The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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travel capsule wardrobe Archives - Page 8 of 35

Want a Touch of Brown with Your Chambray? Tullynally Castle Corridor & Window by Hector McDonnell

June 16, 2025

She goes away a LOT of weekends in the summer. Many of her friends have places on lakes or the seashore, or in a forest near a lake... And she must be an excellent guest, because she's always invited somewhere!

This is one of her favorite paintings:

She always feels like the window at the end of the hall is crooked!

Her colors that she's isolated from the painting are shown here; she doesn't include the tiny touches of red, but she does wear a good red lipstick sometimes...

She usually leaves for her friend's home straight from work - she's close to the train station when she's in her office! She dresses simply, but with a cardigan to battle the office air-conditioning.

She doesn't ... View the Post

Want to Pack In Two Moods? Start With Two Scarves: Frances Valentine and Kurt Geiger

June 13, 2025

Happy Friday the 13th to all of us intelligent people who are NOT superstitious!

Today's question is a pretty normal one: our heroine wants to pack a wardrobe that's mostly navy, but wants a couple of different options for accents. She'd love a pretty pastel, but she's also thinking that a bright-colored option might be nice too.

Okay! let's grab a couple of scarves that appealed to me, and that will work as a perfect springboard for our heroine:

Our heroine's only going to be gone for 4 nights, and she's not going anyplace horrendously dressy. She will have to attend a meeting or two, but for at least one day she will be able to wear shorts! This is a normal trip for her, and so she's assembled a navy travel ... View the Post

Building a Wardrobe Gradually? Start With Art – Abstraction Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

May 30, 2025

We've visited this painting twice before, with our heroine who has the lucky habit of dashing into the city for a last-minute date! Opera, or maybe ballet or orchestra - the opera season doesn't last all year, sadly...

First, she was headed to a ballet matinee on January, and then in March they were able to snag some opera tickets! 

In all cases, she packs her tote bag full of beautiful things based on this color palette:

Back in January, she used a navy cardigan/skirt/pants trio as her core, upon which she added four tops:

When our heroine considered what she might add to her bag if they decided to stay in the city for a few more days:

In March, when they went to the opera, this is what ... View the Post

Pack and Not Think Again About Clothes? Start With Art: Donna Andrzejewski – Dante’s View Abstraction

May 28, 2025

Yes, this is a photograph. I consider excellent photographs to be art! And since today's heroine is a photographer, this seems like the perfect work of art for her:

Our heroine wants to pack and then not think about her clothes again! She will check the weather each morning of the long weekend photography trip, but she's MUCH more concerned with her camera gear than she is with clothes...

AND, she wants to be pretty "blend into the background" of the area of high desert where she's going. It will probably be cool much of the time - she's not going until autumn - but she will want layers in case it warms up.

All in all, these are perfect colors for her:

She's comfortable driving out in her lightest colored ... View the Post

Always Wear Green? Start With Art: Helen Frankenthaler – Lush Spring

May 26, 2025

"But I ALWAYS wear green? I look great in green. Can't I wear it when we go to Dublin?"

Well, yes. Of course you can. Nobody there will probably even notice! Just don't say "top o' the mornin'" to anybody...

Our heroine loves this painting - the huge blocks of green, accented with the tiniest touches of blue, red, blush...

For the purposes of her upcoming trip to Dublin, our heroine has isolated these colors for her travel capsule wardrobe:

Her starting point is easy - comfortable shades of green, waterproof shoes, a pretty scarf and some classic earrings!

But NOW what to pack?

"You'd better be prepared - Ireland is cool even in the summer!"

So she packs these things; note that the sweatpants ... View the Post

May 2025 Start With a Bracelet – Art Deco Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

May 21, 2025

Today's heroine has such a lovely inspiration:

She's particularly excited because she's about to break out of her navy and white routine. Her travel capsule wardrobes usually look like this or this.

So she's making just a little bit of a change; if you're one of us who've dressed in a monochromatic wardrobe for YEARS, you understand what a big change this is!

Our heroine's core wardrobe is based on her navy suit. When you buy a suit, you should assume that it's going to be worn a lot, in a variety of ways. (Suits are expensive!)

For short trips, during which our heroine might only have one "serious" meeting, this is typical of her travel wardrobe:

It's going to take our heroine all summer to ... View the Post

Unsure of the Weather? Start With Art – The Silbury Owl by Catherine Hyde

May 16, 2025

Lots of women artists this month; if you love this painting, prints of it are available from the artist!

Our heroine loves a good dark brown - or any of the autumn colors! And she's quite fond of pink and orange, together or separate. So her color palette is obvious and simple:

She's going away for a weekend event, and absolutely NOBODY can give her a hint of what the weather will be! She knows that it's cold where she is right now, so she's going to dress a bit warmly, even though it's May...

It might be warm enough to wear a slippy little dress. Or she might actually need a sweater! And for her spare time, she's even bringing a sweatshirt... Oh, weather keeps us on our toes, doesn't ... View the Post

Like a Base of Black and White? Start With Art – Variation on a Lighthouse Theme IV by Ida O’Keeffe

May 14, 2025

Yes, IDA O'Keeffe. Georgia's sister. Imagine how she felt, painting her lovely paintings... That had to be hard!

I quite like this painting. The colors are great, and I find the geometric qualities in it to be really pleasing. In the absence of her sister, maybe Ida would have been famous.

The color palette jumps off the painting at us:

This heroine is quite fond of a simple linen shirt, and with good reason. A linen or cotton shirt is one of the garments that you can literally wear every month of the year. It can be worn over a tee shirt and under a sweater in bitter cold, open over a tee shirt or tank top in scorching heat, or on its own (maybe with the sleeves rolled?) on all of the middling days.

Our ... View the Post

Want 2 Very Different Accent Colors? Start With a Scarf: Petal Pop Silk Scarf by Artifact.

May 12, 2025

This was the other Artifact. scarf that was requested as the inspiration for a wardrobe, and I can understand why!

The possibilities here are many - there's camel in the upper left quadrant, beige in the lower left, and even a touch of denim blue in the middle of the bottom right flower! But I'm sticking with the same black and ivory that we used on Friday, to show the range of possibilities within just a couple of neutrals.

The accent color I've chosen couldn't really be more different - a soft pink and bold orangish gold. It's easy to feel like your accent colors have to go well together, but that's not the case.

I've kept quite a few of the pieces from Friday for this wardrobe. Maybe this is the same ... View the Post

A Different Take On Scarf Colors: Start With a Scarf – Fleur Royale scarf by Artifact.

May 9, 2025

The instant Artifact. came out with new scarves, I received emails about them. This scarf is particularly lovely and an interesting mix of colors. When I first looked at this, my eyes were drawn to warm colors: orange, marigold, and olive.

And the heroine who wrote to me? She wants to work with black and ivory, and pink and olive accents!

Hmm...

So I built us this color palette reference page:

My habit with Artifact. scarves has been to build three outfits, and then add four more garments. It's one of about a billion different ways to assemble a capsule wardrobe; there's no rule about how this can best be done!

These outfits are for Spring weather, or summer days that aren't blisteringly hot. A cardigan ... View the Post

Uncertain Weather on Your Long Weekend? Start With Art – Study for Spring Madonna by Mainie Jellett

May 7, 2025

A favorite artist featured at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin? She's on the train for a weekend visit!

She's studied this painting SO MUCH - she knows the colors by heart:

Ireland's been having record warm weather recently, but this heroine is far too wise to fall for THAT! She's making certain to have a jacket and warm shoes; she doesn't have to wear these things again on her trip, but she's certainly not traveling without them.

A dress and three very summery tops, but a pair of "real" pants, and a cardigan - this give her options for unpredictable weather. And her olive jacket will look great with her stone chinos and ivory sweaters...

The night before she leaves, she takes a look at ... View the Post

Black, White and Brights! The Mondrian Bracelets by Fierce Lynx Designs

April 28, 2025

Classic, colorful, and so versatile! These are timeless for sure:

The colors here are obvious, but it's always worth the effort to picture your plan as clearly as possible:

Our heroine already has her good core of black and white things, upon which she will build with her accent colors!

These colors are so much fun to look for in stores! And our heroine couldn't resist a black & white striped shirt; if you have a bracelet with a striped bead, a striped shirt seems essential...

Imagine traveling with this for a few days! Maybe you'd want to look for a pair of black & white spectator loafers, too? 

Let's take a moment to imagine a few of the possible ways our heroine could get ... View the Post