black Archives

Three Words, Personal Style, and Packing for Paris

December 10, 2025

If all goes as planned (which hasn't been the case recently!), by the time you read this I will be heading to the airport with Belovedest for a trip to Paris. Belovedest is only going for a long weekend; I will be there for a week (yes, he's tough, and we're flying in First Class, so he should get some sleep on the plane).

I'm trying really hard to pack a tiny amount of stuff. When you vacation in the middle of winter, most of the world ONLY sees your winter coat, and even then, they don't pay attention, and they don't care!

Maybe the hardest thing to remember when traveling (or at any other time!) is that you are ONLY the center of attention in your own mind. So long as you are clean, don't smell horrible, don't ... View the Post

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

December 8, 2025

The last day of the last painting! Unless, of course, I revisit these and analyze them a bit...

She had enough clothes - more than enough, as do we all. But she was really hankering after some more brown. There's something about wearing brown - especially with black - that's different from anything else she had ever worn...

Her wardrobe is all set, for now...

Our heroine would still really love to have a brown and black scarf, and you can easily see how useful it would be for her. But she has to find the right one!

Our heroine had a lengthy internal conversation around the purchase of brown shoes and a brown bag. Normally, she would keep her leather accessories to black, beige, or a metallic. ... View the Post

One Heather Beige Cashmere Sweater – A Dozen Ideas

November 26, 2025 Please note, I'm NOT going to suggest gifts for you - I have no clue what your partner/child/best friend might want! And further, I'm NOT going to tell you where there are sales this weekend; assume that everybody in the world is marking things down...

If you wish to support The Vivienne Files as I refuse to play the Black Friday/Cyber Monday game, you can always click on the "Support The Vivienne Files" link at the top of each page (under the tiny clothes hanger!) and find links to retailers who will pay me a wee commission if you click and make a purchase. I won't get rich, but I am always grateful!

love, Janice

Okay!!! Many of you were interested in the possibility of adding a new sweater to your wardrobe, but ... View the Post

Want a Complete Capsule Wardrobe? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 21, 2025

After all of this traveling, our heroine is starting to realize that she has a LOT more clothing than she needs. She's already quite disciplined, in that she makes all of her purchases within this color palette:

Our heroine's first trip this fall was to see her alma mater play women's basketball:

Her second trip was to an office that she'd never visited before! It's always a challenge to pack for these kinds of unknowns...

Her third trip was also for work. For many of us, the majority of our travel is for work - at least mine was, for years! It gets to the point that if you're in the office for too long, you feel like something's gone wrong.

And her final trip this year was for the THREE ... View the Post

Want to Pack Only Neutrals? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 19, 2025

Our last travel capsule wardrobe for this heroine - although I am going to accumulate all of her wardrobes together on Friday to see where she finds herself, clothing-wise. I may even see some additions that she could use...

Here's the painting with which she always starts her planning:

Her overall wardrobe palette includes four core colors:

Her recent numerous travel adventures have included travel capsule wardrobes based on these four related, but all slightly different, palettes:

A Dressy Long Weekend It happens every few years - ALL of the work-related holiday parties to which they are invited fall within a few days of each other!

Their solution is to find a hotel room that's centrally ... View the Post

Want to Skip Brown? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 17, 2025

Our heroine is back to business travel... but no matter why she's packing, or where she's going, she always stick with her inspiration:

Her complete wardrobe is mostly these four colors:

And she has realized that if she omits one color from these four, she has four ADDITIONAL palettes that are ideally suited for small travel capsule wardrobes:

It's business travel again, but to an office that she knows pretty well. This trip is not particularly dressy, but there are excellent restaurants near them, so she still wants to be able to dress appropriately for that!

And her last trip, when she wore her velvet blazer, was full of excellent customer service. Thus she's wearing it again! Get ... View the Post

Want to Pack Dark Colors? Start With Art – Red Rotation by Victor Servranckx

November 14, 2025

Monday's heroine has to travel for business - it's surprising to me how many people STILL have to show up in person, press the proverbial flesh, and breathe the same air as the people from another office...

But of course, sometimes the in-person touch is essential. You hear the whispers in the ladies room, and glances from the corner of the room in a meeting, the strange phobias about using a particular printer - office life is weird and can be illuminating!

Her inspiration? This fascinating piece:

Her "master" color palette includes four neutrals; she does include the other colors in the painting in her wardrobe, in tiny amounts - there's a whole range of interesting beige to greenish bronze ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

November 3, 2025

I'm always so excited to start these posts each month! Here's today very thought-provoking, but beautiful, inspiration painting:

So I seem to remember that most of us felt like the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template wasn't really serving a useful purpose at this point, so I've discarded them! Instead, this month especially I'm going to concentrate on getting all of our heroines dressed for the upcoming bundle of holidays.

Today's heroine is getting a couple of velvet pieces, which can be worn with other fabrics to instantly bring a festive feeling to any day. And I'm also giving this lovely lady a couple of cashmere sweaters - another instant upgrade for anything you wear. Yes, they're expensive. If cared for ... View the Post

Brown with Black? Start With the 4 T’s in Brown…

October 24, 2025

For our first adventure into using the Four T's as the basis of a capsule or travel wardrobe, I'm (of course!) going to see how black works out...

First, let's take another look at the brown things that we assembled on Wednesday:

This isn't at all complicated - now let's add four black garments. The most basic four garments possible, I think...

We could stop with just these four additions, but let's get our heroine up to 13 garments. This would meant that for travel, she could wear a 3-piece outfit, and pack the other 10 things. I'm quite smitten - for no good reason! - with the idea of packing 10 pieces of clothing...

Here's the fun part! Finding accessories that include both black and brown is ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

October 2, 2025

Here's a work of art that's more than worth of a few moments of contemplation. It's a bit weird, yes, and enigmatic, and just not quite like anything else you'll ever see! Except, of course, for other of her works. She's worth our attention...

Our heroine is preparing for cold weather! She went into this month's purchases with the goal of sticking to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, but then realized that she didn't have a simple black cashmere sweater...

This is a garment that's right up there with the solid neutral long-sleeved tee shirt, in that it's amazingly versatile and probably belongs in most wardrobes. So the plan will be set aside for this one garment, and a useful choice will be ... View the Post

Like Unusual Accent Colors with Classic Neutrals? Start With Art – In Vaudeville by Charles Demuth

September 26, 2025

If things go REALLY well, I'm flying back from London to Chicago today. I'm writing this on the 17th, so if things are sold out or if something is haywire here, I apologize! I will fix it next week... xoxo, J

We looked at this painting a long time ago, and I still think of it often. The colors are like nothing else!

This could be quite a complete wardrobe in ivory, taupe and black, of course. But adding yellow and rosy coral is a real departure from what one might expect...

Our heroine's going to a dance competition - having talented children occasionally requires hitting the road for a few days! They're going by train; the dancer in question has a LOT of gear to bring, so packing small is in our ... View the Post

A Complete Cool-Weather Wardrobe? Start With Art – The Dark Lady by A.K.Zinkeisen

September 15, 2025

Let's take one last, lingering and appreciative look at our painting inspiration:

This is the color palette with which we've been working, taken from this painting. You can always add faded denim - there's a glimpse of the sky in the top left corner...

Let's remember too, that we have four possible color palettes using only three colors...

For our first Six-Pack travel capsule wardrobe, our heroine decided to forego wearing black for a few days!

For her second travel capsule wardrobe, our heroine chose to not pack anything ivory - we can all picture this kind of trip!

At the approach of the winter holidays, our heroine focused more on burgundy, and omitted camel for this capsule ... View the Post