The Vivienne Files - Page 146 of 288 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

How to Clean Out Your Closet – the Color Method

How DO you clean out closets? Hold things in your hand and see if they spark joy? With all the respect in the world to Marie Kondo, I'm NEVER going to feel joy from a black tee shirt, but having a handful of them is really important to being well dressed, in my life. So I keep looking...

(in all fairness, when you're talking about decorative or sentimental objects, her method is perfect...)

I've got a couple of ideas - let's try these out.

First, let's start with a fairly normal wardrobe. I think this is 50 pieces; I just wandered about the Uniqlo site and chose pieces without any real pattern or plan:

Let's get 2 things clear right from the beginning: There's not one single thing wrong with any of these clothes, and they could all be ... View the Post

Accessories for an “All-Neutral” Capsule Wardrobe in Navy, Grey, Camel and White

March 6, 2017

Oh, how I love accessories! As much as it's important, and nice, to have good-quality, classic clothes, it's really the accessories that make outfits distinctively yours...

Let's briefly flash back to look at the scarf from which we're working; note that I've slightly changed the color wheel to reflect the focus that I'm going to put on brown leather accessories! I do these in PowerPoint, which gives you nearly infinite flexibility in the number of colors you include, the proportion of each color, the nuanced shade of each color, as well as the ability to change the borders (both color and width) at will. I don't think that PowerPoint was ever intended for this purpose, but it works really well!

The lace ... View the Post

Building an All-Neutral Wardrobe, based on a Scarf: Navy, Grey, Camel and White

March 3, 2017

People often ask me where I get ideas for blog posts - they should see my inbox! I get the most wonderful emails, with the most interesting questions... (if it takes me days and DAYS to respond, please don't be offended or insulted - I love to hear from you!)

Many of us start to feel like we need to migrate away from black, and toward grey or navy. One among you found a lovely scarf - vintage! - to help focus this wardrobe shift, and asked me for a few ideas. What fun!

First off - buying "luxury" scarves second-hand is just plain smart. You can find them on Ebay (which can be dicey, because they don't do anything to police against fakes), Tradesy, 1st Dibs, Etsy, The RealReal, Malleries, and ... View the Post

How to Choose a “Project 333” Wardrobe Based on a Scarf – Ted Baker London’s Gem Garden

March 2, 2017

Monday I put together a wee wardrobe based on a most beautiful scarf, and today I'm going to add some accessories. Given my incredible fondness for numbers, I early on realized that the overall number of items here was going to be very close to 33, so I specifically aimed at that number...

First, let's refresh our collective memory of the scarf, and the colors we were using:

In case you didn't see this on Monday - the scarf is also available with a cream background in place of the black. Did you need more temptation? And this design/pattern is also available in other sized scarves, as well as some lovely bags!

And these were the pieces of clothing that I chose; there are 18 pieces here, so I'm going ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – March 2017

March 1, 2017

Always one of my favorite days of the month!

For no good reason I can explain, the earliest glimpses of spring make me want to wear a skirt, but not really get dressy. It's hard to explain, but I'm a firm believer that a skirt in a casual fabric can be a great substitute for shorts or pants; the world will think you're all dressed up, when in reality it's just a simple garment switch...

So - let's see what I found this month:

I really tried to find the perfect brown, black and grey scarf in "current production," but I finally realized that this Missoni scarf was going to be my choice. It's second-hand (but probably never worn, as is so often the case!); I have confidence that Missoni will do this color ... View the Post

My Year Without Shopping – March 2017; What do you buy when you aren’t shopping for “clothes”?

February 28, 2017

Today (I write a day ahead...) is the 57th day of my shopping fast, and so far I'm feeling very minimal pain or unhappiness from my choice. I see beautiful things that I admire - every day! - but I remember something that I wrote a long time ago, and so I admire, and then I walk away. (literally, or digitally!)

But just because I'm not buying "clothes" - meaning all of those things that I wear out and about in the world - doesn't mean that there's no shopping that really should be done.

I pondered this question at length, and have concluded that there are, in fact, six categories of apparel that might need to be... "shored up" through the year. Not buying scarves, jewelry, or pretty sweaters might free up my ... View the Post

Should I Buy This Scarf? How to decide if you really ought to buy an accessory…

February 27, 2017

I saw this, and was immediately captivated. I am, of course, two months into a year without shopping, so the question of buying the scarf isn't really relevant to me personally, but it is something that we all confront: "Should I Buy This?"

It's an intriguing scarf - it's not really a traditional floral design, and the color scheme is subtle and quite pretty. I imagine that this would be very flattering on a lot of women! (and it comes with an ivory background - rather than the black - if that appeals....)

My thinking? Imagine a spectrum of outfits - from very casual to somewhat dressy - that would be perfect with this scarf. And then think seriously - are these outfits that I already own, or that I would ... View the Post

How to Accessorize A Capsule Wardrobe with Lots of Denim? Let’s see…

February 24, 2017

One last really fun visit to this Salvador Dali painting, and the wardrobes inspired by his color choices:

The original wardrobe was for a woman who spent a great deal of time in fields and forests; today's heroine spends her time at the shore! Waterproof footwear, nylon bags, shell-inspired jewelry... Nobody but you might notice that you're consistent in your choices, but you will ALWAYS feel like yourself if the water is your second home!

Small earrings don't have to be boring, nor predictable:

If you're going to spend a lot of time near water, a water-resistant backpack is very useful...

Sunglasses, ALWAYS.

Yes, no matter how casual you are, you can ... View the Post

How to Wear Aquamarines – the March Birthstone. I Have Suggestions…

February 23, 2017

From now on, I'm going to try to write the "birthstone" post a few days before the beginning of the corresponding month - in case you have a gift to find. (and yes, gifts to yourself are legitimate gifts!)

This turned out to be a much more difficult blog post than I expected. Normally, the first thing I would do is Google the word "aquamarine" and see how the color is "defined," i.e. how you arrange your RGB settings to get that color. (RGB is Red Green Blue - numerical settings that you can combine to get any color of the rainbow...) Then I'd change the word "Aquamarine" on each page to that shade of blue, as well as change the wee diamonds in the page dividers to that hue.

Well, THAT was interesting. ... View the Post

Can I Use Denim in Place of… ? Substituting Denim for Olive Grey in a Four by Four Wardrobe

February 22, 2017

You asked, and it was a really intelligent question - can I use denim in place of olive green, in a wardrobe from The Vivienne Files?

Heck yes! Neutral colors can be interchanged, especially in casual wardrobes in which rigorous color matching isn't terribly important. Let's recreate a recent wardrobe and make this substitution, to see how it works out.

First up - remember this amazing painting by Salvador Dali? I've changed the associated color palette to include the denim that we want:

I'm starting from the same point as before - a solid core of grey garments:

The first difference is immediate - instead of the olive tee shirt from before, I found a shirt that feels very denim-ish!

Tee – ... View the Post

How to Wear Garnets – the January Birthstone? I ALWAYS have some ideas…

February 21, 2017

Yes, we're playing catch-up here; the idea of writing about birthstones wasn't sent to me until late in January, so I missed writing about garnets during "their" month. And going forward, I'm going to write about each stone a few weeks before it is "in season," so that if you're inclined to get something in anticipation of a birthday, you'll have a chance to plan ahead some.

Since this posts follows so quickly on the heels of the post about the February amethysts, I stuck with the same garments (for the most part) and just found new and lovely accessories!

One of the fun things about garnets is the range of shades of red available - everything from a pretty bright "true" red through to a deep maroon or burgundy ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Around a Statement Tote Bag

February 20, 2017

Someone sent me a link to this beauty... What excellent colors!

This bag includes a bunch of the classic neutral colors - beige, white, shades of rust into dark brown, maybe some black? I'm deliberately NOT including any sort of style guidelines here because I think that this is a case in which a wide variety of personal styles could accommodate this bag.

I'm going to focus pretty much on warm-weather attire here, but imagine for cooler weather - a navy winter coat with camel trousers... a navy wool skirt with an ivory sweater and brown riding boots.... mmm....

This is sort of a styling free for all - I just let my imagination wander toward whatever outfits I would like to wear, or that would be fun for ... View the Post