Navy Blue Archives - Page 26 of 60

12 Months, 12 Outfits – based on 6 Hermes Scarves

January 2, 2019

Here they are! It took me a while to choose, but I think I'm going to love these...

First up - black and white with NO red... I'm interested to see how far I can go with just 2 shades of blue as accents. Given the success of the strictly navy and white wardrobe from last year, I'm optimistic!

This year, I thought that I would start with color palettes for each scarf - I think this will make it easier for me to make certain that I'm focused, and that each month's outfit will have a good chance of working nicely into the overall wardrobe.

I'm starting with the most uncomplicated outfits possible - lots of white tee shirts! It's easy to forget how useful these kinds of garments can be...

This next ... View the Post

Evaluating a Wardrobe: A Year of “Blue” by Kinuko Imai Hoffman

December 12, 2018

This wardrobe might be closer to my own than any blog post I've ever done! My clothes are almost all black and white, which I find very simple and calming. After scrolling through (literally) thousands of scarves, earrings, shoes, and handbags every day when I'm working on The Vivienne Files, some simplicity and clarity is welcome!

Remember our school consultant? She believes that creativity can be subtle - no shouting, no loud colors or garish details for her! Her favorite painting is simple but has a lot of subtle interest:

She maybe didn't even need to condense her ideas into words, nor her color palette into a wheel, but she did so in order to ensure that she is really focused and committed to this idea! ... View the Post

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

December 3, 2018

Our heroines are getting holiday outfits! It might not be what they most need, but it's almost December, and in many of our lives, that means parties are coming thick and fast...

When I looked at this first wardrobe, I realized that our heroine didn't have a black cashmere cardigan! (I know, billions of people make it through life without one, but a wardrobe heroine certainly can make a case for one...)

And yes, I'm going to show you velvet jeans a lot - I am currently wearing a pair, and I'm smitten. They come in eight colors, including emerald green, a stunning bright pink, amethyst, sapphire, and lovely gold. I sized generously but not insanely large, and they fit wonderfully...

This outfit is dressy by ... View the Post

Evaluating a Wardrobe: A Year of “Study in Verticals” by Frantisek Kupka

November 30, 2018

Remember our heroine the negotiator? She's got a knack for fitting herself into situations where there's conflict, and helping 2 sides reach a compromise. (How useful is THAT talent?) When she packs, she tries to give herself a range of options so that she can appear strong, friendly, forceful, or maybe even fade into the background a little bit... What a skill to develop!

She loves this painting...

In fact, she loved it so much that she decided to use it as the core aesthetic guide for her wardrobe!

Back in January she traveled for work, and had to go directly into meetings. A beautiful red dress made her visible without being strident...

When she travels for leisure (as she did back in April), ... View the Post

Evaluating a Wardrobe: A Year of Shallow Deep by Wassily Kandinsky

November 26, 2018

Oh how this heroine's life has changed in a year! Back in January she took a pack of 6th graders to New York City - what a brave woman! On a more leisurely note, she went back to New York 3 months later, by herself, to scout out more destinations for students...

Her confidence in planning these trips, and the expertise that she developed, lead to her applying for a job with the State Board of Education specifically dealing with student activities outside of the classroom! When she got the position, she began the frequent trips to the state capital that she will have to make every month or so...

When you look back at these 4 wardrobes, you can see that her style becomes a bit more dressy over time - she has to be ... View the Post

Accenting Navy with Fiesta Orange or Aspen Gold

November 19, 2018

One of the best things about having a solid core of neutral clothes is that you can completely indulge when you are smitten with a "new" accent color. It doesn't require a massive investment in new pieces to be able to pull together a handful of new outfits that include your new sweetheart color...

Let's say you have a passion for Fiesta! And in the course of indulging yourself in its beauty, you accumulate these items:

Now let's further hypothesize that you've got this tidy cluster of "midnight" pieces that you've carefully assembled over time. This has the infinite value of NOT being black; at lots of events and locations you've set yourself apart from the crowd already!

Now, it's obvious that these 4 ... View the Post

Start with Art Accessory Families

November 7, 2018

This is the time of year when my email begins to fill up with requests to write "gift guides" on The Vivienne Files... As if I know what kinds of things your friends and family will want for gifts! All I can do is show you pretty things that I see; you still have to make the difficult gifting choices yourself!

So I seldom do these, but The Met Store is exceptional. Anything inspired by art, and that helps support a wonderful museum, is alright by me...

My plan is to start with beautiful art, choose a simple garment that might be something that this particular heroine might love, and then add some accessories. Let's see how this works... Of course one would probably not wear ALL of the accessories - but I like ... View the Post

Chrysanthemums! The Birth Flower for November

November 5, 2018

I've been thinking about chrysanthemum colors for weeks! As soon as the first halfway cool day arrives in Chicago, a hundred flower beds get dug up, everything in them gets tossed in the garbage, and mums are planted. Thousands and THOUSANDS of them, all over the downtown...

These are my 2 favorite colors:

I was eager to see how these colors would accent simple, neutral outfits or dresses... I went a little bit overboard on the accessories, but I like to give a range of options. These different vignettes would offer dressy or more casual ways to wear the same clothes, which is always wise!

One could wear this black dress a half dozen times between late November and the first of the ... View the Post

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

November 2, 2018

The purchase of a serious cold-weather coat is not something to be taken lightly! First up, a ton of people will see your coat - far more (at least in a city) than will ever see anything else you wear. And of course, coats can be expensive, so you don't want to flounder around through 2 or 3 of them to get what you really like...

To clarify what's going on here, for newer readers: I started back in January by choosing six Hermes scarves, and then assembled six similar, but different, outfits - one each to "go with" each of the scarves. Each month, on or around the 1st of the month, I add another outfit, and we continue to evaluate how each wardrobe progresses.

The little square up in the top left corner ... View the Post

Blue by Kinuko Imai Hoffman, Revisited for Autumn 2018

October 17, 2018

Our heroine is an educational coordinator, who spends a great deal of her time visiting schools... Back in January, right after the holiday break, she was bundled up and spending a couple of days in a classroom with some issues... And then back to check on them in April! Even though there were no classrooms to visit during the summer, she continued to try to understand the students in her area by attending their favorite music festival. A bit of a fish out of water, but she had a wonderful time!

This heroine has the most disciplined of wardrobes, based on the stark but beautiful simplicity of this painting:

One thing that our heroine has never really advertised to her co-workers is the meticulous care that she ... View the Post

Study in Verticals by Frantisek Kupka, Revisited for Autumn 2018

October 15, 2018

She's a mediator. A negotiator, but her position in any discussion is in the middle, trying to bring the 2 conflicting sides closer together. She loves her work, even when she has lengthy, complicated projects! Her personal life doesn't suffer because of her work, though - she's been to the beach back in the spring, and she and her spouse make the time to do some excellent dining, too. Her packing is always spot-on, because she focuses her purchases carefully around her favorite painting:

It's the Longest Strike Anyone Can Remember... People in the downtown area are used to walking past the picket lines; lots of businesses have cancelled any relationship with them, because they won't cross the picket ... View the Post

Shallow Deep by Wassily Kandinsky Revisited for Autumn 2018

October 12, 2018

Remember this heroine - the intrepid teacher who took 20 of her 6th grade students to New York City for a few days? She went back to NYC by herself in the spring (and spent quite a bit of time in The Met Shop...) During the summer she applied for, and was interviewed for, a position that would help organize field trips for students all over the state...

Her style inspiration is a whimsical, colorful painting:

So With Her New Job... of course she got the position - who else could begin to understand these projects as well as she does?

She has to travel back and forth between the city where she lives (and where she has an desk in the local offices) and the state capital, where the State Board of Education is ... View the Post