The Vivienne Files - Page 160 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Mixing Black and Florals

September 8, 2015 If you're not mad for monochromatic wardrobes, yesterday might not have been your dream. But this idea has all kinds of potential; what if you're all about floral prints?

Oh my... While each of these garments is quite beautiful on their own, when you pile them all together like this, they could give even the most staunchly pro-botanical among us hay fever...But if you also own at least these 9 solid garments, you're really in pretty good shape, wardrobe-wise. The solids temper the impact of the print, and give them center stage, and make garments that might seem busy or "too much" into pieces that are just perfect.

The addition of the floral pieces to your core black ... View the Post

Mixing Solids and Patterns, or 18 = 108 (or more…)

September 7, 2015

Ever since I started trying to identify my signature wardrobe items, and have worked with A Common Wardrobe, I've pondered the various ways in which printed or patterned garments can be incorporated into your wardrobe. I think for most of us, either non-solid pieces, or accent colors, are pretty important to give a sense of change and variety...So I started with a wonderful 9-Piece Slot Machine Wardrobe in solid black. These pieces run the gamut from a tank top for warm weather to a cashmere turtleneck for (in my life) about 6 months of winter. Just doing the math, these give you 27 3-piece outfits (3 x 3 x 3), plus 12 more 2-piece outfits. Some of the combinations might be a little unlikely - like a ... View the Post

How to Create Your Capsule Wardrobe – a Vivienne Files Bookshelf Excerpt

September 5, 2015 Taken from one of my very favorite reference books for The Vivienne Files: Ma To-Do List by Jeanne-Aurore Colleuille and Laure Gontier. I'm going to quote directly from their book...

The 3 Secrets for Creating your “Capsule Wardrobe”

“My style is the result of distillation. I have accepted my grey hair. I only wear black and white. Each year, I buy three or four dresses which I wear in rotation. I own a pair of jeans.” – Jamie Lee Curtis

"This barbaric Anglo-Saxon concept, adored by fashion magazines and women of style across the Atlantic, doesn’t have a real French equivalent.The word that they use to describe this concept is barbarisme... is doesn't translate with quite the ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art in Orange and Red: Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

September 4, 2015

This color scheme had to be revisited one last time, because there's an eccentric aunt lurking in the background who wants a bit of attention. (just for the record, I'm the eccentric aunt in my family's tree...)

She persists in believing that orange and red are meant to go together! They're side by side in the color wheel, they're both in flowers, and fruits, and lots of beautiful prints. Why not pair them - it's a singular style statement that you don't see every day!

You would see this woman... on a plane, train, you name it, she's going to be visible. Happily, her sunny personality is equal to the level of high-intensity color.

For reference purposes, and to give credit where artistic credit is due, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Egypt Drawing 9 by Susan Osgood

September 3, 2015 So beautiful... the depths of the black throughout the blue, the radiance of the red shining in the distance, and are those footsteps moving up off the top of the image?

A color scheme of clarity, but with dimensions of color:

Can You Play the Game? The rules are few, simple, but rigorously enforced:

Either participant can initiate the game. You must be ready to leave within the hour! You must be able to carry (not roll) your bag...

Blue cardigan – Eastex; tunic dress – Topshop; bracelet – Aoy; cross body bag – Cambridge Satchel Company; red onyx earrings – Bhavesh; scarf – We are Owls We Are Warriors; black tights – Topshop; boots – Jack ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2 of Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

We took a look at this painting a few days ago, and my result was a very dark and subdued mix of burgundy and black. THIS version is quite a bit brighter!This is the same general scenario: a lovely woman who has to make a quick overnight trip for a (possibly) dressy event - wedding, dinner party, etc.

I've kept the jewelry and scarf from the previous iteration of this project, and black pants are still on the menu. But a change of coat, sweater, boots and tote change everything completely.

coat – MSGM; boots – Munro; cashmere sweater – RED Valentino; trousers – Oasis; scarf – Sam Edelman; earrings – Kendra Scott; cuff bracelet – Alexis Bittar; tote bag – Lodis

Just to refresh our eyes, here's the ... View the Post

A book winner, and a question

One of the only blogs in the world that occasionally start with a random number generator...

The winner of the book How to be Pretty, though Plain, is Linda Becker! Dearest Linda, please email me at [email protected], and get your mailing address to me...

Now, on to a serious question about something I was planning for The Vivienne Files:

I'm going to clean out my scarf drawer, which means that I'm going to cut back the number of Hermes scarves that I own.

(1) are you interested in how this is going to be done? and

(2) is it okay, appropriate, not annoying, if I offer the scarves to you all to purchase before I throw myself on the mercy of Ebay and other venues? I'd rather sell them for less to you, than to make more ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: French Paisley Striped Shawl from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

August 31, 2015

For all of us who are art lovers, it's important to remember that we can indulge ourselves while supporting our favorite museums. Gift shops make a real point to find the most beautiful items available, and they always have a certain quality that you just don't see in every store...This beauty screams fall, doesn't it?

What really appeals here is the way that the strong camel and brown tones provide a perfect backdrop for the clear red, green and blue:

Under the Radar She wanted to travel. A lot. She has a project, and some goals in mind. So she wants to get out of town, maybe as often as every other weekend, through the autumn and winter...

There are LOTS of cities really close to her - ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Nature Morte by Georgette Agutte

August 29, 2015

The wealth of colors in this painting lead me in all sorts of directions, so I thought I'd share with you my thought process as I finalized a color scheme for us to work with here.

My very first instinct was drawn to the fabrics in the background of the painting - the vivid blue was the first thing that I envisioned as a lead neutral for a color scheme, with accents of the white fabric, all of the red flowers, and the oranges.

But where this would make a great scarf, or piece of jewelry, I realized that there wasn't going to be any easy way to find enough garments in that shade of blue to put together even the smallest capsule wardrobe. (this is a BIG advantage to being able to sew - you could make your core ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with a Scarf: Silvie Shadow by Ted Baker

August 28, 2015 If you are a fan of floral prints, get yourself to the Ted Baker site... I stopped into his store in Chicago on Saturday, and it was an oasis of beautiful floral fabrics. His items sell out really quickly, so if you see something that really grabs you, it's worth acting quickly. The prints are intricate, beautifully rendered, in lovely fabrics, and very feminine without being at all prissy or twee. Gorgeous...

There are at least a couple more colors that I could have pulled from here - there are touches of apricot, and of course a soft white would be ideal - but this is what I'm working with:

You don't dress like a scientist... She has like flowers for as long as anybody can ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Light, Earth and Blue by Mark Rothko

August 27, 2015

A very special request! This is such an interesting color combination - distinctive, but calm and very grounded in nature. The woman who wears this is going to be very special...

Although the obvious neutrals here are olive green and navy, I gave each color equal weight in the color scheme to reflect the balance that I see in the painting. Your view may differ!

She Just has An Eye... Nobody else seems to ever get sent to the auctions - especially the big ones in Europe. But, in all fairness, after she found that Jasper Johns that NOBODY else believed to be authentic, nobody else can realistically expect to go. When it comes to spotting the overlooked gem in the market, nobody is her ... View the Post

Our Move, and Cleaning out Closets

Finally! We are settled in our new apartment... It was, realistically, a pretty small move - just down the hall, from a west-facing studio apartment to an east and south-facing 1 bedroom apartment.We wouldn't have moved - we were massively happy in our studio, but we received SUCH an incredibly kind offer to rent the 1-bedroom unit that it was pretty much impossible to pass up. Now, we have enough space to have either of our mothers visit, and give them a bedroom and master bathroom to themselves. They will have a modicum of space and privacy, which is always useful when family members are in close quarters.

This is our view, seen over my extraordinary chaise longue. Why yes, it IS wide enough for Belovedest and I to sit in ... View the Post