rose Archives

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

EXPANDED Start with Art: Bouquet des Fleurs in the style of Jan van Huysum

Quite a few people wanted to see what I would do to expand last Thursday's travel wardrobe, based on a beautiful floral painting...

I enlarged the color palette to include the softer shades of pink, all of the possibilities in green, and the various shades of blue...

This was the wardrobe that we had for the original travel wardrobe:

First wave - I thought that I would look for a couple of different shades of rose pink, in 2 different silhouettes. The scarf isn't an identical match for either of the tops, but it works well with both - always remember that scarves don't have to be dye-lot matched to work! The green sweater is classic, and when paired with the green loafers, can be worn with any of the navy pants or the skirt. And in ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: Little Harbor in Normandy by Georges Braque (Version 1)

I've never really accepted the idea that women can, uniformly, only wear warm colors or cool colors. I know that for many of us, it's a great guideline for wardrobe discipline, and helps coordinate things beautifully, but I still wonder why someone who loves black and white as much as I do would have gold and orange highlights in their eyes... Oh well, it's a great subject for conversation... But I think of that when I look at this painting, which skews two very different directions, color-wise:

I seriously considered sawing the painting in half (metaphorically, of course) and using the bottom half for today, and the top half on Monday for a study that includes grey... But I think we can all manage to focus on the warm tone today, and ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe Starts with Art: In Vaudeville: Dancer with Chorus by Charles Demuth

Yesterday, the accents we used in the so-called French 5-Piece wardrobe were all colors in the same range of intensity and saturation - they were somewhat soft, and very clear. This painting takes us in a couple of rather different directions!

The accent colors suggested by this painting range from a really elegant neutral taupe to quite a vivid yellow/gold, as well as all shades of warm rose pink.

The base pieces for this wardrobe might rely more than usual on black, as suggested by the tuxedo on the central dancer:

I love taupe, and it's terribly difficult to find. But this cardigan is EXACTLY what I was hoping to find - fluid, soft, with movement.

I wasn't as successful in finding that kind of "swing" in the shades of ... View the Post

The French 5-Piece Wardrobe – Start with Art: Sure Violet by Helen Frankethaler

Of course, we all know that the French don't really just buy 5 pieces of clothes a year - that's sort of silly. But there is some truth to the idea that they buy five major accent pieces twice a year. So let's think about taking a really simple, basic capsule wardrobe and seeing what we can do with adding 5 new pieces (and some accessories, of course!) First up, let's start with a really lovely work of art:

Today we're just looking at accent colors, and this painting is perfect for that! If we wanted to build a summer wardrobe around this, could you imagine using off-white silk and linen as the neutral, and then these four colors? Mmmm....

This is the core wardrobe that I'm suggesting - I think that having grey pants instead of ... View the Post

Expanding a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Night Study of Flowers by Maurice Prendergast

When you're looking for color and style ideas for updating a capsule wardrobe, always remember that the world is FULL of beautiful paintings:

Even though I'm pretty certain that I'm going to struggle to find green garments of this soft, subtle tone, I have to include it in the color palette! But when you encounter real road-blocks in find things that are perfect in your wardrobe, you just have to be patient, or learn to sew/knit. Worse hobbies exist!

A reminder that these are the capsule wardrobe "essentials" around which we're building:

And a reminder that these simple wardrobe essentials (in whatever color palette is truly essential for YOU) give you plenty of options:

I really love this color, and firmly believe that ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait of Madame Lisle and Madame Loubens by Degas

A long time ago, someone asked for me to work with a painting by Degas; it's taken months, but I'm finally on it! (I really do try to get to as many requests as possible, I hope you understand...)

If you just glanced at this painting, it might seem somber and sort of gloomy. But give it a minute - there's a lot of warmth and beauty here. These women appear comfortably tucked up in the lap of luxury!

So I felt that the black component was impossible to avoid, but it seemed equally inevitable that the accent colors would be warm:

No Need for Accolades

Now that everything is finally accomplished, and all of the celebratory events are beginning, it would only be natural that she might want a bit of the credit, and of ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Vintage Rose by Kathkath

Who wouldn't want to win this?

One of you will win this glorious creation - just leave a comment to be entered to win! Kathkath are the NICEST people...

And I'm of COURSE going to do some wardrobing around this wondrous piece...

I wanted to think more about the idea of the "Whatever's Clean 13" and different ways to go about creating a grouping that will simplify your life - at least when you're getting dressed!

So I thought I'd dig WAY back into the archives of my brain, and The Vivienne Files, for the "Not So Crazy Eights" - the idea that owning eight garments in the same color might be the smartest thing you can do.

Let's hypothesize that someone in the world is pretty committed to her black wardrobe, so the first eight aren't ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Black Dahlia by Yuh Okano

When this scarf arrived Chez Vivienne Files, I thought "there's no way on planet Janice that I'm giving this scarf away!"

But of course, I managed to rein in my enthusiasm and genuine admiration for this beauty, and I'm going to give it to one of you. Leave a comment... and yes, no matter where you are in the world, you may certainly comment and be entered to win! I'll ship anywhere...

It's a crispy but sheer silk organza (?), and it's primarily black, white and shades of grey, but there's this elusive hint of pink that makes it just... riveting. You can get truly mesmerized looking at it! The size is about 6' by 1' - a nice manageable size for a big fluffy bow...

Colors were so easy!

In addition to giving this ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Bright Women in Front of the Hat Shop by August Macke

This painting is great - I want to revisit this one with a more fall/winter orientation. For warm weather, my first thought was that the shades of blue reminded me of denim and chambray, accented with that YELLOW, the rose, and some acid green (which I didn't address here, but might in the future!)

So this is my warm-weather color scheme:

Everyone is at the lake but you...

Yes, everyone else went to the cabin last night. But you KNEW that you had to go into the office this morning - that client report wasn't going to write itself!

But if you put your head down and WRITE, you can be out of the office by 2:00 or so - in time to get to the lake for cocktails...

Since you never know who might be in the office on ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Portrait de Jeune Fille by Marie Laurencin

I love this painting - I'm a big Marie Laurencin fan anyway. This girl's expression is so very much "I know what I'm doing, probably a whole lot better than you do..." I respect that kind of quiet confidence!

This color scheme is feminine without being frilly or lacy - I see the femininity here conveyed in soft lines, sheer fabrics, and a calm attitude. These are the colors of The Vivienne Files, too!

In honor of this young lady's calm assurance, I was thinking of this as one of those business trips where you're the only person with a clue. We know this kind of trip:

You wrote the macro. Not ANYBODY at the home office - YOU. But now, they want you to COME to the home office to write the documentation. You know perfectly ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Scarf: Capri, again, with a different color palette

You ask, I deliver! This very beautiful scarf, from the company Radical Chic, with a color scheme that emphasizes the rosy tones, and the grey base:

Today's core of neutral is quite a bit dressier than the light brown from yesterday; maybe you have more work on your agenda, or the tone of the vacation is dressier. I would think that the Orient Express could justify a skirt...

I kept yesterday's white linen separates - most because I'm smitten with the dress! But while white trousers can never be true workhorses of your trip, they do bring a summery beauty to a travel wardrobe.

Of course, here's where the fun is! But I think we can all agree that finding subtle colors, that don't scream PINK or PURPLE, is difficult. Sometimes ... View the Post