1 Piece at a Time Archives

I Need a Wardrobe For Client Meetings and Dressy Evenings! Start with a Scarf: Vintage Rose by KathKath

Yes, you saw this scarf a long time ago - KathKath actually gave me one to give away to one of you! But now they've made this beautiful pattern available in both silk and a cashmere blend, AND in both rectangle and square shapes... As if that wasn't enough, you can also get a 30% discount on anything on their site using the code vivkath30. Pretty sweet, I'd say!

UPDATE: KathKath assures me that they've got the discount code working, and that it's good through the end of 2017 (woo, holiday gift money might be GONE....) If you continue to have issues, feel free to contact them directly; there's a contact form on their site. They're truly nice women... hugs, Janice

Our heroine is long past the point where she worries about wearing pink to ... View the Post

How to Accessorize a Navy-Based Fall Capsule Wardrobe – Start with Nature Central Cygnus Cloudscape

When we left our heroine on Wednesday, she had a tidy 16-piece wardrobe, but no accessories!

Of course, she probably still had lots of accessories that can work really well with her new clothes; let's go piece by piece, step by step, to choose some essential additions for her...

Shoes seems really important, I'd say!

And I'm going to be really practical and get her a bag pronto!

Now a bit of fun - some stars!

Scarves! Always remember that you might find the perfect scarf in an unexpected place - someplace you don't usually visit...

Don't discount the impact of a great watch... (yes, that last watch doesn't go with everything in this wardrobe, but if you were the kind of woman who didn't mind owning 2 watches...)

I'm going to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Central Cygnus Skyscape by Robert Gendler

If you don't know about the Astronomy Picture of the Day site, you're in for a treat. Some of these are amazing, and many are also amazingly beautiful...

Our heroine today was very inspired by this particular image...

Finally Released... After 6 weeks in the hospital, and then in rehab, she's finally free! But her clothes are positively hanging off of her - never let it be said that hospital food isn't good for something. And with her surgery and weight loss came a new phenomenon - she often feels cold. She missed a large chunk of the summer, and now fall is staring her in the face, and the only pants that she can wear have drawstrings, and look more like pleated skirts than anything else!

Shopping is essential... And she has a ... View the Post

How to Accessorize A Capsule Wardrobe with Lots of Denim? Let’s see…

One last really fun visit to this Salvador Dali painting, and the wardrobes inspired by his color choices:

The original wardrobe was for a woman who spent a great deal of time in fields and forests; today's heroine spends her time at the shore! Waterproof footwear, nylon bags, shell-inspired jewelry... Nobody but you might notice that you're consistent in your choices, but you will ALWAYS feel like yourself if the water is your second home!

Small earrings don't have to be boring, nor predictable:

If you're going to spend a lot of time near water, a water-resistant backpack is very useful...

Sunglasses, ALWAYS.

Yes, no matter how casual you are, you can always wear a scarf! Scarves don't HAVE to cost a fortune, but if you happen to ... View the Post

Can I Use Denim is Place of… ? Substituting Denim for Olive Grey in a Four by Four Wardrobe

You asked, and it was a really intelligent question - can I use denim in place of olive green, in a wardrobe from The Vivienne Files?

Heck yes! Neutral colors can be interchanged, especially in casual wardrobes in which rigorous color matching isn't terribly important. Let's recreate a recent wardrobe and make this substitution, to see how it works out.

First up - remember this amazing painting by Salvador Dali? I've changed the associated color palette to include the denim that we want:

I'm starting from the same point as before - a solid core of grey garments:

The first difference is immediate - instead of the olive tee shirt from before, I found a shirt that feels very denim-ish!

From here, things look very familiar for a few ... View the Post

How to Expand Your Accessory Wardrobe: Winter Scene in Moonlight by Henry Farrer

On Friday, I expanded the original travel capsule wardrobe into a more complete "Four x Four" capsule wardrobe, but the real fun comes with adding more accessories!

When our heroine originally packed for her winter weekend on the farm, these were her accessories - lots of scarves!

Just for reference purposes, and to enjoy this painting one last time, this is her style inspiration:

For normal life, constantly wearing boots won't work, so we probably should start by getting her a comfy pair of loafers...

And just because I'm bracelet mad these days, another star bracelet could be a fun addition. It's a good thing that I'm in a shopping moratorium this year, because these ALL are very appealing...

And of course, most women want a nice ... View the Post

How to Choose Business Accessories, One at a Time – With a Navy Suit

Monday, we pulled together a wonderful business capsule wardrobe with a navy suit for the reader with a new job, but let's get her some accessories too!

Obviously, she had shoes on when she interviewed, but let's add a beautiful pair of black pumps, with comfortably low heels, to her wardrobe first:

And I always want earrings, sooner than later. I know women who never wear them and who look just fine, but I always feel more... complete? finished? when I get my earrings on...

While it's entirely possible to carry everything you need in your pockets when you're just banging around town, for work, a nice bag is essential. I didn't try to get navy leather goods for this wardrobe, because they are much harder to find than black, and ... View the Post

How to Build a Business Wardrobe One Piece at a Time: Navy, with Emerald and Amethyst

I got this email just before Christmas - one of my readers got a new job, and needs to build a new wardrobe to wear. This is a pretty special workplace - very elegant, with occasional clothing allowance cash awards given, and all laundry and dry-cleaning reimbursed! Pretty dreamy, at least from a wardrobe point of view...

I think the target color scheme is based on my reader's very russet hair, fair skin and freckles, which look GREAT with these accents...

Of course, I answered her email right away, and she's already purchased a bunch of things for her new position, but I thought that this was so pretty, so luxurious, and such a dream shopping adventure, that I wanted to share it with you all!

First thing - if you have a skirted suit ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

You wanted to revisit the Soir d'Octobre, the most beautiful of paintings, and I receive an email which sets the stage perfectly:

One of us bought some leather pants, just before the cold weather really kicked in! And she's only got one way to wear them, so far:

But she's recently retired, and wants to build a casual wardrobe! This is a PERFECT scenario for gradually building a wardrobe, and for adding 1 piece at a time...

First up, the white shirt is a great starting point, but these pants also need something a bit more relaxed. To me, nothing fills that bill better than a classic chambray shirt.

Just to shake things up, early on, let's introduce one of the really pretty accent colors:

As much as this wardrobe is really based on ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Khaki and Pink – Additions for Fall and Winter

You asked; you get! What does the woman with the "chocolate box" wardrobe buy for cooler weather in fall and winter? First off, let's remember that we left her (here) with this capsule wardrobe:

By the time August rolls around, even if you don't NEED warmer clothing, you're certainly thinking about it! A long-sleeved shirt can layer under anything, warm socks in pink are just plain fun, and a sweater that combines all of the chocolate, caramel and cream colors can be worn A TON...

For illustrative purposes, here are a few new outfits that result from the modest shopping excursion show above; There are certainly more combinations than these:

Next up, the weather takes a decided turn, and some warm snuggly ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

She was enjoying the shopping...

Of course, she had to start with shoes. There are women in the world who don't need shoes, but that's not the general rule. So she started with something in her favorite dark chocolate brown:

She couldn't WAIT to get some earrings - she'd been wearing demure, tiny studs for years, and she wanted something more fun. And something PINK!

And a scarf, too! While she had been able to wear smaller, more traditionally patterned scarves for her job, she had never been able to just bust out with some big swishy piece of gorgeousness. And MORE PINK!

She wanted a new watch, too. She had been wearing a very lovely, small watch for work, and while she wasn't going to get rid of it, she really was looking ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

No More "Dress For Success" Every day, every year, the same.... Navy suit, white shirt. Grey suit, white shirt. Navy grey white navy grey white.... It served her well - she was very successful. She worked 7 days a week; she really didn't have a leisure life - her idea of being dressed down was to wear an old work shirt with old pants from a pantsuit. Jeans? Not in her vocabulary. A cardigan? Would get you a visit from the chairman of the firm... But now that she was leaving the office world, her heart cried out for brown. The color of dirt. The color of chocolate. And khaki - sand, and stones, and natural things.... And PINK. Because she would never have dared to wear pink in her old, very conservative, work environment. So her first ... View the Post