The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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

As soon as I launched the newest Pantone Spring and Summer 2015 color scheme file (available here), 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 find four pieces in khaki, I ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2 Steamboat leaving Boulogne by Edouard Manet

 I really love the combination of blue and grey! (I often consider including blue as an accent color in my wardrobe...) So I decided to look again at this painting, with an eye to warm weather. I brightened up the blue a little bit - Manet gives you a whole range of blue possibilities - and I equalized the proportions of the four colors:

I haven't built a Four by Four wardrobe for a while, so I thought this would be an interesting project. First up, the core dark neutral charcoal, in linen:

One of the reasons I wanted to do a summer leisure wardrobe - I found this gorgeous blue at L.L.Bean. A perfect secondary color!

The Expansion Four is usually four tops of some sort, since tops tend to get more wear than bottoms. ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Steamboat leaving Boulogne by Edouard Manet

To whomever requested this painting as the basis for a wardrobe - a big thank you!

From time to time, I hear from women who need only the smallest of work wardrobes, because they work as temps - employees who go into an office for a very brief period of time. A wardrobe for this kind of work needs to be very conservative and very neutral; you don't really want to make any kind of a "mark" on the organization except for the excellence of your work!  I temped at a few times in the past - sometimes only for a day, and sometimes for as long as 2 or 3 weeks. This is the kind of work that allows you to have an extremely small work wardrobe, and to thus dedicate your income to other things!

While temping doesn't always ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Estellon Striped Handbag

It's so easy to do - you see a bag you adore, and the next thing you know, you're struggling to use it...

love, Janice

PS - For more in the Maximize Your ROI series, check out the following articles: Maximize Your ROI: Orange Boots Maximize Your ROI: Black and White Houndstooth Check Flats Maximize Your ROI: Leopard Flats Maximize Your ROI: Estellon Striped Handbag Maximize Your ROI: St. John Collection scarf ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Ice Skating on the Moat by Esias van de Velde

Yes, three DIFFERENT readers sent me links to three different paintings about ice skating. What are the odds? (100%...)

Some people have mentioned that they (a) don't wear cardigans, (b) want to have as many outfit options as possible from a 4-Pack, and (c) have to wear a skirt or dress for travel because they go directly to their work obligation upon arrival.  I've tried to address all three of these concerns here, while at the same time giving a feeling of coziness to help with the inherent chill of winter business travel.

Three tops, three bottoms. 3 x 3 = 9. Just make sure that you don't wear a light-colored skirt outside in the slush unless it's covered; splashing salt-filled slush will ruin almost any ... View the Post

How to Choose an Etro Paisley Scarf

If you're looking for a scarf investment that can rival Hermes, don't overlook the beauty that comes from Etro. I bought an Etro scarf for my honeymoon (in pink and black chiffon...) and I will treasure it forever. Etro pretty much OWNS the idea of paisley, and they make them in as many color combinations as you can imagine... So how do you choose? Maybe take a look at the sweaters or shirts with which you would hope to wear your scarf, and work backward from there.

This scarf is particularly well suited for autumn, and for the winter holidays. You can wear the muted green (or brown, or tan, or black), or you could bust out with a bright red. The earrings just sort of felt like they wanted to be here, so I tossed them in to make things ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Bird’s Eggs photograph from Kevin Fleming Photography

Someone sent me this gorgeous photograph... I've flipped it sideways so that I could put up a bigger image...

This was my chosen color scheme:

It's hard to introduce "egg-like" elements into a wardrobe, but I did stick with rounded earrings, and I aimed for a sort of softness and subtlety that would honor the gorgeousness of the photograph.

I introduced the most subtle greenish color to blend with the warm beige, tan and brown already here.  It's an amazingly effective combination, I think.

To me, these combinations are warm, gentle, and comfortable.

                                          ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe Packing with Scarves: Les Ailes de la Soie, or difficult colors

What to do?  You have a wonderful wardrobe of cool neutral colors of charcoal, slate, silvery blue and ivory.  But you fall irrevocably in love with a scarf that has some really pronounced warm colors in it; how can it be worn?

Happily, this scarf includes lots of cool tones too - this is the color scheme I pulled together from this beautiful thing...

So the lacy wings of the butterflies in the scarf put me in a lacy sort of mood - this coat, scarf and bag all echo the lace motif without being overwhelmingly girly.  I balanced them with a really simple ivory sweater and grey trousers, as well as simple black boots.

In the bag are some soft garments, in soft colors, with a touch of lace thrown in for ... View the Post

Travel Capsule Wardrobe Packing with Scarves: Missoni

One of my most loyal readers recently purchased this scarf and wanted to know what I would do with it - the answer is, of course, a LOT.  One of the many joys of a scarf from Missoni is that they contain a wealth of colors that you wouldn't otherwise put together.  I don't know why I saw bright pink here - when you get your nose right up against the scarf, it's not really there.  There's teal, as well as a softer sage green, quite a bit of light blue, some slate greyish blue, navy...  Lots of things to consider...

Missoni scarves are available in a lot of places, and often on sale.  Different vendors get different designs, so if you have your heart set on one particular color scheme, don't forget to check ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Church at Coggeshall, Essex by John Armstrong

What a cool painting!  It shows the World War 2 damage to the church, and the "reveal" of the interior structure of the church is fascinating.  So sad that such a lovely piece of art is the result of destruction...

From this, I selected two relatively minor colors in the painting as the neutrals, and then used the gorgeous pastels as the accent colors.  The black is clearly visible, but I grabbed the sage green from the shrubbery that's relatively obscured on the left side of the painting.  I think what I'm trying to show here is that, although the painting itself is very bright and muted pastel, it's still possible to pull together a wardrobe from these colors without enriching your dry cleaner.  Capturing the ... View the Post

I Want to Dress Like an Empire-Style Hotel Room

This is a typical room in the Hotel des Grands Hommes, in Paris.  The colors and the details in this room can inspire a beautiful wardrobe.  The colors words that I focused on were taupe, beige, camel, apricot, slate, gold, copper and bronze.  I was looking for soft, patterned, draped and refined looks...

 The striped colors of the headboard drew my eye to this sweater - it's softness confirmed my choice.  And the combination of apricot and charcoal with a detailed scarf were irresistible.

 I loved this coat, and the ornate flats appealed.... and the draped tunic dress, with warm tobacco leather leggings and metallic ballet flats are a relaxed outfit that would be very at home in this room!

Even when ... View the Post