The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Leveraging the Floral Trend: 1= 20

April 22, 2014

Once more, let's visit this beige and navy spring and summer wardrobe.   You're happy with this wardrobe - it provides appropriate and attractive options for pretty much every event in your life.  But you decide that you WANT something floral, just to participate in a current trend.  You love flowers.  You want a new tee shirt.  You just plain want to shop!   Keeping your color scheme in mind - either through carrying around some skeins of embroidery floss, or a photograph of your closet, or whatever mnemonic works best for you:  

  You stumble across this beauty in your shopping:  

    All your colors.  Floral.  It seems perfect... ... View the Post

More Wardrobe Leverage: 3 = 30

April 19, 2014  

Let's say that you are the happy owner of the 24 piece wardrobe in navy and beige that we've looked at for the last two days...  And you decide that you want a little bit of brightness for spring!The only real thing you want to keep in mind while shopping is the degree to which anything new that you choose can be worn with your core pants and sweaters.  A scarf that includes your core colors, along with a couple of pretty accent colors, is a good place to start.  Pick up a pair of tee shirts in the accent colors, and you're on your way!

At first, these don't see to be a particularly compatible choice for your original wardrobe:

  But in ... View the Post

2 dozen = 12 dozen, at least

April 18, 2014  

I'm always intrigued by how many outfits you can pull together from a well-chosen capsule wardrobe, so after I built yesterday's ensemble, I started pulling together outfits, just out of curiosity...Remember, these were the 24 garments with which I started:

  There are almost certainly more possibilities here; I threw in the towel after I passed twelve dozen...  

love, Janice ... View the Post

A “Two Suit” Wardrobe in Navy and Beige

April 17, 2014   Another visit to this concept, keeping the beige linen (I'm SO lazy...) and using navy as our other neutral. I'm going to try to explain the steps for choosing these items in more detail, so that you can recreate what I do in your own closet.

 

Also, I want to address the question of having multiple pairs of dark neutral pants. Often, we're told that "you shouldn't own three pair of navy pants", but I heartily disagree, because of the wide variety of navy pants that you might own. In this particular example, I've included very narrow navy capris in a cotton fabric, a wide-legged trouser (full-length), and a silk-like palazzo pant. My feeling is that these three pants give three very different outfits when ... View the Post

Chic Sightings: Dots!

April 15, 2014   Now that it's snowed in Chicago, it feels strange to post the very warm-weather outfits that I saw over the weekend.  But spring WILL arrive - it always has...   This dress was amazingly attractive; while I don't in any way need more clothes, this would really tempt me!  

  The girl wearing these pants looked fabulous.  I think her legs were 4 feet long...  

  The tunic in the 2nd outfit was WAAAAY cuter in person than the photograph really conveys, and it looked tremendously comfortable too.  

  love, Janice ... View the Post

Warm Weather Travel in Navy and Coral – Step by Step

March 28, 2014  

Everybody's eager to start packing for warm weather destinations, and I'm often asked for specific color combinations - especially those with navy.  One of my most loyal readers asked me for navy, white and coral a while back, and I'm delighted to be able to finally fill her request.

 

The travel outfit is, as always, very uncomplicated.  Long pants, shoes with closed toes and heels, a cardigan, and a scarf are all essentials that I include.  

  If you're only going away for a long weekend, a six-pack will do.  Working with your three colors, you can choose six garments, a scarf and some accessories...  

  And you have all of these options to ... View the Post

How to Pack for Springtime in Paris: Navy and Violets!

Ahhh, by the time you're reading this post, I'm in Paris celebrating our 10th anniversary with my most Belovedest.  I frankly wasn't convinced that marriage was right for me (yes, I had tried it before, and I was not very good at it....).  This, however, has been the most uniformly delightful 10 years of my life, and pretty much more than any woman could hope to deserve.     This ensemble seemed perfect to revive for today, because I was married in a soft violet outfit (wisteria, to quote Eileen Fisher on the color).  This would be delightful for a second honeymoon...The original post can be found on A Femme d'un Certain Age, where various combinations are shown.

   

Navy cotton cardigan ... View the Post

How to Pack for Springtime in Paris: Navy and White, with Green

This was the A Femme d'un Certain Age on April 16th 2012, so the garments probably are no longer available. (but I'm pretty sure you can still customize a Longchamp tote on their website)  This is a big year for green and navy - I saw it everywhere in department stores in Chicago - so this look could be easily replicated if you fall in love.    

sunglasses – Paul Smith, navy and green clutch – Marc by Marc Jacobs, navy striped top – Closed, navy stone hoop earrings & navy flower earrings – Kate Spade, white short-sleeved button-front top – Kookai, wrap dress - DVF, navy silk tee Studio Nicholson, navy cardigan – John Smedley, navy capris – Weekend by Maxmara, flowered silk ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting With Art: Shopping with a Van Gogh Seascape

February 19, 2014

What a gorgeous painting! And the colors are so perfect for warm weather... (of which I dream right now, as I watch the white-out snow storm outside my window...)

A few of you have expressed a concern about wearing light colors below the waist, and so for this wardrobe I'm going to avoid that. Also, I've been asked to include a maxi skirt in capsule wardrobes, so today I've found one!

A dark core of four - useful for most of the year, and an essential base upon which we're going to build this plan. Navy is so perfect for warm weather; if you're concerned about the colors matching, plan to buy all four items at once, and maybe from the same place.

Yes, this is the second grouping of four green garments ... View the Post

A Variety of Colors: A Simple Summer Wardrobe

February 13, 2014   I've been thinking a lot about how to plan a wardrobe that gives you options for a wide variety of accent colors. There are other way to go about this, and I'm going to figure them out, but my very first thought was the following. Here's what your summer wardrobe will look like, after we've worked out way through the steps.    

  Assuming that you're going to be carrying over a few garments from your cold weather wardrobe, I've pulled together this core of four in grey. I'm also including neutral footwear - canvas sneakers, and a simple pair of suede loafers.  

  As much as I know that the point of this is to introduce lots of accents, I think it's pretty important that we ... View the Post

Warm Weather in Navy and Pink: A Long Weekend, or a Week?

February 8, 2014   Ooh, it's nice to dream of summer clothes and warmer destinations!  Some of you are headed out with family for vacations that suggest shorts, capris, and flowing summer skirts and dresses, and the colors navy and pink are ALWAYS requested!  So here's a plan that starts with a long weekend, and then adds key garments if your trip is longer than that.   Always, for travel, I will recommend long pants, real shoes with toes and heels, and a cardigan - I always find airplanes are cold...  This outfit has the added benefit of giving you two core garments in navy around which you can work throughout your vacation.  

  A couple of pretty skirts, a pair of shorts, a dress (that will ... View the Post