The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Travel with Janice Archives - Page 9 of 15

Chic Sightings: Black Cardigans – Great Dresses

May 9, 2014   Now that summer has arrived with crashing suddenness in Chicago, the quality of Chic Sightings has changed completely.  At lunch time today, it seemed that half the women walked out of their cubicles wearing a black cardigan...  As soon as they got into the sunlight, the sweaters came off, and beautiful dresses, lovely shoes, and perfectly-chosen jewelry took center stage.  

  love, Janice

Looking back:

2012: One of my readers asked me about how to use a monochromatic scarf, in What to Wear With an Hermes Scarf: Peinture Fraiche.

2013: Balancing concerns about coverage and climate can be a challenge, and I tried to address this concern about Dressing modestly in a hot ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Dots!

April 15, 2014   Now that it's snowed in Chicago, it feels strange to post the very warm-weather outfits that I saw over the weekend.  But spring WILL arrive - it always has...   This dress was amazingly attractive; while I don't in any way need more clothes, this would really tempt me!  

  The girl wearing these pants looked fabulous.  I think her legs were 4 feet long...  

  The tunic in the 2nd outfit was WAAAAY cuter in person than the photograph really conveys, and it looked tremendously comfortable too.  

  love, Janice ... View the Post

A New Favorite French Book…

 

        April 4, 2014   When I travel, I always try to find any cool books about style, fashion, wardrobe planning, art etc. etc...  This one looks pretty foolproof, but since it's by the authors of L'Armoire Ideale des Parasseuses, I thought it was well worth grabbing.   For a long time, I've often pondered the difference between  stores that we love, and closets that we detest.  If this were my closet, I would be endlessly happy:  

So how does one get to the point of loving one's closet as much as one's favorite store?  This excellent book has a great mental strategy:  

Your clothing = your boutique collection Think of your closet as the ... View the Post

Paris: Where We Stayed, What We Heard

  Almost 20 years ago, when Belovedest and I first went to Paris, we stayed at the Hotel des Grands Hommes (the hotel of the great men, NOT the hotel of the big guys).  I don't even remember how the hotel was chosen, but we really enjoyed it, and have been back a few times since then, but not recently.   But when we were planning for our anniversary, it seemed an obvious choice, and it was a BRILLIANT selection.  They continue to enhance the rooms and the common areas, and literally every corner of every section of the hotel is beautiful and holds delights.  Our room was small, of course, but beautifully appointed, with a bathroom that was both spacious and utterly immaculate.  

  Hotel des ... View the Post

Paris: Where We Ate

March 26, 2014

It doesn't surprise you, I'm sure, to hear that Paris is a pretty excellent place to dine. I can't honestly remember ever having a truly bad meal there; most of the time I feel pretty confident walking into any restaurant or cafe that's at all busy, knowing that I'll eat pretty well, and occasionally have an astonishingly fun experience.   So in alphabetical order, these are the places that I can remember dining last week:  

Benoit, 20 rue Saint Martin, 75004

This is where we went for our anniversary dinner, and it was a great choice. The service was that perfect balance of warmth and respect that marks the very nicest places to dine. This Alain Ducasse charmer is rather tiny, and is the ... View the Post

Paris: What I Wore, What I Bought, What They Wore

March 25, 2014   Every time I travel, I realize that I could pack less.  We realistically could have been able to get through most days with jeans, a sweater, and something to dress up a bit for dinner.  The items that were out of my bag continually look like this:  

  Our weather was changeable - most days we started with jackets and ended up carrying them my late afternoon.  I found that I really enjoyed my fingerless gloves - they're sort of whimsical compromise that proved to be just warm enough.  And my ballet flats were great - they have enough support to be comfortable and excellent for walking.  Despite all of the stereotypes, you could wear jeans every day in Paris and blend in ... View the Post

Paris: Politics and Pollution

The first thing we noticed when we got to Paris last Saturday was that there was an election soon!  The Paris government very wisely puts up temporary "walls" upon which the political posters are affixed - a brilliant solution that minimizes the amount of paper glued to walls, and gives all candidates equal opportunity to expose their ideas to the public, without having to be concerned about raising huge amounts of money.

The single most amazing thing to me when I saw these posters was that more than half of the candidates that I saw on posters were women.  I know, I know, we're supposed to be used to this sort of thing by now, but after watching the interchangeable contesting the Republican gubernatorial ... View the Post

What’s on The Vivienne Files Bookshelf?

March 12, 2014

  #1.  The Triumph of Individual Style by Carla Mason Mathis and Helen Villa Connor  

 

 

Yes, the book used to be blindingly expensive (it's come down a lot in price in the last 10 years!), but if you've never felt like you are beautiful or that your particular "type" is lovely, this book might change your mind forever. The authors site a wide variety of fine art from throughout history in order to demonstrate that everyone is beautiful. Period.   I'm not completely convinced by every one of the exercises in the book; I've never been sold on the "your best red is the color of the blood drawn from your right kneecap at midnight under a full moon while chanting the ... View the Post

How I Slow Myself Down…

I try to remember my primary goals in life - mostly travel - but sometimes I lose sight of that and am inclined to buy something that won't get me closer to my goals.  So I built myself this little collage, printed it out in a small size, and wrapped it around the credit cards in my wallet.  So it's not that I can't shop, but if I DO shop, I have to look at these images before I can use my credit or debit card...  

  Your choice of photographs will unquestionably be different, but having to look an eclair in the eyes is a useful focusing technique for me! ... View the Post

Still Dreaming about Paris, and Packing…

February 4, 2014   Really, we're not leaving until mid-March! But I always do this - start planning weeks ahead of time. I rationalize it that (1) anticipation is a substantial part of the fun, and (2) if I plan carefully, I won't have to pack so much, and I can catch garments that need mended, or shoes that need tended, before it's too late to make the necessary fixes.   When I left off planning, it was Tuesday morning - and I'm sure we're going to go to the Musee Guimet. It's Asian art, it's beautiful, and it's usually quite empty. We go there almost every time we go to Paris, and we're never disappointed. Our plan for this day might include taking the train out to La Defense, the business development in the west of Paris. ... View the Post

Many Small Thoughts – Collected

I often notice things that I want to remember to tell you all, but much of the time, no single thing is worth a full blog post.  So today, you get a whole bunch of relatively random factoids in one place.  ( can you believe that Spell-check did NOT reject the word factoid?)First up, the weather in Chicago has been uniformly dreadful - bitterly cold.  But my feet has NOT been cold when I was out, and that's because I wear Bogs boots.  I  wear them with nothing but tights on my feet, and my feet don't get cold.  Ever.  It's amazing.

They're not sleek,and they're not elegant, but when you're dressed in 14 layers of clothing and you look like a walking boudin noir, warmth is all you care about, ... View the Post