Same Base Outfit with Different Accessories for SIA: Rooster and Hen

Marsha at Marsha in the Middle is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art (SIA), and she selected the circa 1755 ink on silk scroll painting "Rooster, Hen, and Hydrangeas" by Japanese artist Ito Jakuchu. She wanted to find something that wasn't from a European artist, and a search of "obscure artists of the 17th century" turned up this piece, in which she loved "the colors, the movement, the flowers, and the roosters (or are they just plain chickens)."

source: https://marshainthemiddle.com

I had a really easy time deciding on the main pieces of my interpretation of this painting! I first selected a white blouse with a print of birds (not chickens, though) and leaves in a warm color scheme that fit well with the artwork's palette. To represent the orange-y background color of the painting, I added my "sandstone coral" crops that I purchased from the same collection (summer 2020 at Christopher & Banks) as the top. To bring in more of the darker brown tones from the painting, I finished off my base outfit with brown leather flats.

Although layering with a cardigan/jacket/vest and/or a scarf is my default approach to putting an outfit together, I do like the simplicity of the Top + Bottom = DONE outfit formula sometimes, especially in summer. This blouse is a nice one for stand-alone wear because it has a pretty print in colors that suit me well and details that add interest, such as the buttons down the front (...which I think must be part of a fake button up design because I don't remember the front ever gaping [if you know, you know] nor have I ever tried to unbutton it).

OOTD 8/5/2026

At 158 wears and counting, these brown leather flats from Frye are definitely a wardrobe MVP. I buy shoes at a variety of price points, but there is something to be said for a high quality leather pair.

For my all-DIY layered necklace, I combined a mid-length bead soup necklace in aqua-sky blue tones with a two piece necklace that I made specifically to coordinate with this blouse using a combination of the Desert Sands Bargain Bead Box from July 2024 and beads in my stash. The beige-tan round stone beads are picture jasper from the BBB, and the turquoise looking stones are dyed magnesite (a popular inexpensive substitute for authentic turquoise) from my stash (probably from Fire Mountain Gems). The flat rectangular stone beads are a mystery bead that I purchased in one of those "5 random strands for $X" sales at FMG.

For my all-DIY bracelet stack, I started with a paper bead bracelet set I made last summer/fall to coordinate with this blouse in a color palette of sandstone coral, beige, mustard, aqua, and gold. I completed the stack with beaded bracelets in brown fiber-optic/cat's-eye glass, light coral frosted glass, turquoise-colored dyed magnesite, and brown glass. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}

The top paper bead bracelet in predominantly brown, beige, and mustard was a full-page illustration accompanying an essay about energy in the Economist that I didn't manage to photograph. But in this up close and personal view of the rolled beads, you can get glimpses of elements from the drawing, like fencing, equipment, grass, sunshine, buildings, etc. I made these beads this spring so that this paper bead bracelet set would have a third member of the group (the original one had only the following two).

The middle paper bead bracelet started out as this full-page image in an alumni magazine. In addition to the appropriate color palette, I liked the pixelated nature of the butterfly and (especially) the hands. I thought that aspect would add a lot of interest to the rolled beads, and I was very pleased with the result - the blue polka dotted areas of the beads are particularly cool looking.

The bottom paper bead bracelet came from a drawing in an alumni magazine accompanying an article about Venice. There were actually several wonderful Venice drawings in this same color palette in the issue, but I chose this one that was short and wide rather than a full page (in order to get rolled beads in my desired size). I used my markers to add color to the strips - I covered the indigo blue with aqua to bring it closer to my target color scheme, and I covered the white with mustard or orange because I wanted the rolled beads to have all color and no white spots. (I also covered the white paper core in both of these last two sets with gold marker, which creates the gold striations when the beads are rolled.)

I wore a pair of DIY earrings in brown and antique bronze (see design #1 here) to repeat the color of my shoes, but this turned out to be a bit of a fail! There is nothing wrong with the earrings per se, but they disappear into my hair. I wasn't expecting this because the brown beads are distinctly darker than my golden blonde hair color, but the under side of my hair looks darker both from not getting sun exposure and being shadowed...and the beads are inadvertently camouflaged! I still like the idea of these earrings, but I think they need some tweaking to be more visible. For example, if I added some crystals to my bead stack, they would catch the light and sparkle. (Alternatively, I think if I were wearing braids, the beads would be visible...and if I wait long enough, my hair will go grey and the brown beads will stand out just fine as-is!)

If you've wondered why my title says "same base outfit with different accessories," we have now reached the point in the post where this becomes relevant! After photographing my outfit for this challenge, I wondered whether I'd worn this blouse and pants combo before... and I was more than a little chagrined to realize that I had done so a mere 3.5 weeks earlier. With the same brown leather flats, no less.

OOTD 7/12/2026

Fortunately, I'd worn a different layered necklace...albeit another one I made to coordinate with this blouse using the same Desert Sands Bargain Bead Box (and my stash) as in my SIA outfit. I call this one my "mended heart" set because the way I wire-wrapped the stone to make a pendant (it's just a stone, not a bead with any holes) reminds me of a broken heart that has been put back together. You may notice that strictly speaking, there is no red in my blouse, but there is a kind of dark dusky pink that is a cousin to this dark red color, so I think it works.

Another white floral/bird blouse outfit, another DIY paper bead bracelet set made to coordinate with it, this time in a color scheme of beige, brown, aqua, and silver. Except look at that middle paper bead bracelet! It looks very brown and green rather than the brown and aqua I was going for; the original paper was a calendar page of a red panda in a tree, so it's not like the green snuck up on me. I have decided to move that bracelet out of this set and either put it into another set it matches better or create a new set around it. I can keep an eye out for paper to make a replacement bracelet for this set (never fear, I have a rather impressive collection of magazine and catalog pages amassed). The rest of the bracelets are rusty red carnelian, aqua dyed magnesite, and aqua AB ("aurora borealis" coating) glass.

I made the top paper bead bracelet from this pretty drawing in an alumni magazine. I cut the strips and rolled them up as-is, not even bothering to cover the white paper core on the edges (because white is part of the color scheme of the beads). A few of the beads have a bit of that yellowish green color in bits here and there, which I am fine with (unlike the more dominant green and lack of teal/aqua in the panda beads I ended up ejecting from this set).

The bottom paper bead bracelet was made using painted catalog paper. I started with a rather boring image of brown and beige trousers on a white background and added warm brown and aqua/turquoise acrylic paint to cover the white. I purposely added the two paint colors such that when I cut the strips longwise, each strips would have some of each color. I thought these looked surprisingly great rolled up! The various brown-on-beige stripes from the original image are visible (which is terrific because what drew me to this paper in the first place were those stripes), and there are contrasting areas of brown and aqua that also have a different visual texture because they are paint rather than slick catalog paper.

My earrings are a bead soup pair that I made to coordinate with this blouse, but rather than using a mix of bead colors and materials, I used only two: light beige wood and silver-tone metal. It was a pleasure to add these sweet little metal bird beads to the design (see design #3 here), repeating an element from the blouse.

I also discovered that I'd worn this blouse with a skirt from the same collection as the pants (made in the exact same fabric/color) in June. If a combination works, it works, right? I accessorized this outfit with:

-The same paper bead bracelet set as in my SIA outfit;

-A layered necklace of a DIY multi-strand seed bead necklace in orange and gold; another of my bead soup necklaces, this one in orange/rust; and my trusty gold tassel necklace from Kohls that I have worn 123 times so far (I actually had to re-glue the tassel into the cap with E-6000 jeweler's glue recently, but that was the work of a moment and it's back in action for another 100+ wears); and

-Another pair of DIY bead soup earrings in various mustardy yellow and orange tones, designed to wear with this blouse.

OOTD 6/19/26

Now for the main event for our SIA post: our Rabbit Imitating Art selection!

I will not lie, it was TOUGH recruiting a rabbit for this artwork! You see, a little Stoffhase (stuffed bunny - a classic fabric "stuffed animal," not a taxidermy one!) in our apartment decided that she really wanted to know why Mr. In St Paul spends so much time looking at a screen with a mysterious device in his hands to "play games." Rabbits, not having hands, do not play games that require them. Over time, the Stoffhase learned many things, including that sometimes you need to play a game within a game (Gwent in The Witcher 3), that operating a car is harder than it looks (Cyberpunk 2077), and that chickens are aggressive enemies who can and will quickly peck you to death (Assassin's Creed: Odyssey).

What? Killer chickens?! Killer rabbits, OK, we have seen that, but killer chickens? But the little Stoffhase says it's true! I asked my intern Gemini AI about it, and it said:

This article goes on to explain more about the phenomenon, including the player theory that "since chickens were introduced to Greece by the Persians that there is a fundamental revenge mechanic at work...the chickens are basically Persian sleeper agents who have been waiting for years to fully complete the invasion of Greece."

All this to say, the Stoffhase has pretty much single-handed spread an utter fear of killer chickens into the rabbit community since most rabbits are not well positioned to distinguish between predator behavior in a game versus in real life. And if you're a prey animal who is at the mercy of so many enemies, your go-to strategies are going to be STAY AWAY and RUN AWAY.

Thus it was only with a lot of enticing and even more begging that I was able to recruit one bunny volunteer to improve the Rooster and Hen artwork: a plushy chocolate brown mini rex rabbit who goes by the stage name Choco Bun! It's costing me much more than I'd budgeted for this job, but what a relief to find a Rabbit to Improve this Art.

After signing the contract, Choco Bun explained to me that I'd forgotten one of the Big Three strategies: along with STAY AWAY and RUN AWAY, there is HIDE. And that was the strategy she employed in dealing with this potentially murderous chicken duo. While the rooster and hen flirted outrageously on the ground, she took advantage of their diverted attention and made her way up to the top of this plant, where she allowed herself to be camouflaged (much like a brown beaded earring) and out of sight.

Given that these particular grounded chickens are clearly not "high-level poultry," perhaps they would be unable to do a huge amount of damage before she ran away, but why take chances when you can look down on the enemy from a superior position? She explained that naturally, an elevated rabbit comes at an even greater elevated price, but I was so relieved that she was safe, I was happy to pay it.

Artwork "improved" with rabbit

It was only after Choco Bun finished the Rabbit Improving Art job at the twice-increased price that she admitted that she actually hadn't been worried about the chickens at all. She says that during character set-up, she had ensured that her Rabbit race, Tricker class selection comes with such high Agility, Charisma, Luck, and Perception that combined with the "Iron Fist in Velvet Glove" ability from her Mini Rex specialty build, she was fully ready to evade, charm, or fight a mere two chickens!

Huh, well, I guess when you hire a Trickster for a job, the person who gets tricked may be yourself. I'd say "lesson learned," but we'll be back to this again in two weeks and I won't have learned a thing. It's all BUNNIES, BUNNIES, BUNNIES!!!! in this head of mine.

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 Marsha in the Middle.

Do you ever repeat outfits that are the same head to toe? How about the same outfit with different accessories? Have you been wearing any Top + Bottom = DONE outfits this summer? How about the dress One and Done formula?

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