camel Archives - Page 3 of 12

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – January 2018

January 1, 2018

It's that time again! I looked and LOOKED at the Hermes scarves for this year - I wanted to find some unique color combinations... I kept changing my mind until literally the last possible minute!

This year's focal points for gradual wardrobe building are these lovelies:

A word to the wise - these scarves are selling FAST this year - I had to go to the sites for 3 different countries to find these colors, literally just 3 days after I started working on this post! Your best option for finding a fast-selling scarf is to call an Hermes store and ask THEM to find it and send it to you. Their staff is usually delightfully helpful and nice, and it will save you the legwork of trying to mail-order a scarf from a ... View the Post

What IS Dressing Up? Taking a Warm Common Wardrobe into the Winter Holidays

November 24, 2017

Of course I've been thinking a lot about what it means to say that you're "dressed up." In the absence of showing more skin than usual, I think I've learned that there are four ways to go about this process:

Anything metallic or sparkly - if you can find a garment in one of your colors that features some sequins, some beads, or metallic thread, the dressiness quotient is automatically raised. Ruffles, bows, or other trim that you would not normally wear. Swapping out an ivory cotton shirt for an ivory silk shirt with a bow at the neck can make a world of difference, while filling exactly the same role in your wardrobe. Swapping for a fabric with more texture or shine. Satin, velvet, lace, or brocade are all ... View the Post

Navy, Camel and Olive truly can be timeless…

November 16, 2017

I really wanted to look back at another of these wardrobes; they truly were the moment when I began to hit my stride as a blogger and see the goal of "timeless" come into focus.

Of course these clothes would eventually date - in a decade of two! As I said before - they're sufficiently timeless! These images are from a post on December 30th, 2011, and if you saw a woman wearing these clothes today, you'd admire them just as much. Eschew trends and invest in the classics is my motto...

Five pieces of clothing (a cardigan and top, with jeans, pants and a skirt), as well as a piece of outerwear - these are the neutrals around which an amazing number of possibilities revolve... It ... View the Post

Can a More Casual Work Wardrobe have Personality? Start with a Moth…

October 17, 2017

You might think it's just a flying caterpillar, but the colors are so lovely....

Your understanding is that the first interview is going to be most of the day in their offices, and then a break before they take you out to dinner; they want to make sure that you know which fork is which!

It's a kitchen gear company - why would you be interested in their job if you didn't know your salad fork from your dinner fork? Of course you're hired! For the first few days, you're going to have options to dress nicely if there's going to be a meeting, but otherwise the offices seem quite casual...

This is the the tiny wardrobe that you have before your first paycheck arrives - you can get through a week of work ... View the Post

An Early, But Timeless Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Camel and Coral

August 14, 2017

This wardrobe was constructed over 5 years ago, but you could still pack every piece of this and wear it today... that's my primary goal. Timeless. Elegant. Classic.

When you know that you can wear something for years, you can feel quite a bit better about buying the very best items you can... It's only logical to make sure that your beautiful things will last, right?

love, Janice ... View the Post

What are Good Accent Colors for Denim and Khaki? How about Teal and Camel?

June 26, 2017

Denim and khaki go with everything - I'm convinced! - but some of you wanted to see a capsule wardrobe with a very different feel than the relatively soft and cool pastel version that used mauve pink and dark pastel blue...

How about this for colors?

I don't have any really exotic travel vision for this heroine - she's more someone who wears a uniform most of the time, and only needs a relatively small wardrobe to accommodate her "not work" activities outside of her home.

So I'm starting with the six neutral pieces that were in last Monday's wardrobe, and I finally grabbed a pair of dark navy loafers for her. (although with brown in a wardrobe, don't discount the gorgeousness of beautiful brown ... View the Post

Can you Pack with Camel as your Neutral?

June 22, 2017

This is a really old post - from back in 2012! The nice thing is that none of the garments have dated, and you could easily pull this outfit on and head off for a 2nd honeymoon looking beautiful...

In the early days of The Vivienne Files I spent a lot of time looking at camel as a neutral, because a lot of people asked me questions about where to find things, what colors to use as accents, etc. It was good fun, and I'm so happy to see that the posts haven't dated at all!

You can find this lovely flashback here; I hope that you enjoy it.

love, Janice ... View the Post

Warm Neutrals Camel and Mossy Green Accenting Navy and Beige

May 31, 2017

Let's see what happens when we start with navy and beige as our neutrals, and then incorporate two MORE neutrals, in warm hues, to act as accents.

This is the color scheme as I see it; I've made 1 small alteration in that I've given us a range of the accent colors, from lighter to darker, in order to open up the possibilities a bit. These aren't easy colors to find this time of year!

And this wardrobe I'm working with an assumption that we're going to be packing for a more changeable climate - needing both sandals and a sweatshirt, so to speak...

As before, we'll start with six neutral pieces...

Just to keep us mentally organized, let's continue to work with a 13-piece wardrobe template:

The first ... View the Post

Accents for a Denim and Khaki Wardrobe – Start with Art: L’Ombre by Pablo Picasso

March 29, 2917

Could be a dream, could be a nightmare, could just be a sweetheart - the enigmatic nature of this image is striking:

When I saw L'Ombre in the Picasso Museum last year, I knew that I would want to share it with you all!

Her Work is Complicated Enough, Thank You... She's a psychiatrist. A shrink. She sits, quietly, and listens to people. Takes notes. Tries to formulate the perfect, pithy question to open up the hidden pain in her patient's mind, and help the healing start...

She's always watching people, listening to people, learning from people. So she doesn't really want to spend a ton of time worrying about what she's going to wear - it just plain and simply isn't all that interesting to ... View the Post

How to Accent a Denim and Khaki Capsule Wardrobe: Start with Art – The Stairs of the Asylum by Van Gogh

I'm sure there's a story here, and I'm afraid it might be a sad one:

Even in difficult circumstances, van Gogh captures the exuberant energy of nature, in a very limited palette:

Celebrating Nature is Her Profession Landscape architect - it was the title that she always wanted. So she started out working as a landscaper with a successful female manager, and she went to school in her spare time...

For a long time, she wore a uniform of khaki pants, and a bright green polo shirt with a logo, and a matching bright green jacket when the weather demanded. So when she finally wasn't in a "uniform" position anymore, she didn't feel the need for a wildly extensive wardrobe. She found that her simple khaki, denim and white wardrobe gave her ... View the Post

How to Use Both Warm & Cool Accents in a Capsule Wardrobe – Start with Art: Carnival Evening by Henri Rousseau

March 17, 2017

This sets a mood, doesn't it?

I love how much the sky is emphasized... and that glimpse of stars... sigh...

If you've seen the earlier installations of this series (yesterday, and the day before) you can cruise through this quickly. We have our starter Neutral Building Blocks:

The dozen (at least!) possible outfits from these pieces:

And the way those 9 pieces fit in a 4 by 4 Wardrobe template:

What a fun exercise this is! It can be very difficult for me to find seven perfect pieces within an 8-hour work day, so if you're going to try to put together a wardrobe like this at home, please be patient with yourself as you shop. The pieces are out there, but might ... View the Post

How to Apply the Color Decluttering Method to a “Magpie” Wardrobe

Oh my... I know this woman, metaphorically speaking. She shops on payday. She buys pretty things. She loves what she buys, but never knows quite what to wear.... And this is what she sees when she opens her closet door:

She has a favorite store, which is a great place to buy a pretty accent piece... but she's never found a real personal style, in all of the very nice clothes that she owns...

So let's start her off by pulling out all of her neutral garments. She's actually not particularly opposed to the idea of neutral colors; she has black, denim, olive, white, ivory, pearl grey AND taupe in her closet. But note that it would be difficult, if not impossible to build a simple Four by Four wardrobe here. She has enough black pieces, but ... View the Post