The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Galaxy by Ibe Kyoko

March 3, 2016   I saw this Sunday at the Art Institute of Chicago, and I knew immediately that I wanted to show it to all of you:

 

The contrast between the strong, almost wood-like grey top and bottom, and the cloudy and beautifully color center caught my eye and held it for a LONG time...

  Career Enrichment? Actually, she really does want to go to the training. After all, it's in New York!

Not just any place in New York, but at the VERY prestigious NYU... Having this on her resume can do nothing but good!

 

  So when her employer offered the chance to go - at their expense - she was filling out the application forms before the email had cooled in her in-box. (metaphorically ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Toilet of Venus (The Rokeby Venus) by Diego Velazquez

February 29, 2016

 

  "We Don't Have the Funds for Retention Bonuses..." And with that, her heart hit the floor. Working for a company that gets acquired every two years is bad enough, but at least the buyer usually tries to make it worth one's while to stick around...

Her new manager continued...

"But you know that we're headquartered in France?" (uh, yea, the accent sort of gave the secret away...)

"If your partner can get the first week of March off of work, I'd like to send you both to stay in our corporate apartment for a week..." (note that the corporate apartment is on the Rue Montaigne...)

  You're not quite sure you heard correctly. Take a deep breath: "Let me check, but I'm sure it ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe in Brown, Cream, Aqua and Golden Yellow: 1 Piece at a Time

February 27, 2016   Wow, this was much more difficult than I expected it to be!  

This is really a great color scheme - the accent colors are sufficiently different from each other that introducing them into an outfit gives you two very different sensibilities...And I didn't set out to find so many pieces from one source, but when I found that they had matching pieces in brown, it didn't seem like a bad idea!

So the matching brown pieces made it impossible to resist getting a brown shell, too. I think of this as a wardrobe that's ideally suited for changeable weather, or for those of us who have hot flashes...

 

I love this yellow...

 

Cream and brown together are an ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe One Piece at a Time

February 19, 2016

 

Unpacking my bag last night, I was thinking about how, for the last handful of trips I've taken, I've started my packing by choosing my travel outfit, and then adding 1 piece at a time until I'm at an appropriate number of garments for the length of my trip. It's a system that's working pretty well for me...

I then started considering the possibility of applying this concept to the building of a wardrobe. Some people just aren't in a position to buy an entire wardrobe, or even an entire outfit, at one time. And for those among us who are more comfortable moving gradually into changes, this might be just the ticket!

Let's start with this outfit; maybe this is someone's very favorite ensemble, including ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe Starting with Art – The Second Buddhist Kesa

Such lovely colors: 

Perfect for spring travel!

  A "Miles" 2nd Honeymoon They agreed that it was the most cost-effective thing to do, so they immediately started using their airline credit cards for EVERYTHING possible...

After a few months, they totaled up their miles, and called the airline.

Long-sleeved tee – Uniqlo; tank – Uniqlo; jersey jacket – Uniqlo;    

henley – Uniqlo; dress – Uniqlo; capris – Uniqlo; jeans – L.L.Bean;   

wide-leg pants – Uniqlo  

The woman on the other end of the phone was lovely. She didn't mind being on a speaker phone, and she just laughed when they talked over each other. Finally, they decided to see what the longest trip possible was ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Toasting Friends Version 2

January 19, 2016  

Many people wanted me to revisit this painting, and many of you are interested in seeing posts with warmer colors, and many of you are looking for lower-contrast wardrobes. I'm tackling a lot of ideas in one lovely painting!

 

One of the fun things about this painting is the range of lovely colors included. I've madly exaggerated the amount of camel included in the painting, but I'm going to use shades of camel, beige and coppery brown as neutrals...

 

The most difficult thing about writing The Vivienne Files (well, except for having dozens of ideas, and not enough time!) is choosing a color scheme and then realizing that the colors I love and want to use aren't necessarily available in ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: The Common Shelduck

January 14, 2016   When I say there's inspiration everywhere, I'm really NOT exaggerating! My recent trip to Florida is a good example - I saw these lovely guys all over the place (although they are not, in fact, indigenous to the area I was visiting - someone imported them! Someone with good taste....)  

 

The color scheme was so easy!

 

  Come Sit on the Veranda... Well, the invitation was a little bit more fleshed-out than that! It went more like "we have great internet down here, so you can work during the day, and then in the evenings, we'll sit on the veranda with a bottle or two of wine, and watch the birds on the lake until it gets dark. Then after dinner, we can come back out and look at ... View the Post

Tote Bag Travel for a Weekend Get-Away

January 11, 2016   Back to the real world....  

This happens a lot in large cities - when the hotels become less expensive over the weekend, people from the suburbs come into "the city." They come in by train on Saturday morning to spend the day in town, have a nice dinner, maybe see a sporting event or a show, stay over, have a lovely brunch, and get back home before darkness falls on Sunday. 

When I said I was going to create the smallest possible travel capsule wardrobe, THIS is what I was thinking of! (I'm so sorry, I have a hunch that I've really disappointed some of you.)

I see these people every weekend, and it seems that they are often hauling about a lot more "stuff" than they might need. This might not ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Black and Yellow Broadbill Version 2

I hadn't planned to revisit this lovely bird, but someone wanted some yellow...

Without the green background, the colors seem more intense to me. At any rate, I brightened up the coral and blue, to be in a better balance with the yellow... No matter how good it looks here, I'm not recommending yellow eye shadow - there's a limit to taking inspiration from nature!

I thought I'd plunge right into the yellow... Note how the addition of the scarf with the coral and orange print keeps the ensemble from looking like a bumblebee, or a Pittsburgh sport fan. (for those out of the sports loop: I think EVERY professional sports team in Pittsburgh wears at least some yellow and black)

(I love the scarves from Abo London - they are REALLY ... View the Post

Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Nature: Black and Yellow Broadbill

January 6, 2016   You've very possibly seen a Photoshopped version of this photograph, which made the colors really BRIGHT... and I'm not sure why someone would have bothered - this photograph is quite beautiful just as it is!

 

Weeks ago, someone asked me, on Facebook, to work with this photograph. It's about time I got around to it, because it includes lovely colors! I did NOT include the yellow circle around the eyes of the bird, except for a bit in one of the scarves, and the yellow gold in the jewelry. And while I don't always pick up the background color of a photograph, this one was really the perfect color, in the ideal intensity, for this color scheme...

Yes, I really, TRULY believe that if you find a ... View the Post

A “Whatever’s Clean 13” Capsule Wardrobe for All Occasions

It's a question that comes up all the time - I don't know what we're going to be doing when I get to: the conference, the reunion, the spa, the resort, that city I've never visited etc etc.

I thought about this while I was out of town... And I really wanted to stick with something versatile, like the "Whatever's Clean 13." But it needed a new look, or way of approaching, so I finally came up with this:

My thinking here was starting with a really "dressy-neutral" outfit, like a cardigan and pants. How could that be made more formal? One step up would be to swap the cardigan for a blazer. If I wanted to really get "gussied up," a sparkly cardigan would do it. And if I wanted to take things down a notch, swap the cardigan for a pull-over ... View the Post

My Review of the Standard Carry-On Backpack/Suitcase

I'm baaack.... Florida was great...

For the past few trips, I've been carrying the bag shown above, and I'm finally ready to review it! Overall, I like the bag a lot - I'm going to keep using it regularly. Given the idiotic number of bags that Belovedest and I own, that's saying a lot. We are, in fact, going to sell at least a couple of bags that aren't getting out of the closet often enough to earn their keep...

PRO:

It holds a LOT more than a rolling bag of the same size. This is because it doesn't have any bars or rods running through the middle of the bag. It was surprising to me how very much space those bars were occupying! The soft sides let you stuff it. While I'm a big fan of packing neatly, I'm not opposed to filling a ... View the Post