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Start with Art: A Mother’s Love: The Polar Bear Family by Jason Carter

August 22, 2022

She loved his art the first minute she saw it! The clarity, simplicity, beautiful colors - all of it!

And she knew that this painting would be useful in helping her focus her ever-shrinking wardrobe:

She knows that the core of her wardrobe will be black, white and denim - this painting seems just right!

She start her autumn wardrobe planning with A Common Wardrobe. It's not called "common" because the clothes are cheap or run of the mill - it's called common because these are clothes that a LOT of people have in common!

That's a good thing - you can easily find them, they fit in easily when you're not sure what to wear, but best of all, the serve as a neutral background for whatever accents you wish to ... View the Post

Chic Sighting Round 2: White Shorts and Pants

July 27, 2022

On Michigan Avenue, you see all sorts of people - locals, tourists, people in from around the region for a shopping day...

In the parks near my home, it's much more a neighborhood crowd...

Maybe it's because most of us are pretty close to home, but people don't seem to be nearly as worried about wearing white as you might expect:

One of the many joys of wearing white pants or shorts is that ANY top that you have clean will go perfectly!

Of course, living this close to the lake means that we will see a fair number of people dressed in classic sailing colors!

Any top with a white background is a candidate for these kinds of outfits:

If you choose the right top, your can have ... View the Post

Start with Art: Sunlight on the Road, Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

May 25, 2022

Self-Care

The medication changed her body. She's bigger now. But she's also better!

Now she needs a new wardrobe for the next few months; this is her plan:

She lives in a lovely part of the world, with a VERY temperate climate; it rarely gets below 29 degree F in the winter, and seldom above the mid-70s in the summer! Sounds like heaven to me...

Like all wise women, she start with her dark neutral, in basic but not boring pieces that can be worn and worn and worn...

Lovely light blue - a soft color like the sky full of clouds...

Green pants in the shade she envisioned were hard to find, so she just got another pair of grey pants! Why not...

And green... muted and beautiful...

Our ... View the Post

Version 4 Start with a Scarf – El Amor Silk Bandana by Lost Pattern NYC

May 18, 2022

There are so many different reasons to love one scarf:

Cerise Yes, her name means cherry! Sometimes, you will indeed see her wearing a cherry-printed dress, or wee cherry earrings...

But for her trip with her 3 friends, she is embracing her love of stripes, and challenging herself to an entirely red and white travel capsule wardrobe!

(okay, except for the blue pants in which she's going to travel; she's taking the bus, and she's NOT willing to sacrifice her good white pants to the whims of mass transit...)

If you're looking for a "weekender" bag that doesn't blend into the crowd, this Vera Bradley bag comes in seven colors...

Cerise is indeed the woman who seized the parrot theme of the scarf and ran ... View the Post

Start with a Detail – The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 29, 2022

She wasn't sure that she loved the painting, but she saw something in it that REALLY spoke to her...

She's Always Been a Towhead She violated all of those pieces of advice about looking at art, and she got up REALLY CLOSE to the painting...

THIS is what she saw, that called to her:

Her hair was turning from blond white to just plain (amazing!) white. She avoided the sun, as all wise women do. And she embraced the soft, the pale, the subtle muted colors that suited her so well...

if I didn't already have a white summer cardigan...

Beige is the core of her wardrobe - winter, summer, no matter! And light grey wool, in the cool weather...

She's excited to add some light green to her wardrobe! ... View the Post

Revising a Wardrobe Plan: Start with Art – The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 27, 2022 Our heroine felt... unsatisfied with her initial wardrobe plan. It was perfectly practical, and many women would have been delighted with having black, beige and pastels available to them... So our heroine went back to her inspiration painting, to try to identify what about it really appeal to her!

She loved the contrast between the trees and the pastels in the water... She wasn't mad about the color of the sand, or pavement, or whatever that mungy greenish beige was supposed to be! ..... Walking to work, she saw a very nicely dressed man, in a navy suit, a light blue shirt, and dark tie... NAVY! Navy and pastels are classic. And then she saw a lovely woman wearing a simple white tee shirt with a navy ... View the Post

Start with Art: Vocal Fabric of the Singer Rosa Silber by Paul Klee, and French 5-Piece Wardrobes

April 20, 2022

We visited this fascinating painting a few years ago, and I've never forgotten about it!

So when someone asked me about having a couple of accent colors for summer, and after we looked at the possibilities of 1 scarf for 4 women, I got to thinking.... (as my mother would say - "we knew you were thinking; we smelled the smoke...")

The last time we looked at this painting, I only isolated 3 accent colors, but today I'm choosing four!

So my plan is this - I'm going to start us out with a core summer wardrobe in light colors - white and beige. Then I'm going to scare up four French 5-Piece Wardrobes - one in each of the accent colors...

Let's start here:

I'm not going to run through how many outfits ... View the Post

March 2022 Start with a Bracelet: The Empowered Lynx Bracelets

March 21, 2022

Spring!!!

She finally realized that nobody pays much attention to what she wears... So long as she is appropriately covered, doesn't smell terrible, and isn't decked out in something garish or deliberately conspicuous, it really doesn't seem to matter!

So how does this empower her? Now she is wearing her favorite clothes more often. She's packing less and is comfortable repeating garments or entire outfits during a trip. She cares more about HER feelings in her clothes than about the reactions of the rest of the world...

So taking a long weekend away in March isn't nearly as intimidating as it once was.

The weather? Could be toasty, could be cool.

Once upon an insecure time, she could have used ... View the Post

Building on a Successful Travel Wardrobe: Start with a Scarf from Jessie Zhao New York

March 11, 2022

The travel wardrobe worked well...

When she got home, she decided that it would make good sense to assemble a small but versatile summer capsule wardrobe in the same colors!

Here's what she has when she went away for the weekend...

Being a fond reader of The Vivienne Files, our heroine decided to be somewhat organized as she planned her warm weather wardrobe, so she assembled all of her garments (so far!) into a 20-piece grid. There's no labels here; she's using it for visibility and to keep from being distracted by her accessories!

The first thing she sees is that she does NOT have any navy; can a woman live through the entire summer without a dark neutral in her wardrobe?

So she starts with ... View the Post

How Can I Find My Own, Personal, Basic Wardrobe?

November 12, 2021

Ah, I'm going to need a second to remind you of the origins of The Common Wardrobe, and why I was so taken with the idea...

I'm sitting on the sidelines of a big party - about 200 people. These lovely young people (mostly) are my co-workers at an international advertising agency. We are in Madrid, or Berlin, or Chicago - it doesn't matter.

These people are creative. In big bright letters, they are the brightest, most imaginative people I've ever known. And when you look at them, you can tell; they wear sweaters that they knit in their spare time, or shoes made by a friend, or a jacket covered with wee patches that they did to cover holes...

But under all of this amazing color, pattern and print, they were ... View the Post

Start with Art: Stargazing by Helen Frankenthaler

August 13, 2021

Happy Friday, the 13th!

We often ponder the merits of having a LOT of accent colors in a wardrobe... I think this post might offer an idea of how to manage them all!

This heroine understands that she needs quite a bit of navy to establish a base for her wardrobe. After that - watch out!

She starts with this - yes, it looks familiar:

Of course, I would be perfectly happy with this - I'm content with neutrals. But our heroine has other ideas, starting with bright blue!

Just out of curiosity, this is what her wardrobe would now look like with these additions. Yes, it gets her to a "4 by 4" Wardrobe plus 1 garment:

But she's just getting started - let's toss in 4 pieces in bright ... View the Post

Start with a Scarf: Our Echo giveaway winner!

July 9, 2021

Sharon was our winner! And her choice of scarf was...

But we're going to be looking at VERY different colors than normal with this scarf!

Sharon is dreaming of a wardrobe for a getaway to Italy! Her dream includes ALL of the good stuff: museums, churches, shopping, a boat tour, lounging in cafes, romantic dinners, and maybe an alfresco concert!

Where's my ticket?

Sharon was thinking of a short getaway because she lives in the UK, but I went a little bit overboard with her packing! Summer clothes pack small...

I was trying to be careful about modesty - I can't count on both hands (and feet!) the number of people I've seen turned away from churches in Italy because they weren't appropriately dressed. ... View the Post