The Vivienne Files - Page 15 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Eight Outfit Ideas, based on the Christiane Lemieux Echo 100 Limited Edition scarf

April 22, 2024

She loves neutrals - ALL the neutrals. When she saw this scarf, she distinctly heard it calling her name. (don't tell anyone - they'll think she's daft!)

But yes, this sometimes happens...

She admired the scarf extensively, and studied the colors for quite a while, too...

Her first thought was how lovely this scarf would look with her favorite summer dress - perfect for those days when she can't get out of going to her office:

Weekends? This scarf is just the right touch with a classic black and gray outfit:

Another outfit that could go to work or out for any sort of activity with friends - the scarf breaks up the severe monochromatic outfit perfectly:

But should she bust out? She's ... View the Post

April 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Hopeful Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

April 19, 2024 Blue Skies, Smiling at Me... She's finally feeling a change in the weather, internally and outdoors!

And she's making a small but meaningful (to her) change in her wardrobe, to celebrate her newfound optimism. First, she treats herself to a beautiful set of bracelets:

For years, she's always dressed for summer in a simple mix of beige and white... This year, she's adding a dash of blue-green to match her eyes and the brighter lights in her heart.

She quite likes her core summer wardrobe - it's light, and so easy to wear. You literally can't put a foot wrong with these classic pieces:

But then she saw the blue/green carried at L.L.Bean, she new that it was time to add some pizzazz to her ... View the Post

Do You Have a “Signature” Painting? I Finally Found Mine…

April 17, 2024

My Mother's 90th birthday!

It's something that fascinates me - people who know themself so well that everything about them seems to be made for them. You can't imagine them dressed differently. You know that their home is perfect for them, as is their car, and the books that the read, and the music that they love.

"Know thyself." Is there harder advice? When we're buffeted by advertising and entertainment that encourages us to try new and different EVERYTHING all the time (got to keep the economy churning, you know), being loyal to your personal style is far from simple...

Enter Emilio Pettoruti, and this wonderful painting:

Yes, I used this here on The Vivienne Files back in October, but it took me a while ... View the Post

Four Neutrals x Three Accent Colors – Which Ones “Work”?

April 15, 2024

So once you've studied the Pantone Colors from London Fashion Week, (found here and here), you have to decide if you like the colors, if you would be flattered by wearing any of them, and how they might look with the neutral clothes you normally wear.

I can't answer the first two questions for you - obviously - but I can give you some visuals to help you picture how the accent colors might work with your existing wardrobe...

I've assembled four "core wardrobes" in white, black, beige and navy, in varying degrees of dressiness. The level of dressiness is going to be more important than I had realized - you'll see what I mean.

Here are the four Wardrobe Cores:

The black core is pretty casual:

The beige ... View the Post

Looking for a New Accent Color? Part 2 – Pantone London Fashion Week Spring 2024

April 12, 2024

It's always interesting to me how difficult it is to find some of these colors! One would imagine that a reasonable range of ALL colors should be available, given the literally hundreds of thousands of products I see...

Let's jump in and evaluate what I DID find!

The next color on Pantone's list was the beautiful Sun Orange... It wasn't terribly hard to find things, except a scarf that was mostly orange. So I decided that I would share with you this really pretty, bright, versatile and cheery scarf from Echo, which includes the orange and a bunch of other summery colors:

don't you like the way that the pattern of the earrings echoes the pattern of the headband?

They call it Fiesta, but I called it coral. ... View the Post

Looking for a New Accent Color? Part 1 – Pantone London Fashion Week Spring 2024

April 10, 2024

"New" Colors! Or at least we can say "colors that have been identified as being influential for this spring..."

I'm going to confess right now - I'm in a complete muddle about WHICH of the many Pantone seasons I have and have not covered, and further, I'm not 100% sure that this is the most recent! Neither of these facts is really a big deal, when you get right down to it; the big thing to learn from posts like this is to give yourself some room and some time to consider if a new color in your wardrobe might be fun.

Or might be super-useful.

Or might make you happy. Happy is really the bottom line for getting dressed...

Let's jump in with 5 of the 10 colors from London Fashion Week...

This first color? As ... View the Post

Committed to Neutrals? Start with a Scarf – The Saïdou Dicko Silk Scarf By Echo

April 8, 2024

A new scarf! And a stunning one...

One certainly could include the vivid red and gold in a color palette too, if one was inclined... but I'm going to focus on the beautiful blue:

Today's heroine is quite committed to wearing black and white, and ONLY black and white. It's her thing, and it makes it possible for her to buy the very nicest clothes she can afford.

Also, it opens the door for her to own all kinds of accessory families, in all kinds of colors. Imagine gold, silver, bright red, soft pink...

So she's planning outfits for a summer trip around her new and cherished scarf - they look like this:

I suspect this might be her travel outfit...

So all of her chosen items, ... View the Post

Part 2 – Do You Need Accents? Or Neutrals? 6 Paintings, 12 Months April 2024

April 5, 2024

The second half - I hope you like them as much as you did the first three wardrobes!

First is this subtle, somewhat muted painting...

At the end of March, our heroine didn't have much for olive in her wardrobe! This is excusable though, because she had had some good luck finding the camel that's so predominant in this painting. Sometimes, you add what you an find to your wardrobe, and wait for other things to become available...

So she shopped mostly for green:

Just these three new green garments bring a new balance to her wardrobe, with almost equal distribution among beige, green and black. If she ever runs into a lode of rust, she's going to go a wee bit nuts!

She's quite excited by the ... View the Post

Part 1 – Do You Need Accents? Or Neutrals? 6 Paintings, 12 Months April 2024

April 3, 2024

Back again with one of my favorite posts of each month! Our heroines diverge this month on what they want/need in their wardrobes, which is to be expected. Many of us can share the same core of classic garments, but we're still going to assemble our very personal wardrobes in a specific order...

Our first heroine feels like she needs to add some navy and white to her wardrobe. As we enter April, with 16 garments, only 37.5% of her clothes are her accent color - that might not be a troubling ration for many of us. But she's ready for more neutrals!

Let's pause for just a second to enjoy her favorite painting:

This is her wardrobe at the end of March; yes, there's certainly quite a lot of bright blue ... View the Post

Weekend at the Beach? Start with a Scarf – The Eva Noblezada scarf by Echo

April 1, 2024

I'm going to start on the "Six Paintings - 12 Months" wardrobes on Wednesday; it may take me three posts to get them all done!

Today, our heroine is going to the beach for the weekend. You might be surprised, if you don't live near a big lake or the ocean, how many people head out 3 out of 4 weekends to hang out beside some water...

Our heroine saw this scarf and knew immediately that this was going to be a favorite:

Black and white are always her core neutrals, but this summer she's looking for accents in green and pink!

yes, she could certainly use blue also - I didn't find any of the right shade of blue that really felt worked...

For the trip up there (it's always "up" no matter what direction ... View the Post

March 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Sunny Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

March 29, 2024

She's pretty happy... she needs an entirely new warm weather wardrobe!

And she's starting with this as her inspiration:

She knew all along that she wanted navy and bone to be her neutrals, and when she saw these bracelets, she realized that orange would be an AMAZING accent color.... You don't see it every day!

She's a sensible woman - she started with her neutral colors, making certain that she included shorts, a pair of pants, and a skirt...

Here's where the fun started - sort of! Orange isn't the easiest color in the world to find! But she managed...

yes, I'm working with this computer ON MY LAP in a room at a skilled nursing facility... I owe Alison at Fierce Lynx Designs a big apology, ... View the Post

A Surprise Very Special Trip? Start with a Scarf – the Ngoc Minh Ngo scarf by Echo

March 27, 2024

It was love at first sight, for the scarf...

And it had been love at first sight for her when she saw her sweetheart, too...

Over breakfast...

"I learned the oddest thing the other day..."

she's still a little bit sleepy...

"What was that?"

"Remember that weird guy at the beach bar - the one we liked so much? Well, he's qualified to officiate over weddings!"

she's gobsmacked that this guy is qualified to do much of anything except tell amazing stories, and make time fly because he's so entertaining...

"Well, I wasn't expecting THAT..."

"Why don't we run up this weekend and get married?"

okay, she's awake now!

"After all these years? Are you sure?"

we shall draw a discreet curtain ... View the Post