OOTD: Style Imitating Art - The Great Mystery of Water by Christi Belcourt

Terri at Meadowtree Style is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art, and I absolutely love her artwork of choice for Earth Month...this mural-sized (40" x 60") acrylic painting by the Canadian Métis artist Christi Belcourt. The colors, the fish motif, and the sense of movement in the piece are wonderful. Terri gives some helpful background about the artist and this work in this post.

source: meadowtreestyle.com

I often begin thinking about an outfit for the SIA challenge by either analyzing the visual elements of the art and/or by scrolling through my digital closet to see if any pieces jump out at me. But this time, I knew immediately that my aqua-blue fish scarf would be the centerpiece of my outfit. The background "water" color and the black and white stylized geometrical fish just felt right. As a bonus, I had only worn this scarf two times previously, so I liked the idea of giving it some love for the SIA. I purchased the scarf from ThredUp in December 2019 for a whopping $1.87 (as part of a larger scarf purchase during a sale). When I initially washed this scarf in the sink, it bled dye...a lot of dye. I had to soak it multiple times to get rid of the excess (and did a final soak in a vinegar solution to set what dye remained) so it wouldn't stain my clothing. During the process, I lost most of the gold...I don't know what to call it..."flaking" that was scattered around on/near some of the fish. But the bright aqua-blue color remained cheerfully vibrant.

The rest of the outfit came together very quickly, using black as my base color for the scarf to pop against. I chose black skinny pants and a black t-shirt with thin white stripes, which was my best take on the undulating lines of the water. My cheetah Oxfords are beige with black spots, which is the reverse of the walleye's coloring in the painting. I left my hair entirely loose, living its best giant-fuzzy-waves life as a further representation of the flowing water in the artwork, particularly the golden streams following in the wake of the fins. I popped on some reddish-pink lipstick as a nod to the dots of red that appear in the water.

OOTD 4/18/22

In styling the scarf, I used this DIY scarf ring trick utilizing a black elastic and a shank button (on the underside of the scarf) with a pretty cloisonné fish pendant that was a gift from Jodie at Jodie's Touch of Style. The golden edges of the fish, mimicking the fish in the painting, made it a perfect addition to the outfit. I considered wearing the very similar dangling fish earrings I have, but I decided against it when I thought about how they would get tangled up in my loose hair.

Here's a nice close-up look at the fish pendant...and you can sort of see the remains of one of the gold lines on the scarf, starting behind the fish pendant's dorsal fin and flowing down. And of course no Sally outfit is complete these days without a bracelet stack, so I put on a pair of aqua/blue/pink paper bead bracelets, an aqua/silver bracelet, and two black bead bracelets (all DIY) plus a silver bracelet from my Amazon metallic set.

I didn't manage to photograph either of the two previous wears of this fish scarf, but here is the fish pendant on its initial wear in May 2021 in a simple layered necklace look.

OOTD 5/17/21

I am excited to have my favorite breed of rabbit joining me in this SIA: the Mini Rex with its gorgeous soft plushy fur that knows no equal. This particular rabbit has a broken pattern that bears a pretty strong resemblance to the painting's fish...light underneath, dark on top, spotted. She has even compacted herself into a streamlined position to give herself a fish-like shape.

Black "broken" pattern Mini Rex rabbit

Domesticated rabbits can swim, but they avoid it if they can. Their fur soaks up the water and weighs them down, making swimming an exhausting and dangerous activity, and they stay wet and cold for a long time after leaving the water. Bunnies usually react with fear and panic when submerged in water, so much so that even giving a rabbit a bath is strongly discouraged. (Rabbits keep themselves quite meticulously clean, and in those instances when they need a bit of help, spot cleaning is the way to go.) But art allows us to consider new possibilities and explore connections that may not be immediately obvious.

Here a rabbit has joined the fish to acknowledge the central importance of water to all animals and to honor the interconnectedness of life in celebration of Earth Day.

The Great Mystery of Water "improved" with rabbit

To see other outfit interpretations of this painting, check out the round up on Meadowtree Style.

Do you like nature motifs in clothing and/or accessories?

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