Six-Packs Archives

Want A Different Way to Pack? Start With Sandals – Ellen Backstrap Sandals by Keen

March 14, 2025

Sometimes, you're inspired by something that might not speak to many people. That's fine - you're one of a kind, and your inspiration will be unique!

How about these?

I didn't find all of these colors readily available right now in summer clothing, but it's always good to know colors to keep in mind...

Our heroine's dashing off for a quick weekend somewhere casual - and the weather promises to be unusually warm for March! It can happen - yesterday was shirtsleeves weather in Chicago...

So she's driving off like this:

It's very likely that they will go out for dinner - somewhere nice, but not stuffy or prim... Otherwise, she expects to walk and look out over the water, or to sit, and look out over ... View the Post

Love Black and White with Pink and Purple? Lucinda by Sofia Bonati

January 22, 2025

She's a specialist in flowers. As they appear in medieval manuscripts, as decorations for big fancy capital letters, or inserted as a border, or a section break. Many people don't realize that the choice of flower in each location is important, and has meaning!

She's a rare person...

She's recently written a guide to flowers found in documents from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. It's not really a technical book - more of a guide for the layman who finds these sorts of things fascinating! Her publisher has invited her to New York for a couple of days for some final proofing of the cover design and the "blurbs" that will be on the back cover. Dinner will be an event, every night she's ... View the Post

Feeling Colorful? Start with a Scarf – The JJ Martin Scarf by Echo

February 16, 2024

It's been a few days (well, weeks...) since we've had a new Echo 100 scarf - but the new ones are well worth the wait!

This scarf - endless, ENDLESS possibilities:

One could choose any colors from this to include in a palette - brown and red? beige and orchid? It took me a couple of minutes to settle into what I wanted...

My choice - this time! - was to select a variety of accent colors, one soft, one bright and warm, one bright and cool, as well as the three most obvious neutrals of brown, beige and white:

If our heroine is yet another among you who is travel in the Spring (and BOY are there a lot of you planning to run about in March and April!), I'm assuming that she will want to travel in dark ... View the Post

Start with Art – Hydrangea 1918 by C.F.A. Voysey

January 8, 2024

Flu still lingers, but I had enough "oomph" to spend some time looking at this beauty:

Technically, this should be called "Start with Wallpaper!" because that's what this is... I will maintain 'til my dying breath that you can choose (or find) your favorite colors almost anywhere.

Maybe not in garbage, but I'm not ruling it out!

My thinking here, from the very beginning, was that beige and denim/chambray would be this heroine's neutrals, and the green and lilac would be her accent colors. But I suspect that using beige and green as neutrals, with blue and lilac accents, would also work...

The colors I've chosen are for those who don't feel strongly about the duality of "warm/cool" colors - if you really ... View the Post

Business Travel Packing Made Easy? Start with a Scarf: Tré Seals Scarf By Echo

November 15, 2023

I've been planning to buy one (well, at least one!) of the Echo 100 Scarves, from their amazing anniversary project; I knew that something would have whappage, and be irresistible to me...

You're shocked, I know:

Okay, this might be unnecessary, but it's what we do here on The Vivienne Files!

This heroine isn't me - although it certainly could have been me in my advertising days!

Our intrepid friend today is heading to one of those cities that starts with an N - New York, Newark, Northampton, Nantes? She will only be there 3 nights, and during the day she will be training employees of her company in cool and fascinating research techniques...

The weather will be moderate - not that ... View the Post

Year 2! Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year – Kokuu – Grain Rain

April 26, 2023

Why yes, 2 seasons in 3 days! It's sort of like living in Chicago...

(at least if you live with me, where being forgetful is a way of life!)

Given the scattered and disorganized way I'm living these days, I thought that a really simple, comprehensive little cluster of clothes might be something useful for me; I could open my closet and find clothes that I can wear for anything from warm to reasonably cold...

It's kind of like the stress dressing that I've addressed in the past; having enough ready any time, just in case you're suddenly invited out to lunch, or for a walk, or for a meeting with your tax preparer! (THAT is stress...)

If the weather is cool, a shirt, sweater, pants and closed ... View the Post

Start with Art: Version 2 Man in a Café by Juan Gris

October 21, 2022

Our heroine from Wednesday is back on the road, with a rather different color palette!

This trip is going to be both more casual AND more dressy - so our heroine is including both jeans and sequins!

note that she's packing exactly the same number of everything...

There's that one dinner (concert, opera?) that gives her permission to break out the really dressy top...

She loves the way this looks - it's just like her last travel capsule wardrobe, but it's NOTHING like it, at the same time. It's kind of magic...

She has lots of ways to wear these pieces too - it's built into her system:

Imagine what she could do if she packed BOTH of these for a trip!

do you think that this is a ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Vintage Blooms scarf by Lost Pattern NYC

October 17, 2022

Sometimes, It's Hard to Decide...

It's a trip that they make a few times a year - pick a city, pick a concert, or an art exhibit, or something interesting, and take a long weekend vacation!

But she's struggling to pack - she knows that black is the neutral, but what is her accent color?

A close look at her current favorite scarf suggests to her that maybe she could pack more than 1 accent color. Maybe more than 2. Maybe MORE THAN THREE?

Honestly, why not? Once she has her core of black items, adding just 1 gold sweater isn't a crime - so long as she has a plan for how to accessorize...

Her dream is always that some event will force them to stay for longer than 5 ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Peonies Silk Scarf by Arlo Goods

April 4, 2022

She's Always Rather Dressy... She always has been - they've all known each other since school, and she was always the most dressed-up of them all at any event! Not that she was ever inappropriate - just a notch or 2 fancier than them..

So when they make plans to get together for a long weekend in the city, they look forward to seeing her, (of course!) and seeing how she is dressed!

For what it's worth, she's hysterically funny, very generous, and an all-around great friend...

This weekend should be particularly interesting; they've got tickets to Orchestra Hall, and dinner reservations another night at one of the new, "fancy" restaurants that has recently opened...

They haven't all been together ... View the Post

March 2022 Start with a Bracelet: The Empowered Lynx Bracelets

March 21, 2022

Spring!!!

She finally realized that nobody pays much attention to what she wears... So long as she is appropriately covered, doesn't smell terrible, and isn't decked out in something garish or deliberately conspicuous, it really doesn't seem to matter!

So how does this empower her? Now she is wearing her favorite clothes more often. She's packing less and is comfortable repeating garments or entire outfits during a trip. She cares more about HER feelings in her clothes than about the reactions of the rest of the world...

So taking a long weekend away in March isn't nearly as intimidating as it once was.

The weather? Could be toasty, could be cool.

Once upon an insecure time, she could have used ... View the Post

(Almost) Everyone Can Wear Green!

February 9, 2022

After working on this post, I saw green every time I closed my eyes for HOURS... seriously!

Lots of questions have been posed lately about wearing green. At least in theory, every person should be able to find a shade of green that is flattering to them. Green is poised between blue (which defines "cool" colors) and yellow (which defines "warm" colors) on the color wheel. If you don't want to wear "right down the middle" true green, you can just slide off toward blue, or toward yellow...

These are some of the shades of green that I found readily available right now:

If you want to dabble in the possibility of green, but don't want to go completely nuts, you really only need to get 2 or 3 things in order to ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Homecoming Mum by ImageDiary

September 10, 2021

When ImageDiary released this scarf, it was meant to be a "one of a kind" piece. I bought it immediately, but realized that she really SHOULD make more than just one... it's that beautiful!

So Scottie has agreed to have 5 more produced, if there are orders for them. This scarf is huge, and breathtakingly lovely. Trust me... This Year, She's Going... After her book was on the Times Best Sellers list for most of the winter and spring, she began to get invitations. She expected that.

But when she was asked to be the Grand Marshal at her college's Homecoming Parade, and flip the coin for the big football game, she was... conflicted.

College wasn't the party and socializing fest for her that it can be for so many ... View the Post