Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature
January 29, 2023
A pretty normal winter week for us - it did finally snow!
I've noticed that if I keep track of what I wear, as I have been doing since the first of September, it becomes clear exactly what clothes are my favorites.
This, I suspect, means that I should be able to figure out what I have but don't need, right?
love,
Janice ... View the Post
January 22, 2023
Now that I'm FINALLY getting physical therapy for my bad knee, I'm spending at least a couple of days a week in gym clothes...
I LOVE gym clothes...
And yes, I'm in a very "Julie Vos" mode for jewelry right now. Her earrings sit just right on my ears, and are so comfortable I've been known to forget I'm wearing them until I get into bed!
love,
Janice ... View the Post
January 15, 2023
I've realized that it makes no sense - NONE WHATSOEVER - for me to pretend to wear different outfits every day. Some days, I wear pajamas all day! Some days, I'm dressed in "real" clothes for only a few hours, in which case I very likely wear the same outfit the next day...
So what a more normal woman might present as Outfit Of The Day has become Wardrobe Of the Week. Yes, I'm cheating on the acronym because I love the idea of a WOW wardrobe!
You can't improve your wardrobe's efficiency, and suitability to your needs and preferences, if you don't know how you use your clothes - day by day or week by week.
Socratic wardrobe study!
love,
Janice ... View the Post
December 24, 2022
When life gets back to normal (it WILL get back to normal, won't it?), I will share my outfits of the days probably every Saturday.
These are known in the Internet world as OOTD's...
love,
Janice ... View the Post
February 11, 2022
I've probably mentioned this before (20 times!), but since we've all moved into 1 apartment together, my ONLY real issue is that my closet isn't conveniently placed, nor organized.
And I, of course, really don't have buckets of time to work on it!
My plan is to get rid of things that are no longer appropriate for what I do every day, and to have a good plan for what I purchase.
I'm also moving more and more toward Urban Organic as a style mantra, so I'm trying to buy clothes with better fabric, with less synthetic content, and that are made somewhere humane...
Big goals!
Initially, what would be the most help to me is to have a solid Cluster of 9 garments (either 3 outfits, or 27, depending on how ... View the Post
October 15, 2021
Maybe it's because I'm home almost all the time. Maybe it's because almost all of us have been home most of the time for MONTHS AND MONTHS...
But I'm looking at the essentials of a wardrobe. The core; the base; the springboard for all of the bright, memorable, snazzy things that we really love to wear...
And thus, I'm back to thinking about The Common Wardrobe - those 12 garments that I realized almost all of my co-workers owned, about 20 years ago.
These garments haven't gone out of style because they really aren't ever in style. They're available everywhere, at almost any price, and in styles that suit a lot of us.
And if you have these in your closet, you can get dressed. In an emergency, you can pack. You ... View the Post
July 16, 2021
This whole idea is a work in process; please share your thoughts!
Those of you who have been here with me for a while know that I read (well, I TRY to read...) personal style books from France. It seems only fitting, since Vivienne was from Paris.
My current fascination is with this book:
This book takes an interesting approach to minimizing one's wardrobe - they don't believe that you should even THINK about getting rid of anything in your closet until you've had a good, long sit-down with yourself and made some decisions about what you want to look like!
Particularly, they emphasize the idea that your garments send a message to the world; are you sending the message that you WISH to send?
One of their ... View the Post
August 12, 2020
It's the biggest event of the year, for bloggers. Nordstrom having a sale is kind of big news in the retail/style industries, but for bloggers it's more than just a big sale. Nordstrom is probably the most generous retailer to bloggers - their commissions are substantial...
And that's why you're going to see lots of people talking about this sale in the next couple of weeks!
I always have mixed feelings about all of this; I don't suspect that you all believe that I'm writing The Vivienne Files just for the karmic bonuses that I earn from trying to be entertaining and helpful!
But I don't like to recommend things to you just because I make money, or just because things are on sale. Often, sale merchandise is stuff ... View the Post
May 17, 2019
About 20 years ago, someone broke into my apartment. Literally. Bashed out the doorknob, and opened the lock...
That was all fine - I'm not attached to my possessions (I tell myself.) But when I went to collect on my renter's insurance, I found that I was NOT appropriately prepared. If I didn't have a receipt, or at least a photograph of the item in question (mostly jewelry), the insurance company wasn't at all convinced that my lovely things ever existed. THAT was a rude shock...
alert - seemingly random change of subject coming up...
And why do we keep buying things that we don't need? Is it simply because they look so doggone good that we are tempted, and that's all it takes?
So what if we found a way to make ... View the Post
January 30, 2019
On New Year's Eve, I made the brave commitment to not purchase any clothing during 2019! My plan for managing this is to have 4 5-piece clusters each month from which I will get dressed. Because I spent so much of January in Florida, my normal wardrobe didn't really apply (when I'm there, I wear a lot of gym clothes, and just the occasional "normal" outfit...) and so I only put together 2 clusters for January.
But now, moving into February, I'm going with the original plan. Four clusters, 20 pieces of clothing. From this, I'm going to pack for 10 days in Ireland!
Two of these clusters should look pretty familiar:
This last cluster is for getting dressed up - we won't be in Chicago ... View the Post
March 22, 2018
Yep - a sponsored post! It's always a fun occasion to sit down and browse through the Talbot's site, mentally trying on different pieces and pondering how I'd wear them, and how they might work with my existing wardrobe...And since I think I'm FINALLY going to make it to Paris in May, I thought that choosing some things with that trip in mind might be a way to add to the anticipation that's already almost out of control. (for those of you who haven't heard, I had to cancel a trip to Paris in December because of a fibromyalgia "interlude," and then ANOTHER attempt to go in February was rendered completely impossible by the worst flu I've ever had...)
Talbot's asked that I specifically look at their RSVP selections - ... View the Post
March 21, 2018
Packing for unpredictable weather is always tricky... And since it's been snowing CATASTROPHICALLY in Ireland, off and on for the last few weeks, this trip was really a challenge!But I managed to cobble things together well enough - hallelujah! Of course, knowing that I would have my coat on most of the time makes things much easier.
2 things were really issues, the expected cold weather, and the unexpected moving out of the AirBNB into a hotel. I packed relatively lightly (for 10 days) because we were counting on doing laundry pretty regularly during our stay. Belovedest ran TWO Parkrun 5K's when we were there, so there were gym clothes in need of care...
So, theoretically, I would have been okay with just ... View the Post
