The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Vivienne Files - Page 204 of 285 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

Common Capsule Wardrobe Colors: Turquoise

July 24, 2014

As I spend hours each day getting the big color combination document ready, I notice that there are a handful of colors that turn up in almost every color palette.  They are colors that you might not like, or that might not look good on you, but they are colors that you might want to consider for a late-season capsule wardrobe refresh, or for an experiment in accent colors.Here, I'm showing a tee shirt and two pieces of jewelry; you could certainly go with only one piece of jewelry, or include a pair of sandals or casual shoes instead.  But here, by adding just two or three pieces, you can see how each of the Starting From Scratch wardrobes can be updated.

I like the shirring on the sides of this tee ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Pigeons

July 23, 2014

I have to confess, I think pigeons are beautiful. Annoying little sky rats, yes, but beautiful; their shades of grey, with iridescent green and purple...

So when I was asked to build a wardrobe based on a photograph of a pigeon, I was happy to do so. But there's no way I'm addressing those red eyes!

I think this makes a lovely wardrobe...

love, Janice

  ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Navy Tunic and White Cropped Trousers, times 6

July 22, 2014  

It seems to be almost the uniform of the weekend - roll up the sleeves of a navy linen tunic, pull on some white cropped trousers, and accent with brightly colors jewelry and sandals...  The jewelry isn't all precious stones, and the sandals are casual, but the effect of the bright accents was very eye-catching.I think you can learn a lot about your personal color preferences based on which of these looks appeal to you, or which you swear you could never wear!

love,

Janice ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Slot Machines and Packing

July 21, 2014  

Business travel is a conundrum for many of us, so I'm going to try to suggest a few ways, now and then, to approach the packing...Suppose, for example, that at the end of October, you are going to have/get to come to Chicago for a two day sales conference.  Literally only a day and a half of meetings, and then back on the plane.  You're going to have to bring a briefcase with both your laptop and tablet, so you don't really want a lot more to carry.  And being able to NOT check a suit case would be delightful...

Enter this:

So you can choose to wear anything from this little machine for travel - probably a cardigan, tee shirt and jeans, right? And pack the other six garments, as well as ... View the Post

Are You Still Struggling with Color Schemes? Looking for Ideas?

  If you can wait a week or two, I'm going to have a GIGANTIC color scheme file available to buy - it will be 191 pages, and contain 1,456 different suggested color schemes. Each suggestion will include two of the neutral colors from the "Combinations of 3 Neutrals" file, plus two additional colors to act as accents.  Some of the schemes will be quite bright, some very subtle, and some almost monochromatic.  And I think you can assume that there will be some things here that you never expected!

Right now, I'm going back through all 985 posts on The Vivienne Files to make sure that I capture every color combination that I've used here on the blog.  I will additionally refer to my collection of color reference books, ... View the Post

How to Build a Summer Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch in Navy and White

July 19, 2014  

Someone specifically requested a Starting From Scratch capsule wardrobe in these colors, and many of you have expressed concerns about how to implement this plan if you're dealing with scorching hot summer weather.  I really felt like I wanted to go through an entire wardrobe in one post, just to clarify and illustrate one more time how I see this project working.  So here you have it!   Please note - the white garments here really ARE white - they just show up looking sort of beigy/grungy against the background. I generally don't promote the wearing of mungy clothes...  

The first three steps are pretty straightforward: pants and shoes, then a cardigan and tee, then a neutral top and ... View the Post

Before You Shop, Consider Rekindling the Romance with Your Closet

As we get well and truly entrenched in summer, many of us find our minds wandering longingly toward autumn clothing.  There's something about that whole image of snuggling in front of the fireplace in a big squishy sweater, cup of tea in hand, Golden Retriever at our feet, book of poetry in our lap... (I'm only missing the fireplace and the dog!)

Retailers know perfectly well how we're feeling - in Chicago, autumn clothing is already beginning to hit the stores thick and fast.  It would be terribly easy to wander into a store and pick up a sweater, or a snuggly wool dress, or boots.  OOOOOhhhh, boots....

 (I'm sorry, Southern Hemisphere, it's not lost on me that all of this is backwards for you!)

Let me toss out ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch – The Wardrobes, Finished (for now…)

July 17, 2014

Remind me, when trench coats are back in stores, that we want to revisit these capsule wardrobes and make some additions. If you think of anything else we should address (December holiday attire?), send me a note at theviviennefiles at gmail dot com.

I broke everything out into two pages; I might have been able to fit everything on one page, but we wouldn't have been able to see anything - the earrings would have been teeny little dots on the page!

And I think the links are working - let me know if you find some that are broken and I'll look into it...

thanks, as always!

love, Janice

PS - For more color inspiration, you can find the latest Pantone Color Planner ... View the Post

Excel and LARGE PRINT version of Starting From Scratch Wardrobe Worksheets available!

Just because I can, and because I know some of you love to tinker in Excel, I'm made the Excel file available here:

and because I know that a larger print version will be handy if you want to do a lot of note taking, I made an eight-page, landscape layout version of the original worksheets, available here:

As with all things here at The Vivienne Files, if I can do anything to make your life easier, please let me know.

And thanks for reading my work - I appreciate it more than you can imagine!

hugs all around, Janice ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 18: One last review, considering Whatever’s Clean, and A Common Wardrobe

July 16, 2014  

Many of you have been following the concepts of A Common Wardrobe, or a Whatever's Clean wardrobe, and you've expressed great curiosity about how those ideas work with this much larger capsule wardrobe-building concept.  So let's see if we need to make any last tweaks to our wardrobe to be as inclusive and versatile as possible...First off, remember this bad boy?  This was the original Common Wardrobe - garments that I saw day after day on my co-workers from international advertising agencies. These garments and accent items were combined in all sorts of different ways, and accessorized like mad:

I threw my analytic brain at this, and defined each of these garments functionally, i.e., the first is ... View the Post

I built us another worksheet…

It's actually 3 worksheets in one:

 

First page lists each item step by step, just as we saw them in the Starting From Scratch Wardrobe posts here on The Vivienne Files. The 2nd page sorts items out by color- Neutral #1, Neutral #2 etc. and the 3rd page sorts the garments in one table, and the accessories in a 2nd table.  Both of these fit on one page.

You can buy them - $1.99 - here:       I have to pay to have them hosted...   If you find errors, please let me know and I'll fix things pronto pronto...   and thanks, so very much, for reading The Vivienne Files, love, Janice   ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 17: A Few Finishing Touches, for now…

July 15, 2014

Many of you have written to me to ask how this capsule wardrobe compares with my earlier 24-piece wardrobe - excellent question!Just as in the 24-piece wardrobe, this Starting From Scratch includes to two core "Four by Four" assortments in your neutrals, it works with two accent colors and a light neutral, and it includes the concept of the "bridge" garment, which is something that incorporates both of your neutral colors and allows you to wear piece from both neutrals seamlessly.

So I decided to look at each wardrobe one last time (for now - I'm sure we'll be back to revisit this concept when trench coats hits the stores, and when there are other requests/needs), and see how things stacked up in terms of a 24-piece ... View the Post