The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Raiding my French Books: 4 Season Dresses from Chic! by Christine Lombard & Lucille Renié

May 26, 2020

It's an occupational hazard - I read French personal style books. Well, "read" is charitable because I don't fully grasp every last single solitary word that's there, but I manage okay...

And I find some of their advice to be interesting and possibly useful for us! All of these books have some sort of "must-have garments" list (which I of course think is errant nonsense, and should never exist...); my current book strongly promotes the idea of having a dress in a floral print that could be worn all year... hmm...

This is the book in question:

 

Seriously, ladies, a book will NOT give someone style. It's a fun book, nonetheless!

In response to this suggestion, I found a couple of dresses that I thought ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: St. John Collection scarf

February 16, 2015

Sometimes retailers can be so maddening! This is NOT an inexpensive scarf, but there's really no way to get a truly excellent photograph of it. For this much money, I would think that they could scare up two more photographs to show the entire scarf, as well as a 2nd close-up of the print. But nobody asked me...

That said, this is a beautiful scarf, and one of you has chosen to indulge in it, and wondered how I would put it together with clothes and other accessories...

Red - so easy, and so striking! In addition to working with the colors of the scarf, I enjoyed finding "flower-ish" accessories to tie it all together. Nobody may notice but you...

Something became clearer to me as I worked on ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Estellon Striped Handbag

February 14, 2015

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

Maximize Your ROI: Leopard Flats

February 13, 2015

You clamored for leopard shoes - I hasten to respond! If these shoes were mine, I'd be seriously looking at one of these bags - there are LOTS of options...

As I so often find, these items look particularly nice when aggregated. Toss in a white shirt and maybe a black dress (as well as another pair of shoes!) and you'd be well outfitted for travel!

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

Maximize Your ROI: Black and White Houndstooth Check Flats

February 11, 2015

As I mentioned before, I've received a couple of questions about what to wear with a special pair of shoes. When I saw these, I KNEW I was going to have fun, given my abiding love of all things black and white:

A little fearless mixing of stripes is the perfect foil for these simple flats. And a classic black dress with just a hint of white would be madly useful through the summer.

Putting dots with the houndstooth of the shoes seemed like a fun idea, and the pleated shorts are a lot more forgiving than the super-short shorts that seem to be everywhere! The red dress is easy with the black and white shoes - and a bag in a MUCH larger houndstooth pattern keeps things amusing.

Any bright color works ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Orange Boots

February 7, 2015

It might be the request I receive most frequently: "I just bought ______ and I don't know how to wear it!"

As much as I'm a big fan of planning purchases and having a deliberate wardrobe scheme, I'm not immune to the reality of the "coup de coeur" - that French kick in the heart that screams to you and will not be denied. And I think that these impulses that overwhelm can be a good way to indulge in an accent color, or a change of wardrobe direction.

Take, for example, these stunning boots:

These are oh so NOT my style, but I can see the appeal. And one of you, dear friend, fell for their charms.

Now what to do?  I have a plan. Of COURSE I have a plan!

Consider, while you're still carrying these ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Ruby and Amethyst Jewelry

December 13, 2014

It can happen to any of us - you wake up in the maturity of your life to find that you own a piece or two of really REAL jewelry - the kind of stuff that requires a special mention on your home owner's insurance. The kind of stuff that could be flogged in an auction, or pawned in a moment of spite.

But instead, you decide that this stuff is really quite beautiful, and you'd like to wear it more often. Much the wisest course, I'd say.

Before you get carried away, however, let's address a couple of serious (and frivolous) essentials:

Make ABSOLUTELY sure that your goodies are insured. Ask a lot of questions about deductibles, conditions of when and where you were when the item might vanish etc. You don't want ... View the Post

Maximize Your ROI: Beautiful Boots

December 11, 2014

One of your recently purchased a very beautiful pair of new boots, but then began to wonder if you would be able to wear them often enough to get your money's worth from your purchase.The boots are lovely - very practical for walking, but still graceful.  So I have a few ideas...

Boots with casual dresses

Unlike "back in the day" when your skirt had to cover the tops of your boots, it's now perfectly appropriate and acceptable to have your legs show in between boot top and hem of skirt. Tights can match your dress or your boots, or if you're particularly comfortable with the idea, they could be a contrasting color. I'm not going to do that, but I've seen it done to charming effect.

Boots with bootcut ... View the Post

How to Wear Black and Brown Together, or How to Incorporate an Expensive Garment into The Common Capsule Wardrobe

November 18, 2014

It could happen to anyone of us - you're minding your own business, and then... you see it. The garment that makes your heart sing. Something that you admire aesthetically, that looks perfect on you, that is beautifully made, from gorgeous materials, and that will last the rest of your life...  But OWWWW... it's expensive.

The biggest question to answer: can I wear this wondrous garment frequently enough to make it worth the purchase price? I'm NOT going to say it's an investment, because only in a few cases will you be able to sell something for more than the purchase price, which is the technical definition of an investment. But in a way, if you get more joy from something, and it enhances your image, your ... View the Post

How to Wear Pink Jeans…

The conversation about red jeans quickly turned into questions about jeans in other colors... so here I've played around with a pair of pink jeans, to explore the possibilities.

And may I just rant for a moment about the ubiquity of "skinny jeans"?  In a civilization in which obesity and weight issues are so common, I find it absolutely bizarre that it's nearly impossible to find plain old regular jeans.  Not "mom" jeans, but not leggings, either.  Do you really want to look like an egg balanced on toothpicks?  sigh... ... View the Post