The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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A Grey Capsule Wardrobe with Turquoise

January 17, 2015   She works in the city, but her heart holds a special place for all the things of nature...  

 

Next week, I'm going to use a variety of neutral colors (navy, brown, beige, olive  - what others would you like?) with accessories that I have already shown last week or this week. I'm not doing this to be lazy, but rather to show the great versatility that a happy family of accessories can have when paired with the enormous flexibility of a core of neutral clothes.   love, Janice ... View the Post

A Grey Capsule Wardrobe with Soft Blue

January 12, 2015  

Unlike last week's All-Black wardrobe, I don't know that an All-Grey ensemble is required at any place of work. So I'm thinking of this grouping as a version of the "what to wear when you don't want to get dressed" post that I did here. My suggestion was to have a core of six matching garments (which would give you at least a handful of outfit possibilities) and also to have a core of accessories that you could reach for - almost without thinking - that would pull everything together, and keep the world from realizing that you dressed yourself with your eyes (almost) closed!So my friend who wears this ensemble, and these accessories, has blonde/grey hair, gentle blue eyes, and a way about her that attracts ... View the Post

Start With Art: Call of the Loon by Ewoud de Groot

November 6, 2014  

There's a lot of beauty here, and colors galore...

 

I settled on these, using ink blue as my base neutral.  Realistically, you could choose anything soft and muted in the green/blue/purple family and be extremely successful.

 

This is for someone subdued, a little bit dressy, going away for a couple of days to a warmer destination.  Maybe not the beach, but someplace where lighter fabrics will be comfortable.  The dotted texture of the water is echoed in the first scarf, and the floral earring and pewter loafers are feminine but not girlish.  

A linen dress, a silk skirt and a couple of tops, along with some pretty accessories are all you ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe – Packing with Scarves: Missoni #2

November 5, 2014   After Friday's post about a Missoni scarf, I received an email with this picture - another really lovely combination of colors...  

 

There are a lot of possibilities here, of course.  One could concentrate on the beige, ivory, and periwinkle, but I chose to work with the brighter shades apparent in the scarf.  

In my vivid and bottomless imagination, I pictured this protagonist as someone who had to travel for work, but who's work is something rather creative; she's one who likes to wear things a little bit bold...  

  While many of the garments are relatively simple and classic, the accessories are anything but!  And the dress... I personally love ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Avoiding Boredom

October 16, 2014   Let's say you have A Common Capsule Wardrobe in black and grey, and you're happy with it.  But you're concerned that you're going to get bored by wearing so many neutrals all of the time...  So one day you're browsing through the internet, and you find a whole LOT of lovely, bright, good-quality blouses, shirts and sweaters at a good price. You might have always wanted to try these brands, but always been reluctant to purchase their items at the full retail price.  (the site is The Outnet - lots of pretties at prices that still aren't small, but which are a ton better than the original retail!).   After a bit of thought, you choose to, for one season, indulge your affection for every bright ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: Shades of blue, with Black and Grey

October 15, 2014   We looked at using a variety of shades of pink as an accent in a capsule wardrobe (post here), and it was something that everybody either seemed to love or hate.  So I'm going to see what response is to shades of blue - that very particular muted blue that you see in blue onyx.   A note about this scarf - it's from Hermes, and it's in their usual amazingly lustrous silk twill, but it isn't a square - it's a very long rectangle with mitered ends.  Per square inch of silk, these scarves are MUCH less expensive than the squares, and for many people, they're a lot more versatile style.  If you've never been interested in a square scarf, then these (called Maxi Twilly), are at least worth ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe + A Common Capsule Wardrobe: blue, green, and grey

October 14, 2014   The French 5-Piece Wardrobe is a great way to experiment with new color palettes, but it can also be used as a way to build upon The Common Capsule Wardrobe in your chosen neutrals. Adding in a neutral item or two can really expand the versatility of your core garments, while a new color or two keeps the boredom at bay.   Let's see what these five items do for A Common Capsule Wardrobe:  

  Remember, this is A Common Wardrobe, in navy and grey, with which we're working:  

 

First off, the beautiful green sweater actually would give you eight new possibilities (I only show four) - it can be worn with any of your pants, jeans, or skirt, and it can be worn with ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Meets A Common Capsule Wardrobe: navy, grey, electric blue, bright purple

October 8, 2014

There's a lot of talk in books and on the internet about the "French 5-Piece Wardrobe", which is a misnomer if there ever was one! The wardrobe isn't really five pieces; the concept is that you have a core of basic, neutral garments, and you then add FIVE pieces per season. I'm sure some people define a season as every 3 months, but it would certainly also make sense to just do this every 6 months. Whatever makes you happy, right?

But when I read descriptions about the "core" of neutral garments, I kept thinking that it sounded a lot like The Common Wardrobe...  And that this philosophy might be an option for helping us build our wardrobes of basics, while at the same time introducing accent colors, long-term ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Bright Plum, Smoky Blue, Navy and Grey

September 22, 2014   I don't want everybody to feel like I've beaten the "navy and grey" horse to death, but I had a lot of requests for variations of those colors, and they all take on their own feel...  Please remember that I prepared these posts back in August, so you'd have pretty things to read while I'm on vacation; if the hyperlinks don't work, or an item is sold out, I sincerely apologize!   This is the color scheme - three of the colors we've worked with before, but this bright plum color changes everything.  What once was a soft and muted palette takes on a brightness and life that can be included in an outfit on a day that feels right, or you can always stick with the softer colors when that's what you ... View the Post

Start With Art: Yellow Tree by Linda Jacobson

Seotember 16, 2014   So beautiful, and such inspiring colors! I was completely unfamiliar with this artist; my readers send me the most wonderful things...  

  I chose a muted palette from this painting - I think I'm in a muted mood today. Would you like to see a 2nd post (after my vacation!) based on this painting, with more vivid colors?

 

  I've been asked to clarify the role of the various "fours" in the 4 by 4 Wardrobe, so I'm going to do that while working with this painting. Multitasking...   The First Core of Four is designed to give you two tops and two "bottoms" (I don't know why, but lots of people are completely bothered by the term bottoms...) that can be worn as four outfits. ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Lavender, Jade, Denim and Grey

September 13, 2014

 

One more visit to the denim and grey Core of Four - this time, with accent colors of lavender and jade. All of the shades are cool - some are soft and gentle, and others are almost vivid. Lots of options here!

One of the nicest things with the shades of lavender - they can easily be blended so long as you have the same basic tone.

Once you find someone who's selling a color that you love, it makes some sense to stock up!

I looked for moonstone jewelry for this collection. Moonstone has such a lovely iridescent, almost colorless quality that picks up the colors that you wear. I think it's beautiful (and it's one of the three birthstones for those of us born in ... View the Post