shopping Archives - Page 6 of 9

#2 How to Choose an Hermes Scarf: Sous l’Egide de Mars

November 12, 2014

Yesterday's post was so much fun that I thought I'd take another pass through this idea: building little outfit vignettes in order to facilitate making an expensive and/or important personal style purchase. These ensembles here don't necessarily have to be about buying a scarf - I'm thinking of undertaking this exercise for the purchase of winter coats too...

This scarf is called "Sous l'Egide de Mars", which means (more or less) under the aegis of Mars. It's lots of pieces of armor, as near as I can tell, and thus is all about war. Still a madly pretty piece of work, as their scarves always are.

As always with me, I'm starting with a simple outfit in a solid color. I really like this tunic - it seems ... View the Post

Shopping in Amsterdam and Paris, September 2014

October 1, 2014

I did not shop the first four days I was in Europe, because I was escorting my two photographer friends, and we were BUSY finding great locations and walking, walking, walking! (there will soon be a new header for The Vivienne Files!)

But once B and I got to Amsterdam, I began to look about. I didn't throw myself madly into the process; I waited until I saw things that had whappage; if I hadn't found anything at all that really had appeal, then I wouldn't have wasted my very hard-earned money. It's important to remember how long it takes to earn money when you go to spend it - is object "X" worth 3, 5, or 14 hours of your effort? Sometimes, you just have to conclude that the answer is NO. (screamed loudly, ... View the Post

Before You Shop, Consider Rekindling the Romance with Your Closet

As we get well and truly entrenched in summer, many of us find our minds wandering longingly toward autumn clothing. There's something about that whole image of snuggling in front of the fireplace in a big squishy sweater, cup of tea in hand, Golden Retriever at our feet, book of poetry in our lap... (I'm only missing the fireplace and the dog!)

Retailers know perfectly well how we're feeling - in Chicago, autumn clothing is already beginning to hit the stores thick and fast. It would be terribly easy to wander into a store and pick up a sweater, or a snuggly wool dress, or boots. OOOOOhhhh, boots....

(I'm sorry, Southern Hemisphere, it's not lost on me that all of this is backwards for you!)

Let me toss out ... View the Post

Agnes, or a Work Wardrobe from the ’80’s

July 12, 2014

Back in the early 1980's, I was in graduate school, and I was the manager of one of the departments in a large department store. (I'm still catching up on my sleep!) One of the more interesting and educational responsibilities I had was to "ring up" all purchases made by staff in my department. I'm telling you this story, because I want to tell you about someone named Agnes. I'm not sure what we can learn from her example, but I still remember her so vividly after 30 years, and I still think sometimes that she was nobody's dummy...Agnes was probably in her mid 50's, employed 40 hours a week (remember the days when retail could be a career?), qualified for 3 weeks of vacation, health insurance, life insurance and all the ... View the Post

How to Shop via Mail Order, Successfully

May 10, 2014

Within an easy 30 minute walk of where I'm sitting right now, there are at least a couple of hundred clothing stores - good, bad, and absolutely ridiculous. But as often as not, I order new clothes over the internet and have them delivered here to the apartment. And I find, more and more, that the things that I buy through my computer turn out to be better purchases than those that I pick up in the store. How does this happen?

I've finally (53 years into the project) learned that there are some definite advantages to sitting in one's own home, making clothing decisions. Trying to figure out the reasoning behind all of this lead me to some guidelines that might work well for you, too.

Just buy some ... View the Post

A Winter Capsule Wardrobe, and the Full-Year Assortment, from Ma To-Do List: Dressing

May 2, 2014

Let's see if we can jointly make sense out of all of this, shall we? First off, working from the list of garments in Ma To-Do List: Dressing, I chose these garments as the Winter Capsule:

Yes, they suggested sleeveless tops for layering. The authors are in France, not Chicago...

In order to anchor all of this in some neutrals, I'm going to pull in seven simple, neutral garments to act as the core of all of these lists.

So I pulled out the outerwear and the swim suit, and this is the ensemble wardrobe that you have if you take their four "capsule wardrobe" suggestions together:

Frankly, I think this isn't a bad wardrobe at all. There are enough neutrals here to give you plenty of options for ... View the Post

18=216, in a really big, perfect wardrobe slot machine…

April 28, 2014

I said on Saturday that the idea of a wardrobe slot machine could be expanded, and one of my dearest friends was eager to see how this would play out. For some of us, the idea of getting dressed for work every day is just plain annoying - nobody is going to pay much attention to what we're wearing, as long as we're appropriately dressed.

So I promised her that I would show an example that would give her more than a week's worth of shirts or blouses (i.e. six), and then show how it could be expanded. Six top layers x six shirts or blouses x six pants or skirts =216 combinations.

She could literally shop once a year and then forget about work clothing for a long time... ... View the Post

The Spring 2014 “Must Have” List…. ahem

April 11, 2014

If you've been reading The Vivienne Files for very long, you know pretty well that I am NOT convinced that there is every ANYTHING that you must buy. I believe that the majority of us need to wear shoes, but beyond that, I think that clothing and accessories are pretty much an open field...

That said, most of us want to look as if we are at least somewhat aware of evolving culture and style around us. So when I saw a fairly reasonable five-item "must have" list, I thought I would at least take a look.

First item up was a total reject for me: Little White Dress.

White is not flattering on many of us. White is difficult to wear, from a see-through/lingerie point of view, and White gets dirty, and shows ... View the Post

Mood Boards, Style Boards, Inspirations Boards…

It's an old piece of advice - grab a stack of magazines, a pair of scissors, and start snipping out all of the things that you see that you love. Glom them all together, and look for unifying themes and motifs upon which you might be able to build a wardrobe.

Fashion designers are legendary for having a wall of their atelier covered with photographs, snippets of fabric and trim, and anything else that might help both inspire and focus them as they put together their collections. Is there any reason that this wouldn't work just as well for us? (keeping with yesterday's theme of thinking the way a designer thinks in order to curate our closets in the way a boutique is curated).

I don't like to call these mood boards - ... View the Post

A New Favorite French Book…

When I travel, I always try to find any cool books about style, fashion, wardrobe planning, art etc. etc... This one looks pretty innocuous, but since it's by the authors of L'Armoire Ideale des Parasseuses, I thought it was well worth grabbing.

For a long time, I've often pondered the difference between stores that we love, and closets that we detest. If this were my closet, I would be endlessly happy:

So how does one get to the point of loving one's closet as much as one's favorite store? This excellent book has a great mental strategy:

Your clothing = your boutique collection Think of your closet as the things that you would purchase if you were a buyer for a multi-brand boutique. You know how ... View the Post

Food, Shelter, Clothing and Optimal Wardrobe Size

March 29, 2014 Okay, you're fixing dinner for the four people in your family. So you roast 5 turkeys, and a side of beef, and 2 or 3 bushels of potatoes, and bake at least a dozen pies, right?Of course not - food is perishable, and you don't want to waste it.

You're out driving around and see a house that's really attractive, so you buy it. Yea, you already own 8 or 10 other houses - you've really lost track - but this one is pretty, and it's a great price. Right?

Of course not - houses are wicked expensive, and you simply can't afford to be this wasteful.

You can see where I'm going with this - almost all of us own more clothes than we need, and we keep shopping even though we have ... View the Post

Struggling with a “Good Deal”

I get lots of offers, and I'm sure you do too. Often, I find myself thinking about the offer a whole lot more than I really should, and a LOT more than the offer deserves... How to sort this out? Advice welcome; let me share with you my current dilemma.

I just received this in the mail. I have a very well-documented love of Eileen Fisher clothing and design, so seeing this in my mail will of course immediate spark my interest - at least to see what she's got new and interesting for this season called "spring", which I don't understand, here in sub-zero Chicago...

Flip over the mailer, and I get more intrigued:

If there's ANYTHING I like more than a tidy list of garments, I don't know what it is. ... View the Post