books Archives

Raiding my French Books: Once in Your Life You Must Wear… from Une Femme Française by Catherine Malandrino

June 25, 2020

I don't know WHY I've waited to so long to share this book with you, because it's one of the best "French style" books around!

Largely, I consider it great because it spends just a few chapters talking about more superficial things like clothes and makeup, and quite a bit of time talking about music, and famous French people, and just general fun French things that will delight all lovers of Paris and France.

One of the things that, of course, is in this book is the list of things that we "must" try... uh huh... Let's take a look!

The first thing on her list? An Hermes scarf! And I of course don't agree... I don't agree with anything on her list, to be honest, but you know by now that I don't believe in bossing ... View the Post

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

Raiding my French Books: 4 Season Dresses from Chic! by Christine Lombard & Lucille Renié

May 26, 2020

It's an occupational hazard - I read French personal style books. Well, "read" is charitable because I don't fully grasp every last single solitary word that's there, but I manage okay...

And I find some of their advice to be interesting and possibly useful for us! All of these books have some sort of "must-have garments" list (which I of course think is errant nonsense, and should never exist...); my current book strongly promotes the idea of having a dress in a floral print that could be worn all year... hmm...

This is the book in question:

Seriously, ladies, a book will NOT give someone style. It's a fun book, nonetheless!

In response to this suggestion, I found a couple of dresses that I thought ... View the Post

The Most Popular Post on The Vivienne Files (so far!)

I am surprised that this was this most visited post - I suspect that Google's statistics aren't always reflective of the real world!

But this is still a really interesting post, based on information from an old (and very popular) fashion book called Hot Tips...

I was heartened to see that all of the outfits I suggested would still be perfectly appropriate and undated... that's my goal!

For what it's worth, I am just now starting to mend from the flu, so I can't guarantee that there will be posts every day on The Vivienne Files. I'll do my best, but I can assure you that flu + fibromyalgia = a long recovery...

love, Janice ... View the Post

I Read, I Watch, I Listen…

As much as it might seem that I work on The Vivienne Files for 16 hours a day, I actually do have leisure time! Recently, I've received a few emails about what I've been doing for entertainment, so I thought I'd share...

First, I have an "Influencer" page on Amazon.com. I don't know that I really influence much, except to encourage analysis and planning balanced with flights of imagination... But I'm trying to remember to link the various things that interest me on that page...

Second, I have to share this one with you - if you haven't seen this movie, you really should! Unless you hate paintings, of course. EVERY FRAME of this film is an oil panting - the use of color, and the transitions between scenes, and the recognizable paintings - ... View the Post

Just a Few Pretty Things…. and an Excellent Book!

I have a couple of delightful things to share. First up, my dear friend Scottie has created 4 limited-edition scarves which are well worth your attention. Her scarves are unlike anything else in the accessory world, in that they reflect very personal stories and experiences in her life... And they're beautiful! I've seen all four of them "in the silk," and I can attest that the colors are amazing, and the silk is lustrously soft and supple. You will not be disappointed!

And just because she's a really nice person, Scottie is giving us all $50 off of any purchase with the code VF2017... As if you weren't already tempted!

This first scarf features a little girl with a hula hoop... And a helicopter. The juxtaposition is striking!

A ... View the Post

L’Harmonie des Couleurs, and 13 Accessory Families

I had never seen this book in the US, although it's been available for years! But I saw it at the Pompidou Center in Paris and grabbed it right away - it's right up my alley...

Below are links to the book in both English and French - links at Alibris.com. Alibris is a collective of private, small bookstores; I'd rather keep them in business than give that river in South America more money...

The section of the book that intrigued me first was one that linked a range of colors to certain personal or abstract qualities. I'm showing you the first half of them today, along with some ways that each color could be incorporated into your wardrobe.

It's particularly thought-provoking to me that red is a symbol of force; it's by far my ... View the Post

Some Book Recommendations

You might remember that I often quote one of my favorite "French fashion" advice books: Ma To-Do List: Dressing, by Jeanne-Aurure Colleuille and Laure Gontier. (available here) One thing from there that I've never told you about is a list of books that they consider useful for refining one's sense of fashion culture. Let me quote them:

"In order to understand the mechanics of the fashion industry, or to be ravished by inspired images... A choice of books both perfectly subjective and totally timeless, to play a bit on the more intellectual side of fashion."

1. The Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola - all things department store. It reminds you of how very LONG we've been allowing ourselves to be tempted to buy things we don't need (and ... View the Post

One of My Favorite Books – for You!

When you read this, I will be away from home for a long New Year weekend, so talking about travel seems timely...

Alain de Botton is a great writer. Period. He makes the most mundane things interesting, and he expresses feelings that we've all had in such a way that they seem fresh, meaningful and important. If I could have any skill in the world (aside from speaking fluent French!), it would be to be able to write with his kind of clarity and insight.

I've read this book a couple of times, and I want to give my current copy of it to one of you!

Leave a comment, and tell us all about your favorite writer and/or book. I could use some ideas for the upcoming year...

(Anybody mentioning Robertson Davies or A.S. Byatt gets ... View the Post

How to Create Your Capsule Wardrobe – a Vivienne Files Bookshelf Excerpt

Taken from one of my very favorite reference books for The Vivienne Files: Ma To-Do List by Jeanne-Aurore Colleuille and Laure Gontier. I'm going to quote directly from their book in grey type, and my comments will be in this color...

The 3 Secrets for Creating your “Capsule Wardrobe”

“My style is the result of distillation. I have accepted my grey hair. I only wear black and white. Each year, I buy three or four dresses which I wear in rotation. I own a pair of jeans.” – Jamie Lee Curtis

This barbaric Anglo-Saxon concept, adored by fashion magazines and women of style across the Atlantic, doesn’t have a real French equivalent.

The word that they use to describe this concept is barbarisme... is doesn't translate with quite ... View the Post

Monday Morning Giveaway: How to be Pretty, Though Plain

It's been a while since I found a book I thought worthy of you all, but FINALLY...

It's amusing, if painfully dated. But the thing that I have to say I liked most about it is the ongoing emphasis that the author places on health and good attitude as the true keys to an appealing appearance. It resonates so much with what I see on the streets of Chicago every day - unhealthy, scowling, slouching... No WONDER you're not turning heads, eh?

A good attitude is worth thousands of dollars in cosmetic surgery, at least according to Alexander Smith!

So leave me a comment about the best beauty advice you've ever received, and next Monday I'll draw a random number and send out this little gem to the winner.

The best beauty advice I ... View the Post

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Just one quote, which I thought was worth the price of the book (emphasis mine):

"When you come across something that's hard to discard, consider carefully why you have that specific item in the first place. When did you get it and what meaning did it have for you then? Reassess the role it plays in your life. If, for example, you have some clothes that you bought but never wear, examine them one at a time. Where dd you buy that particular outfit and why? If you bought it because you thought it looked cool in the shop, it has fulfilled the function of giving you a thrill when you bought it. Then why did you never wear it? Was it because you realized that it didn't suit you when you tried it on at home? If so, and if you no longer buy ... View the Post