Simple Style for a Simple Painting

Hello, and welcome to Style Imitating Art’s “Reveal Monday”. Today is the day that the hosts, unveil our interpretations of the chosen artwork. This is also the last time that I am a host of Style Imitating Art. Three years flew by!

What Is Style Imitating Art?

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 following Wednesday, the curator shares all of the submissions on her blog.

This Round’s Art Work

For my last, I chose an 1870 painting by the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, which is entitled “Interrupted Reading.” The muse reading a book was a popular image during the 19th century. The costume for the subject is considered Italian. Carot did spend quite a few years in Italy.

What attracted me to it was that she had a simple style and that tan, cream/white, and black were the main neutrals being used. It was minimalism after my own heart.

What I Styled

Since August, I have purchased five new items for this Fall/Winter season and was able to use two of them for this challenge.. American Giant is a company that I try to purchase apparel from when I can. My son-in-law has received a few Christmas presents from them. This year I invested in their cropped stretch No-BS Kick Flair Pant. I will admit that when I got them, I decided that the flair didn’t need to flair so much and I altered them to suit me. I have worn these pants so much! They have definitely been a good investment for me.

They are $88 and that probably seems expensive. But they are made in America and the workers are paid a living wage. Once upon a time, clothes were relatively expensive and well-made. We were judicious in what we bought and wore our clothing for more than a couple of seasons. Purchasing a well-made and American-made item is nothing new to me, but it is a faint memory. I remember when I thrifted a lot, the thrill of finding a great USA Union-made piece.

The next item is at the opposite end of the spectrum. First of all, I am a firm believer that the most important item in a closet is the white blouse. If you check out my Closet Essentials you will see it in the number one position. I have white blouses that I have bought, and white blouses I have made, but I have never owned a long-sleeved silk shirt and decided that it wasn’t something I was interested in making. Research was started. I found Quince, which seemed to get pretty good reviews and they have a line of washable silk shirts that were exactly what I was hunting for. My general rule is not to buy anything new that is made in China and usually, I am very good at doing that. But I also decided to not beat myself up if I fell off the wagon. With washable white (really cream) stretch silk, I tumbled off that wagon!

The blouse retails for $69, but I got $20 off for being a new customer. It did take quite a while for it to get here. This blouse is probably the one and only thing for me from Quince. Quince does not communicate sufficient information about its environmental and labor policies. I do like transparency and know it is hard to come by in the apparel industry.

Taking Care of the Brown

A large part of the painting is neutral brown. I chose to represent this with my jewelry. The ring and earrings are hard to see, but my necklace is pretty noticeable. I made this from some really cool stones that I found while teaching at a Midwest fiber conference. I used copper findings which I darkened with a solution to make them look old and not so bright.

My shoes are Marc Fisher’s retired D’Orsay Flat. I have two identical pairs because I will never find a shoe that I like better than this one.

I also threw in my backpack made from recycled plastic bottles because when I volunteer at our local library, it always comes with me.

For book club, I am listening to “Save What’s Left” by Elizabeth Castellano on “Libby”, a free app that you get through your local library. As far as reading, I have started “Blood and Thunder” by Hampton Sides. Michael and I became interested in Kit Carson during our trip to Taos, New Mexico. I previously finished PD James’s “The Black Tower”. I love Adam Dagliesh.

I think this pretty much sums me up.

This is a simple painting but I hope this painting also inspires you to find a way to interpret it.

Send me what you come up with at meadowtreestyle@gmail.com along with a small blurb on how the work influenced your choices by tomorrow. I will do a roundup this Wednesday featuring all your designs.

Take care everyone and stay creative!