The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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The Third of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 5, 2025

I often ponder what I would do with my wardrobe if I had to start from scratch. I mean ABSOLUTELY from scratch - I got out of my apartment in my moose-print pajamas and nothing else!

Well, THAT'S a nightmare, but I have to admit that I would be very tempted to go this direction:

These colors are timeless, and so appealing. And I think it's one of Delaunay's very best paintings...

As we very happily left January, our heroine had this eight-piece capsule wardrobe. It's small, but you could get dressed for quite a bit of the cold weather with just these:

Our heroine could certainly use a brown cardigan, but I didn't see one that really suited. But at least we've put her in a really good position for ... View the Post

Looking for Summer Accessories? Start With a 4×4 Summer Wardrobe

January 29, 2025

Of course you remember our swimming heroine from Monday - a new swimsuit spawned a full 4x4 summer wardrobe plan!

This is her new suit:

And this is the 16-piece capsule wardrobe she chose to go with her swimsuit - you have to start somewhere!

So that our heroine can be sure to get all of the accessories that she needs, she's going to take a handful of normal outfits from her wardrobe, and accessorize each of them. The most important thing might be to include all of your "bottoms" when you do this, so that you don't show up somewhere with a lovely outfit and the wrong shoes. Worse things happen every day, but if you can avoid this...

Let's start with the essentials - a hat and sunglasses!

For ... View the Post

Need a Summer Overhaul? Start with Swimwear – Ditsy Lilies by Lands’ End

January 27, 2025

She swims EVERY DAY. Everybody who lives in her very large building has seen her in the elevators, in her swimsuit and robe. She's long past the point of feeling self-conscious!

But she's realizing that she needs new swimwear. And new summer clothes. The whole exercising, eating right, avoiding junk food project seems to have worked!

In the summer, she swims every day, outdoors. Hours by the pool. Swim wear is what she's wearing most often, so she realizes that she might want to start there to re-build a summer wardrobe:

She's pretty methodical about this - her first choice is a dress that will certainly be considered a "cover-up" in her life! A navy tank and shorts seem logical, with a striped shirt to wear ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? A Printed Full Skirt

January 24, 2025

After I posted the "sister skirt" in purple on The Vivienne Files, there was quite a bit of interest, excitement, and chat. I love that!

Frock Tales - the brand of the skirts - has quite a lot of alluring things available. Gorgeous skirts, a purple dress that I DO NOT NEED, and some really pretty tops. One of the skirts that attracted a lot of attention was beautiful shades of green and blue, accented with golden yellow. If it were still available in the full range of sizes, I would be writing about it!

But instead, today we're going to think about this skirt a bit...

I'm not going to try to come up with a color wheel for this... But I'm already thinking that I'm NOT going to try to put a pink top with this, ... View the Post

Do You Love Deep, Rich Jewel Tones? The Baroque Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

January 21, 2025

 

Do you love the rich, classic colors of precious gems? A little ruby, a few emeralds, maybe a sapphire or two?

This bracelet is ALL about those beautiful colors!

A pretty classic outfit takes on a new feeling with some velvet loafers, a brooch stolen from the angels, and your new bracelet:

Burgundy and navy are classic cool-weather colors - add some pretty earrings, a lovely scarf and timeless loafers:

This late in the winter (well, in the winter clothing season!), it's hard to find forest green, but it's always worth searching!

Maybe your life suggests that you should have a dress! Or another piece of green clothing? And some amazing jewelry is never a bad ... View the Post

When Your Color-Scheme Doesn’t Happen – Start With Art – Abstraction Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

January 8, 2025

"I've got tickets for the ballet matinee on Saturday!

We can go downtown Friday night, have dinner, go to the ballet on Saturday and then have dinner AGAIN, and then come home after brunch on Sunday..."

She can manage this - it won't take much for clothing... Something for Saturday that's dressy but comfortable, and something Sunday for brunch and the ride home...

And she's dreaming of packing a soft, water-colored, shades of blue and green travel capsule wardrobe!

The ride downtown is easy - a navy "suit" with her "glacial teal" tee shirt, and her stunning scarf...

Her navy skirt is perfect for this kind of adventure - it's soft and comfortable. And she has a lovely pink sweater that will be ... View the Post

Six Paintings – Twelve Months January 2025 Part 2

January 3, 2025

Here are ALL of the "cool" toned wardrobes - in the randomness of life, the warms and the cools got split down the middle. No wonder Wednesday's post left some of you out in the cold... or rather I guess I should say the warm!

I have to warn you before next month - I suspect that we're going to start moving right into spring clothes. It's absurdly difficult to find winter clothes right now that don't cost the moon, are decent looking, in the colors we like, that are available in the full range of sizes. I will NOT include something for which there are only 7 size XXXS available...

Let's start with a warm/cool wardrobe, and a wonderful favorite painting:

Such lovely, classic colors...

Back on Christmas ... View the Post

Six Paintings – Twelve Months January 2025 Part 1

January 1, 2025

Happy New Year! We've got new paintings, new heroines, and new wardrobes to build - what fun!

This year, I'm going to try to start all of our heroines with basics, and so I've dredged out the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list for reference. I'm not sure that I'm going to keep using it for the entire year, but as a guide in the early days of a wardrobe, it may be helpful.

Let's jump in and start with some Georgia O'Keeffe. I think I've used one of her paintings almost every year - she's just THAT good...

I could have broken out a number of shades of blue and green for this color wheel, but I wanted to think of these colors as all being closely related, on a spectrum. We shall see how that works!

Our heroine ... View the Post

Feeling Bright and Casually Festive? Start With a Scarf – The Trina Turk scarf by Echo

December 16, 2024

These are NOT traditional holiday colors, but they're certainly bright and cheery enough to be appealing this time of year:

Of course, this scarf has more colors than our heroine has chosen for her palette—she's pretty happy that in warmer weather, she can choose beige, olive green, or off-white.

Just a Bunch of Friends It's a tradition for all her friends who can't get away to be with family this time of year; they get together at someone's home for a few days, attend a couple of parties, go out to dinner, and go to a movie one evening...

It's not dressy, but it IS festive. She dresses warmly to drive there, although the weather has been pretty moderate. She can't leave until late—she can't leave until ... View the Post

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Second Painting, by Elizabeth Magill

December 3, 2024

Let's move on to our next heroine, who has committed her wardrobe to navy and white, with a few shades of blue...

She was inspired by this, and one can well understand!

Her existing wardrobe, at the end of November, is pretty complete. Let's look at it, spread out a bit, and arranged in some outfits:

After all of those outfits, she still has nine more tops, and a dress! As I said before, this might be enough for some people...

Her accessories are perfect for her:

After some deep thinking, our heroine has two goals this month:

She wants to expand her denim/chambray adventure, (she's going to buy a second chambray shirt, for a very specific reason; those of us who own these shirts can ... View the Post

Feeling Festive? Start with Bracelets – Festive Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

November 27, 2024

It's getting to be that time of year...

She LOVES a Party... Which is a good thing because she goes to quite a few! This year, she's keying all of her party outfits around her new bracelets...

She's including navy in her plan because she can include jeans and navy pants that she already has! But she collects evening bags and is a sucker for a beautiful dangly, sparkly earring...

Her travel outfit is pretty restrained - as much as she likes to dress for a party, she also doesn't want to be terribly gaudy and inappropriate in transit!

Packing is such a joy - this is what she's taking with her:

She collects everything together the night before she leaves and is just a bit giddy at the thought ... View the Post

Needing Some Brightness? Start With a Scarf – The Nina Knaudt & Rianna Kounou scarf by Echo

November 25, 2024

Our heroine has a couple of weekend holiday trips this year, and since the people that she will see don't overlap (that's handy!), she's decided to really refine a small wardrobe and take it for all of her trips...

AND!!! She's really being brought down by the darkness that comes so early in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year. Therefore, she's decided that she's going to work with bright colors to accent her chosen neutral of navy...

This scarf would be delightful in the heat of summer, but she's going to make it work in November and December!

She's chosen her accent colors from the many that she found in the scarf. Orange might be tough to find in November (oddly enough - isn't it a fall color?), ... View the Post