The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Build a Capsule Wardrobe in 12 Months, 12 Outfits – February 2017

February 1, 2017

I'm back in time to work on this! I'm so happy... I love these growing wardrobes...

For reference, and just to savor, these are our scarves around which we're building our wardrobes:

As always, I have to remind you that you don't have to buy an Hermès scarf (or any scarf at all!) to use this approach to building a wardrobe. Just choose any focal item, or color scheme, and start from there! And if you do want an Hermès scarf, you certain don't have to buy one new - there are a number of reputable secondhand sellers on the internet. If you're unsure about something you're considering, send me a note!

Here's a link to last month, if you want to flash back to the January items...

This black, grey and brown ... View the Post

How to Expand Your Accessory Wardrobe: Winter Scene in Moonlight by Henry Farrer

January 23, 2017

 

On Friday, I expanded the original travel capsule wardrobe into a more complete "Four x Four" capsule wardrobe, but the real fun comes with adding more accessories!

When our heroine originally packed for her winter weekend on the farm, these were her accessories - lots of scarves!

Just for reference purposes, and to enjoy this painting one last time, this is her style inspiration:

For normal life, constantly wearing boots won't work, so we probably should start by getting her a comfy pair of loafers...

  And just because I'm bracelet mad these days, another star bracelet could be a fun addition. It's a good thing that I'm in a shopping moratorium this year, because these ALL are very ... View the Post

How to Choose Business Accessories, One at a Time – With a Navy Suit

January 11, 2017

 

Monday, we pulled together a wonderful business capsule wardrobe with a navy suit for the reader with a new job, but let's get her some accessories too!

 

Obviously, she had shoes on when she interviewed, but let's add a beautiful pair of black pumps, with comfortably low heels, to her wardrobe first:

 

And I always want earrings, sooner than later. I know women who never wear them and who look just fine, but I always feel more... complete? finished? when I get my earrings on...

While it's entirely possible to carry everything you need in your pockets when you're just banging around town, for work, a nice bag is essential. I didn't try to get navy leather goods for this ... View the Post

Build an Accessory Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

January 6, 2017

 

Yesterday's capsule wardrobe based on Soir d'Octobre was pretty great, but we can't just leave our imaginary heroine like this:

Let's remember our inspiration:

So let's work step by step - just as we did yesterday - and add all of the essential accessories (and a few fun ones) to this wardrobe.

First, one must have shoes! This time of year, a pair of short boots is a nice warm choice:

sweater - L.L.Bean; shirt - Lands' End; leather pants - J.Crew;   Top boots – Rockport; middle - Aerosoles; bottom – Ariat  

I know that many women would want a handbag immediately, but for me, I don't feel dressed unless I'm wearing earrings!

Here, I decided to test-drive the theory that I ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Muted Accents

September 2, 2016

One last adventure with this dress - this time, with muted accent colors like olive, burgundy, and mustard! (I have been hungry 24/7 for a week...)

You might notice more or less immediately that I'm reusing a TON of accessories from the recent post with the grey dress. I'm not doing this because I'm lazy, (well...) but because it all fell into place, unexpectedly.

When I put together posts like this, which are variations of previous posts, I reuse the original PowerPoint file. For this, I went through each page, deleted the original grey dress, and pasted in the navy dress. Then I changed the color of the divider stars... It was only when I went to the next step - changing the accessories - that I realized that I ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Brights

August 31, 2016

I always intended to do 3 posts with this dress, yesterday's pastels, today's bright colors, and on Friday I'm going to look at some muted shades... (tomorrow is the first of the month - time to revisit those "1 Outfit per Month" wardrobes!) So today, I changed the shoes, but kept to the same general theme of working through a range of colors.

(These seven images look really great together on my computer; I don't often notice this, but I've got this lovely rainbow running down the side of my desktop right now...)

The color spectrum isn't quite the same as yesterday, but I still worked my way around the color wheel. Doing this ensures that I don't miss any possibilities; it's something to consider when you're looking ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Pastels

August 30, 2016

 

This is a great dress - it appears to be fairly trimly cut until it reaches the hips, and then swish!

I took a little bit different approach to this dress - I found simple, classic navy shoes that I've included with all of the pastel colors. And there's a pretty straightforward formula for these - I looked for scarves, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and bags in the accent color, and then chose the pieces that I liked the most! My criteria were pretty much that the accessories should be as close in color to the cardigan as reasonably possible, and that they share a feeling or aesthetic. (that last part is hard to define, but I know what I like when I see it!)

This is an obvious color scheme, if you ... View the Post

One Dark Grey Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

August 26, 2016

 

I could wear this dress a lot...

Dress – Humanoid  

At its most basic, you can approach this dress with simple metallic silver accessories, or you can combine silver and shades of grey:

Dress – Humanoid;earrings – Gianluca Anzani; bag – Ina Kent; flats – Balenciaga; earrings – Madewell; scarf – BP.; quilted flats – Munro  

I love the contrast between the deep, cool color of this dress and the equally strong, but warm shades of camel or caramel. Mixing warm and cool colors isn't off-limits, if you balance the strength or intensity of the colors.

Dress – Humanoid;  earrings – Shlomit Ofir; bracelet – Carlos Munoz;  cardigan – Dorothy Perkins; loafers – ... View the Post

Essential Accessories for a Travel Capsule Wardrobe: What I’m Packing: Italy, September 2016

August 25, 2016     As of 6 pm Chicago time on Wednesday, I have no news about the town that I was going to visit next week. It is about 50 miles from the epicenter of the earthquakes, so I suspect that it avoided much damage. Nonetheless, we are considering the possibility of just staying in Rome for a week, and avoiding the region entirely. No decisions have been made yet, though... Of course, let's keep the earthquake victims, (and all victims, everywhere) in our hearts.  

  Let's jump right in! I've known for weeks what my travel outfit is, including shoes, so let's start building around that:    

For what it's worth, I'd buy the same Munro oxfords again when these wear out; they're ... View the Post

One Yellow Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

August 17, 2016  

One of you recently bought a yellow dress... It wasn't this one, but it was an equally simple, beautiful dress...

Dress – Who's Who  

What to do with such a nice dress, in such a statement color? Work your way through every color in the rainbow, and test them in your mind (in a PowerPoint presentation, or on Pinterest?) to see how they'll work...First up, knowing that the purchaser is a woman who wears "cool" colors and accessories, I thought I'd take a look at putting some black with it. Some people might feel that this is too much bumblebee, or University of Iowa, or Pittsburgh Pirates, but I think that it's a striking option.

In the first example, I used a bit of white (or of skin, showing ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Brown, Khaki and Pink

July 25, 2016  

Let's revisit our heroine, who is retiring from a VERY conservative position. She's already assembled a pretty nice, relaxed wardrobe!

Of course, she had to start with shoes. There are women in the world who don't need shoes, but that's not the general rule. So she started with something in her favorite dark chocolate brown:

  She couldn't WAIT to get some earrings - she'd been wearing demure, tiny studs for years, and she wanted something more fun. And something PINK!

 

And a scarf, too! While she had been able to wear smaller, more traditionally patterned scarves for her job, she had never been able to just bust out with some big swishy piece of gorgeousness. And MORE ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe of Accessories 1 at a Time: Black and Beige

July 19, 2016  

Ah, let's add some accessories to yesterday's black and beige travel capsule wardrobe, shall we? Remember, we started with this outfit, to which we MUST add shoes. There aren't a lot of wardrobe essentials in the world, but shoes, for most of us, when traveling, might qualify:

And I always like earrings for travel - they can be out of your way, but still add a nice touch of ornamentation to your outfit, and draw some attention to your smiling face.

 

Oh yes, and a scarf can be very handy if you're going to be on an airplane or train which might be freezing cold!

 

Some people never wear watches, and many of us wear some sort of step-measurement device. But I think ... View the Post