packing Archives - Page 5 of 21

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Owl on Ginko Branch by Ohara Koson

Just wonderful:

While the vast majority of this painting is in shadings of beige and black, there are a couple of glorious accents of russet and olive...

She Works Nights

Someone has to monitor those data servers - they run HOT, and they have to be watched 24/7. She loves the night sky, so she took the job...

So she works for 5 minutes, and then looks out the window for 5. It keeps her moving around, and she's learned a lot about the night sky.

Now that her company has grown, she's called on to work with people in other offices. Still at night, when the regular staff is at home, and just the emergency teams are in place.

Everyone marvels at how well she does during the night - never sleepy, never a dip ... View the Post

Vacation Report, and a Few Extra Thoughts and Goodies

I'm back! Both back from my vacation, and back from Florida... both were quite lovely. I must admit that I missed blogging A LOT, which didn't surprise me; this is one of the great jobs of all time...

Just as a reminder, this is what I packed for my 8 days in Central Florida. At the last minute, my black shirtdress was supplanted by a red linen dress. For the 4th of July weekend, a red dress is never a bad idea!

I was very happy with what I packed. Unlike what you might see in more "beachy" locations, central Florida is a place where you'll see quite a few people wearing black - head to toe, even! So I didn't stick out too much like a sore thumb.... And my silk shorts are perfect - absolutely perfect. They were quite the splurge, but ... View the Post

A Capsule Wardrobe Dilemma, and What I’m Packing for Paris, France

So I realized a couple of weeks ago that I wasn't wearing these 2 cardigans NEARLY as often as I felt that I should...

Every time I would pull out one of these sweaters, I just couldn't get an outfit together that really felt right. In a bit of a funk, I went back to my own best advice, and realized that a lot of my basic summer clothes in black were either too big, or too...faded/droopy/saggy/limp/icky for public consumption. So I picked up these - the Original Core of Four:

After those arrived and were well-integrated into my wardrobe, I got wild and bought these 4 tops:

It turned out that I was wise to stock up on summer basics, because... well... the weather has turned hot here, AND I'm going to Florida for a week. (yes, ... View the Post

How to Pack for a Long Weekend Graduation Trip

One of the reasons that I'm taking this hiatus is that I've got two trips in the month of June, which were weighing heavy on my mind... First up, a very quick dash through New York City, to Vermont, then BACK to New York to fly back to Chicago. There's a very important college graduation in there, somewhere... I have to tell you something amazing - we're leaving in 4 hours or so, and I'm not packed! But I think I've got it figured out. My goal here, uncluttered simplicity, without sacrificing looking appropriately dressy for the solemn occasions...

(can someone explain to me why this suitcase is a man's bag? what folly...)

I'm packing silk pants, a silk tank, and a silk tee shirt, in order to have a couple of options to wear ... View the Post

How I Pack Light – My Secret Weapons in a Travel Capsule Wardrobe

First up, I have to let you all know that the "3 dress" packing experiment worked out beautifully! I felt comfortable and well-dress everywhere we went... I'm going to explore the idea of packing this way quite a bit more in a separate blog post or two, but if you're interested in giving it a whirl, I have 2 important pieces of advice.

Check the weather maniacally up until the very last minute before you leave, and be certain that you're packing the most appropriate dresses possible for the weather you anticipate. Dresses make layering a little bit harder, and nothing could be more miserable than the wrong dress on a beautiful day. (think of wearing a beautiful sweater dress on a day when the temperature gets up in to the ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Macaws over River, Peru by Frans Lanting

A truly breathtaking photograph:

The most straighforward of color schemes:

Freedom

She just needs to be free. Mostly free to sleep late if she wants to... to eat what she wants, when she wants... to get dressed without thinking about it...

She she settled on khaki. ALL khaki. Mostly from 1 store. With bright colors. Tee shirts and scarves. She walked into 1 store and bought all of her jewelry. She wants bags that keep her hands free. It's all about FREE...

She's not even sure where she's going, yet. But she knows that it's going to be someplace where she doesn't know anybody, so she will be free to be as quite or as outgoing as she wishes...

And she's going to find a place that's not too warm, because she wants to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Turquoise, Coral, Black, and Grey: 1 Piece at a Time

What beautiful summer colors, and what exciting accessory possibilities!

Coral was a specific request...

Normally, I would build solid columns and suits, but just to show you a different way to go about building a wardrobe, I'm adding an accent tee shirt first. This can be a wonderful idea if you're still "on the fence" about a color scheme; if you buy an accent piece and find that you don't reach for it every couple of days, it might mean that you need to rethink your choice of colors.

Okay, NOW we're putting together the black suit. These kinds of monochromatic outfits really come into their own when the accessories show up!

Since we're fast moving into summer, I thought that a pair of light pants would be fun - and it gives ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: A19 by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

I see this painting every week or two - it's a definite favorite, and it creates a clear mood of strength and confidence.

At first glance I thought that this painting was almost monochromatic, but when I started looking at the colors, I saw a pretty nice range of possibilities.

"It's a Good Idea..."

"An amazing idea, actually. But you do realize that you're going to have to visit every branch office and show them how to do it..."

Well yes, actually,she did know that. She was PLANNING on it...

"We're going to need to reserve the auditorium closest to each branch, so that the presentation can be made to as many people as possible simultaneously."

Happily, she was born without the stage-fright gene, so all she needs to ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Gulf of Saint Tropez by Claude Matisse

Summer's coming...

And some people are embracing the bright colors that come with the warmer weather:

This Year, A Uniform

They can call it a Jitney, but it's really just a bus. A very crowded, and often very overly air-conditioned bus. And she rides it EVERY WEEKEND in the summer, to get to the shore. But this year, she is NOT going to go through a bunch of angst and constant pondering about what to pack into her tiny bag, that she always ends up holding on her lap. This is it:

If her friends get tired of seeing her 2 dresses at brunch, the heck with them.... If she destroys this pair of shorts somehow, she'll buy another one just like them. She's just not going to worry about clothes, this summer...

Now, ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Lunar Eclipse Montage by Dr. Robert Vanderbei

Yes, I'm currently in Paris. (!!!!!!!)

But there are posts here, queued up in advance, for 6 days a week while I'm on vacation. Just because I go away doesn't mean that you don't need your almost-daily dose of The Vivienne Files!

Now, back to the beauty:

Sometimes, scientific documentation of natural phenomena is executed so perfectly that it becomes art:

Two colors, but WHAT colors:

Connected

She spends almost all of her time in her studio, alone. Her work is such that she wears only the most disposable of casual clothing, usually purchased from thrift stores. The materials with which she works, and the abandon with which she uses them, precludes neatness; an apron will NOT be helpful...

But now, an exhibit!

So she ... View the Post

How I Pack for Paris in a Carry-on Bag

Remember, my bag is a hard-sided Tumi carry-on, very much like the great-grandmother of this beauty:

My bag is pretty "whacked" on the exterior, but remains in very secure, solid condition! One of my better investments, I have to say...

One of the things about rolling bags that makes packing difficult is that the interior bottom of the bag is bumpy - the bars for the handle run through the bag and make the "floor" of your packing area bumpy. So the first thing I always try to do is use unwrinkleable things, like workout clothes, to level the floor. Here, I've taken running tights, rolled them into long cylinders (fold in half at the knee, and then roll a few times), and then placed a pair of these into each of the "ruts" in my bag. ... View the Post

How to Pack a Travel Capsule Wardrobe for Paris – the “Three Dresses” Version

Belovedest and I are going BACK to Paris on Friday! Yes, I was just there in December...

And I'm going to try the strangest variation on packing yet - since we're only there for 6 nights, and since I always fly back from Paris in the same outfit I wear for the flight over (with a change of tee shirt), I'm just packing three dresses, which will cover the 5 full days that we're there. Two pair of ballet flats, and a stack of scarves.... This is going to be interesting!

I'm sticking pretty close to my uniform for packing - tee shirt (with my one-of-a-kind star design!), cardigan, scarf, and pants that won't collapse after 8 hours of sitting. This cardigan is going to be really handy on this trip, as I can wear it over all 3 dresses, ... View the Post