Adding an Unexpected Color to an Outfit for SIA Pumpkin
- sallyinstpaul
- 3 days ago
- 7 min read
Salazar at 14 Shades of Grey is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art (SIA), and she selected the 1994 sculpture "Pumpkin" by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. She chose this artwork because after a recent trip to Japan, she wanted to highlight a Japanese artist but something different from the woodblock prints that have previously featured on SIA. She described it as "a deceptively simple piece," and I agree with that assessment...
Particularly as an artwork to inspire an outfit. I found this giant polka dot pumpkin sculpture rather tricky to interpret! My first thought was to wear my DIY black-and-yellow Bumblebee layered necklace with a yellow top and black skirt. I thought the round beads of the necklace lying against the yellow background would look a lot like the polka dots on the pumpkin, except...
When I looked at my outfit archives, I discovered that I had already worn this combination last summer, soon after I made the necklace. (In fact, the entire outfit was created starting with the layered necklace.) But since I hadn't shared this OOTD on the blog, I'll show it to you now as a pre-cog outfit that suits the SIA's inspiration artwork very well!
I used the "modern twin set" color formula, topping the light yellow tank with a coordinating cardigan in the same color/brand that I bought with the tank, and pairing it with a black botanical print skirt that has some yellow/mustard in the print. This created a "yellow and black" outfit to match the colors of the necklace.
The origins of the name "Bumblebee" are clear in this photo in which you can see the Czech glass bee bead that I used as a focal on the shorter necklace. Most of the black, yellow, and yellow-with-grey/black round glass beads as well as the yellow peanut beads are from the July 2024 Curated Bead box, but I added various pieces from my stash (including the bee bead, black polka dot wood beads, striped beads, and the beads in the focal drop/tassel on the longer necklace).
To match the black-and-gold colors of the necklace, I wore black Rockstud flats...which coincidentally have a subtle black-on-black polka dot print! I was channeling the polka dot element of the Pumpkin sculpture without knowing it.
For my all-DIY daily bracelet stack, I started with a paper bead bracelet set that I specifically made to coordinate with the botanical print skirt (page to bead post here). I supplemented the set with yellow, mustard, and black beaded bracelets to repeat the significant colors of my outfit. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
I knew immediately that I would use these yellow beads with the gold honeycomb pattern to make a pair of earrings to wear with the bee-themed necklace. I had two of these beads from an acrylic bead mix I had purchased from the Curated Bead Box company (Dollar Bead). I liked the bead mix so well that I bought a few more bags of it in a later order; it's a random mix so I was able to get more matching pairs of beads for earrings by purchasing multiples, if that makes sense. I like that these beads have a lot of presence - big, bold, and colorful - while being extremely lightweight due to the acrylic material. My ears are sensitive to weight so I could not wear a glass or gemstone bead of this size as earrings.
Skip forward from September 2024 to May 2025, where I was wondering how I could tweak my initial outfit idea to create a different version for the SIA challenge. I was inspired by this image of the Pumpkin sculpture in its outdoor setting to create another version that also incorporates the stunning blue sky in the outfit. Although a color scheme of yellow, black, and bright sky blue is not one I'd normally come up with, I decided to give it a shot.
I wasn't sure initially how to add blue to my look. Ideally, I wanted to wear the blue at the top of the outfit to mimic the placement of the sky at the top of the image. But I knew that I still wanted to wear the yellow tank and yellow-and-black necklace for the lines-of-polka-dots-on-the-pumpkin effect. So I played to one of my sartorial strengths and found a scarf with a warm azure blue background that I could wear above the yellow tank and long necklace. I got lucky that this floral print scarf even had black and yellow/mustard in the print, making it easy to create a cohesive look with my other pieces.
I could have worn a black skirt, consistent with my initial thoughts, but I chose this beige striped linen skirt instead for two reasons. First, by wearing a beige bottom piece, I could finish off my spatial replication of the colors in the outdoor Pumpkin image: top = blue scarf (sky), middle = yellow tank + necklace (pumpkin), bottom = beige skirt (pier). Second, the vertical stripes reminded me of the columns of dark polka dots on the Pumpkin sculpture.
And while we're at it...Third, I have been wanting to venture out from the matching zone with this skirt. It has four great neutral colors - beige, black, navy, and white - plus a mustard accent color, and I have created a lot of outfits using a combination of those colors. I've mixed up silhouettes and textures so the outfits are by no means repetitive, but I've definitely been playing it safe with color. So I took this opportunity to do an "add a color not in the print" AND "print mix" color recipe double whammy by pairing the blue floral print scarf and the striped skirt. As for the black cardigan...I just wanted more of that color in the outfit and this was an easy way to do it.
Adding a color not in the print - which is basically adding an unexpected color to an outfit - can feel uncomfortable if you're a matchy-matchy girl at heart, like I am. While I could certainly treat the azure blue scarf as a pop of color, it felt more intentional and cohesive to me to repeat the bright blue in another place in my outfit. So I created a bookending effect with the scarf by wearing a pair of bright blue ballet flats too.
Note: According to the Google AI, my site uses the term bookending to "describe a visual technique of repeating a color or element from the top of an outfit (like hair or a hat) down to the bottom (like shoes), creating a 'finished' and balanced look...This is said to create a visual loop, drawing attention to the face...The effect is described as creating a harmonious and visually balanced outfit." This is an accurate summary! I would add that repeating the color of a scarf in the shoes is a favorite bookending approach of mine. (I noticed right away that Marsha created bookending with a scarf and shoes in her Pumpkin-inspired outfit for this SIA too!)
On to my finishing touches...As a Color Integrator, another way to make the blue floral scarf seem at home in this look was to make and wear a memory wire bracelet that includes the various colors from the scarf. Here I repeat not only the yellow, black, white, and gold of the clothing and the blue of the scarf's background, but also the warm pink, peach, orange, red, and olive green tones in the scarf's print. Wearing a coordinating bracelet brings comfort and joy to my matchy-matchy heart, but the effect on the outfit is actually rather subtle, I think.
Since I was making a bracelet to match my scarf, I decided to make a pair of bead soup earrings for it as well. I focused on the yellow, black, and azure blue colors (plus gold metal) from the scarf since those were the dominant colors of my outfit.
I am amused to realize that it didn't even occur to me to include polka dots in my interpretation, which is a really obvious element of the artwork! But I got the dotted look of the necklace against a yellow top in mind right away and didn't even consider a polka dot print. So I could create a third outfit based on this artwork pretty easily using polka dots...which goes to show that even a "tricky" inspiration piece can yield a lot of different outfit ideas.
Now for the main event of every Style Imitating Art post: revealing our Rabbit Imitating Art! At least, that's what is supposed to come next. But things have gone all topsy-turvy around here, and the rabbit that I chose refused to pose for a photo; this is the first time that's happened. When I remonstrated with him, he got all Monty Python foot stomp and menaced the Pumpkin sculpture with his strangely gigantic foot. I could not risk damaging such a valuable artwork by upsetting a rabbit into thumping it flat. I don't have that kind of money! (I don't know exactly how much this Pumpkin sculpture is worth, but a Pumpkin from 2014 sold for £6.4 million in 2023! That's just a bit out of my price range, you know?!) Fortunately, I at least got a quick capture of his threatening foot, and that will have to suffice for today.
Thanks for joining me today for this Style Imitating Art + Rabbit Imitating (and Improving) Art post!
To see other outfit interpretations of this artwork, check out the review on 14 Shades of Grey.
Are you a matchy-matchy dresser, or do you like to add unexpected colors, or something in between? Are you a fan of polka dots? Can you handle the bumblebee connotations of the yellow and black color combo? Do you ever use the bookending technique in your outfits? Do you know why the Strangely Gigantic Rabbit is so irritable and intent on threatening everything with his thumping foot?
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