black Archives - Page 18 of 59

Raiding my French Books: 8 “Must-Have” Items in Black from “Dress Like a Parisian” by Aloïs Guinut

May 29, 2020

Another book! I actually have a handful of them - some really fun and interesting, some... not so much...

This one is in English, and the author is witty and self-deprecation; she swears that one of the reasons that French women have such relaxed and unstructured hair styles is because they're inherently too lazy to style their hair! Hmm...

This is one of the few books that I would recommend, if only for her sense of humor!

She starts this book with the same general advice almost every wardrobe or style books gives - start with THIS list of garments. Everybody, even if they've never met you, knows what you need...

This, of course, isn't at all true, and is really nonsense, and will ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

May 20, 2020

Oh, we haven't heard from this heroine for a while... Remember her when she first visited a college campus for some lectures (and brought the house down!), then she took some students to The Cloisters, outside of New York.

She's been working off and on in Paris, since the fire at Notre Dame. Now, of course, she's working from home. But her intricately braided white hair remains flawless (how DOES she get it cut?) and her nail polish and lipstick are still works of art that defy normal wear and tear...

This is her inspiration:

Her color palette is firmly in mind any time she shops - this is not a woman often given to wardrobe impulse! Someone once remarked that red and green seemed "Christmassy" to them - ... View the Post

Start with Art: Dans la Forêt: Portrait de L. Massine by Natalia Gontcharova

May 14 2020

Remember the accountant? With a man's first name? Well, she's been doing quite well; the last big engagement in which she was immersed resulted in 3 people being charged with financial fraud, and a handful of other officers resigning in the dead of night and vanishing...

She was made partner...

Her color palette for her wardrobe is unusual - just when someone thinks that all she wears is black and shades of beige and brown, she trots out some cobalt blue!

She's got to go back. Yes, during the pandemic. She's assured that nobody is there, and that this is the very best time to take a team in and go through some of the really old "on paper" records that seem to have been... forged? Expense ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 41: A Dark Neutral, Sleeveless Top

May 11, 2020

Well, a dear friend of mine is currently moving her plants indoors, because the weekend is supposed to bring freezing temperatures, and I'm writing about summer clothes! (I'm writing this on Friday afternoon May 8th)

Getting the best clothes often requires planning ahead; you can't imagine how often I will see something that I think is perfect to share with you, only to find that there are only 2 sizes still available...

So let's plunge into the possibilities of a simple, dark tank top or other sleeveless top!

For those who are following along with the "6 Scarves, 12 Months" series of posts, these are the tops that I would suggest for a wardrobe based on each of the scarves:

As always, I've got ... View the Post

Start with Art: Portrait de Greta Prozor by Henri Matisse

April 23, 2020

She's been sitting for a REALLY long time...

She's taking her favorite painting, distilling it down to the essential colors, and then PACKING!

Black, denim, olive, and BRIGHT golden yellow! She doesn't want to work very hard getting dressed, but she's okay with people noticing her...

It's just for a long weekend... She's going to plan outfits for each day, although she won't necessarily wear every outfit. She just doesn't want to have to work; she's done quite enough work, spending so much time indoors...

Her travel wardrobe is dark, and a bit intense. That's just exactly what she wants - no worry about spilling things, no worry about putting together outfits "on the fly," and no having to shop ... View the Post

Planning Accessories for a Travel Capsule Wardrobe, in Black and Pink

April 21, 2020

A couple of weeks ago, I shared with you one of my favorite blog posts from a few years ago, and then my revision of it in my current favorite colors. I think this an exercise that a lot of you engage in frequent, since there's no way that the wardrobes that I post here will ALWAYS be your favorite colors!

But I didn't include many accessories - I just accessorized the initial travel outfit, but nothing else. THAT won't do...

We started here, with a travel outfit in which I could live for quite a while:

And these are the 10 garments that I chose to pack; at the time I said that I wasn't sure if I was packing for Paris or Dublin (or maybe New York?)...

My best plan (so far) for making certain that I pack ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: A Long Weekend with a Robin Scarf from Aspinal of London

April 16, 2020 Urban Heart... She misses the city. So much. Just to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the people walk by - the stories, the personalities, the style...

And she's tired. She wants to be able to get dressed without any exertion! So she pulled out her favorite scarf, and her favorite dresses, and started to pack:

Black. White. Gold. No muss, no fuss...

Her favorite dress is a bit roomy - she can easily layer a tee shirt or other shirt under it! In unreliable weather, this is SO helpful. And in a travel capsule wardrobe like this, it is really ALL about the accessories, isn't it?

She start packing - 2 more black dresses! The "fit and flare" dress is perfect with cardigans, or alone with a gold wrap for ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Working from Home with a Ferragamo Scarf

April 14, 2020 Daily Teleconferences... She's sick of them, frankly. But they're going to be the way business is conducted, for at least a while! And she knows that, even from home, she should try to look like she's in control, and in charge, and the boss...

So she went crazy and spent all of the coffee and lunch money that she hasn't spent for the last while:

This scarf will be perfect with just about anything that she's wearing these days - denim, black, and ivory. And those delicious hints of plum that she can't find right now, but when she has to go back to her office, she's going to treat herself (again!) to a couple of lovely things...

Most days she's been dressed like this:

And so she assembled another ... View the Post

One Way to Expand a Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Cloud Rainforest Scarf by Klements

April 8, 2020

I'm very infatuated with this scarf; it it were in my colors, it would be in my closet!

These colors feel like autumn, but in lovely linen this is a great palette for warmer weather:

You may remember back on the last day of March (which seems like it was about a year and a half ago!) our heroine was hopping on trains to visit new cities and towns, and was using these colors as the basis for her wardrobe. These were the clothes that she was packing:

Our heroine has decided to go on a longer vacation - there's no reason to hoard vacation time... She's been so happy with her tiny travel wardrobe that she chooses to use it as the base for her larger wardrobe. How can she make this work?

First, she ... View the Post

Personalizing a Favorite Capsule Wardrobe

April 3, 2020

Today I'm looking back at one of my all-time favorite blog posts, and choosing how I would interpret it in my own wardrobe!

My computer screen savers are all images from The Vivienne Files, that change ever 20 seconds or so. Although they are supposed to be randomly chosen from a huge file of images, in fact I see the same wardrobes fairly often, and this one I see EVERY DAY:

Something about this just feels so right to me...

So in my dream travel, I'm going to... either Ireland or Paris - it doesn't really matter. If I'm in Ireland I'm going to have some business to transact, and if I'm in Paris, I want to look lovely...

After much consideration, this is what I would pack. I don't own these exactly ... View the Post

Start with Art: Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe based on The Swan No. 21 by Hilma af Klint

April 1, 2020

Yes, this should be the "Six Scarves, 12 Outfits" post, but I forgot that I was working on a post for the first day of April! Frankly, I'm thrilled to see the end of March - aren't you?

I will get that post for you tomorrow, I promise...

Our heroine had hoped to see the Hilma af Klint exhibit in Malmö, but she might not make it...

But she's still a massive fan of the artist!

Now that she's free to travel, she's going to Stockholm for a long weekend to the Moderna Museet, to see some art! This is going to be her color palette for her travel capsule wardrobe:

She has decided that she's beautiful. After spending so much time alone, it's finally dawned on her that her body has done wonderful things for ... View the Post

Start with Swimwear? Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe

March 28, 2020

"The say that we can go up to the island, if we voluntarily observe social distancing for 14 days..."

please note that this is the same style swim suit that I bought for myself, and I can recommend it without hesitation; I look splendid in mine, and THAT's saying something!

She had realized about a week ago that her life was changing, and her attitudes were... surprising.

After decades of being self-conscious about wear a swim suit, or going into the ocean around other people, she realized that she was worrying about ALL THE WRONG STUFF...

And so she planned for things to be different, now.

She was going to participate fully. In everything. Including splashing, and building sand castles, and just ... View the Post