navy Archives

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

December 5, 2025

Okay, if I wanted to start a new and different wardrobe, THIS would be my choice... Until I get to the next wardrobe!

But this is such a great painting...

I can't believe that this heroine doesn't yet have an ivory cardigan!

And I would love to have found a navy two-piece dress for her, but I think that maybe the dark-wash denim skirt will be more useful; what do you think?

There's something to be learned here; even if your favorite wardrobe color(s) are easy to find in stores, you still don't always see exactly what you have in mind! This puts you in a pretty clear situation: do you need SOMETHING to fill a certain role, or can you wait? I suspect that many of us can wait...

How that we have all ... View the Post

December 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

December 2, 2025

I already feel as if I need to find a new Georgia O'Keeffe painting for next year! Her art works particularly well for me, because she's adept at working with a really limited palette to achieve beautiful effects...

In the middle of a legitimate blizzard, our heroine suddenly finds that sweater hold GREAT appeal; can that be surprising?

A brooch in a bow style is classic, and gives you a festive air with just a minute or two devoted to pinning yourself in just the right place...

At the end of our year, our heroine's 52-piece wardrobe (yes, the same number of garments as the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe!) is split 1/3 beige, and 2/3 blue and green. This could have gone the other direction, or it could have ... View the Post

One Navy Sweater – A Dozen Ideas

November 28, 2025

I love this sweater, you can tell! Cables give a sweater a texture and richness that's appealing, and far from boring...

I was about to start working on this, with hunter green as the second major color, and gold as the jewelry and accessory metallic. But then I saw all of the comments about the red sweater, and made the changes:

Why yes, I'm still following the same overall structure from the first two sweaters...

This skirt is dressier than it looks at first glance - it's metallic! And the pendant is actually a wee magnifying glass. The Met Store has a bunch of pendants that are magnifying glasses - why don't I have one of these? Heaven knows I could use it...

Burgundy is such a lovely ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

November 10, 2025

Our last installment for this month - one of my favorite paintings!

This heroine gave some serious thought to what her holiday seasons promises to bring, and came to the conclusion that silky pants and a pretty blouse will be more than adequate for her festive needs. A couple of cardigans that can be dressed up, and some fun star and moon accessories, finish up her November shopping:

please note that "silky" does NOT equal "silk." Neither does "satin." There's a lot of... confusing clothing descriptions in the world...

When she brings home her new things, she finds that everything blends in pretty much perfectly! There is always that satisfaction when you are disciplined with your ... View the Post

November 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3: Sun, Water Maine by O’Keeffe

November 5, 2025

I love this painting - it's not unlike the view from my window...

Our heroine's preparation for the holiday season is pretty simple - she buys a simple sweater that has sequins knitted into it! (I confess, I have a black cabled cashmere sweater with sequins, and I wear it a LOT more than I ever imagined...)

She adds in a pair of winter white wool pants, a classic Aran-style crewneck, and a navy turtleneck. Some gold accessories, and she's ready for anything her schedule might thrown at her!

She has fewer beige/ivory clothes than she has navy and green. This makes sense to me; the lighter colors aren't as versatile for many of us.

The time that I'm always tempted by a wardrobe is when I look at ... View the Post

Committing to an Accent Color? Alex Mill’s “Kelly Green” Cashmere Sweater

October 15, 2025

A completely different approach to adding a cashmere sweater to your wardrobe - this time, an accent color!

And yes, they call this kelly green, but when I was searching for things to wear with it, I had MUCH better luck looking for emerald things...

In case nobody tells you all of the fun fashion gossip, Alex Mill was founded by the founder of old Navy and Madewell, as well as the former CEO of The Gap and J.Crew, his son, and a clothing designer... Their things aren't cheap, but the quality is very nice.

The heroine who requested this post has - for a long time! - committed that her wardrobe core is navy and white. She really couldn't choose a better accent color than emerald green:

First, for these ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

October 6, 2025

Georgia O'Keeffe. So much talent in one small woman...

Today's heroine has a wardrobe that's quite out of balance, with many more navy and green garments than beige. But there's no requirement that these things be exactly equal, or even close!

Her wardrobe additions fit neatly into her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe; I wonder if any of our heroines will finish the year with a perfect wardrobe that fits the template. I suspect not...

I don't see this list being perfectly filled by January...

Our heroine has a relatively small assortment of beige clothes - if she has everything that she needs, artificial rules and policies like having equal numbers of beige and blue can be ignored!

Technically, this ... View the Post

October 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

October 1, 2025

I can't believe it's October - we're still wearing summer clothes in Chicago! But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't prepare for the weather changes...

Let's pause for just a moment and admire this painting. I'm concerned that in our pursuit of lovely wardrobes, we might lose sight of the beauty of art.

This month, our heroine had two goals. Well, her primary and probably ONLY goal here is to purchase things that are both lovely and useful for her wardrobe! But she also wanted to pay attention to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe table to try to purchase things that were "expected" to be in her wardrobe. Secondly, she wanted to try to even up the color balance in her wardrobe between the browns and the blues! Sounds ... View the Post

Prefer Navy for Your Travel Capsule Wardrobe Neutral? Start With a Scarf – Eon Silk Scarf by Artifact.

September 22, 2025

The world does not live in black alone - although if you saw my closet some days you might wonder!

Maybe this is a scarf that you want to pack...

There's a lovely shade of medium blue in there... but it's that lime green that our heroine finds most fascinating! Of course she could pack both of those colors as accents, but I didn't find anything that I loved in the light blue.

Comfortable, but still nicely presentable! Just because you're going to sleep on the plane doesn't mean that you MUST wear your pajamas...

This travel capsule wardrobe is exactly what I packed to take to London, except that it's all different colors! This is both classic and very current - that lime green isn't always ... View the Post

What Can You Do With a Plaid Suit?

September 17, 2025

We did this last year, and by popular demand, I'm taking a look at this year's Boden plaid suit. Our heroine still works in politics, and her red plaid suit from last year became sort of a signature! She's seriously thinking about getting this suit too, and really leaning into the signature of plaid!

This is a great suit, and from the photographs, it seems to be relatively well constructed. At least the plaids seem to be matched:

There are not a ton of colors in this plaid, but red and white are easy to spot, even at a distance. The more outgoing or creative among us can certain include the brighter blue, or something yellow! A yellow sweater... hmmm...

The first thing this heroine mentioned to me was ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

September 5, 2025

I think if I had to use just one artist on The Vivienne Files, it might be Georgia O'Keeffe...

Our heroine made very disciplined clothing choices this month, and then treated herself to a necklace and earrings! That's a reasonable balance of shopping - a mix of basics and pretty adornments:

Her plan for her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe is going well. It might be difficult to find sleeveless tops between now and the end of the year, but these plans just don't usually go perfectly.

When I divide this wardrobe by colors, it shows a lack of balance that at first seems alarming. But upon reflection, there's no compelling reason that she MUST have an equal number of beige and blue/green clothes. The fashion ... View the Post

September 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

September 2, 2025

I love the way this painting feels like autumn, although the leaves in the painting are green! Is it the browns? I think so...

Our heroine's shopping was... eclectic, this month. She realized from looking at her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe template that she "should" be looking for dresses (while knowing full well that there is no "should" in planning a wardrobe!). And she stumbled across the two turtlenecks in perfect colors, and decided to buy them before they were out of stock.

The jewelry was impossible to resist, as was the scarf. This heroine might find herself in some shoe trouble later, but she will address that when it happens!

She's making good progress with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe - although ... View the Post