brown Archives - Page 3 of 19

What to Pack for Paris? How About Beige and Navy, with Teal and Brown Accents?

Remember our heroine who was taking photographs in Paris for a long weekend? Well, she's realized (we're shocked) that she needs to go back for a much longer trip!

She's staying with her original color scheme and her original travel outfit. She's maybe going to see the same people when she checks into her hotel, but it's possible that wearing the same outfit might help them recognize her; that would be good!

After a few days of consideration, she's decided to take everything with her that she took for her first trip. She really wants to dress up a bit more on this trip (because her sweetie is going with her!), but most of these pieces are going to work just as well for that!

Since Sweetie is coming along, she's adding dresses, a ... View the Post

How to Add an Accent Color for Warm Weather; Start with Art: View of New York by Charles Sheeler

This painting couldn't be allowed to fade into the history of The Vivienne Files without another look, right?

Our bird watching, star gazing heroine is going on a much longer trip, but has decided that she doesn't need to make any changes to her travel outfit:

You might remember what she packed for her shorter trip to visit her friends with the veranda - all of these things were perfect, so she'll definitely include them:

These are what she's adding to her suitcase for her longer trip; she's gone a wee bit overboard on her accent color, but summer clothes don't last as long as winter, so she felt a bit like indulging. And no, it's not the exactly precise color that was in the painting, but it's close enough that she felt comfortable ... View the Post

How to Pack Light for a Long Weekend? Start with Art: View of New York by Charles Sheeler

Do you remember one of my very favorite all-time posts, where a woman went to visit friends to look at the stars? Her wardrobe colors were inspired by the colors of the common shelduck - brown, black, and white...

Well, she's found a painting that she really likes, so this year, when she's going back to visit her friends again, she's in the same color scheme. The weather is warmer, but you might recognize a few of her accessories from last winter's trip...

Her color scheme expands to include cream and grey (earlier, she was pretty strictly black and white with brown leather accessories), and some day she's going to try something in sky blue. Some day...

She knows that it's going to be warmer in April than it was in January, but the ... View the Post

Build an Overnight Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Before the Parachute Opens by Tullio Crali

Such an amazing painting - from such an unusual and compelling point of view!

And I've noticed that the central color of the jumper is dark brown on my main computer, but that she is more olive green on my laptop! No wonder we have so much trouble talking about colors - we're not even necessarily seeing the same things...

But since I've found a few nice brown pieces, I thought that I'd stick with my initial impression that she's mostly brown. Maybe I'll re-visit this painting and use olive instead - what do you think?

My only style thoughts were of a strong respect for the sky, space, flying, and birds! But this color scheme could really work for a long time, although it would take a long time to find just the perfect pieces. (as ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

You wanted to revisit the Soir d'Octobre, the most beautiful of paintings, and I receive an email which sets the stage perfectly:

One of us bought some leather pants, just before the cold weather really kicked in! And she's only got one way to wear them, so far:

But she's recently retired, and wants to build a casual wardrobe! This is a PERFECT scenario for gradually building a wardrobe, and for adding 1 piece at a time...

First up, the white shirt is a great starting point, but these pants also need something a bit more relaxed. To me, nothing fills that bill better than a classic chambray shirt.

Just to shake things up, early on, let's introduce one of the really pretty accent colors:

As much as this wardrobe is really based on ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch: The Core Pieces, based on Lightning over Colorado by Joe Randall

Join me on this adventure! Someone wrote to me last week, after I showed this amazing storm photograph, asking if these colors could work as accents for a capsule wardrobe that is mostly grey. Well... maybe. I'm going to give it a try, to see how it works. But I have a real concern: all of the shades of pink and purple will be glorious accents to the grey wardrobe, and would be madly flattered by black leather goods and silver jewelry with pink, lavender or purple beads, stones or pearls. HOWEVER... introducing the warm browns and tans into the mix immediately makes me think that I need to use gold, rather than silver, jewelry. And I'm not at all sure where the leather pieces will fit in.... Nonetheless, we shall endeavor to make ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in a Brown-Based Capsule Wardrobe: An Evaluation

If you want to go back and catch up on how we've arrived at this point, the earlier posts are here: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November.

The second of our six wardrobes looked like this when we left it in November:

As I did yesterday, my first project is to try to fit these pieces into the Four by Four template. It seems to me that this wardrobe still could use a casual skirt. She already has 2 skirts, they they're both pretty dressy - maybe khaki is an option.

When I look at the existing wardrobe in terms of weather and dressiness, I find the same thing that I did yesterday - a shortage of simple tee shirts. That bottom right quadrant is pretty sparse:

And finally, ... View the Post

How Much Can Accessories Affect Your Capsule Wardrobe?

Someone sent me this painting a few days ago, and the first thing that I noticed (after just generally admiring the lovely art) was the touches of teal and cool brown accent:

And I have to let you know that this painting set a record last week for the highest auction price EVER for a Canadian painting. Well worth it, in my opinion...

I was intrigued with the idea of a very conservative, mostly navy and grey wardrobe, accented with those two surprising accent colors. So I started with a few pieces, including a navy pantsuit. If you're looking for suit separates, I highly recommend Talbots - they have a variety of colors and fabrics. Let's start with these basics - this is literally a Wardrobe Slot Machine, or a Whatever's Clean Wardrobe ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art Part 2: Portrait of Marevna by Diego Rivera

A calm, balanced woman, able to see all sides of an issue.... Remember her from the class reunion? This was her visual cue:

When we met her at the reunion, this was what she had with her to wear; she was deftly straddling the divide between warm and cool colors:

Just a few days later, she's headed to Europe for a 10-day... attempt to talk some more extreme individuals down off of a political ledge. It's all pretty quiet - no fanfare...

(yes, she seriously considered packing the matching leopard shell...)

She's going to have to talk to a wide variety of people, in a WIDE variety of settings. She will certainly see the inside of a conference room, but also the occasional bar stool in a pub, or long walk in a city park...

So ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art Part 2: Spirit of Autumn by Albert Pinkham Ryder

Do we remember the veterinarian from the class reunion? She was the woman who used this as her style leitmotif:

And who had packed this eclectic mix for that trip:

Since she's an expert in the study of contagious diseases in free-range ruminants (someone's got to study these things!) she's been invited to an extensive symposium on lifestock health being held at a major university. Thus, she's going to be gone for a while, and is going to need some additional things to wear:

It's a college campus, so it's casual. But it's other animal health professionals, so she wants to look nice. And there will be at least a little bit of visiting of beasties in their various places of residence, so waterproof boots will be handy. (yes, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art Part 2: Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris

Mmmm, Cubism... it forces us to look at things in a different way, and that's bound to be a good idea...

Remember the author/art dealer from the class reunion?

When she left the reunion, she had only a few days left to pack before she had to prepare for a big art show in Milan... She's devoted to beige and brown, and her blue eyes insist on blue accents. The show will be casual, dressy, classic, avant-garde, and everything in between. So she's just going to dress like herself, and let everyone else do the posturing...

The brocade shroud, the military uniform, the obsessive caressing of a VERY inappropriate pet are NOT for her...

Let them be all artsy and fey and scattered; she's going to be meticulously organized, ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of a Young Woman by Henri Regnault Part 2

Remember her? Of course you do - we first saw her as the inspiration for this six-pack capsule wardrobe in black and blue.

The CEO Travels

When she left her reunion, this was her travel capsule wardrobe:

She knows that in about 6 days, she's leaving for a 10-day trip to meet potential investors. She was pretty happy with what she had packed for the reunion, but realizes that she's going to need a few more business/dressy ensembles. Her agenda is going to be full of meetings and meals with these... people... so dressy but completely covered-up and professional are key.

And she doesn't want to pack a pile of shoes; black shoes are the only color in this bag!

She'd much rather dine alone...

The chosen garments fit very ... View the Post