jewelry Archives - Page 17 of 18

Jewelry, at a range of prices

December 2, 2014 There was a little bit of concern floating around after my post about dressing up with jewelry - some of the more gorgeous items that I shared with you were a bit... pricey?... and a few people expressed their concern that they couldn't do justice to dressing up unless they won the lottery first.

But lower-priced jewelry exists, and can be an extremely good thing to search out, for a number of reasons.

If you're test-driving a new style or type of jewelry, and it doesn't make sense to spend a fortune on something that you're not sure you'll love. If you're buying jewelry to wear with just one specific garment or outfit, and you know that you aren't going to want to keep the piece forever, or, if you're going ... View the Post

Jewelry: How to Dress Up a Starting From Scratch Capsule Wardrobe

November 28, 2014

Jewelry is the most obvious, and the easiest, way to dress up basic garments. If you look around at some of the less "expected" stores, you can find things that you've never before seen - nobody at your event will be wearing an identical item! These items can easily be worn with a number of different Starting From Scratch Capsule Wardrobes, and many of these pieces could be used during the day, as well. And don't forget that the Starting From Scratch Wardrobes already had quite a few pieces of jewelry in them - many of those pieces are well-suited for evening wear, just as many of the pieces shown below could be worn during the day. I've opted to include brooches instead of necklaces, just because ... View the Post

Start With Art: Are you More Renoir or Laurencin?

November 10, 2014 Two of my favorite artists, and two subtly different approaches to the feeling of romance and femininity. Renoir is very traditionally (late 19th century) soft, ruffly, dainty floraly kind of feminine. Laurencin, very much like Chanel who is the subject of this painting, gives us a little bit sleeker vision of womanly grace and beauty.

How do these subtle differences translate into your personal style - your choices of accessories and garments? Both are beautiful and appealing, but there are substantial differences, if we study the paintings long enough. These were some of my thoughts:

For jewelry, Renoir art gives me the feeling of delicate, carefully jeweled pieces with a lot of detail, and a ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Navy Tunic and White Cropped Trousers, times 6

July 22, 2014

It seems to be almost the uniform of the weekend - roll up the sleeves of a navy linen tunic, pull on some white cropped trousers, and accent with brightly colors jewelry and sandals... The jewelry isn't all precious stones, and the sandals are casual, but the effect of the bright accents was very eye-catching.I think you can learn a lot about your personal color preferences based on which of these looks appeal to you, or which you swear you could never wear!

love,

Janice ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch – The Wardrobes, Finished (for now…)

July 17, 2014

Remind me, when trench coats are back in stores, that we want to revisit these capsule wardrobes and make some additions. If you think of anything else we should address (December holiday attire?), send me a note at theviviennefiles at gmail dot com.

I broke everything out into two pages; I might have been able to fit everything on one page, but we wouldn't have been able to see anything - the earrings would have been teeny little dots on the page!

And I think the links are working - let me know if you find some that are broken and I'll look into it...

thanks, as always!

love, Janice

PS - For more color inspiration, you can find the latest Pantone Color Planner ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 13: More Accessories!

July 9, 2014

In my one-woman crusade to encourage the wearing of jewelry, today we'll look at some possible additions to various Starting From Scratch capsule wardrobes.

This addition doesn't necessarily mean shopping; it's entirely possible that these beauties are already lurking in jewelry boxes or dresser drawers. Let's bring them into the light!

And you all know that I'm a firm opponent of the "it bag" phenomenon, but I do believe that having more than one bag is entirely reasonable. A bag in one of your accent colors, or in each of your neutrals, isn't outrageous, especially if the bags serve different purposes, or if they make you really happy! (which, after all, is the whole point of your ... View the Post

What Shoes Can I Wear with Navy Clothes?

April 25, 2014 It's a question that comes up often - what are the best shoes to wear with navy clothes? Well, men have, for generations, worn black shoes. Nobody would expect them to wear anything different; navy shoes worn with a navy suit would be inappropriate for most men in most business settings. I've never felt that there was anything wrong with women doing exactly the same thing... Or you can thrown yourself into the project of finding navy shoes that work with your clothes. Generally speaking, I think this means looking for about the darkest navy you can find that doesn't look like black. But then you've got to make sure that you keep your shoes together and that they don't migrate into your black ... View the Post

The Vivienne Files FAQ: Are Accessories Necessary?

March 4, 2014 Do you have to buy and wear accessories? Absolutely not - except most of us will have to wear shoes... But I very strongly feel that just a few well-chosen accessories can make a world of difference in how the simplest of garments come together into ensembles. If you're not comfortable wearing scarves, find a way to just throw one around your neck one day and then do your utmost to ignore it for as long as possible. Make sure your first scarf isn't anything floaty or filmy that's going to blow up into your face at the first opportunity. Maybe something quite small, tied up and out of the way so that you won't even really see it... Jewelry is also pretty useful - earrings especially ... View the Post

Brooches for Winter

I fully intended to hold back this post until it was a bit closer to winter, and the winter holidays, but since all of these brooches are available right now, on ebay, I thought I'd go ahead and give you some eye candy...

While a brooch might not be considered a wardrobe essential, even the "non-brooch" people among us have to admit that these are pretty - especially when aggregated thematically... And the vintage brooches are often beautiful quality for a modest price!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Earrings

October 18, 2013

Earrings are far from an essential part of any wardrobe, but I wear them every day; I find that I really hate the look of the holes in my ears without earrings. But most of the time I prefer to wear only small stud earrings, or very modest hoops - I'm not terribly keen on large earrings on me...These are the core of my day-to-day wardrobe:

Pearls, or another lustrous stone in a neutral tone, are a good starter:

A metallic stud is always nice:

It's generally handy to have a somewhat dressy earring for those occasions:

And a small earring in an accent color is fun:

If you're a hoop earring type ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Project 333: Bracelets and Necklaces

October 14, 2013

Bracelets and necklaces are also items that absolutely nobody MUST have in their wardrobe; women have lived completely fulfilled and productive lives without them. But for me, this is the core of what I will be wearing through the autumn and winter.Note that I wear both silver and gold, mostly because I have a Trinity ring as a wedding ring, and my watch has a yellow and white gold band. As will ALL things style, your mileage may vary.

Pearl bracelets - there are SO many beautiful ones available:

Pearl necklaces with some black detailing - I would buy two of these and layer them together:

A nice simple gold ... View the Post

Autumn Zest: Brooches

I feel like these posts on brooches are almost vanity posts, because I have so much fun doing them. They take HOURS - don't get me wrong - but I always have such a good time searching out the pins and cleaning up the images to share them with you.If the weather every gets cool enough that we can break out outerwear, a beautiful or whimsical brooch is a wonderful addition to the everyday coat. In a city with a sea of black, navy and grey coats, the chance to see the occasional brooch, or grouping of brooches, is a chic sighting indeed.

So what could you break out, for the approach of autumn?

(I used a variety of background colors, to give you a sense of how different pins will work with your clothing or coat ... View the Post