travel capsule wardrobe Archives - Page 2 of 7

June 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Winter Cottonwoods by Georgia O’Keeffe

June 12, 2026

Our heroine the landscape architect is using this soft, subtle painting as the focus and inspiration for her wardrobe:

At the end of May, she had 24 pieces in her wardrobe. Even though grey just doesn't seem like it should fit in here, I think it's going to be okay. Time will tell, eh?

Her accessories are wonderful - her scarves seem to have been designed just for her:

This month, our heroine needs tee shirts! She doesn't spend as much time outdoors in warm weather as we might expect; her clients don't like to be out in the heat... Snowflakes!

But she still has to dress for warmer weather...

When she takes a look at her 28-piece wardrobe template, she's pretty pleased:

But it's ... View the Post

June 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Lonely Erika Giovanna Klien

June 10, 2026

Lonely indeed! Thanks to a brilliant reader, we all know that the German word "einsam" is (not tremendously well) hidden in this painting. The Vivienne Files community is the best!

Our heroine is a pro with typefaces, fonts, and constructing documents with a combination of legibility and creativity. Sounds perfect - clear, but fun!

Sort of like her wardrobe at the end of May:

While her garments are all simple and classic (albeit with some snappy color), her accessories are where things get interesting. It's easy for all of us to wear similar clothes, so long as we have accessories to put our personal touch on things...

This month, our heroine's shopping was a bit of this and a bit of that!

She ... View the Post

June 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

June 8, 2026

So what is our glamorous Gothic researcher up to?

Let's enjoy her favorite painting for a moment; it's easy to just skip right past the paintings to get to the wardrobes, and that's a pity. I take AGES to choose these paintings, and they all have something to offer us each time we look again...

At the end of May, our heroine had a 24-piece capsule wardrobe that definitely leans toward the dressy! But she also has a pair of jeans, so she's not entirely a princess... If I had the joy of a trip for weeks and weeks, to all kinds of different weather conditions, I would try to pack something along these lines:

Her accessories at the end of May are pretty nice...

Although this particular heroine marches to ... View the Post

June 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

June 5, 2026

Our bird-data expert is back, and she has travel plans...

Remember, she takes her wardrobe inspiration from this handsome guy:

At the end of May, our heroine had a pretty lovely 24-piece wardrobe:

And her accessories were pretty nifty too! I have to share with you that I've started loving these narrow silk scarves; enough time has passed since we HAD TO WEAR THEM in the office, with our white shirts, dark suits and sensible pumps...

Later in June, our heroine will be leaving for six weeks on a college campus in VERY rural New England. The campus is going to be completely cleared of anybody except essential support staff (cafeteria workers are ESSENTIAL...) and a band of avian ... View the Post

Revisiting Start With Art – Wall of Light Orange Yellow by Sean Scully

May 18, 2026

We first visited this painting, and this heroine, back in February. I think my plan is to look at this painting four times over a year, and see what happens...

If you used a painting like this for your wardrobe, there are at least eight colors here to inspire you. Enough to have abundant neutrals, and a couple of snappy accent colors too...

This is the current color wheel - I need to update it! There yellow to be included, and gold, and a true grey, and a great shade of putty taupe...

Our heroine's first travel wardrobe, back in February, was muted, warm and versatile:

Our heroine is anticipating warm but not scorching hot weather for her next trip. And, inspired by her jewelry from ... View the Post

May 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Lonely Erika Giovanna Klien

May 15, 2026

Our last painting in our "Six Paintings" series - an enigmatic image, with maybe a message inside? It's certainly one of the most interesting color palettes we've ever seen:

Three timeless neutrals, and two accents that are unexpected, and sometimes difficult to find. The best things can require some patience...

At the end of April, our heroine's 20-piece wardrobe took her to work with ease, as well as lots of other places! Since our heroine works at home a lot, jeans and tops can go a long way...

Even though the weather still isn't delightful and warm, our heroine decided that she was going to dress as if spring had truly arrived:

If our heroine is going to be faithful to her wardrobe template, ... View the Post

May 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

May 13, 2026

A favorite of so many of us, and such a rich and striking painting:

And a bright, cheerful palette:

Our heroine came into the month of May with this 20-piece wardrobe; I could live with this for months...

This is a DRESSY heroine! And she started her May shopping with the idea that she would find a pretty floral dress...

Only to realize that she can grab the skirt that matches her printed blouse, and have her dress and separates, too! The rest of her purchases are relatively simple and classic - although green shoes and a green handbag aren't on just everybody's shopping list:

Of course, she didn't add a second layer to her wardrobe this month - that might be something she needs to address next ... View the Post

May 2026 – Building a Wardrobe Starting With Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

May 11, 2026

I wonder how many different birds could inspire how many different wardrobes?

This is such an easy and classic color palette. If you absolutely couldn't live without blue denim (I bet you can, but you do you!) you've always got the water to give you shades of blue...

One of the many things hanging on the GIGANTIC pin board in front of my computer is a photograph of a magpie. Black, white and blue... We don't see magpies in Chicago!

At the end of April, our heroine had this wardrobe. To my mind, the outfits just jump off of the page:

Our heroine was seriously thinking about red when she started browsing, but when she saw this linen jacket and tweedy pants, she changed direction. Slightly - still plenty ... View the Post

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

May 8, 2026

I don't know if the character in the painting is sad, or is just getting away from the news - and other people - for a few minutes...

This heroine remains quite pleased with her color palette. She's having good luck finding things that she both likes and needs - shopping isn't always easy when you've decided to wear just a limited palette. Unless you live in black, like some of us...

At the end of April, our heroine had this 20-piece wardrobe:

Although the weather still isn't particularly warm where our heroine lives, she decided that she was going to look for clothes for warm weather ANYWAY.

And she debated about the necklaces. She was trying to choose between the two, and she kept going back and ... View the Post

Want Two Accent Colors? Use Two Paintings!

April 29, 2026

I'm sure that the wise heroines among us have already thought of this - combining two "beige-based" travel capsule wardrobes to come up with a larger wardrobe with two accent colors.

Let's include this painting:

and this one:

That gives us this color palette - obviously this should work out pretty well!

One neutral cluster that we've seen was this:

The second painting-inspired wardrobe had this just slightly different neutral cluster:

There was a "faded sage" wardrobe cluster:

And we have a cluster in a pretty coral:

The perfect things to add to a wardrobe that included ALL of these clothes would be a madras plaid shirt in beige, coral and sage, or a floral tee shirt that ... View the Post

Want a Simple Spring Wardrobe? Start With Art – The Seasons – Summer by Ray Hendershot

April 27, 2026

She wants peace. Calm. Not having to think about what to pack or what to wear. She wants the wardrobe equivalent of this:

She particularly wants green, mixed with that "old paint, peeling off of the barn" shade of beige...

It wasn't a settled choice until she saw this color - called faded sage. THIS was just what she wanted:

The beige was easy - she just saw it on Friday here on The Vivienne Files! She changed the jewelry to better suit her...

The night before her first weekend away, she assembled her tiny spring wardrobe, and was tremendously satisfied. It would be difficult to put together a truly ugly outfit from this:

She really didn't WANT to think about outfits, but she took a solid ... View the Post

Do You Have a Signature Accent Color? Start With Art – Rhythm of Bird Flight by Erika Giovanna Klien

April 24, 2026

Some of us do have signature accent colors - you're not surprised to know that mine is purple. It's not that I wear purple clothes all that often, but I have purple highlights in my hair. That pretty much wraps up the whole signature color for me! But I do wear purple clothes occasionally, and I just ordered a purple backpack!

Today's heroine doesn't have a "lifetime signature" but she is planning to stick with shades of coral for the upcoming warm weather. Her inspiration is this:

Our heroine plans to use this as her color palette:

Her goals are two. First, she wants to establish a 9-piece wardrobe in these two colors, which would mean that any weekend she's going away, she will pack 6 or 7 garments ... View the Post