The Vivienne Files - Page 12 of 282 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

July 7, 2025

I need to get a biography of Hilma Af Klint... She's got to be an interesting person, don't you think?

Our heroine is smack in the middle of hot weather, and was luck to be able to find things that are perfect for right now. And I think this might be one of our heroines who doesn't wear dresses or skirts very often; she chose white jeans in place of a denim skirt! I don't blame her a bit...

This is what her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe looks like now; I've taken the liberty of making the change where she substituted jeans for a skirt.

You do know that this template is a guideline, and not a law? For example, if you abhor cotton turtlenecks, I would NEVER force you to own one...

This wardrobe has lots of ... 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 #3: Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

July 3, 2025

This painting makes me want to visit the Klaralven River... maybe go canoeing...

WHO AM I KIDDING? Maybe sitting on the deck with a cool drink!

The right paintings can make almost any place look beautiful, right?

Our heroine is committed to getting some warm weather clothes, including some accessories for dressing up. Just a tiny bit dressy...

A heroine who managed to find new things from the summer 13! There's no requirement to do this, and given the current state of retail, it's not easy...

I'm pretty sure that next month, I'm going to show our heroines' wardrobes on two separate pages. Should I separate things by tops/bottoms, or two colors on each page? I'm tempted by the idea of colors, but I ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

July 2, 2025

The question of accent colors is one that comes up a lot in my emails - how much is enough? Can it just be scarves and jewelry, or do I have to have clothing in my accent colors? I hate bright shoes - do I HAVE to have accent shoes?

Whatever makes you happy is enough. Your accent colors can be whatever you like to have in your wardrobe. You NEVER have to have shoes you don't like. If you own something you don't like, SELL IT. Or give it away, whatever, but don't EVER make yourself wear things you don't like. (yes, bridesmaid dresses will trip up many of us at some time...)

Here's our painting:

To me, the teal in the trees keeps this painting from being just another insipid ocean landscape...

When our heroine ... 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

June 2025 Start With a Bracelet – Art Nouveau Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

June 30, 2025

The last day of June. I turned 65 yesterday. Time flies - don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

And before the month is gone, let's enjoy the possibilities of this VERY beautiful bracelet set:

I love these colors:

Let's start with a core of beige garments. Or ivory, depending on the retailer. I'm thinking about holding onto this core wardrobe for a few weeks, and looking at the possibilities for accent colors. Maybe starting with scarves?

Adding a couple of accent colors to your wardrobe doesn't have to be wildly extravagant and expensive. For one thing, you don't have to add BOTH colors. And you may already have a few things that will work with your accents, like gold shoes. (the brown accent in my ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Green Dresses, and an Amazing Discovery!

June 27, 2025

I wasn't sure at first - sometimes, a coincidence is JUST a coincidence. One shouldn't make too much of these things...

But then Belovedest noticed it too: LOTS of women are wearing green dresses! We were walking along the river last week, and saw FIVE women in green dresses... We didn't see five women in black, blue, red, yellow, AND white dresses.

Then today I went downstairs to our grocery store (in our building, the ultimate luxury!), and ran into one of my closest friends here in the building. Wear a green dress.

Okay, that's a sign! So let's look at some pretty dresses.

This first dress is pretty much exactly the color of peridots, so I gave this heroine some peridot jewelry. Realistically, her earrings ... 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

Like the Idea of Your Painting, But Having Trouble With the Colors? Start With Art – Pink and Black by Ed Clark

June 23, 2025

Another conference? (She did this before.) As the trailing spouse? What an absolutely horrible term...

But she's going, and she will be beautiful. She has the best inspiration; this is one of her favorite paintings, by her favorite artist:

But she's feeling uncertain... her favorite pink clothes are NOT this shade of pink. Does this matter?

After thinking for a few minutes, our heroine realized that unless she carried a big reproduction of the painting around with her and pointed out to people how badly the shades of pink clashed, nobody would ever know. She can put it out of her mind, if she tries!

So she's preparing for the "weird meet and greet/maybe go out to dinner with people they know" arrival. The ... 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