The Vivienne Files - Page 160 of 285 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Power of Accent Colors in the Capsule Wardrobe: Blush and Turquoise

April 20, 2016

When I was working on yesterday's post, with the yellow accent colors my mother commented (quite rightly) that any number of accent colors would work beautifully with the black, white, and tweed pieces of clothing.

So...

At a loss as to how to choose the colors to use for my capsule wardrobe experiment, I grabbed my brand new color analysis book that I bought it Paris, and I opened it with my eyes closed. Twice!

First, I found peachy, pinky, blush:

The whole feel of this outfit changes completely, with just a different scarf and earrings! Think of the relatively inexpensive possibilities...

Here, four more pieces are changed: a blouse, a sweater, a scarf and a bracelet. This feels so ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Composition a Cercles a Bras et Rectangles by Sophie Taeuber-Arp

April 19, 2016 Another painting that I saw last week in Paris. That vacation seems so long ago now...

At first this seemed like a pretty straightforward color scheme, but there are a LOT of possibilities here:

She Does Modeling...

Square scarf – Isabel Marant; shoulder bag – Allsaints; cardigan – Simply Be; yellow diamond hoops – JCPenney; watch – Isabel Marant; tee shirt – J. Crew; pants – J. Crew; suitcase – Longchamp; loafers – Patricia Green Financial modeling, that is. The hardest work in the office, in many opinions.

Yellow silk shirt – Theory; leather bracelet - Bottega Veneta; silver square earrings – Gurhan; blazer – Nina Ricci; ivory top – ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerite au Chat Noir by Henri Matisse

April 18, 2016

Yes, I saw this in Paris last week!

Aside from the charm and beauty of Marguerite, I was immediately attracted to the colors:

Quietly Rebellious

Cardigan – J. Crew; pants – Boden; tee – J. Crew; skirt - A.P.C.

She seems like the most conventional of women. Very pretty, always very nicely dressed.

Cardigan – Stella McCartney; jeans – L.L.Bean; tee – L.L.Bean; denim skirt – A.P.C.

She's rather quiet, a bit shy, and well-suited to her work in the library...

Blue top – Part Two; ivory shimmer tee – Mint Velvet; soft teal tee – L. L. Bean; salmon sweater – Odeeh

And yes, she owns a cat!

Tie dye tee – ... View the Post

Window Displays and Other Beautiful Things, Paris 2016

April 16, 2016

This is my last post about our recent trip to Paris, so I'm going to cover a few different areas, and toss in some bizarre, uncategorizable outliers...

For B and me (and for most people, I suspect), Paris isn't Paris without food! One of the first things we have to do when we get to Paris, (after breakfast, of course) it find some eclairs. Coffee eclairs are a food group during our vacations...

The patisserie windows in Paris are always beautiful, and there are a LOT of them; seldom do we have an "eclair emergency" that can't be assuaged in just a few minutes.

This sugar isn't just refined; it's positive elegant!

I love this - it dumbfounded me that walnut meats could be ... View the Post

A Big Parisienne Advantage: Costume Jewelry, April 2016

April 15, 2016

While I know that some of us don't wear and don't like costume jewelry, there are others among us who cheerfully indulge when something makes our heart sing. And Paris is the best place I've ever been to buy costume jewelry.In the US, the "fashion" jewelry industry is dominated by the 4 "department store" brands (which shall remain nameless), and thus we have to do some creative searching in order to find something out of the ordinary. But in Paris, it's a different story. Want a pair of earrings that look like pansies? Easy... a bracelet that looks like a row of ducks? I can find that... earrings that look like gorillas hanging from your ears? check the Diwali store just south of Notre Dame; they were in the ... View the Post

Paris Graffiti and Street Art, April 2016

You might not fully appreciate my love of good graffiti, but I walk a LOT in Chicago, and never get to see anything nearly this witty or just plain well-executed. The graffiti in Chicago is that same tired, self-aggrandizing and incomprehensible "tagging" that's some variation of initials or names, written large, and badly...Okay, this guy was NOT graffiti, but I think someone sitting outdoors, playing a harp, qualifies as street art of the very finest quality!

Some of the graffiti is just small pieces on a wall (sometimes quite HIGH on a wall); and sometimes, you see a bike driving out of the building. Very Harry Potter-ish...

The first image was seen quite a bit, and was apparently part of the sponsorship project for the ... View the Post

What Women were Wearing in Paris, April 2016

April 13, 2016

Well okay, not what everyone was wearing, but what caught my eye...

Belovedest OF COURSE knows what I'm doing when I'm looking at people in Paris, and he's turned out to be an invaluable partner in spying patterns and noticing the garments that seem to be worn by 10% of the people we see.

First up - grey jeans! We couldn't tell if these were black jeans that were well faded, or if they were jeans that were grey by design. At any rate, we saw them often, and generally they weren't skin-tight. We saw virtually nothing cropped, but quite a few jeans were rolled neatly at the ankles, exposing jazzy socks...

And let's put an old rule to bed for at least a while... For years, we were all given ... View the Post

The Highlights of Our Paris Vacation

Yes, honestly, I looked down at our feet, and the wee heart-shaped pebble was right there between our toes... It was that kind of vacation!

It really was one of the best trips ever - everything fell into place for us to a degree that's almost impossible to describe. We had 20 minutes of rain (during which we stood under an awning and discussed the rest of our day), we ate like crazy people, discovered some new (to us) cocktails, did some excellent shopping, and walked about 10 miles every day. Despite the mad amounts of eating and drinking that we did, I lost weight...

The first highlight - we got to see the Paris Marathon. As runners (well, in my case, as a fast walker/runner), seeing the elite runners at the head of the ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Macaws over River, Peru by Frans Lanting

April 11, 2016

A truly breathtaking photograph:

The most straighforward of color schemes:

Freedom She just needs to be free. Mostly free to sleep late if she wants to... to eat what she wants, when she wants... to get dressed without thinking about it...

She she settled on khaki. ALL khaki. Mostly from 1 store. With bright colors. Tee shirts and scarves. She walked into 1 store and bought all of her jewelry. She wants bags that keep her hands free. It's all about FREE...

She's not even sure where she's going, yet. But she knows that it's going to be someplace where she doesn't know anybody, so she will be free to be as quite or as outgoing as she ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Saints Genevieve and Appolonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

April 9, 2016

Normally, I try really hard to make sure that the things that I show on The Vivienne Files are realistic, and not appallingly expensive. However, from time to time I'll see something irresistible; I try to make those pieces the exception, rather than the rule.

But today, I'm throwing away all of the rules...

The Guest Lecturer She's an expert in the symbolistic representation of saints in Gothic architecture. Her writings on the variety of interpretations of the legend of Saint Michael was groundbreaking. (well, groundbreaking if that's your thing!)

I was so afraid that when I was meeting her at the airport, I wouldn't be able to find her, or recognize her. But I needn't have worried; as soon ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories: Turquoise, Coral, Black and Ivory 1 at a Time

April 8, 2016

Yesterday's "1 Piece at a Time" capsule wardrobe is a great base for accessories - although trying to find turquoise and coral that are the same shades can make you a bit daft...This is our starting outfit:

Shoes are critical, and I thought that a simple ballet flat would be pretty with the swing and movement of the black skirt.A small-ish bag is my next accessory choice. I'm particularly smitten with that octagonal bag...

I love earrings, so they're next! While I'm not usually a big fan of "matchy-matchy" accessories, I think there's some wisdom to purchasing the earrings that were manufactured in the same batch as your necklace; you know that they're the same overall mood and ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Turquoise, Coral, Black, and Grey: 1 Piece at a Time

April 7, 2016

What beautiful summer colors, and what exciting accessory possibilities!

Coral was a specific request...

Normally, I would build solid columns and suits, but just to show you a different way to go about building a wardrobe, I'm adding an accent tee shirt first. This can be a wonderful idea if you're still "on the fence" about a color scheme; if you buy an accent piece and find that you don't reach for it every couple of days, it might mean that you need to rethink your choice of colors.

Okay, NOW we're putting together the black suit. These kinds of monochromatic outfits really come into their own when the accessories show up!

Since we're fast moving into summer, I thought ... View the Post