capsule wardrobe Archives

A Complete Cool-Weather Wardrobe? Start With Art – The Dark Lady by A.K.Zinkeisen

September 15, 2025

Let's take one last, lingering and appreciative look at our painting inspiration:

This is the color palette with which we've been working, taken from this painting. You can always add faded denim - there's a glimpse of the sky in the top left corner...

Let's remember too, that we have four possible color palettes using only three colors...

For our first Six-Pack travel capsule wardrobe, our heroine decided to forego wearing black for a few days!

For her second travel capsule wardrobe, our heroine chose to not pack anything ivory - we can all picture this kind of trip!

At the approach of the winter holidays, our heroine focused more on burgundy, and omitted camel for this capsule ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

July 1, 2025

July??? I'm sort of amazed. You would think that I would adjust to the passage of time, after a few years...

Remember - there will be posts every weekday this week, and on both Monday and Tuesday next week. Because these posts for the paintings aren't very big, I give you lots of them all in a row!

Let's jump into this perfectly perfect summer painting:

So many of us have been living with ridiculously hot weather for a while, so it was easy to get into the mood to get this heroine some true summer clothes!

I cheated just a bit on the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe; I'm calling the striped tee shirt "sleeveless" when of course it isn't! But our heroine already has all of her tee shirts, and I felt ... View the Post

June 2025 Start With a Bracelet – Art Nouveau Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

June 30, 2025

The last day of June. I turned 65 yesterday. Time flies - don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

And before the month is gone, let's enjoy the possibilities of this VERY beautiful bracelet set:

I love these colors:

Let's start with a core of beige garments. Or ivory, depending on the retailer. I'm thinking about holding onto this core wardrobe for a few weeks, and looking at the possibilities for accent colors. Maybe starting with scarves?

Adding a couple of accent colors to your wardrobe doesn't have to be wildly extravagant and expensive. For one thing, you don't have to add BOTH colors. And you may already have a few things that will work with your accents, like gold shoes. (the brown accent in my ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

June 5, 2025

This painting is really starting to grow on me; it's certainly NOT colors that I usually wear, but the image itself is stunning. Anyone who can paint lights, water, and reflections impresses me!

At the end of May, our heroine had clothes from each season of the year, which makes sense. As with all of the wardrobes this month, we're going to try to fill in some gaps!

If you're ever going to wear sleeveless tops, right now is the time to buy them! Nice swishy pants for warmer weather are a good choice too. And thinking of cold weather (and price increases) to come, our heroine treats herself to an ivory cashmere turtleneck. For some of us, this is the kind of purchase that could last the rest of our lives! Good ... View the Post

Merry Christmas! Six New Painting for Us to Enjoy in 2025

December 25, 2024

Happy Christmas to all who observe today, and a happy and joyful day to everybody!

So after wrangling, pondering, occasional hair-pulling, and a lot of general angst, I chose the six paintings for next year. This is - no question - the hardest thing I EVER do for The Vivienne Files, so if your favorite painting wasn't chosen, don't doubt that it was considered, and re-considered, and finally eliminated with great pain.

If there's anything you particularly miss, let me know and I will do a post about it! That's the least I can do, eh?

With no further ado - let's go!

This is the second year in a row that I've included Elizabeth Magill - I think she's got magical talent...

This heroine is going to ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Sixth Painting by Maurice Denis

November 8, 2024

I initially typed the date as 2015. Freudian as heck, in all KINDS of ways...

This last of our six paintings - have you like having these spread over six days? I'm finding it a very manageable system. I like having more time to spend on each wardrobe. Let me know how you feel, and I may adjust the posts for this theme accordingly.

So let's revisit this most relaxing and elegant of images:

As much as these aren't my favorite colors, I would be comforted to see these tops in my closet. That stack of four long-sleeved tee shirts never grows old for me...

If you're never going to wear a dress or skirt, you will probably find yourself with a tidy assortment of pants!

I need to figure out why these ... View the Post

October 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 2

October 4, 2024

Have you started autumn shopping? I'm NOT buying anything this fall - I don't have enough space in my closet for what I already own! These closets are not working out as I had dreamed...

But let's see how our heroines are doing - they always inspire me!

We are inspired by the above painting, although it isn't working out as I had envisioned - it turns out that shades of blue don't work as nicely together as I had originally thought! Nevertheless, this wardrobe is pretty cool...

As of the end of September, she had these tops:

and these bottoms:

She has some great jewelry, and scarves:

And all of the essential bags & shoes:

She can always find something useful, though!

This ... View the Post

October 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

October 2, 2024

Let's check in with what the "Start With Art" heroines have been buying!

This month, we're starting with this heroine and this painting. The more I look at this painting, the more I appreciate it - especially the essential touches of black in a painting that is mostly warm colors. Sometimes, you just want to have some black in your closet...

First up - let's look at her wardrobe as of the end of September. I've divided these into two images, so that we can actually SEE the garments:

Hmm... no dresses, no skirts. That's this heroine's preference, and I can support this! I have a couple of friends who may have legs, but I've never seen them, so I'm only assuming this is true...

And now her accessories - ... View the Post

Multiple Capsule Wardrobes Starting with Denim, Built Cluster by Cluster

September 13, 2024

In honor of Friday the 13th (not really!), I'm sharing a post that's been lurking in my brain for a while.

It's pretty backwards, in that I'm going to show you the complete wardrobe first, and then show you all of the options in this that I see...

clear as mud, as I can sometimes be, when I'm trying to use words, where pictures work better!

Here's the full 27-piece wardrobe for cool weather:

The questions that brought me to this included heroines who very much want a mostly denim wardrobe, heroines who can only keep a tiny portion of their wardrobe in their "main" closet at any time, and heroines who travel four nights a week EVERY WEEK, and who pack around a core of denim clothing...

So I ... View the Post

June 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 2

June 5, 2024

Today's three heroines went three very interesting, different directions in their wardrobes - all of them valid!

Let's start with Rothko, who is fast becoming one of my very favorite artists:

Our first heroine has a wardrobe that feels like it has a lot of accent color in it, although it's not a huge percentage of the whole (37.5% to be exact) ...

And she has gloriously pretty accessories:

But for June, she felt like settling into some neutrals - especially a workhorse pair of black linen pants. (these should be worn at least weekly until the first frost...)

She also decided to go ahead and buy a cashmere hooded sweatshirt - yes, she might have grabbed a cotton one instead, but this feels more like ... View the Post

June 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

June 3, 2024

Time to visit our six heroines and see what intelligent, well-considered wardrobe additions they make this month!

knowing full well that these wardrobes could be expanded in ways that defy logic...

This painting doesn't grow old:

At the end of May, our heroine had 24 garments in this capsule wardrobe - LOTS of red:

And her accessories were just right for her - I will always believe that you can tell much more about a woman from her accessories rather than just her clothes!

Our heroine only has one dress - the classic grey one - and she feels like she wants something for summer. It wasn't a big leap to decide that a two-piece camp shirt and skirt was perfect:

Filling in her clothing purchases ... View the Post

Want Something to Spark a Range of Ideas? Start with a Scarf – Honey Dijon Scarf by Echo

May 24, 2024

If you're offended by profanity, approach this post with caution - there is indeed a word printed on this scarf which might disturb...

We've heard from a handful of heroines who are looking to wear black with pink, and who want to either be more dressy, or more youthful. Maybe this addresses all sorts of desires!

Here's the newest Echo 100 scarf:

Yes, you can just fold the bottom left corner in, and nobody will know. Or you can let it fly free and see what happens...

This inspires the easiest of color palettes; while I didn't include white in any of the outfits, it's sort of an obvious addition to this scheme:

I'm suggesting outfits that cover a handful of weather conditions and degree of ... View the Post