The Vivienne Files - Page 6 of 184 - Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

April Travel: Start with Art – Briqueterie a Tortosa by Picasso

Remember our friend who designs installations for solar panels? Happy for her, she's now traveling in warm weather! No more the "leave the snow, get off the plane in sweltering heat!"

So she's packing light - just enough to visit her clients, and the construction sites...

This painting is her inspiration:

She's driving to her next clients, so she's wearing sandals on her trip! Normally, she doesn't fly in sandals...

Many of her clients can be hard to read, at first. Some of them want her to put on a hard-hat and steel-toed boots and climb ladders (she doesn't go quite that far...) and other just want to sit over a cocktail at the country club and review the plans. So she tries to pack with those various potential ... View the Post

April Travel: Start with Art – Between Breath and the River 4 by Susan Osgood

Remember our friend the flooding expert? She's very busy...

This is her art inspiration, and her wardrobe color palette:

She's traveling to the Midwest United States, to help determine where bulldozing or other changes in the immediate terrain might help clear standing water from some flood areas. She's studied the maps, and thinks that she knows what her suggestions will be. If her map analysis is correct, she only expects to be on-site for a day or two...

Still, she's not sure if she's going to have to actually go out and SEE any of the locations in question. (there's one that spot she really feels that she should visit in order to be exact about her plan for drainage...)

So she's going to have shorts, and water shoes, ... View the Post

Ready for a Warm-Weather Wardrobe Update? How about a French 5-Piece Wardrobe?

Of course these aren't an entire wardrobe - I hope that's clear. But, to me, the idea of a "French 5-Piece Wardrobe" is the 5 pieces that you plan, and carefully choose, and use to update your normal seasonal wardrobe of classic, neutral clothes.

Let's start here - these are about as basic as you can get!

While this isn't a really exciting wardrobe, it's versatile; you can get two dozen combinations from these 9 garments. That's a working wardrobe, I'd say!

When I thought about doing some French 5-Piece Wardrobes, I was thinking specifically about that Hedge Green color that is so uncommon, and really delightful. But I figured that I might as well work my way through the rainbow... Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, ... View the Post

April 2019 – 12 Months, 12 Outfits – Based on 6 Hermes Scarves

It's time again to revisit our six growing wardrobe based on Hermes scarves - always one of my favorite posts!

Since the weather is somewhat warmer, I'm including cropped or capri pants for all of our heroines. And since it's still cool, I'm pairing their pants with lighter weight sweaters in linen or cotton. Some shoes and a couple of pieces of jewelry finish off these simple, timeless outfits...

It's possible that this heroine is going to have too many striped things. Or is it possible?

Her wardrobe is really starting to take on a coherent feeling:

And we're finally at a point at which we can pull together a few new outfits using our new garments with pieces already in this wardrobe. THIS is when you start seeing ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Hermès Les Nouveaux Amoureux de Paris

Yes, this is the scarf that I received for our anniversary.... Let's Be Slightly Reckless! When her sweetheart came home with a big bonus, they really wanted to celebrate...

Would it truly be insane to go to Paris for just a long weekend? (yes... it's madness!)

She's already inspired:

They agreed on a couple of key things:

1 suitcase - a big one - that they will share, and check. If it is lost, they will BOTH have to go shopping! Not even going to TRY to get over jet lag - sleep 'til noon, dine 'til midnight... SERIOUS dining... They will dress up (not black tie, but nice) every day, do a modest amount of sight-seeing, and focus on evening meals!

She's going to keep things very simple, and quite comfortable - no ... View the Post

Start with Art: Undergrowth by Vincent van Gogh

I love van Gogh... These colors are so perfect for spring and summer:

She Hasn't A Clue... Well, that's strictly not true - she knows that she has to wear clothing to the wedding, and that it won't be ballgowns, nor jeans. Other than that, the invitation was maddeningly vague...

So... she's taking a couple of dresses - there's a chance that she's going to the rehearsal dinner (more of that vagueness that makes this such a headache), so she will wear 1 for the dinner, and 1 to the wedding. Maybe.

At least she knows exactly what she's wearing for the drive to the hotel - her favorite new green!

She's not, in fact, all that worried about what she's going to wear. She's got plenty of options, from a nice blouse or top with ... View the Post

10 Ways to Wear a Denim Jacket

When I was younger, I seldom wore a denim jacket; I had one that had belonged to my husband, but it got donated somewhere along the line... For so many years, I wore suits or suit-y clothes that were too dressy to wear with a denim jacket (I thought).

But about 6 months ago, I bought myself this jacket, and I've been so happy with it...

It's deliberately built to be roomy, which I personally love - I might very well want to pile on a shirt and heavy sweater under here, and I don't want to tear the sleeves off of my jacket trying to get it on!

I tried to think of what good guidelines might be to choosing a versatile and timeless denim jacket:

Fast forward to someone asking me last week if it was okay to wear a denim ... View the Post

Can a “Color” be a Neutral? Start with Art: Double Vision 1974 by Edwina Sandys

I'm so sorry that those of you who tried to visit The Vivienne Files this morning ran into all kinds of difficulties! I believe everything's fixed now, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you see any additional problems... love - Janice

Someone mentioned it a few days ago - if you plan well, you could use a "color" as a neutral. Of course I had to see how that might work!

And I've got a fondness for this artist's work, so it seemed an opportune time to use this as an inspiration for a very fun-loving heroine:

"If We All Chip In... We can rent the big house up at the shore... At least a handful of us could be there almost any weekend. And since it's so big, we can leave some things up there for the summer, so we could even ... View the Post

Start with Art: View from Bodacke, Liden by Helmer Osslund

This reminded her immediately of the site of their cabin:

So much so that she decided to make this her wardrobe inspiration for their upcoming weekends away!

This summer, she's going to plan out a simple, small, but versatile wardrobe, take it up to the cabin, and LEAVE IT THERE until they close up for cold weather! She knows that she might need to take something else with her at some point, but she's determined to avoid the "every Thursday night" packing that inevitably results in something being forgotten...

So she's planning a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, starting with "hedge green."

Next, she wants some beige. She's lucky that it looks pretty good on her - if it didn't, she would either swap the 2 tops for more green, or an ... View the Post

10 Ways to Wear a Blue Dress

So the yellow dress was, in many of our opinions, hard to wear... I suspect that's why our heroine wrote to me in the first place! But the overall idea of figuring out at least a few ways to wear a dress is still a pretty smart way to get your money's worth from a purchase... Someone asked that I address the same dress, but in blue; that seems like a good idea.

But - the dress color is hard to assess - the dress on the model looks VERY different from the full-length photograph of the dress on its own. AND... the dress is supposed to be dry cleaned; if there was ever something that was going to keep it hanging in your closet (and not on your back!) is that knowledge in the back of your mind that you have to have it cleaned...

How about ... View the Post

Start with a Bracelet – The March monthly bracelet from Fierce Lynx Designs!

This is really exciting - one of my genius technical helpers here on The Vivienne Files ALSO makes jewelry. (don't you just hate these creative types?)

And she's going to make a special bracelet, each month, for US, here at The Vivienne Files!

Here's the first one:

How gorgeous is that?

So I'm thinking about warm weather, and lakes, and beaches, and summer homes...

My color scheme is this:

And I'm planning a wardrobe that you can pull together and then leave at the beach house until at least May or June. My plan is to wear super-light colored clothing, so that it feels summery. But I'll also make certain that our heroine has a few warm garments - spring evenings aren't always warm!

First up, some basic pieces in ... View the Post

10 Ways to Wear a Yellow Dress

From The Vivienne Files mailbox:

Yes, she asked our heroine to wear a yellow dress for the wedding.

It doesn't really matter what dress, just that it be yellow.

Now WHAT do you do with a yellow dress, after the wedding?

For a heroine in a position of having to purchased a dress in a real "non-neutral" color, I have a few suggestions...

If our heroine buys a dress that is a sleek "bottom layer" over which garments can be layered, virtually any neutral can be worn with this dress:

I don't feel like black and yellow together automatically scream "bumblebee!" to to the world... It might scream University of Iowa fan, or Steelers/Pirates/Penguins fan, eh?

With white, it just feels wonderfully summery, doesn't ... View the Post