire extended family, plus a few neighbors! She didn't have a plan, she didn't have a clear color palette, and she forgot what was already AT the house. Not this year!

The weather is changeable, so she's starting with a mix of legitimately summery clothes, and adding in a couple of sweaters, and a pair of long-sleeved shirts...

A ... View the Post

Ready for Spring? Start With Art – Costal Image by Theo van Rysselberghe

March 20, 2026

I had hoped to see this painting at The National Gallery in London, but I understand that it's not currently on display. I'm sure I'll find something else that appeals...

With warmer weather approaching (although we had HAIL last night...) I thought that this felt just right:

Yes, we started with this heroine six years ago, at the beginning of pandemic work from home... I did NOT look back at her original wardrobe when I started this; it's interesting that yet again, I chose to work with wardrobe clusters!

Our heroine is still working from home most of the time. They're expected to be in their office four days a month - generally everybody shows up on Thursday because they bring lunch in for everyone. If you ... View the Post

Three Ideas for Two Dresses

March 18, 2026

I'm sitting here right now in a dress and a velvet jacket, with black "sneakerinas." For no good reason - I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to see anybody outside of my building. (which is not to say that my doormen aren't tremendously important to me!)

So I'm in a rebelliously "wear whatever you blinkin' well please" mood. And I think that almost every woman should have a fun dress..

How about something like this?

(I know, it's sleeveless. Your arms aren't perfect. YOU HAVE LIVED YOUR LIFE, AND YOUR ARMS REFLECT THIS. IT'S OKAY!)

I'm really on a rant...

 

 

First, it's easy to wear this dress with a classic cardigan and the normal accessories. This is the kind of outfit you ... View the Post

March 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Lonely Erika Giovanna Klien

March 13, 2026

If all goes as planned, and I don't take a tumble and break myself, Belovedest and I are on our way to London, and then a couple of small English towns. Cross your fingers that my coordination holds up!

And now, let's visit our sixth painting - modern, angular, unusual colors, and just plain stuck in my mind:

Our heroine - the graphic artist who specialized in mixing fonts - has chosen these colors around which to build her wardrobe:

Let me share a bit about this heroine: she wants to become a reformed impulse shopper, and thus is trying HARD to stay within her chosen palette. She's come to realize that it's time to buy less, buy better, buy things that have a consistent feel and look. She would really ... View the Post

March 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

March 11, 2026

Let's take a minute away from reality, and think about this exceptional heroine, and her favorite painting:

Someone once mentioned to me that they felt that her wardrobe colors felt too "Christmassy". I suppose if she wore green and red together that might be an issue, but I've never thought of it - what do you think?

At the end of February, our heroine's 12-piece wardrobe was almost perfectly versatile, albeit a little bit more casual than we've come to expect from her. She's trying to not be TOO anachronistic; her work is sufficient to keep her in touch with history. She's worked with women who dressed in full Middle-Ages regalia - not for her!

 

One thing our heroine definitely wanted for ... View the Post

March 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

March 9, 2026

Wouldn't it be fun to see one of these "in the feathers"?

I imagine that our heroine has seen one at least once; at least she's sufficiently familiar with them to choose to copy their coloring in her wardrobe:

At the end of February, our heroine had this compact but very practical capsule wardrobe - easy to assemble a lot of different outfits from this small number of pieces:

But suddenly, our heroine is finding that people want to interview her! Yes, she always assumes that a local radio show might want to talk for 15 minutes about the shifting "bird demographics" of their area...

Now she's finding that she might even be on television! At a minimum, she's going to be on some videos online; people ... View the Post

March 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

March 6, 2026

Isn't this calming? Calming seems wise right now, doesn't it?

Our heroine's profession is to listen and to bring calm, acceptance, and understanding to her clients. So when she was inspired to base her wardrobe on the colors and the mood of this painting, it made good sense!

She loves the colors in her wardrobe - brown and rust to echo her hair, the soft golden tones of her skin, and the changeable aqua of her eyes!

At the end of February, she had a very small 12-piece wardrobe that felt like it had a lot of ivory in it, but that was still almost infinitely versatile. One could get dressed in the dark with this in your closet, and never look truly bad!

Her shopping this month is a mix of useful ... View the Post

March 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Based on Ruffled Autumn Clouds by Emile Nolde

March 4, 2026

Give me your honest opinion: is there white in this painting - in the yellow areas? This heroine could use some white at some stage - especially when the weather heats up!

This is our ambitious heroine's wardrobe color palette - perfect for fitting in AND standing out, all at the same time:

 

At the end of February, our heroine had assembled a 12-piece wardrobe that wasn't foolproof (mixing her accent colors might get weird!), but that's very versatile. One thing that she discovered is that she really likes getting a shirt AND a sweater AND a tee shirt in the same color, if possible. 

So when March rolls around, she spies the yellow sweater and knows that this month, yellow is the accent color. ... View the Post