The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Start With Nature Archives

A Colorful Moon by Alain Paillou – Start with Nature to Inspire a Tote Bag Travel Wardrobe

Once in a .... She almost didn't pick up the call when it came in; she didn't recognize the number, but something told her that it was important...

It was the Probate Court down in the capital... She needed to come down because she was a beneficiary of her great-aunt's estate...

And - oh yes - there was a check being FedEx'ed to her to offset her expenses. She was planning to take the train down, so she didn't really expect to have expenses...

A REALLY BIG CHECK! With a note from her great-aunt telling her to spend it ALL on herself, and to really be silly about it...

Well okay, if that's what she really wants, I must respect her wishes, right?

If this is the expense money, it's anybody's guess what the actual inheritance ... View the Post

The Twelve Art Works of Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of those who are celebrating today, and a warm and wonderful day to everyone!

Today I've got 12 works of art for you - 11 paintings and 1 pretty amazing photograph, along with color palettes, and a sense of how the colors might be made to work in a wardrobe.

I've chosen almost all "modern" works of art - for what we do here on The Vivienne Files, I need to have a relatively limited color palette. Paintings that are completely realistic tend to have every color of the rainbow in them, and THAT would make a carefully edited wardrobe almost impossible!

So, if you have time, and if you have an opinion (or 12!), tell me if you'd like to see any of these developed into a wardrobe. If you've a preference for warm weather ... View the Post

Can a Corporate Wardrobe have Personality? Start With Nature! An Ocean Photograph by LBToma

I've received some requests for wardrobes that address the desire to return to the workforce without completely sacrificing personal expression. Of course, this is going to depend entirely on the nature of the office in which you find yourself - some are still pretty strict, while other will let you wear pretty much anything that gets you into the office without getting arrested!

But let's assume that you need to start out pretty cautiously; all of the internet "chat" about the office talks about their very old-school image, in the eyes of the public. Once you're in, and find your niche, you can branch out a bit.

This photograph was on that amazingly fun site Design Seeds - I thought that these colors would be a good starting point, since ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Central Cygnus Skyscape by Robert Gendler

If you don't know about the Astronomy Picture of the Day site, you're in for a treat. Some of these are amazing, and many are also amazingly beautiful...

Our heroine today was very inspired by this particular image...

Finally Released... After 6 weeks in the hospital, and then in rehab, she's finally free! But her clothes are positively hanging off of her - never let it be said that hospital food isn't good for something. And with her surgery and weight loss came a new phenomenon - she often feels cold. She missed a large chunk of the summer, and now fall is staring her in the face, and the only pants that she can wear have drawstrings, and look more like pleated skirts than anything else!

Shopping is essential... And she has a ... View the Post

Can I wear Black and Orange and not look like Halloween?

Of course!

Flash back to one of my favorite posts - based upon a montage of images of a lunar eclipse, and see how just the right shades of orange can look great with black! Do notice the way the accessories echo her affection for the moon - moonstone jewelry, a single round button on a sweater, the round face of her watch (accented with a round gold dot!)...

love, Janice ... View the Post

When All Else Fails – Reruns!

My computer is grumpy, and my sore throat is grumpy... it's just grumpy world here!

So I'm going to suggest that you go back and visit a post from about a year ago, that's one of my favorites...

I really love the consistent moon and stars feeling, as well as the variety of pieces available in navy and white. And her story of insomnia...

Some days, I'm positively proud of what I create!

love, Janice ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch: Evaluating and Balancing, based on Lightning over Colorado by Joe Randall

One last time:

Mr. Randall has a great eye, doesn't he?

When we left our wardrobe at the end of the day yesterday, this is where we were - 25 pieces, lots and lots of ways to wear them, a good balance of colors EXCEPT those 2 beige/brown pieces. I'm still not feeling comfortable with them...

If you need to catch up to where we are, check Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and yesterday's posts.

In order to evaluate this wardrobe, there are lots of options (see the various ways that I reviewed the "12 Months, 12 Outfits" wardrobes for some ideas), but I like to just sort by color and see what seems obvious.

They grey items look great - a little heavy on outerwear and sweaters, which suggests a blouse, shirt or tee shirt might be a good ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch: Adding Variety, based on Lightning over Colorado by Joe Randall

We're up to a 15-piece capsule wardrobe, all based on this truly amazing photograph:

I'm still not tired of the photograph...

You can see how we got this far by looking back to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Here's another... color scheme hurdle? I'm not sure what to call it... but I'm still struggling with the inclusion of the warm tan/camel/brown color family in this wardrobe, and I'm not quite sure why...

But one of the easiest ways to incorporate these colors into a wardrobe is through camel - specifically, a camel sweater. And just in case you were wondering, these sweaters from Uniqlo (like the turtleneck shown here) are very nice quality, and very affordable. They're not life-investments, but if you've always wanted to own ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch: The Core Pieces, based on Lightning over Colorado by Joe Randall

Join me on this adventure! Someone wrote to me last week, after I showed this amazing storm photograph, asking if these colors could work as accents for a capsule wardrobe that is mostly grey. Well... maybe. I'm going to give it a try, to see how it works. But I have a real concern: all of the shades of pink and purple will be glorious accents to the grey wardrobe, and would be madly flattered by black leather goods and silver jewelry with pink, lavender or purple beads, stones or pearls. HOWEVER... introducing the warm browns and tans into the mix immediately makes me think that I need to use gold, rather than silver, jewelry. And I'm not at all sure where the leather pieces will fit in.... Nonetheless, we shall endeavor to make ... View the Post

Timeless: Some of My Favorite Posts from the Past, Capsule Wardrobes Based on Nature

Yes, I'm in Italy, but the Internet never sleeps! I thought that while I'm away, you might like to see some older posts from The Vivienne Files. One of the things that I try to accomplish with work here is to show that true style is timeless; when I look back at some of these posts, I feel comfortable having you look at them now, and I am pretty certain that they will still look good in 5, 10, or 20 years.

If you click on the dates, below the images, you will be taken back to the entire original post...

This first one is one of my all-time favorites; from the over 1,500 posts that I've done, it would be in the top 10 for sure!

This striking photograph gave us a story which continued into the NEXT wardrobe, below.

After the ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Tarantula Nebula by Gendler and Colombari

Insomnia Part 2 - Version 2 see first installment here, and Part 2 Version 1 here) Our sleepless protagonist is browsing in a bookstore - immediately drawn to photo books of space phenomena - when she sees this:

She admires it, registers it somewhere in her brain, and goes on about her day/night.

Later that morning, she's wandering in a department store, and sees the Image Consultant area. The staff seems to be at loose ends, so she plucks up her tired courage and asks if she can meet with the consultant...

An hour later, her universe has been rocked. While she's told that her neutral navy is perfect for her, she's encouraged to add warmer accent colors to her wardrobe! Part of her recommended palette looks sort of like ... View the Post