The Vivienne Files - Page 181 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Start With Art: A Shelf of Books -> a Summer Wardrobe

November 7, 2014 You really, seriously, can get inspiration anywhere, if you keep your eyes and your aesthetic heart open to what's out there. This absolutely wonderful picture was sent to me - what a delightful mix of softly faded colors.

It wasn't at all hard to come up with a color scheme. Many of you ask about how I build color wheels - I use the graphing gizmo in PowerPoint. I use PowerPoint for all of my vignettes, because it does everything I need. Just insert a graph into a slide, and then change the colors and sizes of the various wedges to suit your preferences. You have a new, beautiful mnemonic for your wardrobe colors, AND you have a new skill to put on your ... View the Post

Start With Art: Call of the Loon by Ewoud de Groot

November 6, 2014

There's a lot of beauty here, and colors galore...

I settled on these, using ink blue as my base neutral. Realistically, you could choose anything soft and muted in the green/blue/purple family and be extremely successful.

This is for someone subdued, a little bit dressy, going away for a couple of days to a warmer destination. Maybe not the beach, but someplace where lighter fabrics will be comfortable. The dotted texture of the water is echoed in the first scarf, and the floral earring and pewter loafers are feminine but not girlish.

A linen dress, a silk skirt and a couple of tops, along with some pretty accessories are all you ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing with Scarves: Missoni #2

November 5, 2014 After Friday's post about a Missoni scarf, I received an email with this picture - another really lovely combination of colors...

There are a lot of possibilities here, of course. One could concentrate on the beige, ivory, and periwinkle, but I chose to work with the brighter shades apparent in the scarf.

In my vivid and bottomless imagination, I pictured this protagonist as someone who had to travel for work, but who's work is something rather creative; she's one who likes to wear things a little bit bold...

While many of the garments are relatively simple and classic, the accessories are anything but! And the dress... I personally love ... View the Post

Start With Art: Flowers from Rosablue – a Four Pack for Business

Turns out that this beautiful thing is from Rosablue, who prints her own fabrics...

Beyond the very obvious black background, there are quite a few colors in here that could come to the fore in a color scheme. How about black, white, and the orange and green? Or black, pale green, pale blue, and soft pink? But for today, I've chosen these colors:

As a woman in search of a red duffle coat, I'm drawn to all red coats right now, so that seemed a reasonable place to start. In my mind, the person in this vignette is heading out of town for a day of two of business meetings in which the people being visited have to do the impressing - her job is just to sit quietly and evaluate ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Bird’s Eggs photograph from Kevin Fleming Photography

November 3, 2014

Someone sent me this gorgeous photograph... I've flipped it sideways so that I could put up a bigger image...

This was my chosen color scheme:

It's hard to introduce "egg-like" elements into a wardrobe, but I did stick with rounded earrings, and I aimed for a sort of softness and subtlety that would honor the gorgeousness of the photograph.

I introduced the most subtle greenish color to blend with the warm beige, tan and brown already here. It's an amazingly effective combination, I think.

To me, these combinations are warm, gentle, and comfortable.

love, Janice ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe Packing with Scarves: Les Ailes de la Soie, or difficult colors

November 1, 2014 What to do? You have a wonderful wardrobe of cool neutral colors of charcoal, slate, silvery blue and ivory. But you fall irrevocably in love with a scarf that has some really pronounced warm colors in it; how can it be worn?

Happily, this scarf includes lots of cool tones too - this is the color scheme I pulled together from this beautiful thing...

So the lacy wings of the butterflies in the scarf put me in a lacy sort of mood - this coat, scarf and bag all echo the lace motif without being overwhelmingly girly. I balanced them with a really simple ivory sweater and grey trousers, as well as simple black boots.

In the bag are some soft garments, in ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe Packing with Scarves: Missoni

October 31, 2014 One of my most loyal readers recently purchased this scarf and wanted to know what I would do with it - the answer is, of course, a LOT. One of the many joys of a scarf from Missoni is that they contain a wealth of colors that you wouldn't otherwise put together. I don't know why I saw bright pink here - when you get your nose right up against the scarf, it's not really there. There's teal, as well as a softer sage green, quite a bit of light blue, some slate greyish blue, navy... Lots of things to consider... Missoni scarves are available in a lot of places, and often on sale. Different vendors get different designs, so if you have your heart set on one particular color scheme, don't forget to check ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe Project 333 Update, and a Request

I don't talk about it much, but I am pursuing Project 333 in an effort to really learn WHAT I wear most, and what I should thus be keeping in my wardrobe, and perhaps investing in when I start shopping for clothing again. (I don't plan to buy anything for at LEAST 2 or 3 months, at this stage...) This is the clothing that's currently in my Project 333. I've got two things in here that aren't making much sense - the short-sleeved COS dress is wonderful, but I'd have to layer it, and for some reason that seems to keep it in the closet rather than on the back. And the blue jeans? I don't HAVE blue jeans anymore... They got to be so much too big that they were donated. Things are not pretty when ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Autumn Leaves, a Four Pack

October 29, 2014 Over the weekend, we had an absolutely beautiful day on Saturday - bright, clear, and warm enough to walk for miles. As we neared home, we passed this tree, and Belovedest took a photo of it for me.

In order to really hone in on the leaves, I've cropped down the photograph to a handful of leaves, and isolated just three colors. It's easy to get overwhelmed when you see something beautiful - focusing really closely on one small thing can help a lot to clarify which colors captivate you most.

This seemed like a wonderful opportunity to find a beautiful winter coat! A core of brown, simple clothes make a good base...

For an overnight business trip, ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Panicum Shenendoah, aka switchgrass… a Four Pack

October 28, 2014

So what do you do if your favorite color scheme includes colors that are just plain difficult to wear together? This beautiful grass (growing in the Lurie Garden, about a 10 minute walk from chez nous) includes some striking colors, but it isn't at all simple to find ANYTHING, clothes or accessories, that include the two colors...

But these are really pretty...

So you just have to accept that you might wear them separately most of the time, until and unless you find things that bring the colors together. As long as you stick with your neutral core, these kinds of "color conundrums" aren't really limiting!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Living the (Fantasy) Life…

Maybe you remember my post about not being a movie character? That's got to be one of the most difficult parts of wardrobe discipline... The "pop up" ad that I'm seeing most often is the beautiful picture at the top... Not that she's not pretty, and not that the dress (is it a dress?) doesn't look fabulous, but REALLY???? This is what I most need for fall? In downtown Chicago? I think not...

Just a loving reminder to think for youself... ... View the Post

Start With Nature: Ornamental Cabbage – a Four Pack

Why do I feel confident suggesting that this may be the only fashion ensemble in history that was explicitly inspired by a cabbage? But I don't feel very apologetic about this - these cabbages look more like big, gorgeous flowers, with subtle colors. Frankly, if you find colors that you like, they can come from ANYWHERE, and you never have to tell your secrets!

It would certainly be possible to go with more pink, and a couple of different shades, but I was in a green mood... There could also be some white in this combination, and you could use black in place of the dark grey. I can't stress enough that you should see what YOU want to see in these colors, and adjust your choices accordingly. The only ... View the Post