The Vivienne Files - Page 4 of 269 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

A Couple of Pretty Accessory Families

February 28, 2025

I'm currently losing the fight with Ozempic - I've surrender, in fact. I think I'm happier being pudgy than I am being relentlessly nauseated...

But I was able to look at a couple of scarves that I really like, and to find some other accessories to give each scarf a family of companions!

I think it's safe to assume that some of these accessories could go with both scarves.

Can you picture these with a pretty beige dress? Or a crisp white shirt and capri pants?

What clothes would you wear with these?

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, our business travel wardrobe was a taupe/grey, with pink, light blue and white... ... View the Post

Adding Accessories – Start With Art – Cow’s Skull: Red, White and Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 26, 2025

Of course, our heroine from Monday is going to need some accessories for her work wardrobe - shoes, at a bare minimum! And it's certain that she's going to be carrying a pretty big bag, since she has to carry her laptop, her mouse & mousepad, her power cords, and anything else she needs at her desk each day.

Here's the art which inspires her:

Here's the wardrobe with which we left our friend:

As much as our heroine would have loved to fill this part of her wardrobe with small sharp things, she (for the most part!) has stuck to normal, acceptable choices. If anybody asks about the skull earrings and necklace, she plans to launch into a lengthy Stoic philosophy speech about Memento Mori...

Her ... View the Post

Need a “Back in the Office” Wardrobe? Start With Art – Cow’s Skull by Georgia O’Keeffe

February 24, 2025

It's the most common question I've received since the first of the year - you've got to be back in the office FIVE DAYS A WEEK. And you don't have a clue what to wear, this time...

A specific question was from someone going back into a relatively dressy office, except for the "every two weeks Casual Friday." Our heroine doesn't want a big wardrobe for cool weather, since she only expects another 10 to 12 weeks during which she will need such things, so we're targeting a 4x4 Wardrobe.

She also has all kinds of plans to quit her current job, in favor of a place where she can continue to work from home. Much up in the air for this heroine; let's make her wardrobe simple and foolproof!

This was the color palette ... View the Post

Ready to Pretend That It’s Spring? The Marion Bartoli scarf by Echo

February 21, 2025

If you find any errors send me a note or leave a comment; I was on the phone with the Internal Revenue Service today for 90 minutes, and I'm not fully recovered!

With weather like we've been having recently - at least in my neighborhood - it's not a bad idea to pretend that it's already spring. Just don't go outdoors in a sundress, and you should be fine...

The colors in this scarf help get me in that frame of mind:

I didn't put a neutral color in our color wheel, because I suspect that almost any neutral would be lovely with these:

Our heroine and her sweetheart are going somewhere warm for a long weekend. Well, it should be warm. Unless it's not. But they're going to go, no matter what!

You ... View the Post

Do You Love Timeless Style? The Neo-Classical Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

February 19, 2025

She likes to wear things for years. Decades, if she can manage it! So she's mostly interested in classic garments - those things that nobody can really date, and that always feel familiar, comfortable and easy to wear.

For an upcoming business trip - short, but demanding - she's starting with her new bracelets:

Although she could use gray as her dark neutral, this trip she's going with black!

Partly because she knows that she's going to be cold in transit, and she wants to wear her flannel suit:

She only needs one additional "business" outfit, after she breaks the ice and meets everyone the first day. So she opts for a skirt and sweater - still warm, still business appropriate:

As ... View the Post

Love Classic Prettiness? Start With a Scarf – The Wendy Hollender scarf

February 17, 2025

So if you didn't get all of the pretty things you wanted for Valentine's Day, take a look at this beauty:

I chose pink and green as accent colors, but you wouldn't want to miss the plum, or the orange...

Our heroine is off for a long weekend with someone she loves. They have some dressy things planned, as well as a day or two of just wandering and being together. No big, complicated, stressful agenda for our heroine!

So her dressiness level is all over the place, from classic chinos to a lace-trimmed top! Pretty jewelry and a lovely bag are coming along too!

The green top feels a bit like an outlier, as does the striped tee shirt, but our heroine really wants to avoid overdoing the ... View the Post

To Buy, Or Not to Buy? Yoke Detail sweater by Celtic & Co.

February 14, 2025

It's always a dilemma - you see something you admire/love, but you're not quite sure WHAT you'd do with it, if you make the decision to purchase...

What about this sweater? If you look lovely in soft shades - especially in beige, tan or taupe, this might call your name:

For no good reason I can identify, I decided that I would look at this sweater through the lens of the Wardrobe Slot Machine - a system in which one chooses nine garments that are foolproof for assembling outfits. This is the blank template:

Thinking about buying a top suggests that your first question would be about what bottoms you would wear with your new sweater. Jeans? Chinos? Cords? And do you have shoes to wear with your new ... View the Post

Accessories for a Summer Wardrobe – Floral Strawberry Watercolor Swimsuit by L.L.Bean x Summersalt

February 12, 2025

Remember this lovely swimsuit from two weeks ago? I left us hanging, with lots of lovely clothes but NO accessories!

Our heroine's very pretty, feminine and summery wardrobe was this:

I'm going to take a handful of outfits and accessorize them - I think that should get us everything we need!

For warm weather, don't ever forget sunglasses and a good hat - you don't want to be one of us who have to have wee chunks chopped out of our scalp in our mature years...

Just for fun, I've been thinking that this heroine might be heading out for a Valentine's Day vacation; this might inspire a few of her choices!

When she gathers up all of her accessories, this is the absolutely lovely ... View the Post

The Last of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 10, 2025

This painting to me just cries out to inspire a wardrobe for someone who lives near water, and probably has a pretty long "warm" season and just a short winter. Anybody else feel that?

There's enough navy here to dress her for cold weather, and plenty of shades of sand, lovely sea blues and sea green for warmer weather. I could be so tempted...

At the end of January, our heroine had a wardrobe that was pretty great for weather that might be all over the place! She was really trying to find shades of blue and green, so she veered into that very summery tee shirt; sometimes you grab what's available if it's perfect for you, even if it's not "in season." The seasons will change, what's available in stores ... View the Post

The Fifth of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 7, 2025

I think of this wardrobe as that of someone who once wore black, white, and red, and has now softened and gentled her colors into grey, white and shades of burgundy...

You know, one could easily make a case that some of the background colors look like navy... I'm not going to do that unless I find that I hit a wall building this wardrobe, but it could be done!

As blessed February dawned, our heroine had this very simple eight-piece wardrobe. Nothing amazing, but extremely versatile:

This seems a good time to fill in more basics for this heroine, so I grabbed her my favorite white shirt, and a pair of black jeans. She already has grey jeans...

The sweater vest is one of my favorite garments, and ... View the Post

The Fourth of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 6, 2025

I love this painting...

And I think that this wardrobe is going to be fascinating; we start with the world's most simple neutrals of black and ivory, and then add FOUR accent colors - one for each season. Yes, the idea of white as an accent color when we've already got ivory in the wardrobe is a little bit of a stretch. I'm interested to see what happens with this, since so many of us don't wear mixed shades of white and off-whites as often as we could.

When we happily ran screaming from the end of January, our heroine had a wildly versatile, if not super-exciting, eight-piece wardrobe:

It seems obvious to me that the coral/peach accent color makes a lot of sense for spring. Our heroine was ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings – Twelve Months February 2025

February 5, 2025

I often ponder what I would do with my wardrobe if I had to start from scratch. I mean ABSOLUTELY from scratch - I got out of my apartment in my moose-print pajamas and nothing else!

Well, THAT'S a nightmare, but I have to admit that I would be very tempted to go this direction:

These colors are timeless, and so appealing. And I think it's one of Delaunay's very best paintings...

As we very happily left January, our heroine had this eight-piece capsule wardrobe. It's small, but you could get dressed for quite a bit of the cold weather with just these:

Our heroine could certainly use a brown cardigan, but I didn't see one that really suited. But at least we've put her in a really good position for ... View the Post