blue Archives - Page 24 of 35

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 6: Accent Color Tops and a Scarf

June 25, 2014

Now, the fun starts! A couple of accent color tops and another scarf will bring each capsule wardrobe to life and give you many more options. Don't be terribly fanatic about matching up your accent colors, because you won't be wearing these pieces together; just make sure that you're choosing items that convey your preferences and your personal statement... That's what this is all about - showing yourself to the world exactly as you wish to be seen.

Yellow tee – Warehouse, scarf – Collection Weekend, aqua tee - Reiss

Red blouse – Cutie, scarf – Brooks Brothers, blue shirt - Uniqlo

Pink shirt – Fenn Wright Manson, scarf – Twisted ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch: Choosing Color Schemes

June 17, 2014

It's a question that's as old as The Vivienne Files - if you're starting a capsule wardrobe from scratch, how do you start?

What an ambitious question! But after thinking about it for three years, I'm going to give it a try - a step by step approach to rebuilding your wardrobe from the ground up.

Before you buy any garments at all, you've got to make a couple of decisions. One thing you'll have to work out for yourself - which silhouettes suit you best. I'm really not qualified to answer this question for every woman, but I encourage you to address this question on your own; you know better than anybody else in the world what shapes and sizes of garments suit you best...

But the next question - truly critical - is ... View the Post

What If I Only Want to Wear Solid Colors?

June 14, 2014

What if you don't WANT to wear printed garments, or scarves? More power to you, and congratulations for knowing what you really prefer! I'm going to recommend some coordinating small solid earrings in semi-precious stones, bracelets in enamel or stone, and solid scarves to keep your ensembles looking "intentional." I'm not sure, but I think this could qualify as a "whatever's clean" wardrobe...

Starting with the dark neutrals we've seen before:

And then the light neutrals:

And some solid neutral tops:

Finally, the accent colors. We haven't seen pastels for a while, so let's go pink and blue!

This is your sixteen-piece wardrobe:

Plenty of ways to pull this together ... View the Post

Choosing a Scarf: A Bright Summer Accent

May 31, 2014

Some of us aren't going to be wearing white all summer long, nor will pastel accessories work really well for everybody. So I'm going to revisit the idea of buying a summer scarf, but this time working with a base of navy linen clothes... The idea of picking up a couple of bright accessories to update my summer wardrobe is very tempting!These are the scarves:

Red Cayenne linen blend scarf – Halogen, Blue Blithe linen blend scarf – Halogen, turquoise gem linen scarf – Halogen, gold shine linen blend scarf – Halogen, pink cyclamen linen blend scarf – Halogen, blue royal linen blend scarf - Halogen And the simple navy garments:

Top – Hobbs, shorts – Dorothy Perkins, dress – ... View the Post

What I Packed for Florida

May 30, 2014 I completely missed the backpacking around Europe experience - I never took a year off of school, and I never even WENT to Europe until I was 35... But I'm still fascinated by the whole experience of being THAT light on your feet - that self-contained. So when a really nice Patagonia backpack made it into our home, I decided that I was going to give it a try. At least once, just to know what it's like, I'm going to be a backpacker...

I loved it. The incredible lightness of putting all of your luggage under the seat in front of you, and being able to walk for miles without wheels, was memorable. I don't know that I'll ever do it again, but it was wonderful.

There were a few factors that made this ... View the Post

Choosing a Scarf: A Soft Summer Pastel

May 29, 2014

Even in the warmest weather, a lightweight scarf can be useful - last weekend, in the heat of Florida, I used my simple gauze scarf to keep the frigid breezes off of my neck and shoulders more than once!But what color to choose? You know you want to wear your new scarf with your white summer clothes, but there are so many options...

These white clothes have been digitally "tarnished" a bit so that we can actually see them on the screen. In real life, they would be sparkling, crispy white.

When you're tempted by a variety of colors, it might help to think about what ELSE you have (or might want to purchase) in that color that would help give your outfit a "planned" look ... View the Post

Start With Art: Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte – Version 2

May 22, 2014 A second look at this great painting - focusing on the left half of it, and picking up the lovely periwinkle/chambray blue details...

It is interesting that such a drizzly and cold painting lends itself so beautifully to hot-weather clothes.

I love this dress...

A couple more garments, some accessories, and shoes:

Soft and pretty - a great travel capsule wardrobe!

love, Janice

Looking back: 2012 - What to wear with a necklace: dragon pearls 2013 - We look at a whole bunch of ways to wear One Dress: Six Ways in Black, White and Pink ... View the Post

Neutral Accessories: Shoes Part 1

May 15, 2014

One of the keys to putting together a truly effortless wardrobe is to assemble the minimum necessary clothes and accessories, so that getting dressed is a nearly foolproof exercise.Once you've made it through the most difficult step - deciding what your basic neutral is going to be - you just gradually stock up on basics and move forward...

The most important accessory?

Neutral Shoes

You've got to have shoes. Not a ton of them, and not with insane stupid heels, but a few good timeless styles that can take you almost anywhere.

For my world, I narrowed down all of the world's available footwear to six pairs: a pair of flats, a pair of pumps, some loafers, a pair of sandals, some ... View the Post

Start With Art: The Girl with A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

May 13, 2014

The most beautiful color scheme, combining warm tobacco brown, black, and brilliant blue and golden yellow highlights... That Vermeer guy was good!

One nice warm outfit, for in transit, or for a sudden cold snap, and some beautiful silky solids...

A simple outfit, and a nice basic dress:

A much less basic dress, and a warm-weather outfit with an over-shirt for air conditioning.

And a few extra pieces, for versatility!

love,

Janice

Looking Back:

2012 - one of my readers had a piece of jewelry that she wanted to wear more, and so I suggested What to wear with a ... View the Post

Start With a Scarf: Dark Pool by Elizabeth Blackadder

May 7, 2014

A couple of years ago, the National Gallery of Scotland held an exhibit of the works of Elizabeth Blackadder. I've been hard-pressed to find an actual picture of the painting from which this was drawn, but this is a great scarf, with some interesting possibilities.Today I've chosen to focus on the accent colors on one end of the scarf - the pastel apricot, rose and light blue, in order to see how they will work with the murky, sophisticated greyish green that dominates the scarf:

This sort of olive/grey shade is tough to find in clothing, but well worth seeking out if it appeals to you and is flattering - it has a depth that looks sophisticated, and lends itself well to a wide variety of garments. And ... View the Post

An Autumn Capsule Wardrobe, from “Ma To-Do List: Dressing”

May 1, 2014 It's become apparent that many of us aren't clear on what exactly this book intends for us to actually DO with these lists... My approach, with the choices that I've been making, has been to assume that someone has a very basic, simple "whatever's clean" wardrobe, and that these are the additional garments, season by season, that are added to that wardrobe in order to fill it in and make it sing and dance. Tomorrow, when I show the winter wardrobe, I'll also show all of the clothes together, and I think it might become a bit clearer what the authors have in mind. I think. Maybe its just what I have in mind...

love,

Janice ... View the Post

Navy and Beige Wardrobe gets the (Turquoise and Periwinkle) Blues

April 23, 2014

Many of you mentioned mixing shades of blue with your navy and beige, citing the always beautiful suggestion that this reminds you of the sand and the sea. How can anybody make this happen?

Say this is your summer shopping - these are the accent colors that you use, rather than the red and green that I used earlier. So your color scheme is this:

In addition to changing out the accent colors, I'm going to make two simple changes to the original core wardrobe. First, I want to include a floral sweater that does justice to our chosen accent colors:

and I'm swapping out the patterned skirt from earlier for a solid navy skirt with a ... View the Post