pink Archives

Personalizing a Favorite Capsule Wardrobe

Today I'm looking back at one of my all-time favorite blog posts, and choosing how I would interpret it in my own wardrobe!

My computer screen savers are all images from The Vivienne Files, that change ever 20 seconds or so. Although they are supposed to be randomly chosen from a huge file of images, in fact I see the same wardrobes fairly often, and this one I see EVERY DAY:

Something about this just feels so right to me...

So in my dream travel, I'm going to... either Ireland or Paris - it doesn't really matter. If I'm in Ireland I'm going to have some business to transact, and if I'm in Paris, I want to look lovely...

After much consideration, this is what I would pack. I don't own these exactly same clothes (although ... View the Post

Start with Art: Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe based on The Swan No. 21 by Hilma af Klint

Yes, this should be the "Six Scarves, 12 Outfits" post, but I forgot that I was working on a post for the first day of April! Frankly, I'm thrilled to see the end of March - aren't you?

I will get that post for you tomorrow, I promise...

Our heroine had hoped to see the Hilma af Klint exhibit in Malmö, but she might not make it...

But she's still a massive fan of the artist!

Now that she's free to travel, she's going to Stockholm for a long weekend to the Moderna Museet, to see some art! This is going to be her color palette for her travel capsule wardrobe:

She has decided that she's beautiful. After spending so much time alone, it's finally dawned on her that her body has done wonderful things for her, ... View the Post

Start with Swimwear? Building a Travel Capsule Wardrobe

"The say that we can go up to the island, if we voluntarily observe social distancing for 14 days..."

please note that this is the same style swim suit that I bought for myself, and I can recommend it without hesitation; I look splendid in mine, and THAT's saying something!

She had realized about a week ago that her life was changing, and her attitudes were... surprising.

After decades of being self-conscious about wear a swim suit, or going into the ocean around other people, she realized that she was worrying about ALL THE WRONG STUFF...

And so she planned for things to be different, now.

She was going to participate fully. In everything. Including splashing, and building sand castles, and just plain sitting under ... View the Post

Accent a Bone and Tan wardrobe with Rose Tan and Classic Blue

I'm currently in Florida, and the weather is changing every few minutes, it seems! So I thought that I'd share a wardrobe that spans a range of warm-ish weather...

Let's start with some pink!

Some days it's plenty warm enough to go swimming, and other days you definitely want "real" shoes, socks, and a sweater! If you're traveling to a destination like this, you've GOT to plan ahead...

It makes sense that the bone garments will be for the warmest weather...

These last 4 pieces offer a lot more options...

I have a blonde friend (or 10!) who would be beautiful in this wardrobe. These aren't my colors, but I could travel for a long time with this in a bag:

When I started looking at outfits, I thought I ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Fan by Marie Laurencin, and Test-Driving a New Neutral

Her favorite neutral is navy, too. But her approach is a bit different from our last heroine!

She's just plain and simply a more dressy woman. It's her style...

Yes, she has a simple tee shirt, but her button-front is in silk, and instead of jeans, she plans to pack velvet pants... Still, because of her disciplined color palette, she has just as many outfit options as her more... vivid friends!

Her favorite painting dictated pink as an accent color. Nothing else is acceptable!

She already can see so many ways to wear her new additions... touring museums, sitting in a cafe, perhaps an opera or ballet?

She really, really, REALLY wanted to find that bluish-purple color that's on the left side of her painting. ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Persia, by Helen Frankenthaler

Back at the beginning of the summer, our heroine managed to finish the report to which she had dedicated 3 months of her life. Far from being chastised for her work's inadequacies, she was warmly praised, and given 2 weeks of vacation and a well-deserved bonus...

She loves this painting, and tries to use it as her guide and inspiration for her wardrobe:

The Luncheon Speaker Now, her proposals have gone corporate-wide! And she's heading to the launch luncheon at the home office to speak about her work...

The overall dress code of her company is VERY casual, but she's been advised by some of her supervisors that the home office can be dressier. Not that anybody can be specific about what that means... sigh...

So she's ... View the Post

Start with a Bracelet – The July Pink and Grey bracelet from Fierce Lynx Designs

It's that happy day of the month when we get to see a new and absolutely lovely bracelet set from Alison at Fierce Lynx Designs!

If you would like a bracelet in pink and grey that has a bit more muted pink, and a darker grey, check out her bracelet designed expressly for The Vivienne Files! I wear mine all the time... Her Uniform is Navy Blue... With accents of burgundy and khaki. And she's absolutely SICK of it...

Which is not to say that she doesn't love her job, or that she won't be happy to go back to it in a week... But for the cold evenings and warm days at the lake house, she's NOT wearing anything that reminds her of work!

Yes, taking white clothes on vacation might seem a little bit risky, but they're JUST ... View the Post

Revisiting Art: Ornamental Composition for Social Spaces #14 by Kamrooz Aram

Last August, she pulled together a 4 by 4 Wardrobe based on her favorite wardrobe; she liked it so much, she thought that it would make a good base for a travel wardrobe too! Since the weather is warm, she's going to look for the lighter shades of her accent colors.

She's only going for a long weekend, so she knows that she doesn't want to pack a lot! And she recently bought herself a jacket and pants in her favorite green, so she knows that she wants to wear that while she's traveling...

She decides to be organized, and deliberate, in her packing. She thought about what 6 items she would want to pack...

She knows that the smartest thing to do, when packing very few items, is to stick to a core of her black neutral, ... View the Post

Start with Art: Tete Blanche et Rose by Henri Matisse

Ride up With Me! "I'm going up to the beach house for the weekend - I'm going to drive, so you can just go with me!"

Her wardrobe palette is deeply invested in black, but for this weekend she eschewing the dark, and going straight-up pastels!

So she tossed her bag into the back seat...

She was expecting the air conditioning to be on full blast, so she pulled a shirt on over her tank top...

She doesn't expect to swim all that much, but she takes her suit along just in case! She does plan to walk along the beach a lot, so water shoes are definitely in the bag...

Generally, at least some people go out for a meal or two, or they go into town to buy groceries and browse around... She makes sure that she ... View the Post

Start with Art: Persia by Helen Frankenthaler

Sun She had worked on the report for 3 months. But when she turned it in, she could still only see places where she wished that she had more time - she could have done so more!

So when she was called into the manager's office on Friday afternoon, she assumed that she was going to be given notice. She was pondering how to pack the things from her desk with the least disruption to the people around her...

Imagine her delight when she was praised for her efforts, given a hefty bonus, and told not to come back to the office for 10 days!

She's going somewhere warm. Just to sit outside, and maybe walk around a little bit. She wants to see birds swimming on a body of water, and watch little children playing....

It took ... View the Post

April Showers Bring May Flowers…

And sometimes, flowers are what inspire you to update your warm-weather wardrobe...

Many of us have a pretty decent core wardrobe to carry us into the warm weather...

Many people could get through quite a bit of the summer with just these 9 garments - especially if you have to dress for work every day, and this is your leisure wardrobe.

But maybe you want to brighten up your core wardrobe with some pretty colors?

Even just one "French 5-Piece Wardrobe" in an accent color can give you quite a few new outfit options:

Maybe you're in the mood for orange?

Lace is fun for summer - not insanely dressy, just a pretty way to update a tee shirt...

The nice thing about getting a sweater in an ... View the Post

Adding to a Starter Wardrobe in Black, Grey, Brown and Pink

When we left our heroine on Friday, she had assembled a small, but quite versatile, core wardrobe with 11 garments:

From here, our heroine's choices will depend on what she most needs for her day-to-day life, as well as making certain that she's prepared for those dressy occasions that catch one off guard. It is for the latter that I always suggest that ALL of us have a "nice" outfit in reserve. While you certainly can substitute pants for this skirt, if you're absolutely NEVER going to wear a skirt, for most of us this next outfit will come in handy more often than we might expect...

And we are kind of long overdue for getting this heroine a good jacket! The nice thing with this length of trench coat is that it can be worn ... View the Post