The Vivienne Files - Page 177 of 285 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Understanding by Parscha Mirghawameddin

August 25, 2015 What a striking painting - a juxtaposition of colors not often found together. And they work so well... thus, the title is Understanding - these colors have found a way to live together with joy and beauty.

This is a great, uncommon color scheme - and it could easily be flipped to use a lot of the beige from the upper left areas as a neutral too!

Eyes the Color of Pond Scum Well yes, her family had always been a little bit... harsh when they teased her about her coloring. Green eyes and red hair were uncommon in her family - unseen for generations, to tell the truth...

But for decades, she's believed that her eyes held depth of beauty, and that ... View the Post

Monday Morning Giveaway: How to be Pretty, Though Plain

It's been a while since I found a book I thought worthy of you all, but FINALLY...

It's amusing, if painfully dated. But the thing that I have to say I liked most about it is the ongoing emphasis that the author places on health and good attitude as the true keys to an appealing appearance. It resonates so much with what I see on the streets of Chicago every day - unhealthy, scowling, slouching... No WONDER you're not turning heads, eh?

A good attitude is worth thousands of dollars in cosmetic surgery, at least according to Alexander Smith!

So leave me a comment about the best beauty advice you've ever received, and next Monday I'll draw a random number and send out this little gem to the winner.

The best beauty advice I ... View the Post

Are These Trends for You? Autumn/Winter 2015

Two people sent me this list, from a well-known magazine, asking if I thought that the items included on this list were things that they should consider buying.Oh, me and trends.... it's a conflicted relationship...

On the one hand, I don't think we should EVER let ourselves be dictated to in terms of what we buy. Unless someone else is going to flat out GIVE me something, I will make my own purchasing choices. And I think there's something inherently self-defeating about chasing trends: you spend money that you probably shouldn't waste on things that are, by definition, going to be obsolete in a short period of time.

That said, I think that unless you're a very famous poet, you should try to look as if you're somewhat in touch with ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with Art: Yoro Falls in Mino Province by Katsushika Hokusai

August 21, 2015 The turbulence of nature, in cool, calm colors, with a touch of gold...

A perfect office wardrobe color scheme, with unexpected accent colors!

Calm, relaxed... The place is a madhouse, everybody admits that. One would think that they were engaged in life-saving surgeries, or transporting of vital medicines, or something IMPORTANT. But no, they're just moving superfluous consumer goods from Point A to Point B...

Clearly, they need someone in charge who has control over their emotions, and who has a contagiously tranquil spirit!

She works in a very tall building, in a very... paved... part of the world. But in her heart, the sun shines, leaves flutter in the breeze, rivers ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage

August 20, 2015 French Realist painting at it's very finest...

And this suggests for us a color scheme using one of my favorite combination of neutrals: camel and grey!

Our heroine is going on a voyage, so this seems like an appropriate template around which to build her wardrobe:

Clarity, and Commitment She knew she was on the right track. Now she knew that she had to share what she knew.

It would require travel. It would require speaking to anyone who would listen. It would require unflagging confidence in the merits of her cause.

She can do this!

She knew that a pair of jeans would be handy when she was between meetings and speaking engagements; as she started to pack, this ... View the Post

Turquoise and Purple! With a Warm Transitional Common Capsule Wardrobe

August 19, 2015

You all were so eager to see turquoise and purple - I felt terrible that I didn't come through! So when someone suggested that I could start gradually migrating yesterday's Seashell Accents Common Capsule Wardrobe into cooler weather, I was suddenly filled with inspiration and good ideas!

In order to make this a bit more compatible with the choices above, I took out the shorts, changed up the shoes, and replaced the two linen wrap pieces (which are sold out!) with a silk blouse and a classic straight skirt.

The shoes are more closed, and a hair darker than the earlier versions of this wardrobe. The slightly darker flats were more at home with the brown skirt, and the more covered-up tops...

You still, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Chapter 2 of Still Life with Apples by Henri Matisse

August 18, 2015 The prequel is here. The morning after the board meeting, they called her into the Manager's office for a conversation... An hour later, she was the first, and only, Commercial Relationship Coordinator in the entire company. It is a position with a somewhat nebulous job description, but one which is going to be PERFECT for showing her diplomatic skills to their best advantage! Remember, this was her work wardrobe:

Which was based on this painting and color scheme:

She finally felt that this was the right time to break out a new, and heretofore unseen, facet of her personality. Within her there was a brightness, and a strength, which she had downplayed in the ... View the Post

A Warm Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe + Water and Pearls

August 17, 2015

Yes, I promised a capsule wardrobe with turquoise and purple. I should have taken a look at what's still available for summer before I spoke so precipitously! It's kind of an unwritten policy when I'm working on The Vivienne Files that, if I show a piece of clothing, it should be available in the full range of sizes in which it was originally sold. It's no fun for anybody to go look at something that really appeals, and see that it's only available in one really peculiar size. (my favorite being 00...) So, plan B. Stick with blue, but go softer, and to a more seasonless offering of denim and chambray. That gives us another nice "seaside" feeling, and is beautiful when paired with the mother-of-pearl jewelry that ... View the Post

A Warm Summer Common Capsule Wardrobe + Seaglass

August 15, 2015

We have looked at soft and warm accents, and strong warm accents, so now it's time to look at some really beautiful soft, cool touches in a capsule wardrobe. Someone mentioned sea glass as an inspiration, and so I chose a bracelet to anchor my color wanderings, and then went looking!

(I have the very BEST job....)

When I was looking about, I kept in mind that I wanted organic, soft items, that held onto the warmth of the summer sand (I mean the beige neutral clothes...)

As with all accent color purchases, the colors don't have to be perfect matches. If you keep wandering around the same general color(s), you will find that things either match or blend pretty well without a lot of effort. This is supposed to be ... View the Post

Twin Posts: What to Pack to Visit Chicago, Labor Day Weekend

This is really exciting for me; as a blogger who seems to be under most radars, to have been asked by Susan of Une Femme d'un Certain Age to partner up for a pair of posts was unexpected, and pretty thrilling.

Susan's blog was one of the very first I ever followed, and her style and élan are qualities that I try to emulate in my own way. I can't encourage you enough to get to know her and appreciate the charm and elegance that she brings to her life, and in turn, to ours!

So today, Susan's going to give us some guidance about what to pack if we're off on a voyage to her neighborhood, in Los Angeles. I'm really eager to see what she has to say, since that's an area to which I've only traveled ONCE, and I'm sure I have a few things I ... View the Post

Olive, Wine and Gold join A Common Capsule Wardrobe, warm tones for summer

August 13, 2015

In honor of the season (in the Northern Hemisphere) of the ripening of all delicious things, I give you the "Tuscan inspired" capsule wardrobe of wine, olives, and gold that was sent to me a few days ago.This reader really goes all out - she finds photographs and paintings that illustrate the colors that she likes, and builds me a little collage that is my reference material. I need to find out if she'd mind if I showed the illustrations here - they're really beautifully chosen and constructed, and serve as a glorious inspiration to my already hyper-drive imagination!

And yes, I did choose that bracelet because it reminded me of olive trees and grape vines...

For easy reference, here are the original ... View the Post