sweaters Archives - Page 2 of 8

Five Accent Colors with Winter White and with Beige

September 30, 2022

Why yes, Pantone found additional colors at New York Fashion Week...

Which is fine with me, because I could look at accessories 'til the cows come home! And since I live in the city, that would be forever, right?

Let's start with this classic red; yes, this scarf is an investment. But you could wear it at least once a week during cool weather, for the rest of your life. I'm finding that I have some scarves that 20+ years old, and that I still adore.

I've chosen ivory (Winter White?) and beige as our wardrobe core colors to "test drive" this batch of accent colors. While I wouldn't wear white pumps in this lifetime, I know a LOT of women who wear them through the year and look just lovely.

And ... View the Post

Five Accent Colors with Navy

September 21, 2022

As we have come to expect, Pantone "discovered" 10 "new" fashion colors from the London Spring/Summer 2022/23 Fashion Week.

Bizarrely enough, they seem to have arranged them almost like a (weird) rainbow! So to look at these colors as suggestions for wardrobe accents, I'm going to take the first 5 colors and pair them all with a tiny number of navy pieces...

I chose navy because it looks good with all 5 colors - which makes sense. Navy is opposite to orange on the color wheel, and these colors are all on that side of the wheel!

It sounds strange, but it seems to work...

First up - how often are you looking for something in a true, "not blue, not yellowish" red color, and everything you see is really on ... View the Post

1 Dress, 14 Ways to Wear It

August 31, 2022

Tomorrow, I'm going to start the "1 Dress, 100 Days" project, sponsored by Wool&, and completed by hundreds of other women. I'm very excited...

My dress will be the Sierra Tank Dress - 100% wool and softer than you can imagine. Mine, of course, is black!

I plan to Instagram what I wear every day and put it here on The Vivienne Files. That means there will be posts here EVERY DAY for the next 100 days - although many of them will be pretty brief. On my normal "off days," I will show you what I'm wearing and make any observations or comments about what I think about the whole process.

But what can one do with the same dress for 100 days?

Wear it alone, with accessories, or wear it with something under ... View the Post

Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year – Risshū – Beginning of Autumn

August 17, 2022

Here in Chicago we felt it yesterday - that sense that autumn is coming. We all know that there will be sweltering days ahead, but we were reminded...

For me, that early cool day reminds me that I might want to check my wardrobe for upcoming autumn weather. This is a good time to start looking for the accent cashmere sweater that you will wear every week for six months, the scarf that you will cherish for years to come, or the warmer trousers that you need to replace the ones that you've worn to pieces this last few years...

Even if you live somewhere that doesn't get a lot of snow, you might still need a warm outfit or two!

This leaf perfectly conveys where we are, right now!

When I was ... View the Post

Part 3 August 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

August 5, 2022

I really like doing these monthly wardrobes in 3 posts, rather than 1 REALLY large post. You can imagine how much work goes into getting all six wardrobes ready, and I feel like taking my time over them gives me a chance to do a better job!

What do you think?

So let's look at the glorious hydrangea scarf... I love hydrangeas - the mix of colors in the blossoms delights me! My phone wallpaper is a photograph of mixed pink and blue flowers... sigh...

A navy blazer. It just seems like something that someone who loves navy might want to consider - especially if this heroine likes classic, timeless styles...

And if you're going to buy the blazer, buy the pants (and/or the skirt) while you're at it. Yes, it's a ... View the Post

Part 2 August 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

August 3, 2022

Have any of you done enough shopping that you can see the trends for this autumn?

I've seen tons of clogs. Literally tons. I know that they're very comfortable for people who work in hospitals, so I would assume that everybody might find them comfortable... Maybe if you need shoes, they are worth trying?

And someone, somewhere, put together a million miles of smocked fabric! Not the traditional smocking, like we used to do on gingham fabrics, where you would join together certain squares in the print with stitching to create beautiful patterns...

Nope - this smocking is machine stitched fabric that is gathered with elastic thread. There's nothing inherently wrong with this fabric, except that you can't swing a ... View the Post

Part 1 August 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

August 1, 2022

We're going to have to do the "Six Scarves, 12 Months" posts in segments this month, because it's just THAT difficult... I hate not finishing in 1 post, but I have to admit when I can't finish in time!

This is a great lesson for how to handle shopping when everything in the marketplace seems to conspire against you.

In a "normal" year, I could easily expect to see piles of cashmere sweaters in 30 colors all OVER the retail world - but not this year...

Websites should be chock-full of cabled sweaters, and corduroy pants, and tweed blazers, and all of the traditional garments of autumn. But not this year!

It might be reluctance to stock merchandise that may not appeal - nobody's really sure how people are going ... View the Post

Indulging in Jackets and Sweaters

July 20, 2022 I think this might qualify as a "Sometimes Extravagant Wednesday"... Treating Yourself... I know that dressing in a solid column is somewhat controversial, but it's also so popular that I wanted to see what possibilities could be found for both navy and olive...

Getting dressed is easier when you wear a solid column every day, but if you're looking for things like matching loafers, you might find that shopping can be challenging!

For a heroine committed to wearing her column, she might have tiny wardrobe of pants and shirts, and then TONS of sweater and jackets, scarves, and nifty shoes...

There are so many color possibilities - I can't think of any color that she couldn't wear with navy!

Everything from relaxed ... View the Post

May 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

May 2, 2022

Let's visit our gradually growing wardrobes, based on beautiful scarves from PJ Studio Accessories!

This month, it was SO easy to shop for this wardrobe! I can't imagine how I personally would get through the summer without a shirtdress in a light fabric...

Each of these wardrobes now includes 19 garments - pretty much enough to get through the summer! If you're inclined to participate in the "21 Garments, 21 Days" challenges, any of these wardrobe plus a couple of tops would get you through the next 21 days pretty easily. Yes, some of these garments are skewed a bit toward cooler weather; some substitutions might be needed...

All the shoes you might need - from boots to sandals!

How might ... View the Post

Japanese 24 Seasons of the Year

April 25, 2022

When I started working on this post, it was pouring rain in Chicago. I mean pouring buckets and barrels and VATS of rain...

The next day, the temperature is over 20C, and quite lovely. If the wind doesn't (literally) blow you over...

Which made me realize yet again that there are really more than 4 season in the year; they've apparently always know that in Japan!

So I'm very intrigued by the idea of 24 Seasons - which are divided into 72 wee mini-seasons! I'll stick with this 24 for now, but I never rule out doing something fun with 72 seasons!

My thinking, at this early stage: an outfit for each mini-season, 3 garments. That would be a 72-garment wardrobe - considerably smaller than what I currently ... View the Post

April 2022: Six Scarves, 12 Months

April 1, 2022

I SO wanted to put dresses into these wardrobes, but (1) we've looked at lots of dresses recently, and (2) I sort of feel like skirts are more versatile. I should think about that, huh?

Let's start with golden leaves against a bright blue sky! (since it's snowing in Chicago as I write this - talk about April fools...)

After much searching, I found the perfect silk skirt! This could be worn a ton of different ways...

Each wardrobe now has 16 garments - I suspect we could pull together a pretty tidy "4 by 4" wardrobe from these...

And each wardrobe now has 12 accessories - this is SO INCREDIBLY WRONG in my world... I suspect that lots of accessories will be showing up in the next few months!

As ... View the Post

A Personal Uniform Inspired by Art: Resting by Paul Klee

March 28, 2022

It's been her favorite painting for a long time; she never thought of it as anything more than just calm beauty...

She uses the painting as the "wallpaper" on her laptop - she loves catching a glimpse of it during her work day!

Then, one day, she realized that she was wearing something quite a bit like "her" painting - at least the colors were VERY similar:

Suddenly, everything looked different! She began to image what she might wear to that event coming up very soon...

She has been thinking for ages about HOW to dress up her denim dress just a little bit - suddenly it was obvious:

As the weather began to warm up, and she started to look for a couple of new outfits, she kept her new ... View the Post