The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Love Bright Accents? Start With a Scarf – The Kelsey McKinney Scarf by Echo

November 15, 2024

She likes red and green. And purple. And pink. And blue. And yellow...

She's going away for a long weekend that will be FESTIVE. Not necessarily big splashy parties, but she knows that anywhere she goes, there will be a bit of a holiday fizz in the air! So she decides to travel with her core of black essentials, but to round out her travel capsule wardrobe with four accent colors.

Remember, not every heroine flies to her destination! This lovely lady might be taking the train, or the boat, or driving...

And yes, Vivaia shoes are everything they claim to be; I've got two pair, and I live in them. Both will go to Paris next month!

She reviews her packing... jeans, a skirt, bright but not gaudy or ... View the Post

Love Blue and Lavender? Start With a Scarf – The Julianna Margulies scarf from Echo

November 13, 2024

Yes, THAT Julianna Margulies. Multi-talented, I'd say!

Lovely colors! That blue is just delicious...

Our heroine has to travel, and she wants to at least seem to fit in with the festivities! She's not really a "red & green" type of girl, nor is she much interested in an ugly Christmas sweater...

So she's going to go with a smile and a snowflake. That feels festive enough for her!

Yes, she's packing a few of the same things that her friend packed on Monday - simple black classics look very different when you wear them with a different accent color!

In her world, a pretty sweater and a skirt will be dressy enough! Most of the time she's more likely to be wearing her jeans!

When our ... View the Post

Feeling Bright? Start With a Scarf – the Dorothy Lichtenstein scarf from Echo

November 11, 2024

She's ready for a holiday weekend, but this is NOT the woman who's going to wear red and green, or a wreath or Christmas tree...

Which is great! You need to know what you do and don't like, by the time you're fully grown. Well, I believe this; your mileage may vary.

This is her inspiration, and it's a goodie:

This is her color palette; maybe she's stretching a point to include the bright blue, but she's got this sweater...

It's cold. It's dry. She's wearing white pants! If you want to stand out in a crowd in the dead of winter, this will do it...

She knows for a fact that she's probably going to want to wear a skirt. She might wear it with a sweatshirt, though...

And a blazer is never a bad ... View the Post

Want a Fresh Palette? Start With Art – Door of Light by Akada Misao

October 30, 2024 Just For the Night... They tell her that's all she needs to do - just meet with the core workers, take the whole staff to dinner, and then come back the next day.

Unless she gets stuck, because of air traffic, or a strike, or volcanoes...

She's not THRILLED about the trip, so she decides to be inspired by something as unlike work as possible:

She seldom wears yellow. But she's in the mood to shake things up a bit, so this is going to be her color palette. She knows that for a longer trip, she could easily add lots of beige, and bits and pieces of green...

It's not a madly dressy office, so she knows that she doesn't have to dress up. Comfortable pants will make all the difference if she's stuck on a ... View the Post

Want a Foolproof Fall Wardrobe? Start with Bracelets – Harvest Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

October 28, 2024

Note to all: if you're shopping for scarves, CHECK THE FIBER CONTENT! There are unscrupulous places on the internet selling perfectly nice polyester scarves for the same price as wool and cashmere scarves! And if you dig just a bit, the exact same scarves are available for literally 20% of the "wool/cashmere" price. A shocking, opportunistic stunt that's taking advantage of a brand name... Quintessentially Autumn Every year, usually in October, there are hundreds of them, just in the US: "Autumn Glory" (in Oakland Maryland), the Springs Festival (in Springs, Pennsylvania) and tons of others - FALL FESTIVALS!!!

These are just two that were part of my childhood...

Get yourself something cider and pumpkin, wear ... View the Post

Want To Add Some “Snap” to Neutrals? Start With a Scarf – The Abby Silverman silk scarf by Echo

October 21, 2024 Normally Neutral She usually wears ivory and black. Every day. With nothing else added... So this scarf has some appeal, right from the start!

She recently made a mistake (there are really NO mistakes?), and ordered a pair of brown shoes instead of the black that she would obviously have preferred. But she found the brown ones to be fetching, so she just picked up a brown handbag, and a pair of earrings, and called brown "an accent color..."

So NOW, this scarf really appeals!

This could have all stopped RIGHT THERE... but she sensed that she was ready for something new...

A RED SWEATER???? Her friends will be so shocked - it's worth wearing, just to see their faces!

So when it came time to pack ... View the Post

Want to Fit In? Start With Art – Pines and Sky by Walter J. Phillips

October 18, 2024

She's going to the whole Homecoming thing - the game, the pre-party, the actual dance, (which is allegedly SUPER casual...), the brunch. Her friends persuaded her, and so she's happy to be going. But she doesn't want to paint her face, wear some outlandish hat, or just in general do anything that might look foolish!

Her school colors are navy and forest green. She loves them. And she's been using this painting to inspire her wardrobe for a while, so she's in good shape for having things to pack.

These are the colors that she uses for her wardrobe... After a few minutes, she makes the decision to NOT pack anything in periwinkle blue. She's always tempted, but too many colors in a travel capsule wardrobe might be ... View the Post

Craving Soft Colors, in a Crowd of Vivid Team Colors? Start With Art – Moon by Ono Chikkyo

October 16, 2024

It's come to my attention that nobody can leave comments! I don't know what's wrong, but I've having the smart people look into it... So sorry for the technical difficulties....

love,

Janice

It's tempting to think that all heroines are strong personalities, with a touch of bright flamboyance around all that they do. But in fact, many of us are quiet, low-key, and don't get noticed right away! And that's splendid...

Today's heroine thinks of herself as a moon, in that she reflects the brighter (but sometimes TOO bright) light of others.

Her painting inspiration for her weekend homecoming trip:

She has soft ashy-colored hair, and light but clear and bright blue eyes; her colors for the weekend will ... View the Post

Casual cool weather packing? Start With Art – Woman in a Café by Jean Louis Forain

October 14, 2024

I realized in New York that few people gets dressed up for everyday life - at least not in Chicago or New York! Sneakers and sweatpants are practically a uniform...

Today's heroine is going for a weekend sporting event. It could be a track meet or something else that goes on for a couple of days, or it could just be a single sporting event, like a football game. Or rugby. Or American football. You get the drift!

She wants to look like she had a clue getting dressed, but also like she acknowledges the inherently relaxed and somewhat cold nature of the environment into which she is plunging herself. Supporting family, friends, or just your favorite team is always interesting...

Her inspiration:

She's ... View the Post

September 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Fierce Abundance Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

September 27, 2024

Perfect for autumn:

She can take some time off this fall - what a luxury! A little photography, perhaps?

Her packing will have her blending into the forest!

It's not her usual style, but she couldn't resist the cardigan...

Everything else was simple. Her two orange sweaters aren't as much alike as they seem to be; she knows she will wear them both!

She gives everything a careful "once-over" before she packs... Socks? Clean undies? Pyjamas?

The most important thing that she checks (well, not as important as underwear!) is that she has what she needs for at least a few outfits:

How many of us make it out into nature during autumn?

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, we ... View the Post

Three Travel Capsule Wardrobes in Denim and Black

September 16, 2024

You certainly remember that on Friday, I grouped a bunch of wardrobe clusters into a wardrobe that offered lots of possibilities for travel or for visibility in a small closet:

But we need accessories! While this wardrobe is fine without them, it's not much of a reflection of how women actually get dressed, eh?

Starting with denim! If you find denim shoes that you like, and you can picture wearing them, grab them. Denim shoes aren't growing on trees, and a lot of them are tricked out with lots of sparkles, embroidery and other unnecessary stuff that will just fall off if they get wet or you brush against something...

Today, I'm going to focus on wardrobe that use just two of the neutrals available to ... View the Post

Need an Autumn Inspiration? Start With a Sweater – Fair Isle from L.L.Bean

September 9, 2024

Oh, so many of you are ready to buy something fresh for the upcoming cooler seasons, and SO many of you are hesitating...

A question I receive a few days ago - "I love earth tones - all shades of brown - but does it make sense to add this sweater to my wardrobe?"

Well, let's be honest - I love Fair Isle sweaters! All of the DNA tests assure me that I'm Scottish, Irish and French (of course!), so these sweaters are in my blood. And L.L.Bean does some lovely sweaters, that aren't priced to the moon and back. (I recently saw a Fair Isle sweater that appealed, until I saw the $500+ price tag...)

And if our heroine has a closet of browns and ivories (as she assures me she does), this sweater would be very ... View the Post