brown Archives - Page 4 of 30

Brown with Black? Start With the 4 T’s in Brown…

October 24, 2025

For our first adventure into using the Four T's as the basis of a capsule or travel wardrobe, I'm (of course!) going to see how black works out...

First, let's take another look at the brown things that we assembled on Wednesday:

This isn't at all complicated - now let's add four black garments. The most basic four garments possible, I think...

We could stop with just these four additions, but let's get our heroine up to 13 garments. This would meant that for travel, she could wear a 3-piece outfit, and pack the other 10 things. I'm quite smitten - for no good reason! - with the idea of packing 10 pieces of clothing...

Here's the fun part! Finding accessories that include both black and brown is ... View the Post

Do You Want to Shore-Up Your Neutral(s)? Try the Four T’s!

October 22, 2025

Why yes, the internet outages on Monday WERE a headache...

Ten years ago, when I was visiting London, I noticed that a lot of women had worked out a really simple way to build outfits, and therefore their wardrobe. I called it The Four T's, because of COURSE I had some mnemonic to help me remember things!

But it's simple enough: tee shirt, turtleneck, trousers and tights. Look back ten years to see the original post...

Now that I'm (a) getting dressed each day for legitimate cool weather, and (b) considering what I might pack when I go to Paris in December, I thought that I should look at this idea again.

But not in black! My choices for myself will of course be black, but in the interests of variety let's ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

October 7, 2025

Three REALLY easy neutrals (brown, denim and white) paired with teal, which is an accent that lots of us seem to love!

Could you keep the three neutrals and replace the teal with... pink? or peach? I'm sure there are other accents that would be perfect with the three neutrals. Hmm...

If's finally getting cool where THIS heroine lives, so she was happy to grab a couple of turtlenecks and a warm dress!

This heroine is keeping up - somewhat - with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe. As with so many other among our friends and their wardrobes, this one is going to fall short when we get to the winter holidays. But there are no rules...

This wardrobe is relatively well balanced; when it comes to putting ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

October 1, 2025

I can't believe it's October - we're still wearing summer clothes in Chicago! But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't prepare for the weather changes...

Let's pause for just a moment and admire this painting. I'm concerned that in our pursuit of lovely wardrobes, we might lose sight of the beauty of art.

This month, our heroine had two goals. Well, her primary and probably ONLY goal here is to purchase things that are both lovely and useful for her wardrobe! But she also wanted to pay attention to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe table to try to purchase things that were "expected" to be in her wardrobe. Secondly, she wanted to try to even up the color balance in her wardrobe between the browns and the blues! Sounds ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

September 8, 2025

The last of the six paintings for September, and it's always lovely:

Our heroine was very practical this month, adding items from her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, and then treating herself to beautiful earrings and the matching pendant! A scarf at the very darkest end of her spectrum finishes her shopping...

Her shopping sticks with her plan!

Her wardrobe is pretty evenly balanced, with 21 garments in the blue/white/light green family:

And 19 garments that are teal or shades of camel and brown. I suspect that another month of shopping for autumn and winter clothing will bring this more closely into balance, but you never know...

This heroine has the best scarves and ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3: The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

September 3, 2025

Something that's never happened before, in the history of The Vivienne Files...

Let's start by enjoying another look at this painting - enigmatic, a bit mystic, with gorgeous colors.

I've decided - after reading all of your comments - to switch the dark brown that I was using in August for a more rust brown. You were right that it would be interesting, and possibly very lovely!

Her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe plan is proceeding okay, but as with so many heroines, we're going to have issues trying to find all of the warm-weather clothes on her list.

Human error will play a role in anybody's wardrobe, right?

Dividing our heroine's wardrobe into dark and light gives us the following; please ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

September 2, 2025

I love the way this painting feels like autumn, although the leaves in the painting are green! Is it the browns? I think so...

Our heroine's shopping was... eclectic, this month. She realized from looking at her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template that she "should" be looking for dresses (while knowing full well that there is no "should" in planning a wardrobe!). And she stumbled across the two turtlenecks in perfect colors, and decided to buy them before they were out of stock.

The jewelry was impossible to resist, as was the scarf. This heroine might find herself in some shoe trouble later, but she will address that when it happens!

She's making good progress with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe - although ... View the Post

Don’t Want to Pack Black? Start With Art – A Forest by Leon Spilliaert

August 15, 2025

Back with our heroine and her multi-faceted wardrobe, based upon this painting. Today's color palette is the one shown here, in which she eschews black and concentrates on the other colors.

Maybe your family thinks your wear too much black? Maybe it just doesn't feel right for a particular holiday, like Thanksgiving? Maybe you just want to try something different?

Of course you're not going to quit wearing black just because it bugs your sister, but you can be a bit flexible just to keep the peace. Especially if you get to wear this luscious shade of green!

Packing in this wardrobe is always so easy - enough ivory to dress up if the occasion warrants (maybe take everyone out for dinner some night, so you ... View the Post

A Warm Color, Classic Palette for Fall? Start With Art – a Forest by Leon Spilliaert

August 13, 2025

Our ongoing inspiration:

Our heroine from Monday has another trip planned; she's going to her college Homecoming!

She's not planning to attend any of the more formal, dressy activities; her agenda is more the football game, and then hanging out at the home of one of her friends who stayed in the city after graduation. Much sitting around, eating, talking, and laughing is what she has in mind...

But she still wants to look nice, and she really wants to have that autumn feel when she gets dressed. Time for some brown!

Her color palette for the upcoming festivities is this:

She starts with a lovely brown tee shirt, her black cardigan, and a different pair of black pants - somewhat warmer than the linen ... View the Post

August 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

August 5, 2025

I'm so excited - I just booked my annual December trip to Paris! I went crazy - I'm staying at a hotel that used to be a bakery (seriously!) and was decorated by Christian Lacroix. I've reached the point that flying over an ocean is sufficiently exhausting that I want to be pampered when I arrive!

If you go to their website, note that I've also stayed at the Pavillon des Lettres (same management company), and it was amazing...

Speaking of Paris:

Our heroine has a wonderful wardrobe in these colors, and she has the fun of balancing brown and navy - two excellent, very compatible neutrals. This month, she found a wonderful brown sweater in a style that's just a little bit unusual, and she was off to the ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

July 4, 2025

Okay, THIS might be one of my favorite paintings ever. Although I can't imagine how one would EVER get a view of the Eiffel Tower like this, these days...

Today's heroine is stocking up on summer clothes; she's one of the really lucky people for whom summer things are still available!

She's particularly happy to find a trove of her aqua accent:

It's a good thing that our heroine was able to find warm-weather clothes; her wardrobe still seems to have quite a gap! Next month, she may have to focus on her navy neutral and beige accent to find things...

Her wardrobe doesn't look terribly focused on cold weather wear, though. There are few "4-season" places where this wardrobe wouldn't serve someone pretty ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

June 6, 2025

Such a favorite scene, and a wonderful painting!

Our heroine woke up one morning in early June to realize that Summer WILL come this year, albeit quite late. And she doesn't have a ton of warm-weather clothes, yet.

She's got 2 pairs of sandals, so she needn't worry too much about that. So she goes ahead to grab three sleeveless tops, early in the season while there are still sizes available. And of course her shorts are going to be the same neutral that she uses for so many linen-ish and cotton-y garments for warm weather!

She's still missing quite a few items for hot weather, but she's made a very good start!

Now, her 28-piece wardrobe looks as if it would serve her for most seasons of the year. ... View the Post