The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start with Art: The Golden Stairs by Sir Edward Coley Burney-Jones

June 24, 2022

Yes, you saw this painting a long time ago! That heroine was also traveling for a family celebration...

Let's take a close-up look at a bunch of these lovely ladies, and enjoy the color palette...

Our heroine is off for a quick weekend trip to a family wedding! She's taking Friday off of work, so that she will arrive early in the afternoon - certainly early enough for lunch with relatives, and possibly early enough for a quick nap:

Because the partying starts tonight, with the rehearsal and the following dinner, and then of course the wedding on Saturday! By Sunday, she just needs to drag herself to brunch before they run out of coffee, and then sleep on the train on the way home!

She wants to ... View the Post

One Way to Get to Project 333

June 22, 2022

By this time of year, most of us should be easily able to whittle down our warm-weather wardrobe to a tidy 33 pieces. While this is NOT what Courtney Carver suggests for her Project 333, I'm pretty confident that she wouldn't be too upset with us starting at this point. So long as we look seriously at our wardrobes from time to time, she will probably approve!

buy her book and read it; trust me!

How to minimize what's in one's closet is a question that I am asked almost every day, and thus I keep thinking of different ways that someone could go about eliminating a big chunk of their wardrobe... Let me share one idea!

Let's start here - I think (but am by no means sure!) that there are 69 garments here... If all of ... View the Post

Version 1 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 11, 2022

All 4 of them loved the scarf, for very different reasons!

 

They all decided to treat themselves to it!

Their next weekend together was interesting... Sunny Yes, Sunny has lots of friends!

As soon as she saw the vivid gold in her new scarf, she was smitten. Packing for her weekend get-together with her friends was so easy:

This is a VERY casual weekend - a lot of time outdoors...

It doesn't look like a lot of clothes, but she won't lack for what to wear, in cool weather or warm!

I suspect that her friends will all have a bit of beige or indigo in their travel capsule wardrobes, but their accent will be QUITE different from each other!

love,

Janice

p.s. Three years ... View the Post

Start with a Detail – The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 29, 2022

She wasn't sure that she loved the painting, but she saw something in it that REALLY spoke to her...

She's Always Been a Towhead She violated all of those pieces of advice about looking at art, and she got up REALLY CLOSE to the painting...

THIS is what she saw, that called to her:

Her hair was turning from blond white to just plain (amazing!) white. She avoided the sun, as all wise women do. And she embraced the soft, the pale, the subtle muted colors that suited her so well...

if I didn't already have a white summer cardigan...

Beige is the core of her wardrobe - winter, summer, no matter! And light grey wool, in the cool weather...

She's excited to add some light green to her wardrobe! ... View the Post

Start with Art: Vocal Fabric of the Singer Rosa Silber by Paul Klee, and French 5-Piece Wardrobes

April 20, 2022

We visited this fascinating painting a few years ago, and I've never forgotten about it!

So when someone asked me about having a couple of accent colors for summer, and after we looked at the possibilities of 1 scarf for 4 women, I got to thinking.... (as my mother would say - "we knew you were thinking; we smelled the smoke...")

The last time we looked at this painting, I only isolated 3 accent colors, but today I'm choosing four!

So my plan is this - I'm going to start us out with a core summer wardrobe in light colors - white and beige. Then I'm going to scare up four French 5-Piece Wardrobes - one in each of the accent colors...

Let's start here:

I'm not going to run through how many outfits ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 18, 2022

Making Compromises, When Your Palette is Difficult

She's really committed to these colors, even though she knows that it's not going to be easy... There's no real way she can envision getting dressed for an entire season without wearing black - even if it's hot!

And the rest of the colors? She has accepted that "her" beige, that green-ish, rain-soaked and slightly lichen-colored quay, isn't going to be anywhere to be found; she's prepared to compromise with the much more common beige...

The accent colors could be tricky; she can't actually see herself wearing soft lime OR light periwinkle with black!

But she gives it all a go - it's just clothing, after all.

Starting with the simple stuff - it's never difficult to ... View the Post

A Long Trip to Europe – in Navy, Beige and shades of blue

January 19, 2022

Some of you are planning travel, even though you might still be keeping a low profile to avoid viruses... Lucky people!

A few quite long trips are being organized, and at least 1 trip that I know of is from the Southern Hemisphere (in 4 or 5 months, which will be autumn?) to Europe. How exciting, after being kept close to home for so long...

A color scheme that has been requested TWICE is this general idea - navy and beige as neutrals, and any shade of blue to accent. I picture it like this:

My dying breath might be spent telling everyone how important their travel outfit is! But it's true; you're going to spend hours and hours and HOURS wearing it, and it will be the first impression that you make when you ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Black Column with Warm-Toned 2nd Layer

September 29, 2021

Autumn's arrival is still sort of iffy, here in Chicago, but I am seeing more women wearing lovely fall clothes on the cooler days! What a nice break...

One thing that really jumped out at me a few days ago was seeing lots of women wearing a column of black - often a black dress - with something over it that was ivory, beige or camel.

I think a lot of us who live in black (or navy, or grey) tend to think that we can only wear cool hues with our neutral. But that's not at ALL true - what about a woman with dark brown hair with no hint of red or warmth, but clear amber eyes. (I'm looking in the mirror for this...)

And what's a woman to do when you're thrifting and you see a gorgeous camel blazer or sweater, but ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Secret Garden in Autumn by Fetolia

September 17, 2021 Subtle....

She doesn't need to be recognized. She never cares if she turns heads, or if she stands out in a crowd. When she travels, she blends into nature, and takes pictures that are hard for others to take, because they disrupt the peace and quiet...

She's taking a long weekend to a small town a couple of hours away from where she lives. All kinds of raptors have been seen in the fields and wooded areas near there.

She loves to photograph raptors; their speed and precision thrills her...

She wants to look reasonably nice - she does have to go out for dinner every night! And she needs to be warm-ish, but nothing outrageous. She will unfold her little chair, prop up her camera, and sit. Quietly. ... View the Post

A Step-by-Step Packing Plan in black and beige (with coral and light blue!)

August 18, 2021 They're FINALLY Going... And she's got to pack smart!

Their destination involves a lot of food and wine, but isn't overall a really dressy destination...

She's had a pretty clear color palette in her wardrobe for a very long time: black, beige, coral and pretty shades of blue, so THAT part of preparing is easy enough!

Her first impulse is to grab her "go-to" hot weather clothes:

And with that, she... is... sort of stuck!

But she starts thinking, and not just pitching clothes into her suitcase. Thinking is always a good way to get out of a packing "stall" like this...

How many pieces of clothing does she want to pack? Well, 7 days feels like at least a dozen garments, doesn't it?

Does she want to ... View the Post

Weekly Timeless Wardrobe #24 – A Lightweight 2nd Layer

August 16, 2021

Ah, let's continue to ponder what essentials we might want in our warm weather wardrobes!

Many of us are going back to our offices - reluctantly, I might add. If you're like most women, you find the office to be bitterly cold, and then when you walk outdoors you melt immediately! So a 2nd layer is essential to stay warm indoors, while something relatively light and cool underneath is important to be able to survive the commute, or the walk to lunch...

This might do the trick!

One of the many beauties of the cardigan above is that it could easily be worn through the winter with something heavier underneath...

This next cardigan, on the other hand, is pretty strictly a hot-weather garment:

When you ... View the Post

What does a 13-Piece Weekly Timeless Wardrobe Look Like?

August 9, 2021

Why yes, this is supposed to be the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe...

BUT...

Some week this summer, I completely lost count; I can't believe I missed a number... and I can't face looking for any more sleeveless tops! I'm going to assume that you all have a pretty clear idea of what a sleeveless top looks like, and what it will do in your wardrobe...

So instead, I'm going to address a couple of questions that came up when I showed you a couple of Weekly Timeless Wardrobes last week.

First, the question that I was asked the most was about having lots of prints in the wardrobe - could you actually have 4 of the 13 garments in print and still have some versatility?

In the wardrobe above, I traded out the ... View the Post