Red Paisley and Various Tops for Bonnard’s

About Style Imitating Art

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 Weeks Curator

That would be me.

This Week’s Inspirational Art

Dining Room in the Country by Pierre Bonnard, 1913

How I Interpreted This Work With My Style

The first thing I knew I wanted to wear were my Ralph Lauren red paisley trousers that I thrifted quite a few years ago at Goodwill. What influenced me was the red blouse or dress that Bonnard’s wife Marthe had on for the painting. Bonnard painted completely by memory so it could also be possible that she was wearing something else but he decided he needed a red dress for the overall color combination-who really knows.

There’s a bright bush of yellow flowers just visible through the open door. That led to me choosing my bright yellow cotton Jones of New York blouse. I picked this one up when I was at a educational conference probably around 2010 so I’ve had it a while. Honestly, I usually wear it with denim or white.

The bag is second hand which I found on eBay a few years ago. One my feet are Keds. For about fifteen years, these were the only Keds I owned. Now I am a Keds fanatic, putting it mildly.

Then There Is the White Table Cloth.

White does make a strong statement in this piece with the table cloth and the white mixed in with the blue for the door. So I included how I wore my pants when we went shopping a few days ago.

Of course, it’s not as dramatic but gave me a chance to tote along my bright blue bag from Coach. If I had been thinking, I would have worn my white Keds too but just grabbed my old faithful blues.

I found an older photo on Instagram, wearing my pants my favorite way-all black of course. There’s not to much black in the painting-maybe a little bit in the table chair back-but inspiration can come from any part of the painting, no matter how small, right? This was back in April, 2017. I will always think that bright colors look the best against black-the true non-color. If you see me in these pants, this is the 99.9% way you are going to see them-different shoes, tops and bags but they are going to be black.

That finishes me up.

It’s now your turn.

How have you interpreted this work of art? If you have not already sent me your design, (along with a small blurb on how the work influenced you choices) please do so at meadowtreestyle@gmail.com by tomorrow.

I will do a roundup this Wednesday featuring all your designs. There are no wrong answers and I’m looking forward to your style ideas.

Take care everyone and stay creative!