Bows for Elsa Schiaparelli’s Iconic Bow Sweater

A Little Background

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Daenel of Living Outside the Stacks and me. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday one of us selects an inspiration image and we each post the image on our blogs. The following Monday we share our art-inspired outfits. The following Wednesday, the curator shares all of the submissions on her blog.

This Round’s Curator

Today, Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey is the curator.

The Inspirational Image

Elsa Schiaparelli’s Iconic Bow Sweater, which was part of her 1927 Fall collection

My Interpretation

Although this sweater is one of my favorite all time fashion pieces, I did have some trouble coming up with something. It wasn’t the black and white; I have plenty of that. It was the bows. I just don’t have very many bows in my wardrobe; about four, I think. I used three of the four in this interpretation.

The basic sheath dress was thrifted a few year ago at either Goodwill or Salvation Army-I can’t remember which. Except for the label, all the other tags have been removed. After some research, I think that this dress is from the early 90’s. The Sheri Martin dress company seemed to be active during the 80’s and & 90’s but this is certainly not an 80’s style.

To my eye, the fabric seems to be rayon and probably a bit too shiny due to age. But this dress is handy to have around and I really like it.

Here Comes the Bows

Back in the 80’s, I made quite a few of little pieces of jewelry from ceramics. This bow that I am wearing as a necklace is one of them. I think I wore it once and then kept it squirreled away in a box. Finally, last year, I brought it out as a display item.

For this post, I dug out some old lace to hang it on, so it could briefly live as a necklace again.

There are bows on my platform espadrilles by Moda, which isn’t in existence anymore (I think). I got them from DSW the spring I retired, which was 2012. Being all black, the bows are hard to see, but they are there.

My black bangle with gold bows is by Ted Baker and I found it on Poshmark back in 2018. I was fascinated by the gold metal bows.

The last bow item is my vintage Rodo straw bag. I mainly added this one to my collection because of the bow that was created out of many small leather cords. I thought that was pretty amazing.

Adding a Wrap

I’ve never worn this dress without either a bolero or large scarf and today was no exception. I got out one of my silk scarf blanks (some day I will paint it with silk dyes I hope) and just threw it on.

I think that it as far as the style goes.

The Procrastinating Knitter

I have loved this sweater so much, I have even considered knitting it. The pattern is free at School House Press, but it comes in only one size which is way to small for me. A few years ago, I started to enlarge the pattern but my stumbling block was if I should also make the graphics larger too. This turned out to be my Achilles Heel. I just stopped.

I did dye some of my merino/alpaca yarn that I had a mill in Kansas spin up in my wool. I was going to go with navy rather than the black. Looking at it now, I don’t even know if that’s enough. I have my dye recipe somewhere because I keep accurate dye records in case I need to reproduce a color. But at this point, I think it’s the no-where sweater.

I think that pretty much sums it up for me. So now…

Will You Join In the Fun?

I hope this art inspires you to create a look and that you will join us. Send a photo of your SIA inspired outfit along with a small blurb on how you were inspired to Salazar whose email is 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by July 13th (tomorrow). She will share the submissions on her blog on Wednesday July 14th.

Anyone can participate and you certainly do not have to have a blog.

If you do share your inspirations on Instagram use the hashtag #StyleImitatingArt so we know you are there. You can also tag us in the images. Our Instagram names are: @terrigardner_meadowtree, @daenelt and @14shadesofgrey.

That wraps this SIA up for me. Take care and stay creative!