The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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My Wardrobe: Revisiting A Common Wardrobe

August 6, 2015

 

Among the most popular, and among the most misunderstood, posts that I've ever written for The Vivienne Files have to be the ones about A Common Wardrobe.

I used to work in advertising. I used to travel a lot, and I used to be privileged to meet some of the most intelligent, creative, eccentric and downright weird people you could imagine. But one thing that I noticed, time and time again, was that no matter how unusual their appearance might have seemed, their clothes would invariably include at least one or two elements that were pretty normal. In fact, when I looked over large rooms full of these people, you could see a common theme of a lot of jeans, khakis, and black trousers, a lot of white shirts, a lot ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Still Life with Apples by Henri Matisse

  August 5, 2015   As soon as I saw this painting, I knew we were going to have some fun. I really admire the juxtaposition of the very traditional navy and grey with the striking, almost shocking, colors of the apples. That Matisse knew what he was doing...  

  If I were to expand this wardrobe further, I would pull in more shades of grey, and a wider range of blues... so many possibilities just from this limited palette.  

  Just the slightest suggest of unplumbed depths...

The subject of her came up before the Director's meeting started. It wasn't anything that they could actually put their finger on; they agreed that nobody in the room had ever even seen her knees!

She was always ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Silk Robe by Johanna Harmon

July 31, 2015   "Are you feeling okay? You seem to have been tired lately," her sweetheart asked her last night.

 

"Now that you mention it, between all of the stress at work, and the heat this summer, I do feel a little bit... wilted, I think you could say. Why do you ask?"

  "Well, I've been thinking that we could use a long weekend away at The Spa in The Mountains; do you think you could get a Thursday and Friday off sometime in late September?"

 

Can she get a couple of days off??? She would QUIT her very irritating job in order to get away to go to the spa. Does she enjoy days wearing nothing but a bathrobe (or maybe nothing), being pampered, and then spending the evening eating gourmet ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Rose Garden by Ute Laum

July 29, 2015

I am really glad that I asked you all to send me painting suggestions - otherwise, I would never have seen this gorgeous thing!

The Rose Garden by Ute Laum is an example of a painting in which the camel/cognac plays a very small, but absolutely essential, role. None of the other colors would have nearly the same impact if the golden touches were missing.

Today, I'm sorry there's no story, but I've received so many requests for travel wardrobes that I feel like I should address the overall logic or philosophy of putting together a travel capsule wardrobe. There's probably no way that I'm ever going to be able to answer all of the travel questions I receive, so I think an overview of how I think about travel ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The White and Green Hat by Georgette Agutte

July 17, 2015  

How did I make it so far into my life without knowing about Georgette Agutte?  She was French, and she painted some really wonderful paintings; I encourage you to look her up. You're going to be seeing more of her on The Vivienne Files, I can promise!   Someone suggested this lovely painting - she seems like she would be a kind and gentle friend, doesn't she?    

  As with most paintings, there are a variety of ways to approach the colors, but I've gone this direction:  

  "Doesn't she look like Grandma?"   Your sister said, and just like that, the whole idea got started...   So now, you and your older sister are going on a road trip, starting with ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with A WALL?? Pulling out all the stops, in Grey, Burgundy and Gold

July 11, 2015   Seriously. I was waiting for a friend at his gym yesterday, and I noticed that the walls in the entrance areas were painted in a mottled (maybe sponged?) pattern of shades of grey and burgundy - mostly dark - accented with metallic gold. Unexpected. Eye-catching. And it got my mind wandering...    

  "I view marriage as a merger of financial statements..."   Two weeks before graduation, he drops this little bombshell on you, and breaks your heart. He's always made it clear that he doesn't think your chosen work is going to be lucrative, but you didn't realize quite how much the money mattered to him. I guess that's a bullet dodged, but it still hurts.   ...   25 years ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2, Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke

July 10, 2015   I was going to wait a few weeks to do this for autumn, but I found myself thinking about these colors so much last night that I thought I'd best just go ahead and jump into it!   For cooler weather, I swapped out the pink for that strong green, and I darkened all of the colors a bit; I particularly wanted to make sure that the navy on the left of the painting was included, since that's a pivotal neutral for me here.  

The last weekend at the lake, for this year As soon as you can escape from work, you're headed to the cabin. There's always work to be done to make sure things are ready for winter, and this may be the last non-snowy weekend you can all get there. So even though you had to wear a suit ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Sisyphus by Titian

July 6, 2015

Sometimes you feel like you work and work and don't really make any progress, or go anywhere... Seeing Sisyphus reminds me of business travel that's not really travel!

  Your client is Milan is... amused... that there's a blizzard bearing down on Chicago. But not amused enough that they will let you off the hook for having the samples in the hands of the courier by Friday afternoon!   This isn't work that can be phoned in - you have to cut fabric, assemble muslins, put together swatch cards and sample cards of the trimmings - your team has to be IN the office for the duration. What do you do?   You get everybody into a conference room. Even though you all know full well that the blizzard might not ... View the Post

3 x 3 = 45 in a Six Pack Travel Capsule Wardrobe

June 15, 2015     So I was thinking about Six-Packs (the clothing kind, not beer...) and I realized that if you chose your pieces exactly right, you could get 45 different outfits from 9 total garments - six of them packed.

This isn't to say that you are going to want to take off on a six-week trip with just a few changes of clothing, but what we DO learn from this is that you can give yourself options. If the weather changes, if the level of dressiness of your activities are unexpected, or if you manage to destroy one garment during your travels (it can happen!), you can still get dressed. Some excellent accessories, and you'd be all set!

   

  love, Janice ... View the Post

Color and Proportion – Step 4: Some Printed Blouses and Tee Shirts

April 8, 2015

Here's where a really amazing variety of possibilities begins. I'm starting with the simplest of stripes, but even with stripes there can be all sorts of variations. Imagine, for example, a mostly beige tee shirt with the thinnest white stripe, or conversely, a mostly white top with a very subtle beige stripe. The balance of color WITHIN the top will also influence how the balance of the entire outfit works. You could get really obsessive about this if you let yourself...

One thing I hear that many of you find challenging is the "dumpy" or "square" proportions of the jeans and cardigans. Frankly, I chose these items partly with that in mind - I really wanted the colors of the garments to be what we noticed - especially ... View the Post

A Clothing Diary Week 8

April 6, 2015   Because of the holidays and some family visit, I got to spend a lot of time with B and his peeps this week. It was handy to be able to just grab clothes and feel confident about putting together attractive outfits...   This skirt is fast becoming a workhorse in my wardrobe. It hangs beautifully, and has pockets!!!  

I had the immense good luck to find red Tod's loafers at a site called The Real Real. (silly name, but a great site) The price was a single-digit FRACTION of retail...

 

I will take a better photograph of the scarf when there's sufficient good lighting - it's really excellent, with strong blue and red accents on a charcoal grey and white ground. I'm finding a lot ... View the Post