4x4 wardrobe capsule

January 27, 2023 This is her favorite painting: She wants to tackle Project 333 for February, March and April! So she’s starting with her favorite outfit, and with colors that she’s drawn from her favorite painting. Of course she can’t include ALL of the colors in the painting; that would be overwhelming! These were her […]

July 3, 2020 Okay, she’s no longer living; for our purposes, our heroine is a fictional character who looks a lot like her… When we left our heroine, stocking her pantry in Paris with the essentials, she was traveling with this wardrobe: She has just learned that she’s going to have to stay in Paris […]

How to Build a Capsule Wardrobe: Starting From Scratch, Stage 5 - 4 by 4 capsule wardrobe

August 23, 2016 We’re leaving for Italy in less than 2 weeks, which means I need to get this travel capsule wardrobe sorted! I’m notorious for having my suitcase out a month ahead of time… But seriously, I should start setting things aside so that (a) I don’t forget anything, and (b) I don’t carelessly […]

It’s apparent, when you look back through years of The Vivienne Files, that my thinking about some concepts… evolves… the more I work with them. Foremost among the ideas that have gone through some changes is the Four by Four Capsule Wardrobe. But I’m pretty settled on how I think this best comes together, (finally…) […]

2. 4 by 4 Wardrobe in black, denim, white and warm brights

I'm going to be a little bossypants right now. Shocking, right? I want you to close your eyes (well, you may need to squint so you can keep reading, but you get the idea) and picture me in your closet. Naturally, I'd be standing on a stool. I'm 5'2", and 5'1" of that is hair,

June 15, 2015 So I was thinking about Six-Packs (the clothing kind, not beer…) and I realized that if you chose your pieces exactly right, you could get 45 different outfits from 9 total garments – six of them packed. This isn’t to say that you are going to want to take off […]

Ever feel like you have a closet full of clothes but nothing to wear? You're not alone! Surprisingly, most of us only wear about 20% of our wardrobe regularly. That's where a capsule wardrobe comes in. This simplified, intentional wardrobe made up of versatile pieces you love not only makes dressing each day easier, but

February 22, 2017 You asked, and it was a really intelligent question – can I use denim in place of olive green, in a wardrobe from The Vivienne Files? Heck yes! Neutral colors can be interchanged, especially in casual wardrobes in which rigorous color matching isn’t terribly important. Let’s recreate a recent wardrobe and […]