travel capsule wardrobe Archives

I Love It But How Will I Wear It? Brown Striped Sweater from Seasalt Cornwall

September 18, 2026

I finally remember why Seasalt Cornwall ISN'T a strange brand to me - there's one on the main shopping street where my uncle lives in England! I'm occasionally crazy, but I'm not completely gone. Yet...

So one of you - at least - has a longing for this sweater, and isn't at all certain if it will work for her. My first instinct: if you have brown in your closet already, this sweater is going to fit in like it was born there!

THE LINK IS WORKING! AND YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT THE FIVE COLORS IN WHICH THIS SWEATER IS OFFERED...

Maybe our heroine is headed to Garrett County Maryland, for the Autumn Glory Festival?

At any rate, she's got a long weekend of "leaf peeping" ahead, and wants to build a tiny ... View the Post

A Pink & Brown Checked Suit – Is It Worth It?

August 26, 2026

One last suit, and WHAT a suit it is! The pants are 7/8 length, so your shoes get some attention, and the jacket is a snappy somewhat short style... The Boden site shows this suit worn with nothing underneath the jacket - would you do that?

You really have to get a close-up of the fabric to see what colors are here - I could have chosen a shade of rust, but I opted for the red that Boden was showing with these pieces.

Frankly, I think having the suit in your hands would be helpful before you started doing a lot of "outfit building" with this jacket and pants!

yes, I'm re-using quite a few things in this post - this is deliberate, and not just bone-deep laziness on my part! Good, classic items can be ... View the Post

Is a Navy Suit REALLY Useful?

August 24, 2026

Ah, some of you still need to dress conservatively... And there's a lot of struggle around the wisdom of owning a good navy suit.

If you don't like wearing navy, DON'T DO IT! But if you like wearing navy, and you're comfortable in a blazer, and you can envision needing a classic suit, you could do worse than this:

What can you do with such classic beauty? Well, let's start with a very conservative color palette and see what's possible!

I'm going to approach this the same way I looked at the striped suit on Friday - a half-dozen outfits, a few additions, and then another half-dozen "remixed" outfits from the 16 garments in our capsule wardrobe.

Let's start casual:

The wine shade that I'm ... View the Post

Year #3 of Start With a Suit – Boden Navy & Camel Stripe

August 21, 2026

This is the third year that I've started with Boden's autumn suit (it seems to be something they do each year) to build an autumn/winter capsule wardrobe.

The first one was here, and the second one was here. You could ABSOLUTELY justify having all three of these suits, if you're in a suit-wearing environment, you love these colors, and you're happy wearing bold prints!

Our heroine works for political campaigns. I feel for her...

But how about this suit?

I absolutely believe that this heroine could own all three suits, and pack two of the three for each trip. Return home occasionally, swap out one of the suits, back on the road!

This is the color palette I picture for this suit - there is indeed a red ... View the Post

Start With Art – A Third Look at Wall of Light Orange Yellow by Sean Scully

August 19, 2026

We've met this heroine twice - once in February, and then again in May. She travels every three months or so, so we catch up with her just in time to see what's new in her wardrobe....

Her inspiration painting is a winner - intriguing, and much more complex than one realizes at first glance. And what a range of colors!

Her next trip should be in weather that's a bit cooler than we're having right now! They want to go leaf peeping. Yes, it's kind of an irritating term, but it's a glorious and very rewarding way to spend a few days...

She's chosen the following for her wardrobe palette:

Let's take a quick flash back to see her earlier travel wardrobes - the first was for cool spring weather:

And ... View the Post

Unpacking after Dublin, or The Most Boring Travel Capsule Wardrobe Possible

July 29, 2026

I'm actually back from Ireland since Friday, but it takes a while to get caught up!

I debated about even sharing this wardrobe with you, because it's just not that fascinating or creative. But I get tired of coordinating outfits and accessories and all that stuff, so I gave myself a brain break and packed a fool-proof assortment...

But first, I highly recommend our wonderful hotel:

Interestingly, the hotel belongs to someone who ALSO owns one of the coolest little museums in Chicago - the Driehaus Museum!

The location of our hotel couldn't have been better:

In the summer, a measurable portion of the Dublin population is sitting on the grass or the benches in St. Stephen's Green. It's a ... View the Post

Start with Art – Tulips by Susan Jane Walp

July 24, 2026

She has room in her bedroom to hang 16 garments. Well, maybe 20, but certainly not more than that! Her clothes live in an ante-room off the main part of the attic. Old houses...

Her plan for the upcoming cool weather is to build a 4 by 4 Wardrobe of casual clothes; she wears a uniform for work, so this is the majority of what she will need for her personal life.

She wants this mix of colors:

She chose her color palette partly because she already has quite a few garments in these colors! One should always start a wardrobe (travel, seasonal, stress-dressing) with clothes you already have and like!

Our heroine is going to use the 4 by 4 Wardrobe Template to keep herself organized; it's easy to grab a ... View the Post

A “Formula” Color Palette Starting with Navy, and Starting With Art!

July 20, 2026

I used this painting here on The Vivienne Files back in April of 2020. Doesn't that seem like a century ago?

This color palette comes up at a great time - one among you is going to be an election observer in a town A LONG WAY FROM HOME. And it's expected that she will have to be there for anything from 5 to 14 days. Sounds fun, eh?

But to be practical, she wants to avoid both bright blue and bright red clothes, she doesn't want to be TOO dressy, but she wants to be able to dress up if it is necessary.

I always start a travel wardrobe with a cluster of clothing that could be worn (along with a travel outfit) in a lot of different ways. In theory, one could survive a trip with 8 or 9 garments, presuming that some ... View the Post

Can There Be a Template for Wardrobe Color Schemes?

July 20, 2026

I should be in Dublin when you read this. Yes. Back to Europe. Sometimes my plans aren't the most efficient, or the most restful. But packing repeatedly makes me think of planning, and being organized...

Just over two years ago, I introduced you to this painting and this palette. I think it's safe to say that for at least the current while, this is my signature palette:

I've been thinking for a while that pretty much any wardrobe could "come together" around a color palette that included two neutrals, two accents and denim. (your definition of neutral and accent is up to you - if pink and purple are your neutrals, I'm not going to tell you it's wrong!)

So I put denim blue at the base, literally, of this graph, ... View the Post

Traveling? Don’t Know What to Pack? Start With a Scarf – Madagascar by Lost Pattern NYC

June 29, 2026

Happy Birthday To Me! I should be sitting in a cafe in Paris when you read this...

It seems from your emails that traveling in September is very popular - except for that whole "warm weather? cold weather?" question.

Of course, we all watch the weather like hawks before we leave, and we adjust accordingly. But it's comforting to have an idea before you start flinging clothes into a bag...

How about a centering inspiration, in the form of a scarf WITH LEMURS!!! I love the detail of their striped tails throughout this:

These are the colors that I chose to try to find. Is anybody else having the experience that LOTS of things are sold out, or are only available in strange assortments of sizes? It's a bit ... View the Post

Another Summer Long Weekend Wardrobe: Start With Art – Birds in Winter by Atsushi Uemura

June 26, 2026

Her experiment of packing just teal and white was so much fun, she decided to try the same idea with a different accent color.

Her painting inspiration is this:

She had always had the persimmon/berry color in mind; this is her color palette so far:

She's taking the same six pieces of white clothing, but she's changed up some of her silver accessories for gold things. These small changes can feel like they make a huge difference!

She finally found the red that she wanted - a color that Eileen Fisher calls grenadine. Accessories were a bit easier to find in this color than they were with teal!

She thinks that this long weekend travel capsule wardrobe feels both summery and ... View the Post

Would You Like a Formula for Summer Get-Away Wardrobes? Start With Art – Birds in Winter by Atsushi Uemura

June 24, 2026

She goes away a lot in the summer. Mostly long weekends with a group of friends who have homes at the beach.

The packing part drives her crazy. She doesn't need to really dress up, but she still always finds herself on Thursday nights trying to make up her mind what to pack.

Then she saw the birds:

No painting could be more "out of season" than this, but she's inspired by the teal and white. She loves teal, and she looks really great in it.

And so she ponders, what if she put together a core of white clothes, and then added teal accents? The persimmon could be nail polish (or a second accent capsule!)

This is how she's thinking:

She starts with white. Yes, it gets dirty. She doesn't care; it's ... View the Post