The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Six Paintings - 12 Months Archives - Page 8 of 13

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

April 25, 2025

If all goes as planned, I will be in Ireland when you read this!

Let's look for a moment at this quintessential summery painting:

When we last visited this heroine, her 20-piece wardrobe looked pretty great - this is another one of those collections with which one could travel for a really long time!

This heroine is SO ready to be outdoors, but she's also smart enough to realize that it's not all that warm, yet. A sweatshirt is always handy, and a long-sleeved shirt is almost 12 month clothing. Sleeves can be rolled!

And is the bracelet perfect for her?

Her 24-piece wardrobe feel exactly the same. More garments, more functional, but the same personal style!

And her accessories are - as is ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – Of by Elizabeth Magill

April 23, 2025

I often wonder about having a wardrobe that is essentially just two colors; for literally decades, I wore only black and white. That might be a bit stark now, but shades of grey, and shades of burgundy/pink? Hmm...

This heroine's 20-piece wardrobe from the last installment is the kind of thing that I would pack and run with for months... Sigh...

When our heroine saw that Eileen Fisher was offering graphite linen pieces, she was sold! Although the vest and pants are linen, there's really NO reason (except warmth) that they can't be worn all year. The vest has a lot of potential over shirts, tee shirts, on its own...

And who could resist the French lilac top and the floral scarf?

Her wardrobe doesn't ... View the Post

May 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

April 21, 2025

Well this feels weird, doesn't it? We just finished these paintings a few days ago, and now we're back with them.

Realistically (we can do realism once in a while, can't we?), this might be more the way a normal person would pull together a capsule wardrobe after cleaning out closets, or changing their life dramatically. It would be interesting to have just four garments for a month, then eight, then twelve garments in the third month, but most of us couldn't function very long that way!

So let's visit this heroine with her most enigmatic, yet alluring, painting inspiration:

When we just saw this heroine with her April wardrobe additions, she had a 20-piece wardrobe that looks as if it could get you through ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

April 8, 2025 It's snowing in Chicago. It might just be "lake-effect" snow - I live within sight of Lake Michigan - but it's still startling, in April.  But this heroine, big fan of the warmest, most intense colors, is ready for Spring! As has been true for all of our heroines, her 16-piece wardrobe from the end of March would be a great wardrobe for travel that included a range of temperatures: This heroine feels that her colors are hard to find, and she therefore grabs things that she sees in her colors as soon as they're available. I'm not actually certain that these colors are all that rare; I suspect we might find that we need to really stock up on olive and off-white at some stage. But she's right - who could resist this ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

April 7, 2025

I think I say the same thing with every painting - if I were starting from scratch, THIS color palette would really tempt me...

One of the things that always attracts me are the 16-piece wardrobes. This is a level at which you're looking at an appropriate number of garments for travel - wear 3, pack 13. This wardrobe would cover you - literally - from cold weather (a down jacket stuffed into the outside pocket of your suitcase?) to quite warm days - a tee shirt and shorts, with sandals.

I'm just itching to travel... Which is good, since we're leaving for Ireland (Fingers crossed!) at the end of the month!!!

Our heroine's current wardrobe has three teal sweaters, which is a lot! But this happens sometimes ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4 – Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

April 4, 2025

This is such a great painting to look at when it's still SO COLD here in Chicago; it feels like water, and growing green things, and sand, and sun...

I always picture this wardrobe as something for someone who lives all year at a place that's a big summer vacation destination. She is always in touch with sand, sky and water, but wearing some warmer fabrics! This was her wardrobe at the end of March:

She was quite smitten with the navy dress post here from the end of March, so a navy shirt and pants seems like an easy way for a "non-dress" person to replicate that idea. As I said before - a navy column is a navy column! 

Are the striped shoes too much? She was smitten, and sometimes you're going to buy ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Of by Elizabeth Magill

April 3, 2025

I really love this painting - so simple, such lovely colors, such texture...

This heroine's 16-piece "end of March" wardrobe in lovely, and would get one through quite a lot of travel:

 

This heroine was leaning toward warm weather clothes anyway - when she saw the foxglove dress, she knew for certain that she was on the right track! Neutral shorts and a matching tee shirt, and a pretty merino polo finish off her April shopping:

With her wardrobe augmented for warmer weather, this 20-piece capsule wardrobe could be used for round-the-world travel! (give me a suitcase and a ticket...)

Our heroine is all over the place with her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe plan, which kind of makes sense when ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

April 2, 2025

I'm really liking this painting, and this wardrobe, more every month. The four colors in the background are perfect accents for the colors of the two swans - I wish all paintings were this easy to analyze!

At the end of March, our heroine's 16-piece wardrobe was pretty well organized, and would make a good travel capsule wardrobe for a destination with moderate temperatures - nothing too hot, nor too cold!

Our heroine already has three blush garments, including a quarter-zip fleece top. But she doesn't have a simple sweater, and so she grabs this one! Grey jeans and a grey tee shirt are in her color palette, but a kind of new feeling for her wardrobe. And if you want a tee shirt in a specific color - even a ... View the Post

April 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

April 1, 2025

No, I don't do April Fool's Day jokes. Just not my style...

What I DO is look for a long time at beautiful paintings, and then dream of ways that we can internalize the beauty and colors from the paintings, and express that in our wardrobes! It's pretty fun...

Let's start with this beauty:

As March ends, with wind, rain and cold in Chicago, our heroine has this 16-piece wardrobe:

Maybe Spring has completely sprung where you live, but here in Chicago, we know (well, we TRY to remember!) that we aren't going to be consistently wearing warm-weather clothing until May. But that doesn't mean that we can't start looking at linen, and cotton sweaters, and SANDALS!!!

If we fit these new garments into our ... View the Post

The Fifth of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 7, 2025

My favorite sunny, warm, watery painting...

At the end of February, our heroine had this wardrobe; it has a couple of warm sweaters, to get her through her (short?) winter. I'm assuming that this heroine does NOT live in Maine, no matter where her favorite painting was painted!

This heroine is moving 100% into a warm-weather state of mind; she even has the good sense to grab a hat that she really likes early in the season. Heck, it gets sunny in March!

And if you like boat shoes, they're back "in style." As if they ever went OUT of style... Sheesh...

This is what our heroine's Weekly Timeless Wardrobe looks like now; I can see the merits of taking out the column for Winter and maybe duplicating the ... View the Post

The Fourth of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 6, 2025

Let's check up on our heroine who is working with the most limited color palette this year. Short of wearing just ONE color, this is maybe as small a palette as you can get. Well, maybe not, but after the multiple accent colors of our other wardrobes, this one seems quite streamlined!

At the end of February our heroine had a nice twelve-piece wardrobe - it would make a great travel capsule wardrobe... I'm thinking a lot about travel right now!

Our heroine has decided to shift her focus to warmer weather - especially in order to grab the sandals that she's wanted for a while! Yes, she won't be able to wear them for weeks, but at least she's not walking out of the store empty-handed when the weather finally ... View the Post

The Third of Six Paintings-Twelve Months, March 2025

March 5, 2025

Big news - my dear friend Scottie is having a sale on her scarves! Get thee to her website right now to see the possibilities!

A lovely, if deeply enigmatic, painting:

That wee geometric thingy on the breast of the white swan... Hmm...

At the end of February, this heroine had a pretty and very useful wardrobe:

This heroine decided to really emphasize spring clothes this month! Maybe she wears a size that's hard to find, or maybe she's been burned in the past by having things sell out that she really liked! And she decided to break out with a pure white top - she's not afraid of wearing white with ivory...

Her new additions make a big difference this month! Adding a pair of pants that aren't dark ... View the Post