The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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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

I Want to Dress Like an Empire-Style Hotel Room

April 9, 2014  

This is a typical room in the Hotel des Grands Hommes, in Paris.  The colors and the details in this room can inspire a beautiful wardrobe.  The colors words that I focused on were taupe, beige, camel, apricot, slate, gold, copper and bronze.  I was looking for soft, patterned, draped and refined looks...  

   The striped colors of the headboard drew my eye to this sweater - it's softness confirmed my choice.  And the combination of apricot and charcoal with a detailed scarf were irresistible.  

   I loved this coat, and the ornate flats appealed.... and the draped tunic dress, with warm tobacco leather leggings and metallic ballet flats are a ... View the Post

I Love Ornate Details…

  March 13, 2014   Maybe your living room looks like this...   Okay, maybe your dream living room looks like this!  

   But like so many of us, you have a simple wardrobe that works for your everyday life:  

  But if you pay attention to the details, you can incorporate that style that you love into your everyday outfits.  A touch of lace, a bit of muted floral, and some silk in the place of where many of us would wear cotton.  

   So you have quite a few outfits that are still very low-key, appropriate for your life, but still include that touch of luxe that warms your heart.  

  Keep to the same philosophy for your accessories - ... View the Post

I Want to Dress Like a Chalet…

March 11, 2014   These kinds of rooms are really popular, and many of you wanted to know if this whole feeling or sensibility can be conveyed in a wardrobe.  

  What can we take from this photo and those of similar rooms that will help us make informed choices about what to add to our neutral wardrobe?  Words that I immediately identified included wood, bone, beige, ivory, ethnic and Native America prints, warm textures, tone-on-tone layering.   Starting with this base wardrobe:  

  Three garments that aren't a really wild stretch, but that start expressing your taste:  

  Lots of easy ways to wear these...  

 

 

Add in some ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: What if I Don’t Wear Black?

March 3, 2014   I knew this would be the next question - what if I don't wear black? You have all of the rest of the spectrum from which to choose, but realistically, grey, navy, brown or tan/khaki are the most obvious other options from which to choose. Let's try the same exercise as before, but with warm colors.   Say you at least know that you prefer mostly warm hues - and these are your favorite recent purchases:  

  There's no outfit to be worn from these four - it just simply isn't possible for most of us to put together an ensemble here. But if you started with a basic core of neutral clothes in warmer tones (except for jeans, which are sort of the ultimate neutral):  

  Then you ... View the Post

Start With Art: An Interior from Architectural Digest

February 25, 2014   This photograph was sent to me as a suggestion for a wardrobe - and what a great idea.  This photograph prompted, in me, ideas of wood, stone, natural fabrics and textured fabrics.  While I'm going to start with mostly colors in the beige/brown/grey families, there are definite hints here of green, blue and orange that would be great accent colors here.

  Another question I've been asked is about the possibility of purchasing garments one at a time, so this is something we're going to try here.  And the idea of not matching colors exactly - the colors in this wardrobe (with one exception) won't be identical matches...   So here we go!  First off, wouldn't you like to be sitting ... View the Post

When Starting With Art goes Haywire: Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles

February 20, 2014   One of my readers has been shopping with this great Van Gogh painting in hand...  She's got a solid core of gorgeous gold items:  

  And she's picked up some light blue clothes too, which she doesn't like to wear with the gold:  

  And she's also picked up a few tee shirts in the accent colors of the painting:  

  So now, she's got this assortment of clothes.  Everything, on it's own, is beautiful, but she's not finding that this is as versatile as she would like.  

  One of the charms of Van Gogh is that he combines difficult colors in innovating ways, and isn't terribly dependent on neutral colors.  It's a glorious way to ... View the Post

Warm Weather Travel in Brown and Pink – Step by Step

February 11, 2014   What are you going to pack??    You need to know the answers to three questions: (1) How long am I going to be away? (2) What am I going to be doing?  and (3) What kind of weather can I expect?   Then you have to choose your colors.  The easiest way to do this is determine what trousers you want to wear for travel, and build around that.  Having the right travel outfit is the most important choice!  In this case, it's monochromatic khaki/tan, with accents of deep rose...   Having a cardigan for travel helps you adjust to changing temperatures, gives you something to wrap around little peeps who need a cuddle, and helps cover up any unexpected ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting With a “Difficult” Scarf: Sepia and Light Grey

January 24, 2014   One of my friends asked me specifically to suggest some ways to wear this scarf - Musique des Spheres, from Hermes. The scarf came out... at least 10 years ago? And thus is only available on the secondary market, but as you can clearly see, it's a stunner. There is NOT a pink patch in the upper left corner... I struggled to find the best image of this scarf I could, and this was what I found.   Identifying the adjectives that convey the aesthetic of this scarf is difficult - I had to think and study for quite a while. But I found that I kept coming back to the ideas of contrast (the clarity of the lines against the background), balanced with an overall sense of muted coloring (the scarf is not pure white, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: MacCallum Lake by Lawren Harris

January 15, 2014   I'd never heard of this artist until just a few days ago, but I'm so delighted to have been introduced to his work. This painting made me look for warm textury shades of russet and rust, as well as wavy misty greeny/bluey tan clouds in the sky. Basically I made up some words, but the potential within this painting is amazing.  

  I love the range of possibilities offered when you look at these outfits as separates, combined into a wardrobe...  

  love, Janice ... View the Post