Navy Blue Archives - Page 3 of 60

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

September 5, 2025

I think if I had to use just one artist on The Vivienne Files, it might be Georgia O'Keeffe...

Our heroine made very disciplined clothing choices this month, and then treated herself to a necklace and earrings! That's a reasonable balance of shopping - a mix of basics and pretty adornments:

Her plan for her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is going well. It might be difficult to find sleeveless tops between now and the end of the year, but these plans just don't usually go perfectly.

When I divide this wardrobe by colors, it shows a lack of balance that at first seems alarming. But upon reflection, there's no compelling reason that she MUST have an equal number of beige and blue/green clothes. The fashion ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

September 2, 2025

I love the way this painting feels like autumn, although the leaves in the painting are green! Is it the browns? I think so...

Our heroine's shopping was... eclectic, this month. She realized from looking at her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template that she "should" be looking for dresses (while knowing full well that there is no "should" in planning a wardrobe!). And she stumbled across the two turtlenecks in perfect colors, and decided to buy them before they were out of stock.

The jewelry was impossible to resist, as was the scarf. This heroine might find herself in some shoe trouble later, but she will address that when it happens!

She's making good progress with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe - although ... View the Post

August 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

August 8, 2025

Such a wonderful, simple painting, and it gives us the easiest of wardrobes! Navy just makes things better, I swear...

Today's heroine took a good hard look at her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template, and decided that it was past time to grab a couple of dresses and a good pair of jeans!

She's making nice progress - not that this is important. Always remember that things like this template are only guidelines; nobody can tell you what you need in your closet!

She has much more clothing in the darker blues and greens than she has in beige; she may address this in the future. Or she may leave things as they are, and be thrilled that she has such a lovely and function wardrobe. Technically, the O'Keeffe ... View the Post

August 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

August 5, 2025

I'm so excited - I just booked my annual December trip to Paris! I went crazy - I'm staying at a hotel that used to be a bakery (seriously!) and was decorated by Christian Lacroix. I've reached the point that flying over an ocean is sufficiently exhausting that I want to be pampered when I arrive!

If you go to their website, note that I've also stayed at the Pavillon des Lettres (same management company), and it was amazing...

Speaking of Paris:

Our heroine has a wonderful wardrobe in these colors, and she has the fun of balancing brown and navy - two excellent, very compatible neutrals. This month, she found a wonderful brown sweater in a style that's just a little bit unusual, and she was off to the ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

July 4, 2025

Okay, THIS might be one of my favorite paintings ever. Although I can't imagine how one would EVER get a view of the Eiffel Tower like this, these days...

Today's heroine is stocking up on summer clothes; she's one of the really lucky people for whom summer things are still available!

She's particularly happy to find a trove of her aqua accent:

It's a good thing that our heroine was able to find warm-weather clothes; her wardrobe still seems to have quite a gap! Next month, she may have to focus on her navy neutral and beige accent to find things...

Her wardrobe doesn't look terribly focused on cold weather wear, though. There are few "4-season" places where this wardrobe wouldn't serve someone pretty ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

July 1, 2025

July??? I'm sort of amazed. You would think that I would adjust to the passage of time, after a few years...

Remember - there will be posts every weekday this week, and on both Monday and Tuesday next week. Because these posts for the paintings aren't very big, I give you lots of them all in a row!

Let's jump into this perfectly perfect summer painting:

So many of us have been living with ridiculously hot weather for a while, so it was easy to get into the mood to get this heroine some true summer clothes!

I cheated just a bit on the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe; I'm calling the striped tee shirt "sleeveless" when of course it isn't! But our heroine already has all of her tee shirts, and I felt ... View the Post

Love Primary Colors? Start With 2 Scarves – Lazyjack Press and Elizabetta

June 25, 2025

Sometimes, when you're packing, it's just easier to go back to the very most basic options. That's certainly true with colors; if you're packing core is navy, red and yellow seem like perfect accents!

So let's start with these two scarves:

Our heroine has made a few changes to her navy wardrobe core. This part of your packing can be as conservative or as relaxed as you need, of course!

To go with our red floral scarf, our heroine has chosen a timeless linen camp shirt, and a striped tee! She might wear the scarf with the striped tee shirt, if she's feeling in that mood.

Her yellow clothes make a sort of twinset, with the matching tee shirt and cardigan. And yes, she's got two completely ... View the Post

Want to Mix Your Neutrals? Start With Art – Green, Gold & Blue Painting by Susan Krause

June 20, 2025

Hold your loved ones close, and TELL THEM YOU LOVE THEM. One of our friends here in The Vivienne Files readership has lost their partner, and in this time of her grief, we should all remember how fortunate we are to have each day - each moment - with those we love. JR

Many of us fall into the easiest pattern imaginable - every few months, we buy a new outfit (which of course all goes together beautifully!) in one of our favorite neutrals. Today's heroine is inspired by this painting, which gives her a lovely range of possibilities:

She's spent some time admiring this work, and has determined that these are the colors that she sees there. These colors are pretty obvious, but what's maybe more important is that she ... View the Post

Love Pink and Green? Start With Two Scarves: Elizabetta and Jessie Zhao New York

June 18, 2025

Say your trip with your navy wardrobe core went well, including what you packed! But you'd like to try some different accent colors...

How about using these two scarves as your inspiration? Of course you NEVER have to wear scarves if you don't like them, but you can always use the images of them, and the colors included, to help you focus your travel capsule wardrobe:

To keep our comparison consistent, and to actually reflect how normal women wear their clothes over and over (as the planet asks us to do!), I'm using the same navy core that we used on Friday:

Our heroine found the perfect shade of pink at Lands' End, so she grabbed two different but very compatible garments. And her necklace is ... View the Post

Want a Touch of Brown with Your Chambray? Tullynally Castle Corridor & Window by Hector McDonnell

June 16, 2025

She goes away a LOT of weekends in the summer. Many of her friends have places on lakes or the seashore, or in a forest near a lake... And she must be an excellent guest, because she's always invited somewhere!

This is one of her favorite paintings:

She always feels like the window at the end of the hall is crooked!

Her colors that she's isolated from the painting are shown here; she doesn't include the tiny touches of red, but she does wear a good red lipstick sometimes...

She usually leaves for her friend's home straight from work - she's close to the train station when she's in her office! She dresses simply, but with a cardigan to battle the office air-conditioning.

She doesn't ... View the Post

Want to Pack In Two Moods? Start With Two Scarves: Frances Valentine and Kurt Geiger

June 13, 2025

Happy Friday the 13th to all of us intelligent people who are NOT superstitious!

Today's question is a pretty normal one: our heroine wants to pack a wardrobe that's mostly navy, but wants a couple of different options for accents. She'd love a pretty pastel, but she's also thinking that a bright-colored option might be nice too.

Okay! let's grab a couple of scarves that appealed to me, and that will work as a perfect springboard for our heroine:

Our heroine's only going to be gone for 4 nights, and she's not going anyplace horrendously dressy. She will have to attend a meeting or two, but for at least one day she will be able to wear shorts! This is a normal trip for her, and so she's assembled a navy travel ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

June 6, 2025

Such a favorite scene, and a wonderful painting!

Our heroine woke up one morning in early June to realize that Summer WILL come this year, albeit quite late. And she doesn't have a ton of warm-weather clothes, yet.

She's got 2 pairs of sandals, so she needn't worry too much about that. So she goes ahead to grab three sleeveless tops, early in the season while there are still sizes available. And of course her shorts are going to be the same neutral that she uses for so many linen-ish and cotton-y garments for warm weather!

She's still missing quite a few items for hot weather, but she's made a very good start!

Now, her 28-piece wardrobe looks as if it would serve her for most seasons of the year. ... View the Post