Gray Archives - Page 18 of 49

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – June 2018

June 1, 2018

Always one of the great days of the month!

This month, in honor of heat (in the Northern Hemisphere) and the easing-up of many schedules, let's add a casual dress to these wardrobes!

Additionally, I'm going to find a tote bag for each of these heroines, some footwear to wear with their new dress, and a couple of pieces of jewelry. This wouldn't be a horrid shopping trip; once you find the dress, the accessory shopping should be fun...

Dresses can be an opportunity to really exploit your color scheme; because you don't have to coordinate a lot of different garments to wear with a dress, you can find a classic, summery linen shirtdress in a bright color and add it to your wardrobe without worrying that you don't have ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – May 2018

May 1, 2018

Always my favorite day of the month, for The Vivienne Files! And since today (April 30th) is actually somewhat warm in Chicago, this doesn't feel like an insane outfit to bring into our capsule wardrobes!

If you haven't seen these before, the general idea is that I start the year with 6 Hermes scarves, and for each of the 12 months of the year, I choose an outfit to add to a growing capsule wardrobe. Some of them turn out really well, and others... need some year-end adjusting! But it's a fascinating process...

Let's get started; one of the things that I liked most about this scarf was the juxtaposition of the surprising yellow, green and blue against the black. Not your usual accent colors!

This wardrobe is ... View the Post

Lily of the Valley! The Birth Flower for May

April 30, 2018

Well THIS was difficult - as much as it's really easy to find lily of the valley fragrances, and lily of the valley room fragrances, finding garments or accessories with lilies of the valley is pretty difficult. (if you see something, please post a link in the comments!)

But we persevere, right!

Yes, the blouse is absurdly expensive... but the jewelry is winsomely lovely...

So how can we channel our inner "lily of the valley" when we struggle to find something that obviously and specifically shows our flower? Maybe just adding a bit of spring green to our the neutral dresses that we break out at the first hint of warm weather...

The green that you bring into an outfit can be very subtle, and the floral ... View the Post

Instruments de Musique by Picasso, Revisiting for Spring 2018

She still doesn't really fit in... Back in January, when she went to visit a client with a number of co-workers, her uniqueness worked to her benefit... Maybe because she's inspired by this Picasso painting, it's not surprising that she's a bit of a square peg!

This is what she packed for that very successful adventure:

Now, she's been chosen to go meet the client with whom they have the most problems. Recurring, SERIOUS problems... She's ready! For the first meeting, with management, she's making things clear, in black and white!

After the first day, she's going to tone it down a notch or two, and use a softer approach when she's meeting with the staff.

She knows that it's breaking the ... View the Post

Paysage de Niege by Renoir – Revisiting for Spring 2018

April 4, 2018

She went away for a weekend, to a snowy, very quiet resort. Her friends and family thought that she was crazy...This peace and quiet is what inspired her:

She found the tranquility of the soft colors relaxing, yet somehow elegant, even though her plans were very casual!

When she traveled back in January, she has the smallest of travel wardrobes:

Now, she's going back! She found... much... there to enjoy. It was warm when she left, but she knew that temperatures could be all over the map - warm days and cool nights... She loves that!

She was pretty excited about this trip, so she had a little bit of trouble focusing on her packing... Especially with the uncertain weather! So she went very ... View the Post

Daisies! The Birth Flower for April

March 27, 2018

I think that daisies are popular for lots of reasons - in real life, they're a great cut flower to buy because they're generally very inexpensive, last a REALLY long time, and the buds will actually open after you buy them...

For ornamental purposes, they're simple in design, familiar to almost all of us, and for many people have associations that make us smile...

So if you want to add a daisy or five to your wardrobe, you have options:

If you don't want the actual daisy - but the "feel" of the daisy, you could wear white with any color in the world (I don't think I need to show you how to do that!), or you could choose to add a dash of yellow to your wardrobe... (yes, this is indeed the 2nd month in a row ... View the Post

What I Wore, What I Packed, and What I Bought in Dublin

March 21, 2018

Packing for unpredictable weather is always tricky... And since it's been snowing CATASTROPHICALLY in Ireland, off and on for the last few weeks, this trip was really a challenge!But I managed to cobble things together well enough - hallelujah! Of course, knowing that I would have my coat on most of the time makes things much easier.

2 things were really issues, the expected cold weather, and the unexpected moving out of the AirBNB into a hotel. I packed relatively lightly (for 10 days) because we were counting on doing laundry pretty regularly during our stay. Belovedest ran TWO Parkrun 5K's when we were there, so there were gym clothes in need of care...

So, theoretically, I would have been okay with just ... View the Post

Periwinkle! A French 5-Piece Wardrobe, with Grey and White…

March 13, 2018

I have to admit, this might be my favorite color. Most shades and hues of purple are way up on my list... and since my favorite flowers are lilacs, hyacinths, and violets, it all sort of fits together!

These 2 garments work well together or separately, the earrings and scarf blend nicely, and what wouldn't you do for THAT BAG??? What a fresh jolt of spring this brings to the timeless grey and white...

If you start with some nice, casual piece in grey and white, you're in a good place... (this is the wardrobe from last Tuesday, of course)

You've got all sorts of ways to get dressed:

Adding that dash of periwinkle gives you more choices, of course, but it also really changes ... View the Post

A French 5-Piece Wardrobe in Palace Blue (with grey and white)

March 6, 2018

Maybe she has grey hair and bright blue eyes?

(Yes, white linen pants require "granny panties" in YOUR nude...)

She likes subtle, understated, and relaxed looks that flatter her hair...

But this spring, she decides that she's going to be ALL ABOUT her blue eyes... Just for a bit of a change - why not?

Now when she wants something bright, she has an abundance of choices! And she can still wear her subtle greys and whites when that's the mood...

I'm going to revisit each of these Common Wardrobes, but I'm going to go rogue and abandon the Pantone colors (trust me, I can't find the colors available to buy in any form I'd happy recommend to you!).

Instead of Pantone, I'm just going to show you ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – March 2018

March 1, 2018

Who couldn't be happy that it's finally March? (I swear, I think February might have been the longest month of my life!) Let's buy some sweaters and skirts, if only in our imaginations...

For some reason it's become a tradition for me to include canvas shoes or espadrilles with the outfits in March. Some of them are a stretch, I'll admit!

This wardrobe is unlike anything else I've ever assembled!

Seriously, couldn't someone get married in this outfit?

I think this is become really pretty...

There's something about stripes with dots... especially in navy! (and the espadrilles have little round perforations...)

I'm loving this one too... It all feels very easy to wear...

There was ... View the Post

Daffodils – the Birth Flower for March! How perfect…

After watching the Six Nations rugby yesterday, and seeing daffodil hats, and lots of daffodils pinned to coats, it seemed only perfect that today we look at them as the March birth flower...(Daffodil Days are a Cancer Society fund-raiser...)

For many of us, yellow feels like an inherently difficult color, but never discount the impact (and the fun!) that you could have with a yellow pedicure, or yellow sandals... but you can always wear the image of the daffodil in silver - no worries about unflattering yellow!

And I'm convinced that the flower in the middle of that very bright scarf is a narcissus...

Disclaimer - Yes, I'm using the same pants and shoes for most of these outfits. This is NOT because I'm bone-deep lazy (although ... View the Post

Violets! The “Birth Flower” for February

My favorite flowers, possibly... (in the real world, I refuse to choose!) While violets weren't as easy to find as carnations, and while the actual COLOR violet is subject to massive dispute, there are still lovely and tempting things for those celebrating birthdays in February - or for those of us who just simple love violets!

I need a dressy blouse like a bad headache, but that black blouse could be just LOVELY with my velvet pants...

Does violet go well with various neutrals? I've chosen a dead-plain, classic tee shirt to use for our illustrations. And yes, I've kept the same pants from last month, and many of the same accessories - just to show how versatile a core of neutral items can be.

Van Gogh socks and green-eyed ... View the Post