The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Packing: A 5-Pack Would Have Worked…

September 30, 2014  

Or, in my world, 8 = 42...You might remember my excellent travel outfit:

 

I had this outfit on for an eternity of time, and I don't regret a thing!  It was ideal, and I will almost certainly wear something very similar for future trips.  But my suitcase was TOO MUCH STUFF...  I'd have been well-served to have just packed this:

  I understand that this seems like amazingly little, but I need to remember something really critical about my trips to Europe - especially my trips to Paris:

I SHOP!!!

I shop a lot.  I start shopping the second or third day, and I tend to wear my purchases almost immediately.  Thus, I leave things in my suitcase unworn, and I ... 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

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

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Pink, Rose, Denim and Grey

September 12, 2014  

This color palette felt to me like it was giving you permission to indulge in a variety of shades of pink, and so that's sort of what I did. I also took this opportunity to pretend that the person choosing this capsule wardrobe had a deep and abiding passion for stripes. That sort of fondness/obsession is great in a wardrobe, if it's deeply and truly felt. You should definitely wear your heart on your literal sleeve if you know what you like, and you're happy sharing it with the world. It certainly makes shopping more focused, and you project a clear point of view to everyone around you! 

 

  Why yes, the grey and blue shirts are the same, except for the color. When you ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Denim, Wine, Grey and… (AWOL)

September 9, 2014

One of the unstated goals of The Vivienne Files is for all of us to benefit from the mistakes that I make or the problems that I encounter.  That was brought painfully home to me today when, after HOURS of looking in all of my secret stashes of garments for sale, I could NOT find anything in leaf green. Well, I'm pretty sure Target has some things, but they didn't have good photographs, so that puts them out of the literal picture for me...

I think it's safe to assume that someone out there right now is thinking about working on a color scheme for which one of the colors is very scarce in the market. Like completely missing. So how do you handle that - what do you do?

This was the capsule wardrobe that I ... View the Post

A 4 by 4 Capsule Wardrobe in Teal, Wine, Olive and Camel

September 8, 2014  

Camel and olive are pretty versatile - here's a much more subtle use of these two neutrals, compared to the vivid gold and red from last week.   But let's talk teal for a second:  If you look around for things which claim to be "teal" in color, you get a range anywhere from an almost emerald green, all the way over to an almost navy blue.  That's annoying when we're trying to describe colors, but in the case of this capsule wardrobe, this flexibility was useful for me.   When I initially started working with a couple of tops closer to green than blue, I found that I had all kinds of clashing nastiness when putting the teal garments next to olive.  It was basically trying to blend ... View the Post