Very Bright Dress and Black Jacket for Conjunction by Romare Bearden

Welcome to my interpretation for this round of Style Imitating Art.

A Little Background

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

This Week’s Curator

Romare Bearden is recognized as one of the most creative and original visual artists of the twentieth century, Romare Bearden had a prolific and distinguished career. He experimented with many different mediums and artistic styles, but is best known for his richly textured collages, two of which appeared on the covers of Fortune and Time magazines, in 1968. An innovative artist with diverse interests, Bearden also designed costumes and sets for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and programs, sets and designs for Nanette Bearden’s Contemporary Dance Theatre.

He was born was born on September 2, 1911 and was of Cherokee, Italian, and African ancestry. His light skin did allow him to cross boundaries that many other Black people were restricted from. In 1929, he graduated from Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. He passes away on March 12th, 1988.

My Take

I picked the bright dress I own for this challenge. It is from Mango and made in Keyna. Bought early in 2019, I decided to get it because it was on sale and it was made in Kenya. The dress has been only worn twice and always with some black jacket to tone it down. Also, there is this huge ruffle going across the front that needs to be covered up until I ever get around to removing it.

There is also the high-low hem to make it a little different than anything else I own. as far as dresses.

I just wore it this past Saturday to the Symphony and paired a short jacket with a satin collar (Julia Collezione, bought second hand from eBay). It been a while since I’ve worn black stocking but thought I would do it for the this and see how I like the look. Also, I am carrying a Leo clutch by Rebbeca Minkoff and my trusty black suede Jones of New York pumps.

Included is a Ana Sui belt, which you can see better in the first photo above. Also, the above photo has an orange background, which remindsme of the painting.

Below, is me back in 2019 when I wore it to an afternoon baller. Again, a black jacket, but this time a blazer. I did try this blazer on for Saturday night, but just didn’t think it was right for an evening performance. The shoes and bag are the same. I was probably wearing contacts back then. After Covid, I just don’t really care about contacts and just wear my glasses. But I do like that you can really see that gorgeous belt buckle in this photo.

That finishes me for this one and I hope you enjoyed reading about my idea for this painting. Have you sent Shelbee your idea? If you have not done so already, please send it to Shelbee at shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com by tomorrow.

See you next time!