The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Love Blue and Lavender? Start With a Scarf – The Julianna Margulies scarf from Echo

November 13, 2024

Yes, THAT Julianna Margulies. Multi-talented, I'd say!

Lovely colors! That blue is just delicious...

Our heroine has to travel, and she wants to at least seem to fit in with the festivities! She's not really a "red & green" type of girl, nor is she much interested in an ugly Christmas sweater...

So she's going to go with a smile and a snowflake. That feels festive enough for her!

Yes, she's packing a few of the same things that her friend packed on Monday - simple black classics look very different when you wear them with a different accent color!

In her world, a pretty sweater and a skirt will be dressy enough! Most of the time she's more likely to be wearing her jeans!

When our ... View the Post

Want a Fresh Palette? Start With Art – Door of Light by Akada Misao

October 30, 2024 Just For the Night... They tell her that's all she needs to do - just meet with the core workers, take the whole staff to dinner, and then come back the next day.

Unless she gets stuck, because of air traffic, or a strike, or volcanoes...

She's not THRILLED about the trip, so she decides to be inspired by something as unlike work as possible:

She seldom wears yellow. But she's in the mood to shake things up a bit, so this is going to be her color palette. She knows that for a longer trip, she could easily add lots of beige, and bits and pieces of green...

It's not a madly dressy office, so she knows that she doesn't have to dress up. Comfortable pants will make all the difference if she's stuck on a ... View the Post

Want a Foolproof Fall Wardrobe? Start with Bracelets – Harvest Lynx Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

October 28, 2024

Note to all: if you're shopping for scarves, CHECK THE FIBER CONTENT! There are unscrupulous places on the internet selling perfectly nice polyester scarves for the same price as wool and cashmere scarves! And if you dig just a bit, the exact same scarves are available for literally 20% of the "wool/cashmere" price. A shocking, opportunistic stunt that's taking advantage of a brand name... Quintessentially Autumn Every year, usually in October, there are hundreds of them, just in the US: "Autumn Glory" (in Oakland Maryland), the Springs Festival (in Springs, Pennsylvania) and tons of others - FALL FESTIVALS!!!

These are just two that were part of my childhood...

Get yourself something cider and pumpkin, wear ... View the Post

Want To Add Some “Snap” to Neutrals? Start With a Scarf – The Abby Silverman silk scarf by Echo

October 21, 2024 Normally Neutral She usually wears ivory and black. Every day. With nothing else added... So this scarf has some appeal, right from the start!

She recently made a mistake (there are really NO mistakes?), and ordered a pair of brown shoes instead of the black that she would obviously have preferred. But she found the brown ones to be fetching, so she just picked up a brown handbag, and a pair of earrings, and called brown "an accent color..."

So NOW, this scarf really appeals!

This could have all stopped RIGHT THERE... but she sensed that she was ready for something new...

A RED SWEATER???? Her friends will be so shocked - it's worth wearing, just to see their faces!

So when it came time to pack ... View the Post

Want to Fit In? Start With Art – Pines and Sky by Walter J. Phillips

October 18, 2024

She's going to the whole Homecoming thing - the game, the pre-party, the actual dance, (which is allegedly SUPER casual...), the brunch. Her friends persuaded her, and so she's happy to be going. But she doesn't want to paint her face, wear some outlandish hat, or just in general do anything that might look foolish!

Her school colors are navy and forest green. She loves them. And she's been using this painting to inspire her wardrobe for a while, so she's in good shape for having things to pack.

These are the colors that she uses for her wardrobe... After a few minutes, she makes the decision to NOT pack anything in periwinkle blue. She's always tempted, but too many colors in a travel capsule wardrobe might be ... View the Post

Craving Soft Colors, in a Crowd of Vivid Team Colors? Start With Art – Moon by Ono Chikkyo

October 16, 2024

It's come to my attention that nobody can leave comments! I don't know what's wrong, but I've having the smart people look into it... So sorry for the technical difficulties....

love,

Janice

It's tempting to think that all heroines are strong personalities, with a touch of bright flamboyance around all that they do. But in fact, many of us are quiet, low-key, and don't get noticed right away! And that's splendid...

Today's heroine thinks of herself as a moon, in that she reflects the brighter (but sometimes TOO bright) light of others.

Her painting inspiration for her weekend homecoming trip:

She has soft ashy-colored hair, and light but clear and bright blue eyes; her colors for the weekend will ... View the Post

Casual cool weather packing? Start With Art – Woman in a Café by Jean Louis Forain

October 14, 2024

I realized in New York that few people gets dressed up for everyday life - at least not in Chicago or New York! Sneakers and sweatpants are practically a uniform...

Today's heroine is going for a weekend sporting event. It could be a track meet or something else that goes on for a couple of days, or it could just be a single sporting event, like a football game. Or rugby. Or American football. You get the drift!

She wants to look like she had a clue getting dressed, but also like she acknowledges the inherently relaxed and somewhat cold nature of the environment into which she is plunging herself. Supporting family, friends, or just your favorite team is always interesting...

Her inspiration:

She's ... View the Post

Need a Foolproof Office Wardrobe? Start With a Scarf – the Olga Naiman silk scarf by Echo

September 30, 2024

Have you been forced to start going back to your office? I hear from heroines all the time who are suddenly expected to be their office two or three days a week, and who are NOT amused...

Two issues I hear often:

Business clothes from the "before" days just don't fit, or don't suit, and Quite a few people have received promotions (sometimes multiple promotions) in the interim, and feel that they should dress to a higher level than before.

SO... let's start with this very lovely scarf, and see what we can do! If you're only going to an office twice a week, you really only need a small wardrobe...

I saw four accent colors right away, as well as white...

Even at this late date in the world, I ... View the Post

September 2024 Start with a Bracelet – Fierce Abundance Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

September 27, 2024

Perfect for autumn:

She can take some time off this fall - what a luxury! A little photography, perhaps?

Her packing will have her blending into the forest!

It's not her usual style, but she couldn't resist the cardigan...

Everything else was simple. Her two orange sweaters aren't as much alike as they seem to be; she knows she will wear them both!

She gives everything a careful "once-over" before she packs... Socks? Clean undies? Pyjamas?

The most important thing that she checks (well, not as important as underwear!) is that she has what she needs for at least a few outfits:

How many of us make it out into nature during autumn?

love,

Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, we ... View the Post

Warm Accents With Black? Start With a Scarf – the Jasmin Savoy Brown scarf by Echo

September 25, 2024

It's been a while since Echo released one of their Echo 100 scarves - what fun these scarves have been...

And this is perfect timing, because one of our heroines who is devoted to the black core of her wardrobe has been invited to a wedding for which the color palette is warm, autumn colors! Can she do this? Heck yes...

She had already been considering adding brown to her wardrobe for ages - her eyes are brown, for heaven's sake! So she finds a few things...

She knows that she's going to need something to wear to the rehearsal...

It's the same outfit as the first outfit, only backwards! This time, she's wearing a brown column with black over it:

What to wear to the wedding???? It's ... View the Post

Denim and Ivory: Three 13-Piece Travel Capsule Wardrobes

September 20, 2024

I can't believe that September is 2/3 over! You'd think I wasn't awake every day...

Our heroine has looked at her wardrobe with cores of denim and black, and then with cores of denim and brown. Today, we're going to see how EVERYBODY'S favorite of denim and ivory looks...

This is our heroine's starting point - 27 garments in three "neutral" clusters, and then three "accent" clusters. 

First, let's take a last look at her hard-working core of denim garments, with yet ANOTHER group of accessories. Wearing things every week is the fastest way to get your "cost per wear" for garments down; you can buy exceptionally nice clothes and still get good value if you wear things consistently!

The ivory ... View the Post

Denim and Brown: Three 13-Piece Travel Capsule Wardrobes

September 18, 2024

When we last visited our heroine with the modular wardrobe, she was packing in denim and black, with autumn-hued accent colors.

Just as a reminder, this is her autumn wardrobe in its entirety:

She's refreshed her accessories, as she moves into a few weeks in which she's going to pack her denim and brown cores. Each week, she will change to a new accent color, so while she's wearing the same clothes most of the time, she doesn't get bored...

Here are her denim pieces:

And her brown things - how yummy is brown?

She's found a new burgundy scarf, with a lot of deep green in it - it will look great with her evergreen accent pieces too. Sometimes that happens - you get lucky!

So for the ... View the Post