warm weather Archives - Page 17 of 37

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 48: Neutral print or patterned top

June 29, 2020

Today's my 60th birthday!!!! The entire weekend has been a series of carefully choreographed get-togethers with friends and family...

And I feel EVERY SECOND of my age right now!

But let's look at getting our summer wardrobes sorted to our satisfaction, eh?

First up, this beautiful little top would be perfect for most of us who are using white or khaki as our summer wardrobe neutral:

I always have a few thoughts to share - mostly I'm always a big supporter of doing what you most want to do, and not buying and pretending to wear things that you don't love...

Speaking of accent colors - this kind of tee shirt is perfect for introducing something out of your comfort zone (in this case, orange). There's ... View the Post

Start with Art: Door to the River by Willem de Kooning

June 26, 2020

She knew, as soon as she saw it, that the door lead to where she wanted to be...

Some other day - some other season - she knew that she would include the blue, and the darker browns and greys, in her wardrobe. But for now, for the summer, she wants lightness...

When her sister called her - at the very last minute! - to invite her to the cottage for the weekend, she knew that she had to go. She was dressed for a meeting, but decided that getting on the road was more important than changing clothes.

Besides, she knew that dinner on Friday night, at the cabin, was always pretty special! Her sister can really cook, her sister's partner is a whiz with wine, and all of the kids know that this is an important part ... View the Post

I Love It, But Will I Wear It? Patchwork Shorts

June 24, 2020

Another cry for help from my email - a question I LOVE to get... If I order these, how will I wear them?

Okay, this is maddening, bordering on insane. The color, described on the website, for these shorts is "Deep Admiral Blue." Unless I'm drinking something more amusing than coffee at this hour, the primary color here would be forest green? With beige, coral and white?

Whatever! The easiest way to find at least 1 or 2 garments to go with a contemplated new purchase is to look for items that are the same color, from the same company. So we start like this:

The tan or beige color in these shorts is sufficiently prominent that wearing beige with them would look great. Generally, even if a garment has 47 ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 47: Neutral lightweight top

June 22, 2020

Ah, this is finally looking exactly like the weather!

There are no wardrobe rules. None. I might make suggestions, and offer guidelines, but you should make your own choices! It's your style...

I absolutely would mix patterns with these shorts - anything that looks as if it might be one of the prints in the patchwork is a reasonable choice:

If you've got cool earrings, let them be the statement part of your outfit. Simple, classic clothes are a perfect background for accessories:

Let's mix some brown and black, eh?

A print that includes your 2 neutrals is a perfect choice. This heroine could swap out for navy shorts, or a white skirt, or navy pants....

And talking about annoying color ... View the Post

Rescuing Forgotten Accessories: The Navy Blackthorn Scarf

June 17, 2020

Maybe it's not really a forgotten accessory - maybe you just got it. Still, when a new scarf arrives at your home, it can be sort of overwhelming to figure out what to do with it!

For me, in warm weather, with a rectangular scarf, I would first off try to see if I could wear it in my hair! And then I'd play around with how I would tie it to a handbag. Then I would think about actually wearing it around my neck. The more ways you can find to wear a scarf, the more often you'll be able to incorporate it into an outfit....

Let's ponder how you might wear (or be inspired by) this scarf for the next 4 months...

First month, it's smart to make certain that you've got the necessary solid-colored tee shirts and ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 46: Neutral lightweight 2nd layer

June 15, 2020

My plans for this were so good, I thought for sure that I could find lovely linen shirts for everybody! Normally, this time of year, stores are FULL of linen, silk or cotton "overshirts," which is exactly what I had in mind for this wardrobe addition...

But NOT this year - things are selling out quickly so I had to do a little bit of scrambling... Thus, we've got ruanas and cardigans and shirts and kurtas...

It was pretty straightforward finding toppers that will work with the growing wardrobes built around these 6 scarves:

The thing that convinces me that this layer is useful? The fact that everybody I know with a car keeps a cardigan in the back seat ALL SUMMER!

Oh how I WISH someone would make ... View the Post

Start with 2 Scarves: A Teal and Hot Pink Accented Travel Capsule Wardrobe

June 12, 2020

It seemed like a good idea - take a couple of the scarves from yesterday, along with the accessories, and see how they would work for a travel capsule wardrobe. So let's go!

There are the 2 scarves that are going to be the starting point for this wardrobe:

First up, I added a tank top to both of these Accessory Families, so that the accent colors would be well-represented in the clothing for this trip...

Navy would be a lovely neutral with these 2 accents, but I thought that I'd go full-on summer with beige and white:

This would be such an easy trip - travel wearing the beige cardigan and pants, and the beige espadrilles, with any of the 4 tops. Pack the other 6 garments and the accessories, and ... View the Post

The Weekly Timeless Wardrobe, Week 45: Dark Neutral Lightweight Pants

June 8, 2020

I don't know about where you are, but right now, if I have to pull on a pair of pants, they'd BETTER be linen... (I don't love heat...)

This time of year, if you're going to wear your favorite silk scarf, it might be smart to consider wearing it in your hair, or on your bag, or... (there must be more ideas...)

I can't emphasize enough that we need to be vigilant about reading every word of the descriptions of items that we find online. I searched, SPECIFICALLY, for silk pants, and was returned a ton of satin pants (most of them polyester).

While I'm nagging about careful reading, if you order earrings, be certain that you're getting TWO earrings (unless, of course, you only want to order one earring). ... View the Post

Start with Nature: Revisiting the Common Shelduck by Dennis A. Jones

June 5, 2020

In the dead of winter, four years ago, we visited with this heroine when her friends invited her south for a long weekend to get out of the cold... I'm SO smitten with the color palette; if I were to start over, I admit that brown leather goods would tempt me!

Drive Down! Her friends have invited her back...

"We've on this kick where we have full-blown dinner parties every night. It's been the same gang of us for the last few months; we could use a new guest!"

"Since you've been quarantined for a couple of months, and so have we, can we assume that we're safe for each other?"

"My brother and sister-in-law are staying in the guest house, so you can take the upstairs suite; with the kids ... View the Post

Rescuing a Forgotten Garment: Print Sleeveless Tunic

June 4, 2020

Today's interesting warning - if you're wearing a mask frequently, be ABSOLUTELY sure that you're washing both the mask(s) and your face every 5 minutes or so. I currently have a really painful broken-out face from mask irritation. It's both ugly and sore...

But let's look at helping one of our friends get some good use from a beautiful garment, eh?

This isn't the exact tunic, of course, but it's sleeveless, and includes the colors royal blue, black and white, just like our friend's tunic. So I'm hopeful that any advice I can think of will be useful!

With a little bit of thought, this top could be worn for most of the year - I know it's odd to think of wearing sleeveless things in cooler weather, but stick with ... View the Post

How to Build a Travel Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with a Bracelet – May 2020

June 3, 2020

Yes, it's the May bracelet. Time has lost all meaning for those of us between the quarantine and the curfew.

And I have to apologize for a slowly diminishing selection of products available to include on The Vivienne Files. More and more stores seem to be running out of things (or at least running out of good assortments of sizes), and some places are already getting in cashmere sweaters. It's difficult to know what the future few months of retail will look like, but I think I can confidently recommend that if there's something you really like or need, you should grab it when you can....

I will continue (of course!) to try to find the prettiest, best coordinated, best-priced items I can, available in as many sizes as I ... View the Post

June 2020 Six Scarves, Twelve Months, Twelve Outfits

June 2, 2020

I think we could all use some peace, quiet, and timeless classic simplicity... Calm seems wise right now...

And now that the weather (at least in Chicago) has become legitimately summery, it's time to break out another skirt!

I firmly believe in the merits of skirts for warm weather - they're cool, they cover as much or as little as you want, and they are appropriate for a ton more places than any pair of pants or shorts! If you have that "thigh thing" that keeps your from wearing skirts, indulge in 1 or 2 pairs of these and you will find you might actually enjoy a skirt! ... View the Post