The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

The Vivienne Files - Page 214 of 285 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

I Want to Dress Like a Chalet…

March 11, 2014   These kinds of rooms are really popular, and many of you wanted to know if this whole feeling or sensibility can be conveyed in a wardrobe.  

  What can we take from this photo and those of similar rooms that will help us make informed choices about what to add to our neutral wardrobe?  Words that I immediately identified included wood, bone, beige, ivory, ethnic and Native America prints, warm textures, tone-on-tone layering.   Starting with this base wardrobe:  

  Three garments that aren't a really wild stretch, but that start expressing your taste:  

  Lots of easy ways to wear these...  

 

 

Add in some ... View the Post

I Love Baroque, but I Live Simple and Contemporary

March 8, 2014   Maybe this is the living room of your dreams:  

  But your core wardrobe is our usual:  

  So let's try the same exercise we did before - find three garments that reflect the warmth, the rosiness, the ornate and filigreed nature of the room...  

  You have to keep, somewhere in the back of your mind, the reminder that you need to work with neutrals of black, white and khaki.  Otherwise, let your heart go wild... and you will have lots of ways to wear them.  

 

If this feels comfortable for you, you can branch out and add a few accessories that also share you sensibility...  

  These will work beautifully ... View the Post

I Worry too Much about Packing, Especially for Paris…

March 7, 2014   Do you worry too much about what to pack? Anticipation is a lot of the fun, but it's possible to reach a point in preparation where you drive yourself slightly nuts; I have reached that point with preparing for Paris next week.  For a while, I would just wear something that I really loved, and then (after laundering) hang it onto the rack designated for Paris packing.   Okay, so now about 50% of my closet is ready to pack.  Clearly not going to work out, eh?   And then I get panicky - what should I take?  What if I forget something I really love?  Will it all fit in my suitcase?  You would think that I'd never done this before, or that what I pack will be the most important thing ... View the Post

My Favorite Style is Inappropriate for my Life!

March 6, 2014

I think many of us wrestle with this - we really adore an aesthetic and style that just does NOT translate into our day-to-day life. For example, say this is your idea of a great room - Diana Vreeland certainly thought so:

But this is your typical wardrobe - simple, high-quality neutrals that really don't reflect that colorful exuberance above:

For starters, a red tee shirt seems like the easiest thing to slide into this closet. But consider a richly patterned cardigan and/or skirt. Remember when making your choice that you want to work with your neutral core, so you should look for elements of black and white, if possible. And more importantly, these items should satisfy that longing for ornate opulence that ... View the Post

Building Your Personal Style Vocabulary: Colors

It's fine to say "my favorite color is blue", but realistically there are dozens and dozens of shades of every color, and lots of color words that are open to a range of interpretation. So I'm suggesting that you consider being really precise in the description of your favorite colors. Don't just capture the color itself, but search for words that share the spirit and essence of what the color is in your life. The more clearly we can define ourselves and our preferences, the more focused we can be when we put these color into practice in our wardrobes and our homes...

What words did I miss?

love, Janice

PS - You can find the latest Pantone Color Planner and other documents in the Planning Documents section of the website. ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: Are Accessories Necessary?

March 4, 2014   Do you have to buy and wear accessories?  Absolutely not - except most of us will have to wear shoes... But I very strongly feel that just a few well-chosen accessories can make a world of difference in how the simplest of garments come together into ensembles.   If you're not comfortable wearing scarves, find a way to just throw one around your neck one day and then do your utmost to ignore it for as long as possible.  Make sure your first scarf isn't anything floaty or filmy that's going to blow up into your face at the first opportunity.  Maybe something quite small, tied up and out of the way so that you won't even really see it...   Jewelry is also pretty useful - earrings especially ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: What if I Don’t Wear Black?

March 3, 2014   I knew this would be the next question - what if I don't wear black? You have all of the rest of the spectrum from which to choose, but realistically, grey, navy, brown or tan/khaki are the most obvious other options from which to choose. Let's try the same exercise as before, but with warm colors.   Say you at least know that you prefer mostly warm hues - and these are your favorite recent purchases:  

  There's no outfit to be worn from these four - it just simply isn't possible for most of us to put together an ensemble here. But if you started with a basic core of neutral clothes in warmer tones (except for jeans, which are sort of the ultimate neutral):  

  Then you ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: Do I HAVE to buy basic garments?

March 1, 2014   Every day, I get lots of emails with lots of questions. I like that, and I'm happy that you take the time to write to me. ([email protected]) As hard as I try, I don't really have time to answer everybody individually, but your questions make a lot of difference when I choose my content every day.    The single question I'm asked the most: "Is it absolutely necessary that I own neutral, simple, basic, plain, boring garments?"   Let me say this flat out - if you can find a naturalist community with consistently moderate temperatures and well-groomed walkways, you can go without purchasing ANY CLOTHING AT ALL for the rest of your life. I know this is reducto ad absurdum, but sometimes we need ... View the Post

Start with Art: From Mount Darling by Peter Simpson

February 28, 2014   So this is your dream:  

  And maybe this is your current reality:  

  All the more reason you should consider shopping your dream, and at least wrapping your immediate self (i.e. your body) in the calm, soft, organic and tranquil colors of which you dream.   Start small - a simple silk tunic that can be worn with any pair of pants you own... This tunic, all on it's own, could raise your spirits for a few days!  Maybe some blue shoes, or a bag.  And your next pair of jeans could certainly be green rather than something more predictable and conformist...  

  So many shades of blue from which to choose - but you don't really have to choose! ... View the Post

Struggling with a “Good Deal”

I get lots of offers, and I'm sure you do too.  Often, I find myself thinking about the offer a whole lot more than I really should, and a LOT more than the offer deserves...  How to sort this out?  Advice welcome; let me share with you my current dilemma.

I just received this in the mail.  I have a very well-documented love of Eileen Fisher clothing and design, so seeing this in my mail will of course immediate spark my interest - at least to see what she's got new and interesting for this season called "spring", which I don't understand, here in sub-zero Chicago...

Flip over the mailer, and I get more intrigued:

If there's ANYTHING I like more than a tidy list of garments, I don't know what it is. ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Variations on a Sweater Theme

February 26, 2014   Yesterday's double posting was, in fact, a mistake on my part - the pattern mixing post was supposed to be this morning's post.  But I'm having well-documented issues with Blogger, and they chose to give you the gift of two posts yesterday; who am I to argue?   So today I thought I'd share a small post with a few quick observations I made in New York.    First, most women in New York are NOT amazingly beautiful and well-dressed.  They might be slimmer than the national average, but that might just be because one walks a lot in New York. (and if you take the subway, you climb a LOT of stairs...)   Secondly, pretty much the entire city wears black coats.  Maybe grey. ... View the Post