chambray Archives

Another Wardrobe Disaster…

This is almost the same wardrobe that we saw back on February 7th; I've made a couple of changes so that our new "dilemma" is clear...

This is her starting wardrobe; there's nothing really WRONG here - they're all perfectly nice clothes, but she struggles, and often feels that she doesn't look... pretty...

So she goes through the same exercise that we've seen before - does she have the right general assortment of pieces? Yes, this seems fine...

Is it the colors? She feels in her gut that she's got a color "issue..." She's always been told that she was an Autumn, but the colors feel muddy and heavy to her... She's got blue eyes, and freckles, and she feels more... light? than the colors that are suggested for her...

She ... View the Post

My Casual Wardrobe is a Disaster….

She got really sick of the struggle - it wasn't like climbing Mount Everest, or building your own home by hand, but it was still a bother...

She has some things that she really likes, but just can't seem to get dressed for evenings or weekends...

This is approximately what she has right now:

What to do? Is the problem that she doesn't have enough of a particular "category" of clothes - not enough tee shirts? or sweaters?

Nope - her ratios are pretty good, and there are no glaring omissions. Is it a question of color?

Immediately, when we see that mass of warm green with some "outliers" of cool green that just don't blend in, we can start to see the issue...

And here's the gut-check moment - does she really prefer warmer colors? ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Approaching Storm by Eugene-Louis Boudin

I hope these ladies don't have to sprint too far to escape the storm; they're not dressed for the 100 yard dash...

But it's a beautiful painting, and it so vividly evokes that feeling when the weather is about to turn. I was particularly drawn to the simple, neutral color scheme:

Other Things on Her Mind

She travels with a lot of gear...

Actually, she's ALWAYS carrying bags and bags of photography equipment, even if she's not traveling. Photography is what she does, and she does it well.

So she decided ages ago that she was going to be very disciplined in her wardrobe. Not drab. Not boring. Just in control. For example, she wears jeans. Only jeans. If someone thinks she needs something else to wear, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 by Georgia O’Keeffe Part 3

Remember our friend in the cabin? She's made a bold decision...

WWSM

(Widowed Woman Seeking Man) for sporting events, opera, symphony, dining, and whatever else we want to do... (she thought about specifying an age range for respondents, but she really doesn't care if her new friend is just out of college...)

Must be a man who appreciates simple pleasures, and is unimpressed by logos, bling, and obvious displays of wealth or debt. (if they're hanging around with her thinking that they'll get written into her will, they've got another thing coming!)

I will buy tickets if you do the driving! (maybe this will give them a hint that she remembers when Nixon resigned...)

If you want a new friend with a wide range of ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 by Georgia O’Keeffe Part 2

When we left our heroine, she was unpacking her things in her new cabin... Remember, her original wardrobe inspiration was this:

After a few weeks of settling in, she had met new friends and discovered a new routine of activities, interspersed with delightful leisure... And she realized that her love of wearing jeans was a reflection of her need for relaxation, which was now being fulfilled! So she decided to invest in a few new ensembles, to give herself a few more wardrobe options. Her new home was a perfect combination of urban and rural: street lights on poles in the front, fireflies among trees in the back; city water in the front, a natural spring (far) in the back; mail delivery in the front, owls in the back. So she ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Arrival of the Normandy Train, by Claude Monet

She loves Paris, and she loves Monet, and she loves these colors...

Just three colors here, but WHAT colors...

Softly shaded colors, blended shades, and a few touches of a grid pattern to do homage to the glass roof of the train station. These subtle shades aren't easy to find. Happily, they can be blended, rather than having to be perfectly matched!

The Trains are Essential

She has a list of destinations. She's planned VERY carefully, studying train maps at length. While she understand that schedules might change, she's confident that she will make it from city to city with no problems. Taking trains is truly the only way she can make it work!

A little bit dressy, a little bit casual, and everything ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke

This painting is great - I want to revisit this one with a more fall/winter orientation. For warm weather, my first thought was that the shades of blue reminded me of denim and chambray, accented with that YELLOW, the rose, and some acid green (which I didn't address here, but might in the future!)

So this is my warm-weather color scheme:

Everyone is at the lake but you...

Yes, everyone else went to the cabin last night. But you KNEW that you had to go into the office this morning - that client report wasn't going to write itself!

But if you put your head down and WRITE, you can be out of the office by 2:00 or so - in time to get to the lake for cocktails...

Since you never know who might be in the office on ... View the Post

Denim Blue Capsule Wardrobe with Floral, Bright and Silver/White Accessories

Denim blue is a great, versatile and flattering color, even when the fabric isn't denim! Imagine these six garments, along with a pair of real jeans, a white shirt, and a couple of tee shirts - the perfect simple travel capsule wardrobe. I'm ready to go on vacation ANY TIME NOW... ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch: Choosing Color Schemes

It's a question that's as old as The Vivienne Files - if you're starting a capsule wardrobe from scratch, how do you start?

What an ambitious question! But after thinking about it for three years, I'm going to give it a try - a step by step approach to rebuilding your wardrobe from the ground up.

Before you buy any garments at all, you've got to make a couple of decisions. One thing you'll have to work out for yourself - which silhouettes suit you best. I'm really not qualified to answer this question for every woman, but I encourage you to address this question on your own; you know better than anybody else in the world what shapes and sizes of garments suit you best...

But the next question - truly critical - is to choose a color ... View the Post

18=216, in a really big, perfect wardrobe slot machine…

I said on Saturday that the idea of a wardrobe slot machine could be expanded, and one of my dearest friends was eager to see how this would play out. For some of us, the idea of getting dressed for work every day is just plain annoying - nobody is going to pay much attention to what we're wearing, as long as we're appropriately dressed. So I promised her that I would show an example that would give her more than a week's worth of shirts or blouses (i.e. six), and then show how it could be expanded.

six top layers x six shirts or blouses x six pants or skirts =216 combinations.

She could literally shop once a year and then forget about work clothing for a long time... In the hottest weather, it might be wise to ... View the Post

The Perfect Clothing / Slot Machine / Backpack

I've been in the live-in caretaker role for quite a while now - since we got back from Paris, I've only been home a handful of days... In order to uncomplicate my life, I just put some clothes into a backpack and hopped on the train, hoping for the best.

Turns out that my instincts were great - I was wearing three garments, I packed six, and there was literally NO combination that wasn't wearable. I felt like my clothes were a perfectly weighed slot machine upon which I couldn't lose...

These were the clothes that I had with me: (okay, these aren't exactly the same garments. My cardigans are from Lands' End, and are years old. My denim shirt is from J. Jill and is no longer available. Everything else is Eileen ... View the Post

Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

I found, after a few days of travelling, that the shirts and sweaters that I had packed gave me a lot more options than I had anticipated! A reminder: these are what I had in my bag:

Of course, I could wear any of these except the cardigan on their own. But as the weather, and my location, shifted, I began to experiment with different ways to layer these 5 garments. I discovered that, ultimately, I had a DOZEN options. In the coldest weather, I was able to layer three tops together for maximum warmth, and thus the Triple Top Secret was born!

But I quickly realized that, if I had chosen JUST a little bit more carefully, I could have had even more options! Buttons on the cardigan would make a ... View the Post