dresses Archives

April Travel: Start with Art – Madame Leon Clapisson by Renoir

Ah, our heroine the opera singer! Remember her from back in January?

She's not the star, but she channels her inner diva quite well!

Most of the time, she's in a costume, so she doesn't need to pack a lot... This week, she's off to her favorite city, to finish up the "regular" opera season with a role in 1 of her favorites. She's had a good season...

This is her inspiration, in so many ways!

She realized long ago that she's made to wear dresses and skirts! So she focuses on navy dresses, with cardigans, jewelry, and scarves to add that bit of drama and femininity that she loves so much... (she was BORN to be an opera singer...)

She loves working with such a neutral, almost predictable base in her wardrobe; it's sort ... View the Post

Could You Wear Your Dresses in Different Ways?

WARNING: This idea may very well NOT appeal to you. And this is as it should be - nobody should love EVERYTHING that they see; that would be ruinous for one's budget, and be completely the antithesis of developing a personal style!

That said, I know a couple of women who do this and it works quite nicely for them...

First, we start with a dress that is roomy - some space around the (preferably v-neck) neckline, armholes that aren't tight, and an overall silhouette that's got some flow:

This is a magnificent dress - simple, but beautifully well-made. And it could hang in your closet most of the time. That would be a sad waste of a lovely dress, and an eye-popping investment...

But do you own any of these tops, or anything ... View the Post

April Travel – Start with Art: Street, Berlin by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner

After retirement, they decided that they were going to travel to a new destination every 3 months for the first year! Just for a few days....

In the winter, they went somewhere warmer - I'm not sure, but it might have been Barcelona?

When our heroine and her sweetheart hatched this plot, our heroine chose this very evocative painting as her color inspiration:

Yes, April in Paris She's very excited...

Maybe a striped top is cliche to wear to Paris, but she loves her travel outfit - classic, simple, comfortable...

And since retirement is rekindling the romance in their lives, she's sticking with some pink accents. Something about pink just feels romantic to her. And her true love seems to agree!

She spent a ... View the Post

Start with Art: Undergrowth by Vincent van Gogh

I love van Gogh... These colors are so perfect for spring and summer:

She Hasn't A Clue... Well, that's strictly not true - she knows that she has to wear clothing to the wedding, and that it won't be ballgowns, nor jeans. Other than that, the invitation was maddeningly vague...

So... she's taking a couple of dresses - there's a chance that she's going to the rehearsal dinner (more of that vagueness that makes this such a headache), so she will wear 1 for the dinner, and 1 to the wedding. Maybe.

At least she knows exactly what she's wearing for the drive to the hotel - her favorite new green!

She's not, in fact, all that worried about what she's going to wear. She's got plenty of options, from a nice blouse or top with ... View the Post

10 Ways to Wear a Yellow Dress

From The Vivienne Files mailbox:

Yes, she asked our heroine to wear a yellow dress for the wedding.

It doesn't really matter what dress, just that it be yellow.

Now WHAT do you do with a yellow dress, after the wedding?

For a heroine in a position of having to purchased a dress in a real "non-neutral" color, I have a few suggestions...

If our heroine buys a dress that is a sleek "bottom layer" over which garments can be layered, virtually any neutral can be worn with this dress:

I don't feel like black and yellow together automatically scream "bumblebee!" to to the world... It might scream University of Iowa fan, or Steelers/Pirates/Penguins fan, eh?

With white, it just feels wonderfully summery, doesn't ... View the Post

Chic Sighting: Printed Dress and Black Cardigan

Yes, they were only going out to breakfast as a family, but she considers that a special occasion! So she put on her favorite black, white and red printed dress, with her dressy black cardigan, black tights, and short boots. (it just cracks me up to see people wearing boots here in Florida on days when I personally would be wearing sandals...)

Other people might not be dressed quite as nicely, but that's okay too...

this first dress is on sale for half off... if I weren't on a shopping fast, it would be on the way to Chicago!

This outfit idea works for hot weather too!

Lunching at a nice restaurant?

This idea works well for work:

There are a lot of places that you could wear this outfit!

You can even ... View the Post

Winter Travel: Madame Leon Clapisson by Renoir

Oh my... She sings in the opera. Not one of the stars, but she works all the time, and enjoys it immensely!

Even though she's not the primary singer, she's still a bit of a diva; she identifies quite a bit with the woman in the painting:

So when she purchases her clothes, she uses this color scheme - enough neutral colors that she can find what she needs, but with lovely soft accent colors that appeal to her feminine side:

Her opera company is travelling to give a few performances in another city. She will be spending most of her time rehearsing or performing, but she will have a bit of time to sight-see, shop, and dine.

She's quite dressy...

She realizes that packing only dresses and cardigans will work quite ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – February 2018

I'm still not sure why I always add a dress in February - a long-standing affection for Valentine's Day? Or just a desire to make sure that I'm well prepared for dressy spring events?

It's not quite expected to accessorize a classic black dress with bright spring green...

I didn't find a beige dress that appealed, so I thought that this delicious cocoa brown would be perfect with this scarf, or with a grouping of blush pink accessories.

The red is probably the most expected accent color with a navy dress, so I ignored that and chose teal instead!

This green isn't as yellow-ish as the greens used last month, but since it's a dress, it doesn't have to be "dye-lot matched" to the other neutral in this wardrobe... And it's such an easy ... View the Post

Study in Verticals (The Cathedral) by Frantisek Kupka – Start with Art for a Tote Bag Business Travel Capsule

She Never Knows...

They send her out for as the mediator for meetings - sometimes between really big, powerful clients - and she never knows what the experience will be...

She tries, when she arrives, to be a forceful but feminine presence, striking a balance between pushing toward a decision and encouraging compromise. It's a narrow line to walk...

So, even though she's going to be there for only 2 or 3 days, she tries to be prepared for any sort of "personality" that she needs to bring to the table...

She tries to travel light, but offer herself a lot of options!

Happily, she finds these adjustments pretty easy, because she's a woman of many facets...

love, Janice ... View the Post

Can I Use Monet’s Water Lilies as an Inspiration for my Evening Wardrobe?

Shall we do some fantasy shopping?

She wanted to feel like this when she went out in the evenings:

Right after Thanksgiving, she received a couple of invitations, and so she assembled a simple capsule wardrobe to wear to those evenings. She gave herself options from relatively casual to kind of frilly and dressy:

Well... One morning she woke up to an In-Box FULL of invitations... So she looked back to her inspiration, and added four more pieces to her little "evening" wardrobe:

Somehow, she had completely forgotten that she was ALSO going to have to make at least a couple of appearances as the "better half" of her household... She could have been reminded by someone, but NOOOO.....

With 4 pairs of pants in hand, a few tops will ... View the Post

How to Wear the September Birthstone: Sapphires… ooh…

Sapphires are so beautiful, but they are really expensive... Feel free to find fakes, or stones in a similar dark blue, and wear without apology; you owe no explanation to anybody for what you can and can't afford to buy! Or where in your budget you choose to be extravagant or frugal...

With budgets in mind, I've chosen to show a lot of second-hand jewelry in this post (as well as a couple of handbags that are still absurdly expensive...). I think that we all are going to need to become much more open-minded about purchasing things that aren't brand spanking new, if only for the benefit of the environment... (and isn't "brand spanking" just about the weirdest phrase ever?)

For this first dress, that collar needs a brooch! And for what ... View the Post

What Should I Wear to a Black Tie Function?

On Wednesday's post about how to UNPACK your suitcase, a reader commented that she needed advice about what to wear to an upcoming formal event being held in Orlando, in October. Another reader posted a really intelligent, thoughtful response, but I thought that it was an interesting question, worth tossing out to the general Vivienne Files population. (the smartest women around, no questions!)

I haven't attended a black-tie event since the overly posh '80s, when I was in my 20's and when everything was completely out of control - I could have just glued diamonds all over my body and it wouldn't have raised many eyebrows. (except when the bill came!) I know what I would wear, but that doesn't necessarily translate into what would be best ... View the Post