The Vivienne Files - Page 142 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 26, 2016 Okay, I'm more than a little bit smitten with Ms. Gontcharova's work...

For someone who wanted to base their entire wardrobe around this work, there's also a bit of green in here:

When I Am An Old Woman... (blah, blah, blah) Yes, we know, you'll wear purple. But she's been wearing purple FOREVER...

earrings – Matta; watch – Fendi; pants – L.L.Bean; tee – Uniqlo; cardigan – Viyella; scarf – Halston; flats – SoftWalk; cross body bag – Longchamp; suitcase – Victorinox

She wears every shade of it. She buys her entire wardrobe with an eye to how well it will work with "her" color...

Henley – Majestic Filatures; skirt – Uniqlo; sandals – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: 2nd of the Portraits Theatraux by Natalia S. Gontcharova

May 25, 2016 I don't know how many of these Ms. Gontcharova did, but I'm going to try to find them all:

Not a color scheme we see every day! I opted to use pure white, rather than try to match that "faded paper" color. My assumption is that the original might have been on white paper - can anybody confirm or deny?

She Yins, She Yangs "Do you think she's completely... normal? I mean, sometimes she looks so aggressive, and other days she's just so calm and quiet..."

Earrings- Louise et Cie; watch- MVMT; linen pants – Boden; tank top – Uniqlo; scarf – Hermès La Marche du Zambeze; shoes – Sam Edelman; cardigan – Sarah Pacini; bag – Patricia Nash; tote – Sole ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Noon – Rest from Work by Vincent van Gogh

May 24, 2016

So beautiful:

And a color scheme that includes extremely warm and very cool colors, with enough neutral off-white to give a base to everything:

Why yes, you DID see this travel outfit (with a few tweaks) just a few days ago, here. I didn't include it just to be lazy - I wanted to show that there's a lot of versatility in just a few pieces of clothing, and that you could easily merge a couple of different color-schemes to design your perfect capsule wardrobe.

Everything here from a sun hat to warm scarves! But when you expect to go out in sunny warm temperatures during the day, and then sit around a fire after dark when the temperatures dip, you have to be ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Shades of Beige and Brown

May 23, 2016

These subtle colors in this capsule wardrobe really appeal to me...Remember, this was our first outfit, to which one MUST add some shoes. Unless you live somewhere that doesn't require shoes?

Tee – Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean; top shoes – Tamaris; middle shoes – Seychelles; bottom shoes – Robert Zur

And simple earrings! I particularly like that bottom pair because they're simple, but they aren't...

Tank - Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean; top earrings – Uno de 50; middle earrings – Lauren Ralph Lauren; bottom earrings –Alexis Bittar

There weren't hundreds of scarves in this very subtle color scheme, ... View the Post

A Depressing Statistic, or the #1 Reason I Write The Vivienne Files

"Most clothes are worn, on average, only seven times before they're discarded, forcing an astonishing 150 billion new clothing items to be made annually...Polyester is... found in 50 percent of all clothing. It's enormously energy intensive and doesn't bio-degrade..."

"10 percent of the world's total carbon footprint comes from the apparel industry, and apparel is the second largest polluter of fresh water globally."

This article doesn't even mention things like how much time is spent shopping (NOT a productive use of time, compared to a lot of other things...), nor the amount of money that is churned through one's closet.

Buying and discarding cheap clothing means that you never get to wear anything truly amazing - a fabric that's ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Beige and Brown, for Leisure

May 21, 2016

You wanted to see a leisure capsule wardrobe in warm colors? Here it is....I found that I could stick exclusively to shades of brown, tan, and cream and put together a really nice, workable capsule wardrobe. The accessories (which will be here on Monday!) are going to have a big impact on this very subtle collection.

I started with a simple beige column (although the tee shirt has a bit of a stripe) and found a cardigan that contained all of the shades that I wanted to consider:

Tee – Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean

The gold is included here as a very clear hint about accessories:

Tee – Uniqlo; pants – Uniqlo; cardigan – L.L. Bean

With warm weather coming ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Study for the Muses by Brice Marden

May 20, 2016

This lives just down the street from me, at the Art Institute of Chicago. I'm quite taken with it:

I could have included all three accent colors, but I wanted to think about a small, long-weekend packing wardrobe, so I limited myself to these two glorious shades:

Off Season "You can't go to the beach house NOW! You'll never be able to go outside..."

It is possible to dress warmly. And just because the calendar doesn't specify "beach" anywhere, doesn't meant that it's going to snow! The weather is often very lovely this time of year...

Yes, she seems rather feminine - pastels, round collars on her shirts, the whole "girly" 9 yards. But that ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe with Accessories 1 at a Time: Blues, Grey and Black

May 19, 2016 Casual, but really nice...Remember, we started with a simple black column of clothing, with a great blue cardigan; of course, we need shoes:

And I usually have earrings added pretty early in the process. For this wardrobe, I tried to stick with a feeling of linearity, to echo the subtle stripes in the cardigan:

Scarves! I love scarves...

For those who do not want to wear sandals, a simple low-heel or flat casual shoe will be just as suitable:

I love wearing an inexpensive watch sometimes - the look on someone's face when they admire your watch, and you tell them it's a Timex, is priceless. And it's an important reminder that good design can be ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Black, Blue and Grey, for Leisure

May 18, 2016 This is in response to a specific request to incorporate more leisure wear into a capsule wardrobe (without breaking the bank), based on the same simple black column I've used before, but including a great cardigan:

Tee – Lands’ End; pants – L.L.Bean; cardigan – Hallhuber

The request also wanted to incorporate some grey into their leisure wardrobe, so this was the color scheme that I developed:

Tee – Lands’ End; pants – L.L.Bean; cardigan – Hallhuber

I need to mention also that this person isn't in a really hot climate, so a lot of super-lightweight clothing wasn't going to be necessary...First, we need to break up that black column and introduce a ... View the Post

A Six Pack Travel Capsule Wardrobe: Red, White and Blue for Uncertain Weather

May 17, 2016

Sunday, when B and I went out for our usual breakfast and Art Institute visit, we wore jackets and gloves. Yes, May 15th, we wore gloves! I felt terrible for the people who had scheduled an outdoor wedding, and also for the hundreds of tourists who were caught completely off guard by the record-tying coldest May 15th in history.So I'm going to reiterate, one more time, that no matter WHERE you are going, no matter WHAT time of year, you should always include a few essential items. Closed-toe shoes, a pair of socks, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt might never make it out of your suitcase, but if you encounter the kind of weather that we've had here recently, you'll be endlessly glad to have them.

If you're ... View the Post

Leonardo da Vinci and Jeff Koons

Selling off some of my goodies turned out to be (a) successful beyond my wildest hopes, and (b) time-consuming! But that of course doesn't meant that I wasn't thinking of you all...

Sundays, when we are in town, we have breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien, and then visit the Art Institute of Chicago for an hour or so. Today, for the first time, I saw this piece, by Jeff Koons. It's quite large - maybe 5 feet tall - and really pretty, in an abstract and rather baroque way.

Oh, that's pretty, I thought, but didn't really "get" it....

THEN, one of the guards stopped me. "Do you have a cell phone?" she asked. Actually, I very rarely take my phone with me on Sundays, but I had it with me because I wanted to get some notes about work to use ... View the Post

Change is Difficult…

No, I'm not changing any thing here at The Vivienne Files. But I am still, after all this time, adjusting to the fact that I work from home.

I've had all kinds of interesting and amazing jobs, and they all required me to get out of bed every morning and put on "grown-up" clothes. But now that I work for you, I can work in my jammies, or in my gym clothes, or in whatever I'm going to wear for my lunch or evening plans.

Thus, I have too much stuff, and the wrong kind of stuff, to boot!

The clothes are gradually getting sorted out. Some have been donated, some have been migrated into my more casual life, and some are on probation.

But holy screaming handbags, Batman, have I got a lot of accessories!

So starting yesterday afternoon, you ... View the Post