OOTD - Style Imitating Art returns!

Good Monday Morning, everyone!  As I've been trying to post a bit more regularly, that provides more opportunities to participate in fashion challenges, like Style Imitating Art.  Jen of Librarian for Life and Style picked a painting that matched some recent thrift finds I'd picked up recently.

More information on Chagall is available on Artsy

OOTD - SIA / Beza Threads

Ok, so, I'm back!!  I decided to take a while off from blogging (almost a month!), in order to think, focus on my family for a while, and answer a few personal questions I had.  One of those questions?  Why do I blog?  To be honest, I haven't really gotten to the root of the answer to that, because of so many varying reasons.  I love sharing my outfits, I have to get dressed in the mornings anyways, and I love the creative outlet, among many other things.  Another reason I began blogging was in order to share Fair Trade and ethical companies with you, and that reason has only intensified in the past few weeks.  Part of the conversation that starts with asking, "Who made my clothes?" is finding fashionable alternatives from companies committed to enacting positive change in our world.  I want to start re-focusing on that aspect of the blog, so expect a lot more Fair Trade Friday posts in the future!!

It seemed only fitting to come back from my little hiatus with an outfit featuring a scarf I received from Beza Threads, a company I recently wrote about in my Fair Trade Friday feature.  I love what Beza Threads is doing, as they join in the fight against human trafficking by caring for survivors in Ethiopia.  And, it seemed only fitting to include my new scarf in this round of Style Imitating Art, hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey.  Here's the painting that is the inspiration for the outfits:

Franz Kline / Painting Number 2

SIA - The Singing Butler

I decided to put together an outfit to participate in this installment of Style Imitating Art, so of course, it gets shared with you!  The painting was chosen this time by Jess of Animated Cardigan, and is a work by Jack Vettriano painted in 1992, entitled "The Singing Butler," and I couldn't help but be inspired by that amazing red dress!

OOTD - The Knitting Lesson (SIA)

It's time for another Style Imitating Art!  Jen, of Librarian for Life and Style, picked this lovely piece for today's inspiration:

"The Knitting Lesson" by Earnest Bieler (1908)

This was a lot of fun to center an outfit around, and gave me an opportunity to wear a hat that I received as a gift, but don't wear often enough.  It echoes the patterns on the little girl's hat in the painting, and also has another great story behind it.  Want to see it?  I know you do:

Not only is the hat adorable, but it comes from an awesome company called Krochet Kids.  If you haven't heard of them before, you should check them out.  They're a fair trade company that "work[s] with highly vulnerable women who live in poverty stricken regions of the world. [Those areas are in Peru and Uganda.] [Their] program empowers women with the resources to rise above poverty. Forever."  (from their What We Do page)  It only made sense to include this hat in the outfit, since it was made by a company that caringly teaches it's artisans the craft of Crochet (which is almost the same as knitting, only different.)  They also have scarves, tees, and other goodies on their site.  I'm especially in love with this sweater.

I kept the rest of the outfits simple with black and blue to echo the grandmother's outfit.  I even included a scarf I made myself, with some adorable buttons that were a gift from my MIL.  Actually, as I looked at these pictures earlier, I realized a lot of the pieces from this outfit were gifts from my family, which just makes this outfit even more special!

Outfit Details:
Top: free via clothing swap
Jeans: thrifted, $5
Hat: gift from SIL
Striped Bracelet: gift from MIL
Charm Bracelets: DIY (tutorial here)
Scarf: DIY with gifted buttons from MIL
Shoes: thrifted, $2
Grand Total: $7

If you'd like to see other outfits inspired by this painting, be sure to check out Jen's blog tomorrow for the SIA round-up!

Style Imitating Art - Motivation

Another day, another outfit.  I decided to participate in the latest SIA challenge, with this week's painting picked by Jess of Animated Cardigan:

Automat, by Edward Hopper 
Oil on canvas, 1927

I love the rich green color of the girl's coat in this painting, and at first, I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have anything green in my closet to mimic it.  But then, I remembered an extremely oversized top I'd thrifted while pregnant, with the intention of making it into a maternity top.  Obviously, that project got postponed for a while, but this round of SIA was the perfect motivator to finally get that top refashioned!

(please excuse the off-center belt, I did not notice until seeing these pictures!)

My favorite part of this dress, other than the color?  Since it's made from a shirt, it has a great shirt-tail hem!

I added in some color and graphic elements with my accessories to mimic some of the other details from the painting, and this actually ended up being one of my favorite outfits so far this year!

Outfit Details:
Dress: thrifted and refashioned, $3
Belt: borrowed from another dress
Tights: Wal-Mart, $2
Shoes: Missoni for Target, thrifted, $2
Earrings: Old Navy, $2 (clearance)
Grand Total: $9

If you'd like to see how some other ladies translate this painting into their outfits, stop by Jess's blog tomorrow for the round up of the other SIA participants!

OOTD - Style Imitating Art has returned!

...actually, SIA never left.  The other bloggers that participate have just continued blogging even while I took that first trimester hiatus, as they should have.  But, since I've returned to documenting my outfits every so often, I thought I'd jump back in with an SIA post of my own.  Jess of Animated Cardigan chose a beautiful piece for this round:

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, by John William Waterhouse 
Oil on canvas, 1905 

To go along with this amazing piece of art is a stanza of a poem that the piece takes its name from:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a'flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying. 

I honestly wish I could copy this outfit piece for piece, from the floral embellished gown and golden arm cuffs, to the bejeweled hairpiece above her shoulders.  I also wanted to play on that poem, and that idea of youth's transience and fading beauty.  In a way, I did what I could with my limited wardrobe choices!

And, this outfit did make me think of other transient things, namely fashion trends (I know, I'm so deep, right?).  But really, when my children grow up, and find out that their mommy had a fashion blog, they'll look back on all these outfits I picked out and either love them or hate them.  "Geez, mom.  A maxi dress, really?  With a vest?  How 2010's could you have been?"  This is, of course, right before they take off on their hoverboards while wearing their futuristic silver plastic jackets and levitating shoes!  Good thing I love the clothes I pick for myself, and besides, who wouldn't love the floral detail on this vintage vest from the 70's?

OMG, flowers!

Outfit Details:
Dress: Old Navy Maternity, $12 (clearance)
Vest: vintage via Cheap Thrills, $3 (clearance)
Earrings: Greenola Style, free via giveaway
Shoes: thrifted, $3
Grand Total: $18

Be sure to visit Jess's blog tomorrow!  There'll be a whole group of ladies putting their own take on the chosen piece of art, and you won't want to miss it!

OOTD - Bonfire (SIA)

Another week, another round of Style Imitating Art.  Today's artwork was chosen by Jess at Animated Cardigan, and is by one of her favorite artists, Andrew Wyeth.  I discovered recently a great resource concerning Andrew's works, on this Artsy page, and I'd greatly encourage checking it out!

Bonfire, 1992

First off, when I first saw this painting, I knew I wanted to include the top I wore in the outfit, just because I wanted to put some Victorian inspired pieces in the mix.  I have no idea why, since this was painted in the 90's... maybe the bones make me think of steampunk?  Anyways, I chose this blouse, and pieces in other muted tones, with the pop of the orange skirt to mimic the fire.  And, the necklace, just because.... well, you'll see:

Outfit Details:
Top: thrifted, DIY'ed to sleeveless, $3
Skirt: f21 via Plato's Closet resale, $6
Necklace: via Plato's Closet resale, $1 (clearance)
Tights: Target, $5
Shoes: Nine West, thrifted, $2
Grand Total: $17

Be sure to stop by Jess' blog tomorrow to see how other ladies around the blogosphere style their SIA outfits!

31(squared) - Flamingo (SIA)

I had the best intentions for this post.  Really.  I saw the PSA for the latest Style Imitating Art challenge, and my mind was immediately awhirl with so many ideas for how to center a look around the amazing sculpture Jen picked.  I mean, look at this!

This is the Flamingo sculpture located in Federal Plaza in Chicago.  Seriously, what a great inspiration!  I really wanted to put together an outfit (still including some of my 31 pieces for the month) that spoke to the amazing color, named Calder red after the artist.  I wanted to play with the juxtaposition of the curves of the structure against the stark lines of the surrounding buildings.  I wanted to possibly pose on one leg like a flamingo, just because in my mind, my birthday (yes, it's today!) is the perfect excuse to do silly stuff like that.

Really, I just wanted to get dressed today.  But, unfortunately, I seem to have a mild tummy bug (yep, happy birthday to me), so getting dressed isn't really in the equation.  So, instead, here's what I would've worn today:

I went pretty literal, with a swirly, shiny red circle skirt paired with a classic turtleneck and some 'heavy' moto boots.  That, along with the serious hardware in that necklace, summed up the inspiration.

Oh, well, at least I have an outfit picked out for tomorrow.

Outfit Details:
Shirt: free via clothing swap
Skirt: DIY, thrifted fabric, $2 for materials
Boots: via Plato's Closet resale, $8
Necklace: via Plato's Closet resale, $3
Grand Total: $13

Be sure to stop by Jen's blog tomorrow to see how other lovely ladies style their outfits!  For a preview, check out Erin's post, with her amazing pants and home-field advantage!

If you'd like to know more about why I'm remixing 31 pieces from my closet and not shopping for the month of March, check out my introductory post to this 31(squared) series!  Please join me in this fundraising effort for Love146, and help shine a light in the darkness.

OOTD - Style Imitating Art

Well, I've been doing some blogsploring lately (Wait, you don't know what blogsporing is?  That's because I just made it up!)  It's where you go exploring for new blogs to read and find inspiration from, of course!  I'd seen Salazar's outfit posts from her blog, 14 Shades of Grey, on the main page of Go Chic or Go Home a few times, and even followed her (on the site, not in real life, that would be just crazy!), but never had a chance to check out her blog.  Then, on the recommendation of another blogger, I made my way over there, and loved it!  My favorite part of her blog is that she's collaborating with a group of bloggers, including Jess from Animated Cardigan and Jen from Librarian for Life and Style, to bring a series of outfit posts called Style Imitating Art.  Basically, these lovely ladies draw inspiration from pieces of artwork as a base for an outfit.  Some pieces of art that they've used in the past are:

Untitled by Larry Poons

An illustration from "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats

Can I just say, I'm so excited to run across this idea!  I'm always looking for new ways to pull an outfit together, sometimes a bit more thought-out than "ooh, this other blogger wore this so I'm totally going to copy her" or "red and blue can match, right...?"  So, I took this month's inspiration and went with it.  It's a fairly iconic painting, so it was a lot of fun to see how it translated into a 'real-life' outfit.

"The Milkmaid" by Johannes Vermeer

I knew as soon as I saw this that I had the perfect skirt!  I had made one a while back out of a laundry bag (yes, really), that was the same asymmetric hem and vibrant blue as the painting subject's apron, and I used my accessories to pull in the rest of the colors from the painting.  Oh, and full disclosure, I try to always post outfits that I actually wear, but this one was a blog-only outfit!  I had to go to work that night, and the skirt just wouldn't have worked for that.  One trip up a ladder, and everyone involved would have been embarrassed (I feel like there's a pun there...)!

Outfit Details:
Shirt: NY & Co, $13
Skirt: DIY
Booties: Payless, $12 (old)
Necklace: DIY
Bracelet: gifted

Grand Total: $25

Be sure to check out Jess's blog, Animated Cardigan, to see how the other bloggers styled their outfits!