The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start with Art: Adding Accessories – With My Back to the World by Agnes Martin

November 13, 2020

Friday the 13th, what might go wrong?

She's still craving calm, peace and quiet. There's quite enough upheaval in the world right now, without her adding to it!

So she finds a favorite painting, and isolates a color palette she loves:

And then she adds to her core Common Wardrobe of grey garments some accent things in each of the 3 colors; her wardrobe for the month looks like this:

In order to keep the peaceful organization of her closet growing and advancing, she decides to focus now on the accessories that she wants to wear with her wardrobe. So she chooses a number of outfits, accessorizes each of them (sort of like playing with dolls!) and then stores away all of the rest of her things for a few ... View the Post

Start with Art: With My Back to the World by Agnes Martin

November 6, 2020 Calm...

She wants accents for her wardrobe this month to be calm, relaxed and gentle - like this:

Her core wardrobe is grey - she loves it. She looks good in it, she likes the way it looks in her closet, and it just feels like her!

But this year, she wants a little bit of gentle color! And so she starts with yellow, including a skirt that might not be a perfect fit in her wardrobe, but which she chooses NOT to resist...

Sometimes, you have to break out a little bit!

The next color isn't at all easy to find! It doesn't make it any easier when it's called all KINDS of names - mineral blue, light turquoise, silver blue, aqua...

But she persists and is delighted:

She originally thought ... View the Post

Start with a Sweater: Boden Fair Isle Crewneck

October 23, 2020 I'm the ONLY Person Available?

She knows the answer... When the tech who works at the clinic finally took a few days off, there would have to be someone on-site in the data center, and there really isn't anyone else who knows how to repair things. ("Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on again?")

So she's going to suck it up and wear her new sweater! In fact, she's going to build her entire travel wardrobe around the colors of her sweater. Why not? She's going to either be in the data compound or quarantined in her room at the visitor's center...

She starts with 3 outfits that she knows she wants to take with her:

They've already seen snow, so she's wearing her serious boots for the ... View the Post

Start with Art: pink mineral by Elizabeth Magill

September 23, 2020

Oh my, did I find a new artist for us!

You're Going to WHAT??? Yes, she's going to the Oil Industry Convention thing... She's a mineralogist, but her big specialty is showing the damage that's done by fracking...

These guys, and they ARE mostly guys, don't love her...

Still, it's her responsibility to try to find a little bit of headway, an occasional conversation, that will keep environmental concerns visible in this crowd. It's not easy!

So she takes the soft power route...

Yes, her scarf is a breast cancer fund-raising item...

Happily, she only needs to dress up just a wee bit, for the dinner the last evening. The other 2 days are seminars, and LOTS of meeting and greeting types of ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting The Visit by Marie Laurencin

September 11, 2020 The Documents MUST Be Signed in Person...

Oh RATS. It's only a couple of hours to drive to their offices, but she's NOT going to make the trip there and back in 1 day!

 

So she makes her plan - she'll go for a couple of days, and take care of a few other small shopping errands that have been delayed for the last six months!

She finds a LOVELY hotel room, at a screaming discount. The night before her meeting, she drives down...

A quiet dinner near the hotel, unpacking, and reading for a bit fills her evening...

With all of the disruption to her life right now, having a travel capsule wardrobe that's so harmonious gives her a little bit of comfort:

 

She's on the fence ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Plum Garden at the Kameido Shrine by Utagawa Hiroshige

September 2, 2020

I've received some requests to add accent colors to grey - I'm always happy to try to oblige!

ROAD TRIP!!! Yes, they're going to visit a BUNCH of gardens... For about 2 weeks or so! They're going to rent a camper (oh my...) and go to all of the places they've talked about visiting for years.

It's quite casual - touring these gardens doesn't require getting dressy! But she loves her color palette so...

She's going to stick with her core of grey garments, and then add 2 clusters of color...

She packs some warm teal tops, and then decides to include her tee shirt with floral prints... Why not?

Her coral garments vary from very soft and pastel to deep, almost rust. And she decides to pack a ... View the Post

Start with Art: My Autumn by Georgia O’Keeffe

August 20, 2020 We're ALL Going to be Home... For most of the winter. The kids are being amazingly disciplined about schooling remotely; they're old enough that they understand that education matters...

Her sweetheart has taken over the desk in the dining area, and so she's working in the basement. The kids are all in their own rooms, except when they need legitimate help with something...

She thought she was getting prepared; she started sorting out warm clothes. They've all agreed (all FIVE of them!) that they're going to try to keep the house as cool as they can tolerate, in order to save energy and money. With 5 computers running, at least there will be some warmth...

Still, this is what fall means to her. Back to school is ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Arlequin et Femme au Collier by Picasso

August 13, 2020 I Need to do WHAT??? Yes, she's missed 6 months in the office (although she has worked EVERY DAY...) and now she has to sit for a re-certification...

It takes 3 days. Away from home. In a hotel.

After being locked up with her entire family for half a year, she's really excited! The whole test thing isn't fun, but being able to eat room service and lounge around alone in the evenings has a certain appeal...

She starts with her favorite "travel inspiration" painting:

She knows that she could just wear sweatpants the entire time, but she actually feels more awake and more businesslike if she dresses a bit nicer than that. And she doesn't want to have to do much thinking about what she will wear! This is her ... View the Post

How to Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet – June 2020

July 2, 2020

Yes, it's July, but we never got around to the beautiful June bracelet!

In all fairness, our beautiful jewelry designer is having to deal with getting stones and beads delivered, which isn't uncomplicated under our current circumstances. We can easily forgive things, these days...

The Moon Will be Full... And that's all she really needs to be motivated to go to the cabin for the weekend!

She's going to be dressed and in the car anyway because she has a doctor's appointment. Some things do NOT wait for the lockdown to end...

Nobody else much wants to come with her - even at the cabin, they have to be careful about not socializing closely with the other people who live around the lake. THAT means that ... View the Post

Start with Art: Pink and Black by Ed Clark

June 19, 2020

It really stuck with her, and so she decided to make it part of her life!

"It Might Not Even Happen...." They're talking about her spouse's annual corporate meeting. Always a weird few days for her, because she travels along just to attend cocktail parties and dinners... It's scheduled for late October this year, but of course that's subject to change or cancellation...

But she's going to go ahead and plan her travel capsule wardrobe because... um... why not? At least this way, she can have a good capsule wardrobe for staying home in the autumn, at a minimum!

She had planned to just pack black, white and grey, because she could NOT find any nice garments in her new favorite shade of pink, from her favorite ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Festival in Montmartre by Gino Severini

May 28, 2020

We haven't heard from this heroine is a long time! She was, for years, a caregiver to both her parents and her children. After her parents moved into a care facility, our heroine got a job in a corporate environment, which she loved. She excelled to the point that she was given a huge promotion, and then within a few months earned a gigantic retention bonus and raise; she and her sweetie took off for a very long weekend vacation!

Holy handbags, which a history!

This is her favorite painting - neutrals with brights - sort of like being business-ready, but still having some spark and some personality...

It all seemed as if it was going swimmingly. Until one day, they wanted her to lie about some statistics. Not ... View the Post

Accessories! Start with Art – The Visit by Marie Laurencin

May 8 2020

I couldn't resist coming back to this painting, and to the wardrobe based on these colors!

First, let's look back at the spring wardrobe with a core of grey and white garments, and then a few accents in blue and pink (including that blue cardigan that keeps catching my eye!):

I'm looking for accessories that are somewhat "soft" in feel, to compliment the softness of the colors here, and also for things that will look good with more than one outfit...

For our blue dress, I wanted a scarf that our heroine could wear around her shoulders (although of course she has her white cardigan that will be perfect for that!), and some earrings that also were organic in theme. Silver sandals will be useful with pretty much ... View the Post