The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Should I Buy This Scarf? How to decide if you really ought to buy an accessory…

I saw this, and was immediately captivated. I am, of course, two months into a year without shopping, so the question of buying the scarf isn't really relevant to me personally, but it is something that we all confront: "Should I Buy This?"

It's an intriguing scarf - it's not really a traditional floral design, and the color scheme is subtle and quite pretty. I imagine that this would be very flattering on a lot of women! (and it comes with an ivory background - rather than the black - if that appeals....)

My thinking? Imagine a spectrum of outfits - from very casual to somewhat dressy - that would be perfect with this scarf. And then think seriously - are these outfits that I already own, or that I would be willing to eventually ... View the Post

How to Wear Aquamarines – the March Birthstone. I Have Suggestions…

From now on, I'm going to try to write the "birthstone" post a few days before the beginning of the corresponding month - in case you have a gift to find. (and yes, gifts to yourself are legitimate gifts!)

This turned out to be a much more difficult blog post than I expected. Normally, the first thing I would do is Google the word "aquamarine" and see how the color is "defined," i.e. how you arrange your RGB settings to get that color. (RGB is Red Green Blue - numerical settings that you can combine to get any color of the rainbow...) Then I'd change the word "Aquamarine" on each page to that shade of blue, as well as change the wee diamonds in the page dividers to that hue.

Well, THAT was interesting. It turns out that there are a ... View the Post

How to Wear Garnets – the January Birthstone? I ALWAYS have some ideas…

Yes, we're playing catch-up here; the idea of writing about birthstones wasn't sent to me until late in January, so I missed writing about garnets during "their" month. And going forward, I'm going to write about each stone a few weeks before it is "in season," so that if you're inclined to get something in anticipation of a birthday, you'll have a chance to plan ahead some.

Since this posts follows so quickly on the heels of the post about the February amethysts, I stuck with the same garments (for the most part) and just found new and lovely accessories!

One of the fun things about garnets is the range of shades of red available - everything from a pretty bright "true" red through to a deep maroon or burgundy shade. That makes it easier ... View the Post

How to Pick Accessories for a Grey-Based Wardrobe – Start With Art: Paris Dreaming by Peter Rumney

You might remember that yesterday we were looking at this very pretty painting and building a wee wardrobe around it:

And that we left that post with this capsule wardrobe assembled using our backbone template:

There's an interesting conundrum around the idea of accessorizing this wardrobe - it's inherent in the very different two "sides" of the template: bright vs neutral. One the one hand, a few bright accessories are going to be good fun to complement the bright blouses and sweater that I've included. However, you don't ever want to go overboard in that direction, because you can end up looking a bit cartoonish, and you don't want to leave your "all-neutral" outfits without any jewelry, shoes, scarves or bags!

So I am going to see ... View the Post

How to Accessorize a Capsule Wardrobe: Head by Pablo Picasso

This is really growing on me! Remember, on Friday, we started with the painting, "Head" by Picasso (which you may or may not really love - that's certainly up to you!):

Which, through a couple of steps of planning and shopping, gave us this 13-piece capsule or travel wardrobe. This is a wardrobe that's extremely versatile, giving you appropriate things to wear for every activity from a nice evening out to a hike in the park!

I also showed 15 outfits on Friday, but they were bereft of accessories! Now, let's look at the same 15 outfits, with a few nice accessories added in to provide balance, accent, and something to wear on your feet!

Yes, the tan flats are completely superfluous, and you might choose not to pack them, in order to ... View the Post

How to Choose Business Accessories, One at a Time – With a Navy Suit

Monday, we pulled together a wonderful business capsule wardrobe with a navy suit for the reader with a new job, but let's get her some accessories too!

Obviously, she had shoes on when she interviewed, but let's add a beautiful pair of black pumps, with comfortably low heels, to her wardrobe first:

And I always want earrings, sooner than later. I know women who never wear them and who look just fine, but I always feel more... complete? finished? when I get my earrings on...

While it's entirely possible to carry everything you need in your pockets when you're just banging around town, for work, a nice bag is essential. I didn't try to get navy leather goods for this wardrobe, because they are much harder to find than black, and ... View the Post

Build an Accessory Wardrobe 1 Piece at a Time: Soir d’Octobre by Maurice Denis

Yesterday's capsule wardrobe based on Soir d'Octobre was pretty great, but we can't just leave our imaginary heroine like this:

Let's remember our inspiration:

So let's work step by step - just as we did yesterday - and add all of the essential accessories (and a few fun ones) to this wardrobe.

First, one must have shoes! This time of year, a pair of short boots is a nice warm choice:

I know that many women would want a handbag immediately, but for me, I don't feel dressed unless I'm wearing earrings!

Here, I decided to test-drive the theory that I could walk into a store looking for... a pair of gold hoop earrings, maybe, and find enough choices to feel comfortable. In this particular case, and at Talbots, it turned out to work ... View the Post

12 Months, 12 Outfits in 6 Capsule Wardrobes: September

It's really starting to sink in with me how big this file is!  31 pages of images, all but 1 of which gets changed each month... But it's such a fun exercise!

As always, let's first look at the scarves around which we are building the 6 capsule wardrobes:

For all six outfits for September, I included a flannel shirt, corduroy pants, shorts boots, gloves, a scarf, and some kind of vest. Within those fairly strict guidelines, I still was able to pull together some wide-ranging looks!

And yes, I would wear a plaid scarf with a plaid shirt. In a heartbeat...

Only 21 pieces of clothing, but it just feels like more, doesn't it?

The new additions are going to integrate nicely into the previously existing wardrobe:

After ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Brights

I always intended to do 3 posts with this dress, yesterday's pastels, today's bright colors, and on Friday I'm going to look at some muted shades... (tomorrow is the first of the month - time to revisit those "1 Outfit per Month" wardrobes!) So today, I changed the shoes, but kept to the same general theme of working through a range of colors.

(These seven images look really great together on my computer; I don't often notice this, but I've got this lovely rainbow running down the side of my desktop right now...)

The color spectrum isn't quite the same as yesterday, but I still worked my way around the color wheel. Doing this ensures that I don't miss any possibilities; it's something to consider when you're looking for just the right ... View the Post

One Navy Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear it With Pastels

This is a great dress - it appears to be fairly trimly cut until it reaches the hips, and then swish!

I took a little bit different approach to this dress - I found simple, classic navy shoes that I've included with all of the pastel colors. And there's a pretty straightforward formula for these - I looked for scarves, bracelets, earrings, necklaces and bags in the accent color, and then chose the pieces that I liked the most! My criteria were pretty much that the accessories should be as close in color to the cardigan as reasonably possible, and that they share a feeling or aesthetic. (that last part is hard to define, but I know what I like when I see it!)

This is an obvious color scheme, if you spend a lot of time studying the color ... View the Post

One Dark Grey Dress in a Capsule Wardrobe: 14 Ways to Wear It

I could wear this dress a lot...

At its most basic, you can approach this dress with simple metallic silver accessories, or you can combine silver and shades of grey:

I love the contrast between the deep, cool color of this dress and the equally strong, but warm shades of camel or caramel. Mixing warm and cool colors isn't off-limits, if you balance the strength or intensity of the colors.

Truly, I don't think there's a color in the world that doesn't look good with navy. I particularly like the subtle contrast between these 2 dark colors...

Back in the '80s, there was an approach to dressing that encouraged you to find your best lipstick and blush colors, and the to find clothes that matched those colors. Not ... View the Post