The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Vivienne Files - Page 157 of 285 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

How to Pack for a Long Weekend Graduation Trip

June 1, 2016

 

One of the reasons that I'm taking this hiatus is that I've got two trips in the month of June, which were weighing heavy on my mind...First up, a very quick dash through New York City, to Vermont, then BACK to New York to fly back to Chicago. There's a very important college graduation in there, somewhere...

I have to tell you something amazing - we're leaving in 4 hours or so, and I'm not packed! But I think I've got it figured out.

My goal here, uncluttered simplicity, without sacrificing looking appropriately dressy for the solemn occasions...

(can someone explain to me why this suitcase is a man's bag? what folly...)

I'm packing silk pants, a silk tank, and a silk tee shirt, in order to ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Girl on a Sofa by Philip Wilson Steer

May 28, 2016

 

Doesn't this look comfortable?

And this painting could single-handed provide someone with plenty of colors to have a wardrobe with great variety, and a lot of options:

 

I've been thinking a lot about packing (big surprise, eh?) and about the wisdom of packing your favorite outfits and letting the chips fall where they may. So let's explore that idea a bit!

In keeping with the relaxed feeling of the painting, I've tried to keep everything soft, rounded, flowered or flower-like, and just a touch slouchy.

First up, a simple column in a muted navy blue, with a soft white blazer, gold jewelry, and some brown leather accessories. This could be the outfit for the meeting, or the presentation, or ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Ted Baker’s Dreams Scope

May 17, 2016   She's so smitten with the scarf that she decided to plan her entire trip around the colors she found in it!  

Every Year They go back to the little town in which their wedding took place. For the most part, it's a very casual long weekend, spent walking around the lake, browsing in used bookstores, or maybe taking in an estate sale...

But every year, on Saturday evening of their weekend together, they go back to the place where they were married. And they repeat their vows...

 

 

 

 

This year, she's going to remind him that beautiful brides come at every age...

love, Janice ... View the Post

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...

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

 

And she mixes multiple shades of purple without hesitation, and without apology.

 

 

 

Someone once told her that she had eyes like Elizabeth Taylor's; but she knows that it was only the reflection from ... 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..."

  "I don't know if she's normal or not, but she must have a GIGANTIC wardrobe..."

 

"And EVERY Friday, she's got that tote bag with her... Who's she kidding - she goes away EVERY ... 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:

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

 

With warm weather coming (theoretically, where I live!), I thought that a light-colored top would be a good starting point. This top ... 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 doesn't mean that she's ... 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