Salazar at 14 Shades of Grey is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art (SIA), and she selected the 1897 painting "Jubilee Procession in a Cornish Village" by Scottish artist George Sherwood Hunter, which depicts a lantern procession to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Salazar thought the glowing lanterns on a dark background felt cozy given the cold, dark winter days we're experiencing.
The dominant color of the painting could be interpreted as grey or blue, but to my eye, it looks very much like teal. And of course the shining lanterns have a lovely orangey-red glow. So I picked my dark teal long-sleeved T and my bright coral infinity scarf as the basis for my outfit. Because I like to add a long necklace with an infinity scarf, I also selected this groovy 70s style owl pendant with articulated feathers and a body covered in colorful dots. (I don't have much of a boho style streak, but I do adore a 70s owl motif. Or any owl motif, really.) At the upper right of the painting, you can see the lanterns get smaller and smaller until they resemble an array of orange dots, and I thought the owl pendant captured that detail nicely.
I put this outfit together for a Friday WFH, when I frequently wear jeans or a denim skirt. I created a variant on the column of color concept by wearing dark wash blue jeans with the dark teal T; while the two colors are obviously not identical, they are both quite deep shades with very little contrast between them. I have found that you can get a pretty good column effect when pairing two different colors (hues) that both very light or very dark. The colors become desaturated when white (tint), grey (tone), brown (toast), or black (shade) are added, and the more of the neutral that's added, the less you see of the original color. That allows you to achieve a low-contrast "light column" or "dark column" despite working in different hues. As a styling note, this T is a bit long and baggy, so I did a little front tuck to add some structure to the look.
The coral scarf really pops against this dark, muted backdrop, and the complementary color scheme of Blue-Green and Red-Orange colors adds a lot of energy and vibrancy, which certainly felt appropriate to the artwork.
Many colors of shoe would look really cute with this outfit. Orange or teal for a bookending effect. Animal print for sass (and in a tan colorway, a bookend for my hair). Silver/pewter for shine. But I decided to match my shoe color to my jeans with navy loafers for a simple, low-key neutral option that mimicked the use of a dark neutral tone at the bottom of the painting. Of course simple and neutral doesn't have to mean boring...the element of interest here being the two-tone tassels that caused me to fall in love with these shoes in the first place.
I enjoyed the opportunity to wear my teal/orange/silver paper bead bracelet set again, this time with a new DIY bracelet with alternating orange and bright teal glass beads.
I also have a new pair of bead soup earrings in a neon coral and silver color scheme. I designed these earrings around the oblong table-cut beads with the swirl pattern that are at the bottom of the stack; I believe I only had 2 or 3 of these beads from a bead mix. Next I chose the round frosted glass bead in the middle. Then I finished them up with the small faceted glass beads to separate the two focal beads. I really like making these monochrome earrings that incorporate multiple variants on the color. The variety of specific colors adds interest and makes it easy for them to coordinate with outfits (they work well with the "color in the span" matching method). The coral scarf, earrings, and lipstick (plus the golden tones in my hair) function as the bright "lantern" in this look.
We have been lucky to have atypically warm temperatures for this time of year, so wearing a single long-sleeved t-shirt wasn't completely ridiculous, given that I run warm. But for part of the day, I did layer over my outfit with this striped cardigan that I featured in the previous SIA challenge. One thing I love about this cardigan is that it has a very cozy look and feel but isn't too heavy/warm. It's definitely a cold season piece (60% cotton/40% acrylic) but isn't as warm as say wool or fleece (which can be too warm for me for sustained indoor wear).
Orange is definitely not my best color, especially to wear next to my face, but this particular pink-orange-red "coral" is a nice color, and I have found this scarf quite versatile to wear. I bought it at Walmart of all places at a kind of ridiculously low price ($4.13; 6/2016). I have worn it 26 times for a current cost per wear (CPW) of $0.16! Although I haven't quite reached the 30 Wears benchmark, I thought it would be fun to share a few photos of previous OOTD featuring this scarf.
Of course it works well with a striped sweater containing orange, and note the pairing of the same owl pendant. (This wool jacket was not the most comfortable thing to wear but I did really enjoy the whole "hunting jacket from a Sherlock Holmes story" vibe to it.)
A pop of color in an otherwise monochrome grey, black, and white outfit...except for the puffin's feet, which the scarf matches.
I wore the scarf this past summer in a very different outfit with the same basic color scheme as today's featured look: coral, navy, and teal (plus white). Once again I repeated the scarf color in the earrings and lipstick.
A winter outfit with coral, teal, and denim plus brown, created by pulling various colors from the print skirt (aka road map styling).
The same print skirt is the statement piece in this outfit, which I finished with mostly brown plus the coral scarf. Note I wore the scarf very differently this time: looped once around the neck with an overhand knot tied at the bottom. If you have any infinity scarves that you aren't wearing because you're just not feeling that style of scarf these days, this is a good option for bringing it back out of the depths of the closet.
And finally, coral with navy is even better when cognac leather is thrown into the mix. I absolutely loved that (thrifted) navy and orange striped sweater.
OK, now it's time for my favorite part of the post: choosing our Rabbit Imitating and Improving Art! Inspired by the glowing lanterns in the art work, I knew that a gorgeous New Zealand Red rabbit would be the perfect choice to bring some glowing cheer to our dark winter days.
According to the Royal Cornwall Museum, the painting underwent significant restoration in 2010...revealing the full extent of the artist's mastery for the first time in over 100 years. Now can see that a rabbit cautiously emerges from the dark corner of the painting, joining the parade of lantern-bearing lasses. Our shining bunny needs no extraneous elements to be part of a festive occasion; she is a celebration unto herself. With her entrance into the scene, the visual balance of the artwork shifts immediately. The brightness of the upper half of the painting finds its counterpart in that lagomorphic bundle of warmth and color in the lower pane. What greater honor could a queen know than to be acknowledged by such a rabbit? (And the fact that the bunny left the procession a few minutes later when she realized that this was not, in fact, the line for the salad bar? The queen didn't need to know.)
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.
Do you like to wear a "light column" or "dark column" of non-matching but similarly light/dark colors? Are you a fan of animal motifs in your clothes/accessories? Do you have a favorite? Do you ever wear complementary colors in your outfits?
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