Remember our friend the soil conservation engineer? The woman who is constantly reminding people that the brown stuff in which plants grow is SOIL and not just DIRT...

She's inspired by the potential inherent in healthy soil, the potential for things like flowers! So when she was choosing a theme and focus for her wardrobe, she chose this painting:

She thought about her priorities - softness with brown, feminine and timeless - and she isolated her favorite colors:

In January she got to go to a conference of soil engineers, which was a delightful chance for her to talk to people who deeply and truly understand and share her professional passion.

Her contacts at the conference worked out well - in April, she was ... View the Post

This wardrobe might be closer to my own than any blog post I've ever done! My clothes are almost all black and white, which I find very simple and calming. After scrolling through (literally) thousands of scarves, earrings, shoes, and handbags every day when I'm working on The Vivienne Files, some simplicity and clarity is welcome!

Remember our school consultant? She believes that creativity can be subtle - no shouting, no loud colors or garish details for her! Her favorite painting is simple but has a lot of subtle interest:

She maybe didn't even need to condense her ideas into words, nor her color palette into a wheel, but she did so in order to ensure that she is really focused and committed to this idea! Thinking through your ... View the Post

These feel SO out of season right now - I wonder why they are the flower for December? I'm really happy that it isn't poinsettias (!) but I was expecting to find that December's flower was something... wintery?

What this flower does give us is 3 possible accent colors (orange, yellow and white) to brighten up neutrals during these shortest days of the year. (Northern Hemisphere, of course; for those of you south of the Equator, just hold these ideas for a few months!)

There are some lovely pieces of jewelry available with narcissus - or narcissus-ish flowers:

Sarita Kamat makes glass jewelry on which she paints all kinds of images - she does an entire series with birth flowers! (and yes, I just found her work on ... View the Post

Every time I'm leaving Chicago, I check my pockets (mentally); if I have my passport, my wallet, and my prescriptions, I figure that I'm good for almost anything!

I then look down at what I'm wearing and wonder what I would do if my luggage were to absolutely, positively, forever disappear...

When I'm going to Florida, I resign myself to probably borrowing clothes from my mother, except for buying some gym clothes and shoes.

But going to Paris? That would be an entirely different story! (yes, I'm leaving Monday, for a week...)

So what if I packed in the same way that I might shop for a few bits to get me through a week in Paris in December?

First, the very important travel outfit! One must remember - if traveling from North ... View the Post

Of course I wanted to see how a couple of these colors would look with black! I also really wanted to revisit that cool Turmeric color, so I got a different scarf for that little wardrobe...

First, let's start with the world's simplest 4-piece cluster of clothes - the absolute most neutral, versatile clothes for a holiday season:

With these 4 pieces, our holiday heroine has 4 basic outfits, that she can then use as a base for any kind of scarf, cardigan, jacket...

First up, how will this Jester Red look with black? (seriously, as if we haven't all seen a million red and black outfits...)

The boots really make a difference, if you can manage the "accent shoe" thing...

Any of us who lived (and bought clothing) ... View the Post

Remember our heroine the negotiator? She's got a knack for fitting herself into situations where there's conflict, and helping 2 sides reach a compromise. (How useful is THAT talent?) When she packs, she tries to give herself a range of options so that she can appear strong, friendly, forceful, or maybe even fade into the background a little bit... What a skill to develop!

She loves this painting...

In fact, she loved it so much that she decided to use it as the core aesthetic guide for her wardrobe!

Back in January she traveled for work, and had to go directly into meetings. A beautiful red dress made her visible without being strident...

When she travels for leisure (as she did back in April), you can see her ... View the Post

Just when you think you know for an iron-clad fact when there will be a new post on The Vivienne Files, sometimes comes up that I have to share immediately!

I bought myself this black and white striped cashmere sweater from Nordstrom when they got marked down to UNDER $60. My expectations were... modest, to say the least - we all know that the quality of cashmere isn't what it used to be.

It's lovely. I'm wearing it right now, with velvet jeans and a windowpane plaid shirt. (we're going to a friend's tonight for dinner...)

Okay, it's not Loro Piana, or Brunello Cuccinello, but it also didn't cost an entire month's rent!

11 colors and 3 different stripes are available. Petites are available too! (that warms my little short-armed ... View the Post

Of course I'm going to have to see how a couple of the remaining Pantone Spring 2019 colors look with black, but first let's try something completely different - Winter White!

One thing to remember with this color - all of your clothes don't have to be "dye-lot matched" to look good together - especially if the fabrics and textures are different. Shades of the same neutral can look lovely!

Of course, it's perfectly beautiful to wear an outfit in just these colors:

I'm coming back to Turmeric again with black... this color is fine, but level of dressiness here is a little bit "off." The shoes might be okay with jeans - it depends on the woman!

I think these outfits are fun - certainly at this time of the year you're ... View the Post

Oh how this heroine's life has changed in a year! Back in January she took a pack of 6th graders to New York City - what a brave woman! On a more leisurely note, she went back to New York 3 months later, by herself, to scout out more destinations for students...

Her confidence in planning these trips, and the expertise that she developed, lead to her applying for a job with the State Board of Education specifically dealing with student activities outside of the classroom! When she got the position, she began the frequent trips to the state capital that she will have to make every month or so...

When you look back at these 4 wardrobes, you can see that her style becomes a bit more dressy over time - she has to be ready to fight for ... View the Post

If, for some amazing reason, I ever quit wearing black ALL the time, I can easily picture replacing much of it with dark grey... I just love the way this looks, and the versatility that one would have with this limited number of pieces.

One of the joys of having a neutral core in this color is that pretty much any accent color will go well here! What might not work? Hmmm... lime green? Think of something, and I'll give it a try!

For example, I could probably use any of the Pantone Spring 2019 colors here. For fun, I've chosen 4, just to see how different the ensembles look when it's all pulled together!

First I want to try out this lovely Living Coral. I stand by my thesis that this color will work well with any neutral - navy, ... View the Post

You know when you read that this is our heroine's favorite painting that her wardrobe will be interesting:

This heroine definitely has her own preferences, but she's smart enough to have a plan that keeps her wardrobe purposeful and organized:

Back in January this very interesting woman took a trip - packing lots of linen shirts, and plenty of scarves!

And then in April she was on the road again - maybe driving to see a quilt exhibit, or a dog show, or a new arboretum... She has a wide range of interests!

In July she traveled for a family wedding; why do I suspect that she's a lot of fun at any gathering?

It's clear that someone really likes her - she was invited along for the season opening of the opera ... View the Post