The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 3 – Do I Have to Own a Dress?

November 9, 2016   Ah, this capsule wardrobe is starting to have some personality! Here's where we left off:  

As always, this would be a good point in wardrobe-building to pause, especially if you're purchasing all of these items. Wear all your new goodies in every possible combination (which will take quite a while!) and make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that you're comfortable with the styles, the colors, and the overall mood. It's not a dreadful thing to stop at this point, if you feel that it's the right thing for you. It WOULD be dreadful if you kept on shopping and consuming and spending money without being certain!As I look at these 9 pieces, I clearly see that we'd better get some teal into this picture soon! And the ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 2

November 8, 2016   When we paused at the end of yesterday's capsule wardrobe building, we had five pieces of clothing - not a ton, but still enough for a tidy handful of outfits:  

Clearly, this wardrobe is going to take on some real depth of color with the addition of some accessories. I'm sticking with this gorgeous rich brown leather for as many things as I can manage, including a really nice bracelet!

 

watch - Kapten and Son; bracelet - Colana; scarf – Santorus;  earrings – Lagos; bag – Frye  

Generally speaking, a well-balanced wardrobe should have more "tops" than "bottoms." Jeans and trousers don't need to be laundered as frequently, and because they're worn below the waist, they're ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, First Steps

November 7, 2016

Another step by step, starting from scratch Capsule Wardrobe exercise! This week, I'm tackling olive and beige as the neutrals, with teal, rust and ivory as the accent colors. Our primary emphasis is going to be on the "very casual, lots of jeans and corduroy" sort of style. Many of you have told me that you have very little need for dressy clothes in your wardrobe, so let's see what can be done with that in mind.

And fear not, when I do this in December, it's going to be conservative-office dressy!

First up, let's visualize the colors:

Since these colors are definitely pretty warm, with the exception of the teal, my current plan is to use warm deep brown leather goods, and gold jewelry. Our heroine's style is ... View the Post

Tote Bag Travel Capsule Wardrobe in Olive, Denim and Ivory

October 25, 2016   This just feels like cozy autumn clothes, doesn't it?  

Scarf – Hermes Flânerieà Versailles; wrap – Nordstrom  

The primary neutral in this capsule wardrobe could easily be denim blue, and you could include accents of red or yellow, too...

 

Scarf – Hermes Flânerie à Versailles; wrap – Nordstrom   She Owns ONE Dress... And ever month or so, in the cooler weather, she puts it in her messenger bag, and she goes downtown for the night, with her sweetheart... Sometimes she feels like she should get something different, but...

wrap – Nordstrom; shirt– Oasis; earrings – Ralph Lauren;  cardigan – Uniqlo; watch – Michael Kors; loafers – Franco ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Vase with Honesty by Vincent van Gogh

October 4, 2016

I'm going to take a rather different approach to working with art, for this week. One of the biggest concerns that you raise to me is that it's impossible to completely re-do a wardrobe from the very beginning. So I'm going to look at introducing accent colors and art inspirations into an existing wardrobe, and see how that works...First, let's start with our beautiful painting:

These were the colors that I saw within the painting. For the most part, they're nice neutrals, and thus should be easy to combine.

 

Here's where I want to change things, for now. Imagine that the above painting has become something of a fascination for someone; they've decided that, moving forward, they want it to be their ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Color Palette – A Pinch of Plum, with Six Neutrals

September 16, 2016     Depending upon whom you consult, this is NOT plum. However, I like it, and so for now we're going to roll with it... There are going to be more colors in this series, so some other interpretations of plum in a capsule wardrobe are entirely possible!    

Purple is an interesting color in shops; a great deal of what's available looks very... goth? Sort of like you're living on the fringes of normal society? Just plain strange? It's such a pity, because purple is a lovely color, and goes so well with all of our neutrals.(I've had a deep fondness for the "stitchworks" L.L.Bean cardigan for years. I'm really happy that I've finally found a good place to show it to you!)

I was REALLY ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Color Palette – A Touch of Teal, with Six Neutral Colors

September 15, 2016

Sigh... there are NO teal foods. If a food is teal, it's a genetic mutation, or a scary misuse of food coloring!So we've abandoned my very fun food theme for post titles, but the general concept of accenting neutral outfits holds true. And teal is SO pretty in the capsule wardrobe...

The teal tee shirt has a slightly different neckline than usual, and it's tunic-length. We like to keep some options available!

I wasn't at all sure how olive and teal would be together, but I could cheerfully wear either of these outfits (and olive isn't a good color for me...) Remember, when looking for scarves, to check out the men's departments. Why some scarves are only for men is a mystery to me...

I don't know ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Color Palette – A Dash of Cinnamon, with 6 Neutral Colors

September 14, 2016   I found some lovely things in that russet color that was so elusive... And it occurred to me, again, that garments that aren't in the same fabrics don't have to be the precise same color! This tee shirt and cardigan would look gorgeous together in a capsule wardrobe:  

This is a great combination:

 

I wasn't at ALL sure how this would work, but keeping silver metal in the jewelry made all the difference...

 

These colors worked wonderfully together; I particularly like this scarf. It's more of a blend of close colors than any exact matching.

 

Here's a case of 2 colors that are opposites on the color wheel, and which are therefore MADE for ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Color Palette – A Dab of Mustard, with 6 Neutral Colors

September 13, 2016  

I'm still looking for nice pieces in rust (russet? warm red?), so I decided to skip that color for now and head directly into deep gold!What to call this color? When you're searching for things like this online, try gold, yellow, mustard, and saffron, for a start; I'm sure that there are lots of outlandish color names that I missed. Why do companies believe that calling something "burnished autumn" is going to help potential buyers find their stuff?

This isn't an easy color to wear, but it's present in so many school colors that you see it fairly often in the US in the autumn. (if you're from outside the US, please note that many people here take high school and college football - American football - very ... View the Post

Capsule Wardrobe Color Palette – A Drop of Wine, with 6 Neutral Colors

September 12, 2016  

Many of you have asked me how to integrate an accent color into a neutral wardrobe; this is my attempt to give you some suggestions, and a gentle bit of guidance.Let's assume, for the sake of conversation, that you have your core ensemble for cooler weather, in your favorite neutral:

Tee – J. Crew; pants – L.L.Bean;  cardigan – H&M; boots – Sarto  

Some of these are easier to assemble than others; if olive green is your favorite neutral, you're not going to see yourself coming and going on the streets...

 

Sweater – J. Crew; pants – J. Crew; cardigan – J. Crew; boots – Corso Como  

I've put together a few ensembles in more "business-y" looks, and others that ... View the Post

Building a Wardrobe of Bags – Accessories for the Capsule Wardrobe

August 19, 2016  

A couple of weeks ago, Belovedest and I were wandering around Chicago when we happened upon a store called The Shudio. Yes, it's a "hybrid of a retail shop full of eco conscious goods... combined with a metalsmith jewelry studio."  And yes, this is some fun...I could have purchased a lot of things, but I'm trying very hard to avoid that kind of reckless madness (especially with THREE big vacations coming up in the next year!), but I did buy a lovely little black leather wristlet, from a company called CHC. They donate 10% of their revenue to a local organization for homeless women, and all of their materials are local. Pretty nice; I was happy.

But when I got home and dug out my bag for our upcoming trip ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Marguerites by Conrad Kiesel

July 14, 2016

 

I'm in a real navy and olive mode these days; I started this a couple of days ago, before yesterday's navy and green outfits. One of my all-time favorite posts on The Vivienne Files is still this one - navy and gorgeous accent colors.How's this for a glorious painting?

There are of course a variety of ways that colors could be extracted from this, but these are what I've chosen for today:

In honor of all of you who are traveling to colder climes this autumn, I'm thinking about packing that includes a warm coat and waterproof boots. Especially for those of you going to Ireland in the fall, you'll want both sunglasses AND gloves!

Sunglasses – Tory Burch; scarf – Brooks Brothers; boots – ... View the Post