The Vivienne Files - Page 105 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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

Blue by Kinuko Imai Hoffman – Revisiting for Spring 2018

April 3, 2018

You might remember that back in January I assembled a very simple, but (to my mind) fascinating little Tote Bag Travel capsule based on this work.

The palette suggested by this is very limited, but I think that's part of the challenge/fun - especially for someone who thrives by being creative with constraints:

When we left our heroine visiting classrooms, just after the winter holidays, this was her travel wardrobe:

Her visits continue through the school year, even as the weather warms... And she adheres to her very disciplined wardrobe. Her goal is to be a calming, familiar presence in the classes she visits...

The weather's getting warmer, but it's still cool enough for a long-sleeved ... View the Post

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

April 2, 2018 It SHOULD be Spring, but it's iffy, at least here in Chicago...So we'll go with an outfit for warmish weather - capris that are primed for warmer weather, but (with 1 notable exception!) tops that still cover us up a bit...For those who are new to this adventure, it works like this: I start the year by choosing six Hermes scarves (for no good reason except that they're beautiful, and have amazing color combinations!) and then each month I add another outfit to six wardrobes - each based upon the colors and overall "feeling" in one of the scarves.

First, the simplest of colors and styles, with classic jewelry and snazzy shoes!

This is what this heroine now has in her wardrobe - a few options available, I'd ... View the Post

Revisiting a Start With Art: Edith and the Kingpin by Jack Vettriano

March 30, 2018 When we left Edith, she was deeply smitten with a gentleman that she had... encountered... at the resort to which she had been sent to recuperate from a recent illness...So when one of her friends wrote to her that the resort was looking for a new hostess for the luncheon salon, she determined that she was going to get the job!"You're going to do what?"

"Well, it's only 5 hours of work (10 to 3) five days a week, AND I get a room at the resort for the season, and I get all of my meals provided, AND I get paid. It will be almost like being a guest there, except that I'll get to meet everyone, and I'll get paid to get a bit of exercise..."

Her parents are not convinced, but they recognize that expression on her ... View the Post

The Easiest Way to Get Dressed? Find Your Personal Uniform!

March 29, 2018 I've seen him twice in the Pedway in downtown Chicago. The first time, he was wearing black jeans, some sort of white shirt, and a RED VELVET TUXEDO JACKET. In the middle of the day, in the middle of the business district. And he looked amazingly cool...He's average height, very slender, young, and quite nice. (Yes, the 2nd time I saw him, I had to stop him and compliment him...)The 2nd time I saw him, he was wearing a white shirt and black jeans again, but this time his jacket was BLUE BROCADE. It's a uniform, and it's his!

Of course this got me thinking how this might translate for all of us...

Say you have this outfit, and you love it:

This would be so easy to build - when you see a jacket that you love, you ... View the Post

Can I Make a Capsule Wardrobe with my Gym Clothes?

March 28, 2018

It's a frequent question - does the idea of a capsule wardrobe work when we're talking about clothes for athletic activities? Heck yes! If you like black, it's really difficult to avoid a capsule wardrobe, because so MANY athletic garments are black. But even if you source out different colors, there's no reason at all not to have a plan and a structure for the purchase of your sports apparel...And this works for any sport - golf, yoga, running, weight-lifting...

So let's start with a favorite outfit - a tee shirt and capri athletic pants, with a cropped sweatshirt to top it all off. I'll assume that you have the appropriate shoes and socks, as well as any sort of sun protection or hair control ... 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

How to Pack Just Enough Accessories

March 26, 2018 So, while Friday's travel capsule wardrobe looked pretty good, it's really not complete! Without at least shoes (and maybe a bag) you're not probably going very far... (and yes, some people don't ever wear shoes; there are ALWAYS exceptions...)

Let's do some planning, before we add accessories to that wardrobe - first, by remembering and building on our color palette.

It's worth considering if these colors will give you sufficient guidance for your choice of accessories. I like to - at a minimum - add a metal color, so that I don't just willy-nilly toss all of my jewelry into my bag! You might want to also be certain that you've got a dark neutral that's going to work for things like shoes ... View the Post

I Want to Pack ALL of my Clothes!

March 23, 2018

All of my clothes are lovely - why can't I take EVERYTHING with me on vacation?Well... of course this isn't going to work, but it's a legitimate question that I think about every time I'm going out of town - if I take everything that I own that I really love, I'm just going to end up moving away. (don't tempt me - I LOVE to move...)But let's be adults about this for a few minutes; choices are hard, but must be made. Let's walk through an example to see 1 way to make these decisions rational, if not any easier!

Start with the spring into summer wardrobe:

The first thing you want to do is get EVERYTHING out in front of you, or at least on a list. Visibility is really key to see where redundancies ... View the Post

Shopping for Paris! Thanks to Talbots…

March 22, 2018

Yep - a sponsored post! It's always a fun occasion to sit down and browse through the Talbot's site, mentally trying on different pieces and pondering how I'd wear them, and how they might work with my existing wardrobe...And since I think I'm FINALLY going to make it to Paris in May, I thought that choosing some things with that trip in mind might be a way to add to the anticipation that's already almost out of control. (for those of you who haven't heard, I had to cancel a trip to Paris in December because of a fibromyalgia "interlude," and then ANOTHER attempt to go in February was rendered completely impossible by the worst flu I've ever had...)

Talbot's asked that I specifically look at their RSVP selections - ... 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

Ireland! What a Vacation…

Back in Chicago, and slightly jet-lagged... (I know, the 2nd day is always worse...)We had a glorious trip - the highlight of which was the Ireland v Scotland rugby match at the Aviva Stadium. If you're not a sports, or a rugby, fan, trust me that this was a REALLY BIG DEAL, as it was the match that clinched Ireland's victory in the Six Nations Tournament, and set the stage for the St. Patrick's Day show-down against England at their stadium in London.It's quite the achievement to have clinched the title to a tournament with a match still yet to be played, but Ireland was so dominant in their first matches that nobody could touch them... It was delightful!

Belovedest and I had a couple of "player sightings" in the days running ... View the Post