The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Imaginary shopping: basics, in blue

  Today, I've scaled back my purchases a little bit, and chosen to "buy" a more trendy color - cobalt blue.  I loved cobalt when we all wore it back in the 80's, and am happy to see it back again.  But I'm not willing to make quite such a major investment in blue as I was willing to consider yesterday in my imaginary red extravaganza...   So I would look to purchase the following:

Cardigan – J. Crew, tee shirt – DKNY, pants – Piazza Sempione, skirt – Diane von Furstenberg, scarf – Givenchy for Liberty of London, lapis earrings – Astley Clarke, lapis & onyx bracelet - Nordstrom     Based on the idea that I want to leverage these core wardrobe items:

 And this is how I would wear my new ... View the Post

Imaginary shopping: extravagantly red

I'm not shopping these days, but I do LOOK at lots of things (as you well know!).  So I decided to do some imaginary shopping; sort of walking through the process of what I would do IF I were in a shopping phase of my life.     First up:  What basics do I already have in my wardrobe that I wear a lot, and want to use as a basis for leveraging my purchases?  

Now, what do I want?  I've chosen to splurge on red this shopping spree.  It's an on-trend bright color, but it's dead classic, and never goes out of style.  It's a color I wear well, I already have a couple of beautiful scarves with a lot of red in them, and it mixes brilliantly with black.  

So... a cardigan and a tee shirt (sort ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing for My honeymoon, in pink and black

Way back when, when I married belovedest, we went to Florence and Venice for our honeymoon.  It was late March and early April, cool evenings and beautiful sunny days.  And I absolutely SPLURGED on more pink clothing that I've ever worn before or since.  A blissful time...

 

 black cardigan – Ganni, earrings – Kimberly McDonald, white tee – Michael Stars,   

Scarf – Roberto Cavalli, Pink coat – Jil Sander, black pants – Donna Karan, patent loafers – Tod’s,   

black tote – Big Buddha  

 

 

sunglasses – Dorothy Perkins, pearl earrings – Kate Spade, pink lace top – J. Crew,  

 white short-sleeved button-front top – Kookai, pink ... View the Post

My Wardrobe: season-less essentials

These next eight garments are things that I wear almost the entire year - maybe not the dog days of August, or the teeth of a bitter blizzard (not that I really remember what that's like), but month in, month out, these clothes never go into storage.And the accessories - same thing.  They are my standby goodies, over and over again.

Both striped tops - L.L.Bean bot tee shirts - Lands' End both dresses - Lands' End both pair of pants - Eddie Bauer

Scarves - Hermes Flacons, and Jardins des Metamorphoses earrings - Cartier Stone necklace - J. Jill pearls - Etsy gold penny loafers - Cole Haan cross-body bag - Osgoode Marley Tote bag - Tumi

If I were to pack the eight solid black garments I chose for my last wardrobe ... View the Post

A Black Dress: From Conference Room to Cocktails

I did a "conference to cocktails" post over at Tish's last week, and quite a few people asked me to replicate the project with a neutral-colored dress.   A very near version of this LBD is in my closet already, so this was a lot of fun to put together!   Any other requests?  Pants?  A suit?  Let me know...  

   

Bracelets – 1928, Red scarf – Yves Saint Laurent, red ballet flats – Repetto, black & white beaded scarf – 

Kate Spade, black wristlet – Stella & Dot, black diamond & pearl earrings – Astley Clarke, 

slingback shoes – Robert Clergerie    

Black & white cardigan – L’Wren Scott, black diamond stud earrings – Lord ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing for 1 night in New York with no suitcase

Yes, I'll be in New York for about 24 hours - I'm flying in, having dinner, sleeping (I hope), and then running literally TWO errands the next morning, and flying back.  Because I'm going to be racing about with very little "down time", I've determined that I don't want to pack more than I'm prepared to carry with me at all times...To the rescue - the Tumi bag that I've been carrying for almost 10 years as a brief case.  It was originally a diaper bag, but it's logged more miles as an all-purpose bag than I can remember.  I've determined that I'm NOT going to wear my usual argyle cardigan - switching from black & white stripes to grey with Hermes will give me at least a different feeling on the 2nd day. Clothing, pajamas, ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – What to pack for Paris in grey & black

This is pretty close to what I pack when I go to Paris (or most other major cities that I visit).  I always take a pair of jeans, because we try to go to a rugby match when we're there!  My suitcase would probably have even more jewelry in it, and quite a few scarves; I find that I don't mind wearing monochromatic outfits day after day if I have my favorite accessories with me.   If I had to augment this assortment for a slightly longer trip, I would add a grey cotton twinset, and another pair of capris - maybe in a black and grey paisley print.   If you ever see someone in an airport dressed like this, come up and say hello - it will almost certainly be me!

A Simple Black and Grey Travel ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe based upon a cardigan

A lot of people were very intrigued by my absolute addiction to flying in an argyle cardigan - I got lots of emails asking for variations on the patterned cardigan theme for travel.   My travel policies:  

no jeans, no sweatpants, no pajamas, no yoga pants.  I don't find jeans comfortable for sitting for hours.  You have to remember, when flying from the US to Europe, that you may be wearing the same outfit for the entire day of your arrival.  I don't like to spend my first day in Paris wandering about in pajama pants, no matter how comfortable they were on the plane.  It's not like I'm going to sleep that much on the plane anyway... Small earrings, so I can lean on things and rest during the ... View the Post

The shopping fast: Month 6

This month saw a couple of dinners out with friends, and a couple of job interviews which weren't overwhelmingly dressy - the bakery job didn't really require full-on suiting, thank heavens.  So I found that for another month, I had everything that I needed or wanted, and was comfortable, appropriate, and (I hope) attractive for all activities.

I visit catalogchoice.org every week to continue to pare down my temptations which arrive in the mail.  Fewer catalogs = fewer dead trees, less recycling, and less time thumbing through them looking at things I don't need.

 

 

 

  ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing for spring break, in red, white and black

This is a bit more adult version of yesterday's pack, with longer shorts, an additional skirt, nicer quality sandals... but it's really all about the tote bag!  

Tee – A.P.C., Jeans – Yves Saint Laurent, black linen blazer – Paul Smith, tote – Totem, earrings – Debenhams, bracelet – Mars & Valentine,  flats – Tod’s, carry-on bag - Rimowa  

swimsuits – Norma Kamali, shirtdress – Miu Miu, red studded sandals – Balenciaga, cardigan – Organic by John Patrick Sleeveless dress – Valentino R.E.D., draped neck top – Steffen Schraut, striped top – Tsumori Chisato, white skirt – Closed, shorts – Marc by Marc Jacobs, white sandals – Miu Miu, tank tops – Patagonia, black & white sandals – Matt Bernson, ... View the Post

My Wardrobe: the curating begins!

So I've decided that I'm going to curate my wardrobe in groupings of eight, in keeping with the plan that seems to be working so well for other wardrobes that I build!  And first up, the highly utilitarian work wardrobe for the winter holidays.  Cotton turtlenecks from Lands' End, sweatshirts from Lands' End and Adidas, and jeans from NYDJ (stretch jeans are ESSENTIAL if climbing is in your job description).  I didn't need a lot of clothes, because I'd have to come home most evenings and immediately launder whatever I'd been wearing...   To me, this wardrobe, while not particularly dressy or innovative, is elegant, if you define elegance as simple, timeless, and appropriate to the situation at ... View the Post