The Vivienne Files - Page 122 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

How to Pack a Foolproof Travel Wardrobe, All in Neutrals

May 24, 2017

If you're in Chicago, you of course must go to the Art Institute of Chicago, our very deservedly famous art museum. But when you're there, make sure not to miss the fabric exhibit. It's small, it's in the basement, it changes every few months, and it NEVER disappoints...

Seen there last weekend, included in a really stunning exhibit of batik fabrics:

This fabric is maybe 9 or 10 feet long, and 4 feet wide. It's really kind of breathtaking...

Seeing these neutral colors working so beautifully together, our mythical heroine was able to solve her packing dilemma...

I've got it all arranged...

We'll just go from city to city by train; I've already purchased the train passes....

Well okay, she ... View the Post

When You Don’t WANT to Get Rid of Clothes… or When The Closet Purge Goes Awry…

This is just an observation that I've made in the last few days, that I hope might be interesting and/or useful for you...

Belovedest and I live in a roomy, but not insanely large, 1 bedroom apartment. For 6 weeks or so, in March and April, we had a TON of additional furniture in our apartment. Our neighbor was having floors redone, and rather than have her pay to put things into storage, we agreed to host things like a SOFA, a BED, a large number of occasional chairs, and a very bulky and fragile glass cocktail table.

We were... crowded. But we were fine; it really wasn't nearly the inconvenience you might have expected.

After all of the furniture was returned to its home, we realized that we could now get into a closet and a few other ... View the Post

June’s Birthstone: Pearls!

May 22, 2017

Well okay, I've also read that we get moonstones, AND alexandrite, but I'm going to concentrate on pearls. They're my all-time favorites... (I've actually never owned a diamond engagement ring, because I'd really always rather have pearls...)

And I'm going to get this out of the way right up front - these pieces are not all genuine pearls, and none of these pieces is expensive. There are smarter bloggers than me who can tell you all about real pearls, and glorious pieces of jewelry that include them (yes, Passage des Perles, I'm looking at you!), so I thought I'd concentrate on more modestly priced treats... Joy should not be confined to those with abundant disposable income...

For lack of any better idea, ... View the Post

What to Pack for Ireland? Start with Art: Etude de Mademoiselle Pogany by Brancusi

May 19, 2017

Ireland? I used to live there! If you're going there, you're in for a treat... but be warned, much of the year it's a somewhat colder treat than you might be expecting...Let's use a beautiful, simple painting to focus our color choices, and just to treat ourselves, eh?

This is NOT going to be a "Whatever's Clean" wardrobe - it would certainly be possible to do it with this color scheme, but I'm going to recklessly include both pink and red pieces here that will not play nicely together. You don't have to have every last little thing matching, so long as you've got the basic neutrals in place...

You might feel really foolish leaving a fairly warm place and getting onto an airplane while wearing or ... View the Post

What Accesories Do You Want for Warm Weather? Start with an Echo “Paris in the Spring” scarf

May 18, 2017

When we left our happy heroine yesterday, she was packing for a trip to visit friends on the Gulf Coast of Florida. She was using this scarf as her leitmotif - the inspiration around which she was building her travel capsule wardrobe:

This was what she knew that she would pack - plenty of things for the beach and boat, and enough dressy pieces that she would be fine if dinner turned out to be more formal than she expected:

Just for reference, let's remember that she'd planned this wardrobe pretty carefully!

But she knows that she wants to include more accessories - especially more shoes! So she's going to work through a handful of outfits, making certain to include each of her "bottoms" so that her shoe ... View the Post

What to Pack for the Florida Gulf Coast? Start with a Scarf: Paris in the Spring by Echo

May 17, 2017

The scarf says Paris, but your luggage is all tagged TPA - you're going to Tampa to visit friends with a home on the Florida Gulf coast!

They've mentioned the beach, and the boat... (repeatedly...) There's a bit of sightseeing, some serious lounging to be done, and you might take in a baseball game. You'll be dining out at least a few times, too!

Well, you know that it's going to be hot and sunny. You know that it's a relatively casual part of the country, and you know that you don't want to carry a whole ton of stuff with you.... What to do?

Let's start with a color scheme, based on this most lovely scarf:

You know that no matter how warm the weather is, the airport will be freezing cold, and the plane is ... View the Post

The Power of Accessories in a Travel Capsule Wardrobe; Start with a Scarf – Flower Burst by Kathkath

May 16, 2017

I've known the power of a good accessory for DECADES...

The "foolproof travel wardrobe" that came from the colors and the themes of the Flower Burst scarf by Kathkath was very coherent, but cried out for a few more pieces...

Here's where we started:

This was the wardrobe that we had for our flower lover, when we finished off her "Whatever's Clean 13":

Just for reference, this was the template upon which I was building:

And this is how the clothing fit into the template:

I wanted to find a really methodical, organized way of accessorizing this wardrobe, so I thought that I might work my way through five outfits (one for each of the "bottoms") and make certain that these outfits covered ... View the Post

The Only 4 Pairs of Shoes You Need in New York

May 15, 2017

New Yorkers walk a lot - everybody knows that. And so it's only logical that they wear (for the most part, with some insane exceptions!) practical shoes. But after some careful observation, I realized that almost every pair of shoes that I saw on a woman in New York could be classed into 1 of 4 categories:

Ballet flats - if you're wear a dress or skirt for work, it's better than even odds that these are what are on your feet; Canvas loafers - a step up from athletic shoes, but equally comfortable and relaxed. Paired with pants, jeans, or more casual skirts; Short boots - worn with tights and skirts, or with bare ankles and the narrowest of pants. As a general rule, the legs of pants in New York were so narrow that ... View the Post

Want to See a Really Adorable Scarf?

May 12, 2017

I plain and simply can't do the New York shoes today - I had a bunch of broken hyperlinks to fix on yesterday's post, and I'm feeling distinctly horrid. (I have a chronic pain condition that I'll tell you all about some day...)But I have to share this with you; last night, Belovedest comes into the apartment after work carrying a gift box. Now, my birthday isn't until the last part of June, but he tells me that he has an early gift for me...

We're going to Paris in September for HIS birthday, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this scarf is going to be in my bag!It's not a Hermès (thank heavens, they can't all be that outrageous!), but it's lovely quality silk, nicely printed, with cheerful images and ... View the Post

What Were They Wearing in New York? Chic Sightings of Accent Colors

May 11, 2017

They were wearing black! Of course they were wearing black.... Or navy blue...So what I really noticed were the accent colors - the bright pops of cheer that stood out in the crowd.

Please note that I did NOT ever go up to someone and ask them what brand of whatever they were wearing; I took careful notes, and have attempted to recreate their overall look as well as I can with the tool at hand. I suspect that if you were to see the same women, in the same outfits, you would recognize them immediately!

This first woman was business lunching; she was able to stride down the street with her male companions without any problems, thanks to her flat shoes. (I'm going to share with you tomorrow my observations about ... View the Post

New York – A Whole Bunch of Random Thoughts, Observations, and Tales…

New York was lovely - I could live there TOMORROW... Sigh...

Our hotel was very near the United Nations, and the first afternoon we were in town, we went on the tour there. Just do it, trust me. It's a lovely facility, which makes mid-century modern architecture and decor look amazing. The guide that we had was both smart as a whip and a lovely young man, and the experience of being somewhere where everyone is working toward peace and prosperity for the entire human race is absolutely calming and invigorating, all at the same time...

If there aren't active sessions, you get to go into the General Assembly and the Security Council chambers. And I'm just sayin', the gift shop and the bookstore are worth a few minutes of your time ... View the Post

How Can You Pack a Foolproof Travel Wardrobe? Use the Whatever’s Clean System!

May 9, 2017

I can always tell when a lot of you are planning travel because I start to see more and more emails with packing questions. Many people want a wardrobe that they don't really have to think about once they've arrived at their destination; that's why I cooked up the idea of a "Whatever's Clean" Wardrobe. If all goes according to plan, you should be able to pull any available garments from these wardrobes and assemble a reasonably presentable outfit. Certainly, some combinations are going to be better than others, and you're going to like some outfits more than others, but overall, you've got mountains of flexibility, after doing a bit of strategic thinking...

First off, let's start with a great color inspiration - ... View the Post