accessories Archives

Five Final Colors from Autumn/Winter 2025/26

April 18, 2025

The last five colors, until the next batch of colors appears!

I'm thinking of assembling all of the Pantone images that I've ever done - well, all the ones that I can find - and putting them into a big file that you could download. My ideas it that being able to see a LOT of these colors all together would give us all a broad base for figuring out favorites...

Let's (very carefully!) jump in:

Who doesn't look good in teal? I remember that it was always one of the four accent colors that were suggested when you needed a color that was at least neutral on most people. (the other three were coral, true royal purple, and a clear pink)

I'm becoming a big fan of Chili Oil - I could break down and buy ALL of ... View the Post

Five More Colors from Pantone – Some of Them Are Repeats…

April 14, 2025

Big confession here - I've lost ALL TRACK of what colors came from New York Fashion Week (capitalized, of course!), and which came from London Fashion Week.

I'm not sure that it matters to us, frankly. I got to the point where I had so many files and tabs open that I despaired of my limited sanity, so I've just decided to carry on as if I know what I'm doing!

And yes, some colors appear on both lists. It's interesting going BACK to a color after I thought I was quite finished with it...

But these are interesting, and all are lovely, depending on your taste. There's someone for every color, I'm convinced!

I rather love this green; I see it with brown all year. The brown buttons on the cardigan help that thought. ... View the Post

Another Five New Pantone Colors (Red and Brown!), and Five “French Five-Piece” Wardrobes”

April 11, 2025

Why yes, all five of these are some sort of red or brown. I don't know what Pantone's got in mind here, but I think anybody with some red or brown in their wardrobe is going to be very "on trend." As if we ever cared about trends - those are for people who don't know their own style!

Some of these colors are lovely; I'm eager to know which of these you like:

I'm quite smitten with brown these days - is this just finally embracing having brown eyes?

Chili Oil seems to be like a color that will look good any time of year...

And I clearly see this color more suiting autumn rather than summer, but what do you think?

This color is wonderful....

What's your favorite, if any? I think I'm ... View the Post

Five New Pantone Colors, and Five “French Five-Piece” Wardrobes”

April 9, 2025

Pantone has graciously shared with us their color choices for the upcoming Autumn and Winter, taken from what they saw at the London Fashion Week. There are also colors from the New York week - I will look at them all...

There are a couple of reasons that I always like to visit these colors:

We all want to at least consider new accent colors from time to time, and this gives us a good opportunity to visualize what a new color might look like in a range of items - shoes, bag, earrings etc. For all of us who know our accent colors, there's often a color in these lists that very close to what we've already chosen. These posts give us a chance to see some new items in our favorite colors!

So I'm showing you five ... View the Post

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

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

Want Lots of Accent Colors? The Meredith Wing Scarf by Echo

January 17, 2025

This scarf scream warm weather to me, but I'm pretty certain that we can figure out ways to wear it every month of the year!

There are a few additional colors from the scarf that I could have included, but I felt that these 3 colors, plus black and white, were the most visible:

Even in the coldest weather, a warm sweater and some accessories that go with it will always be useful. And if your new scarves just happens to go with your sweater...

If you like to wear "suit-like" pairings of clothes, a new accent tee shirt is always handy! Yes, the jewelry is VERY inexpensive (aka cheap), but it's a good way to test-drive how much you like this color without going nuts. If you decide to upgrade at a late ... View the Post

Thinking About Accent Colors? Pantone London Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2025

December 30, 2024

I always love these, even though they are difficult - just because Pantone says that a color is going to be popular does NOT mean that anybody actually sells something in that color. Maybe I'm just ahead of the curve...

But this is interesting - no pink, no dark or medium blue, and an offensively named (at least to me) shade of brown.

And I must share - on the Pantone website, there's a recurring typographical error that calls this first color Windsor Wind, rather than Windsor Wine! Maybe it will be fixed by the time you read this, but still - someone should be proofreading these things.

Does anyone still proofread?

Let's go!

Why yes, I'm quite smitten with this next color!

I was surprised how ... View the Post

Looking for a Wardrobe Spark? Pantone New York Fashion Week Spring 2025 colors

September 23, 2024

Ah, one of my favorite projects! "New" colors are always fun...

I feel like the Pantone people had a meeting at which they decided that their work needed to be more "green," and that someone misunderstood the assignment. Lots of shades of green in this list!

But let's start with Orangeade, which I kind of interpreted in a more rust direction, for autumn:

I like this warm light brown, but I might have tried harder to give it a more appealing name than Bran...

I don't know why you'd take a nice shade of light camel and give it a slightly greenish cast.... OH WAIT, this is the green season...

I wish I could think of any legitimate reason for me to own this next scarf, but it would be fiction! If ... View the Post

Can I Wear Toast Brown With My Current Clothes?

August 19, 2024

Starting very early last Friday morning, I was asked repeatedly if the "toast brown" cashmere sweater in this post could be worn with neutrals other than black...

This is the post, just to make it easy for you to see it again!

So I thought that I would pull together a little "French 5-Piece Wardrobe" in that lovely brown/taupe. It's a great color - sort of warm, but not yellowish - at least on my computer screen!

Maybe you weren't convinced that this colors goes with black, so I will show it again...

Honestly, if I didn't already have both a brown cardigan and TWO brown crewneck sweaters, I'd buy this one... I love the way these colors look together!

I think it's logical, and maybe obvious, ... View the Post

Do You Love Larkspur? Are You Passionate About Periwinkle?

June 28, 2024

OMG, tomorrow is my birthday! I will be 64... although I feel like I'm somewhere at the crossroads of 21 and 90. My brain is young, my knees are past retirement age!

What do I want for my birthday? For you to recommend The Vivienne Files to anyone who might enjoy our community, and my ideas...

Speaking of community - many of you - MANY OF YOU - really love the color "Larkspur" offered by L.L.Bean. They currently have THIRTY-THREE items available, so it's pretty easy to find something you can wear frequently. That said, many of these things are marked down, and therefore might just rush into retail oblivion...

I assembled this French 5-Piece Wardrobe in Larkspur to help me focus on how this color might be ... View the Post