color palettes Archives - Page 6 of 9

Your Opinions, please

The extremely lovely people at She-Beads have made us an offer we can't refuse - they will make a one-of-a-kind bracelet for me to give away to one of you!

So, they asked me what color scheme I would prefer...

I have a preference - the colors of The Vivienne Files - greys, white and soft pink.

But in order to give us all a choice, I culled back through Pinterest to find the most frequently repinned images and color schemes, and the last four of these options came from there.

So which do you love the most? Which would make a gorgeous bracelet?

have a glorious holiday weekend, love, Janice ... View the Post

A Four by Four Whatever’s Clean Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Beige, Marsala and Natural

April 18, 2015 As soon as I launched the newest Pantone Spring and Summer 2015 color scheme file, someone asked me to do some work with the color of the year - Marsala. She had honed in on the black and khaki, and after a bit of discussion we agreed that the best 2nd accent color would be an unbleached linen/natural color. This is the palette we finally chose for a capsule wardrobe.

I started with black, of course! Sleeveless and short-sleeved, cropped pants and "normal" pants, and all from 3.1 Phillip Lim, just for ease of matchy-matchedness. You can, of course, find your four pieces from a different, less pricey, company, or mix them from a few different places.

In fact, in order to ... View the Post

A Pantone Spring 2015 Monster File, and taking tomorrow off…

I was toying around with the new Pantone colors for spring, thinking about upcoming posts for The Vivienne Files. The idea of "new" colors is always entertaining to me - I'd LOVE it if our eyes could suddenly be enhanced to see something that we've never seen before!

But some people do find that the Pantone colors are very available through the upcoming season, and like to have an idea about which among them might work best with their existing wardrobe. So by the time I'd finished monkeyed around with all of these colors, I realized that I'd pretty much completely updated the old Color Planner document...

This baby includes all of the combinations of 2 neutrals (from the list of 14 neutrals that I've come up with, so far), and then ... View the Post

Color and Proportion – Step 2: Adding Shoes, and the Occasional Solid Scarf

April 3, 2015

For this 2nd step in my pondering about proportion, I want to introduce some shoes into the equation, as well as a solid-color scarf. I didn't find that I felt the scarf was "necessary" as often as I had expected - sometimes a pair of shoes made enough difference in the proportion of the outfit that the scarf, while fun, might be superfluous.

For these first two outfits, shoes that matched the cardigan lent enough "gravity" to the outfit that I didn't really reach for a scarf. Out fit 3 is more problematic - in screaming hot weather, white sandals might work, but white shoes made this look really "uniform", in the medical profession sense. Maybe the beige scarf and loafers would be better?

These outfits felt a lot ... View the Post

Color and Proportion – How Color Affects the Balance of an Outfit

April 2, 2015

Recently, someone wrote to me with an excellent question: she had narrowed down her wardrobe colors to black, white and beige, but wasn't sure how to combine these colors. Specifically, she was concerned about what percentage of each color could be in an outfit and still be balanced.

A question for the ages, really. There are limitless possibilities for combining simple colors. So I decided to put together the most simple outfits in those three colors, and see how the proportions felt.

For starters, I picked a plain tee shirt, jeans, and a classic cardigan in the three colors my friend mentioned. From these 9 garments, there are 27 possible 3-piece outfits, as well as an additional 9 2-piece outfits. Imagine the ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Art, Nature and Color Palettes

Since I started the Start With Art Series, building wardrobes based on works of art (or photographs, or other objects), I've received a lot of suggestions for which art works I might want to consider. I've been keeping a file of all of them, and I've finally decided that I should share my thoughts and ideas with you by making the file available.

The file has 100 works of art (a few scarves, a couple of photographs, and a plate, but mostly paintings), and then a 2nd page that includes my proposed color scheme, and my thought process around what I would look for in a wardrobe. The whole file is available for $5. I included a table of contents, with hyperlinks to each painting. I am really eager to know ... View the Post

Assorted Accessories for All Seasons

December 5, 2014 These posts about seasonal colors are so much fun, and I learn something every time I work on one! Today, I started with an Hermes scarf, and then built an assortment of things around the scarf. Some of the accessories are for winter wear, and other are for the entire year. I only wear 1 watch, but I'm not sure why - there are a lot of beautiful, moderately priced watches available that might add a touch of color or metallic luster to an outfit. While I know that in this day and age many people don't wear a watch at all, maybe a 2nd watch is an option to consider...

Winter Color Palette Accessories

This hat would destroy my hair, but it might be worth it...

Spring Color Palette ... View the Post

Scarves for All Seasons

December 4, 2014

Since we had so much fun yesterday thinking about our "official" or self-determined seasonal palettes, I thought I'd pursue the idea a bit more today. While I've been quite lucky to have been told by trained color evaluations that I'm wearing the right colors, I can easily sympathize with those who get conflicting advice, or who like other colors. Ultimately, I really believe that the happiness that you radiate from wearing colors that you love will overshadow any possible lack of compatibility between you and the garment. That's just a fancy way of saying that you should wear what you want, and you'll radiate loveliness just from being happy. Your mileage may vary, of ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Coral, Turquoise, Black and Grey

September 25, 2014

Please bear in mind that I prepared this post before I left for my vacation, so some of the links might be dated...This is a great, unique, way to accent black and grey; coral and turquoise are often found together, and there's some AMAZING jewelry available (usually in warmer weather) that combines these two colors. But of course we don't wear real coral anymore - it's pretty endangered...

In both of these Cores of Four, I chose high-necked tee shirts to go with v-neck sweaters. This way, if you want to layer the grey tee under the black sweater, (or vice versa) it will show nicely. These little details can make a lot of difference in how versatile your clothes can ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Bright Plum, Smoky Blue, Navy and Grey

September 22, 2014 I don't want everybody to feel like I've beaten the "navy and grey" horse to death, but I had a lot of requests for variations of those colors, and they all take on their own feel... Please remember that I prepared these posts back in August, so you'd have pretty things to read while I'm on vacation; if the hyperlinks don't work, or an item is sold out, I sincerely apologize! This is the color scheme - three of the colors we've worked with before, but this bright plum color changes everything. What once was a soft and muted palette takes on a brightness and life that can be included in an outfit on a day that feels right, or you can always stick with the softer colors when that's what you ... View the Post

Start With Art: Yellow Tree by Linda Jacobson

Seotember 16, 2014 So beautiful, and such inspiring colors! I was completely unfamiliar with this artist; my readers send me the most wonderful things...

I chose a muted palette from this painting - I think I'm in a muted mood today. Would you like to see a 2nd post (after my vacation!) based on this painting, with more vivid colors?

I've been asked to clarify the role of the various "fours" in the 4 by 4 Wardrobe, so I'm going to do that while working with this painting. Multitasking... The First Core of Four is designed to give you two tops and two "bottoms" (I don't know why, but lots of people are completely bothered by the term bottoms...) that can be worn as four outfits. ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Lavender, Jade, Denim and Grey

September 13, 2014

One more visit to the denim and grey Core of Four - this time, with accent colors of lavender and jade. All of the shades are cool - some are soft and gentle, and others are almost vivid. Lots of options here!

One of the nicest things with the shades of lavender - they can easily be blended so long as you have the same basic tone.

Once you find someone who's selling a color that you love, it makes some sense to stock up!

I looked for moonstone jewelry for this collection. Moonstone has such a lovely iridescent, almost colorless quality that picks up the colors that you wear. I think it's beautiful (and it's one of the three birthstones for those of us born in ... View the Post