The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

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Whatever's Clean Summer Wardrobe Archives

Warm Neutrals Camel and Mossy Green Accenting Navy and Beige

Let's see what happens when we start with navy and beige as our neutrals, and then incorporate two MORE neutrals, in warm hues, to act as accents.

This is the color scheme as I see it; I've made 1 small alteration in that I've given us a range of the accent colors, from lighter to darker, in order to open up the possibilities a bit. These aren't easy colors to find this time of year!

And this wardrobe I'm working with an assumption that we're going to be packing for a more changeable climate - needing both sandals and a sweatshirt, so to speak...

As before, we'll start with six neutral pieces...

Just to keep us mentally organized, let's continue to work with a 13-piece wardrobe template:

The first accent I've chosen is this ... View the Post

What to Pack for the Florida Gulf Coast? Start with a Scarf: Paris in the Spring by Echo

The scarf says Paris, but your luggage is all tagged TPA - you're going to Tampa to visit friends with a home on the Florida Gulf coast!

They've mentioned the beach, and the boat... (repeatedly...) There's a bit of sightseeing, some serious lounging to be done, and you might take in a baseball game. You'll be dining out at least a few times, too!

Well, you know that it's going to be hot and sunny. You know that it's a relatively casual part of the country, and you know that you don't want to carry a whole ton of stuff with you.... What to do?

Let's start with a color scheme, based on this most lovely scarf:

You know that no matter how warm the weather is, the airport will be freezing cold, and the plane is seldom warm. So you've got ... View the Post

Build a Whatever’s Clean 13 Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Dragonfly by Miro

Such an interesting email....

Say you live outside the United States. You're retired. The weather's always reasonably warm and nice. You only shop every year or two, when you visit in the US...

And THIS is your inspiration:

I'm really liking these colors, and this WHOLE scenario!

In the interests of establishing a solid basis upon which we can build, I'm going to assume that our heroine either owns or already plans to purchase these pieces:

At this point, we've got a solid starting point, and a lot of fun things to find!

I'm ALWAYS going to recommend that you buy the sweater or tee shirt or top that goes with your cardigan. Even if you aren't the sort to wear a twinset, having pieces in the exact same color means that anything ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: The Sea Seen from the Heights of Dieppe by Eugene Delacroix

What a gorgeous image, especially in late February, in Chicago!

As much as this painting suggests a wardrobe with a LOT of gold and yellow, I'm going to have to work around that, because those clothes are NOT easy to find! So I'm going to take advantage of the boat in the foreground, the beige clouds and distant sea, and the glimpses of blue sky. Some mother-of-pearl jewelry would be logical, no?

They Met on The Internet

Not that it's unusual to date someone you met online - much the contrary. Many of her nieces and nephews dated people they met on the internet, and she even knew of a couple of very successful marriages that started there. It's just not something she ever expected for herself...

But they kept dating, and after ... View the Post

Twin Posts: What to Pack to Visit Chicago, Labor Day Weekend

This is really exciting for me; as a blogger who seems to be under most radars, to have been asked by Susan of Une Femme d'un Certain Age to partner up for a pair of posts was unexpected, and pretty thrilling.

Susan's blog was one of the very first I ever followed, and her style and élan are qualities that I try to emulate in my own way. I can't encourage you enough to get to know her and appreciate the charm and elegance that she brings to her life, and in turn, to ours!

So today, Susan's going to give us some guidance about what to pack if we're off on a voyage to her neighborhood, in Los Angeles. I'm really eager to see what she has to say, since that's an area to which I've only traveled ONCE, and I'm sure I have a few things I ... View the Post

A Four by Four Whatever’s Clean Capsule Wardrobe in Black, Beige, Marsala and Natural

As soon as I launched the newest Pantone Spring and Summer 2015 color scheme file (available here), someone asked me to do some work with the color of the year - Marsala. She had honed in on the black and khaki, and after a bit of discussion we agreed that the best 2nd accent color would be an unbleached linen/natural color.  This is the palette we finally chose for a capsule wardrobe.

I started with black, of course! Sleeveless and short-sleeved, cropped pants and "normal" pants, and all from 3.1 Phillip Lim, just for ease of matchy-matchedness.  You can, of course, find your four pieces from a different, less pricey, company, or mix them from a few different places.

In fact, in order to find four pieces in khaki, I ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Version 2 Steamboat leaving Boulogne by Edouard Manet

 I really love the combination of blue and grey! (I often consider including blue as an accent color in my wardrobe...) So I decided to look again at this painting, with an eye to warm weather. I brightened up the blue a little bit - Manet gives you a whole range of blue possibilities - and I equalized the proportions of the four colors:

I haven't built a Four by Four wardrobe for a while, so I thought this would be an interesting project. First up, the core dark neutral charcoal, in linen:

One of the reasons I wanted to do a summer leisure wardrobe - I found this gorgeous blue at L.L.Bean. A perfect secondary color!

The Expansion Four is usually four tops of some sort, since tops tend to get more wear than bottoms. ... View the Post

Building a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: A Shelf of Books -> a Summer Wardrobe

You really, seriously, can get inspiration anywhere, if you keep your eyes and your aesthetic heart open to what's out there.  This absolutely wonderful picture was sent to me - what a delightful mix of softly faded colors.

It wasn't at all hard to come up with a color scheme.  Many of you ask about how I build color wheels - I use the graphing gizmo in PowerPoint.  I use PowerPoint for all of my vignettes, because it does everything I need.  Just insert a graph into a slide, and then change the colors and sizes of the various wedges to suit your preferences.You have a new, beautiful mnemonic for your wardrobe colors, AND you have a new skill to put on your resume.  How fun is that?

This lovely ... View the Post

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe from Scratch Step 18: One last review, considering Whatever’s Clean, and A Common Wardrobe

Many of you have been following the concepts of A Common Wardrobe, or a Whatever's Clean wardrobe, and you've expressed great curiosity about how those ideas work with this much larger capsule wardrobe-building concept.  So let's see if we need to make any last tweaks to our wardrobe to be as inclusive and versatile as possible...

First off, remember this bad boy?  This was the original Common Wardrobe - garments that I saw day after day on my co-workers from international advertising agencies. These garments and accent items were combined in all sorts of different ways, and accessorized like mad:

I threw my analytic brain at this, and defined each of these garments functionally, i.e., the first is a "dark neutral sweater", ... View the Post

Transition: Phasing out a secondary neutral

I repeatedly make the questionable choice of including beige or khaki in my summer wardrobe... sigh...  it's not a great color for me.  So here, in addition to addressing the idea of moving toward warmer clothes, and buying with a purpose, I'm also showing a move from one color in a wardrobe to a different one.

Remember, this was the summer Whatever's Clean wardrobe:

 First, because I'm starting to really feel like beige isn't working well, the 2 beige pieces are going to take a back seat. And of course white linen pants aren't going to go too far into the fall...

 Here's where grey takes the place of beige, and a pair of jeans will replace the white linen pants.

 Second step:  the sleeveless black dress, ... View the Post

Transition Summer to Fall: Tan and Brown Accessories

 A few simple accessories will help you get into the autumn mood...  While the tote bag I show is technically supposed to be a beach bag, it's so incredibly well designed that I wanted you to see it!  It could easily be used through most of the year - where did we get the idea that we could only use certain materials at certain times of the year?  If you're not a scarf person, you might want another necklace or two; if jewelry isn't your thing, then you can go nuts with scarves...  To each her own very personal and beautiful preferences! ... View the Post