A Little Teapot
Posted: May 18, 2020 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: belt, black, black loafers, brooch, green, green shirt dress, style imitating art 2 Comments
I struggled a bit with this week’s SIA, inspired by this gorgeous Worcester teapot. I may have the individual pieces, but they don’t all go together, and I didn’t want to force them together just for the sake of mimicking the inspiration exactly. In the end, I decided to just go for the general feel of the piece rather than being literal.
By a stroke of luck, I recently found this dress in an online thrift store, and the color and the delicate embroideries on the top kind of remind me of the lighter part of the teapot, and I paired it with this braided belt to mimic the handle and my bird brooch is a nod to both the birds and the gold touches in the design. All in all, I’m happy with the outfit, even if it’s not as close to the inspiration as I’d like.
Don’t forget to check out Daenel’s blog on Wednesday to see other outfits inspired by this teapot!
The Pool At The Jas De Bouffan
Posted: April 6, 2020 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: brooch, brown, brown button boots, green, green pleated scarf, green sweater, mustard corduroy pants, style imitating art 2 Comments
So here’s my outfit for this week’s SIA, inspired by Paul Cézanne’s “The Pool at the Jas de Bouffan“. It’s pretty self-explanatory – I built it around the main colors of the painting, used the textures of my pants, sweater, scarf, and even boots to mimic the brushstrokes, and of course, added my leaf brooch as a nod to all the trees. Luckily, we suddenly had a cold snap, so I was able to pull out my scarf and sweater for this.
In other news, our government has just issued an “official” order for social distancing, but my family has been kind of isolating ourselves for about two weeks already, so our daily routine hasn’t changed much. It’s also good that none of us is exactly a social butterfly, and we have a big garden, so we don’t feel too boxed in. I hope everybody is doing well. Hang in there!
Wedding Portrait
Posted: March 23, 2020 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black, black cardigan, black pumps, brooch, green, green graphic print dress, style imitating art 5 Comments
My interpretation of this week’s SIA inspiration, Jan Van Eyck’s Arnolfini Portrait, is a little different. Sure, it has most of the colors of the painting (green and black, with a touch of brown), but the print of my dress makes it decidedly more futuristic – usually, I would try to echo the feel of the painting if I can, but I see this print as my way of mimicking the intricately pinked trims on the sleeves and the pleated front of the woman’s dress in the painting. I also added my brooch because it reminds me of the mirror on the wall behind the couple.
More importantly, I was going to wear this to a wedding last week, which I thought would make it appropriate for the theme of the painting. Unfortunately, the wedding was canceled due to the pandemic (“pandemic” is a word I never thought I’d type for a real-life situation. Usually I only read it in sci-fi books. But such is the time we’re living in.) The couple decided to have a very simple family affair instead of the big reception they’d planned, and my hat’s off to them for sacrificing their big day in the name of public health and safety. Anyway, even though I didn’t get to wear it to a wedding, I thought, why waste a perfectly good outfit? So here we are.
If you haven’t sent me your outfit, you still have until tomorrow! And don’t forget to come back on Wednesday to see other interpretations of this classic painting!
It’s Easier With Hoover
Posted: March 9, 2020 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: blue, blue striped popover, blue suede loafers, green, green silk scarf, mustard baggy pants, yellow 2 Comments
Here’s my outfit for this week’s SIA, inspired by the French poster for Hoover vacuum cleaners. I’ve known right away that I’d wear these pants – they’re not bright orange like in the poster, but they’re the closest I have. The blue striped shirt and navy loafers are also easy choices, to mimic the touches of blue and navy in the poster. The green and yellow bits took me some thinking, but then I remembered this green scarf with yellow and orange print – perfect!
Don’t forget to check Kim’s blog on Wednesday to see other outfits inspired by this poster.
Mom Clothes
Posted: December 13, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black jeans, brown, brown suede ankle boots, brown tee, brown tweed blazer, green, green brocade scarf 3 Comments
I just raided my mom’s closet this past weekend and found a bunch of goodies – several blazers (here is one of them) and a gorgeous brocade scarf (here it is.) Without access to a well-stocked thrift store, this is the closest I can get to thrifting. The good news is that my mom had an extensive work wardrobe, which she doesn’t wear anymore now that she’s retired, plus she has great taste so a lot of her things are timeless classics.
Sock It To Me
Posted: November 13, 2019 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: blue, brown, brown oxfords, green, green sweatshirt, navy skinny jeans, socks Leave a comment
What’s this? A sweatshirt? Jeans? Socks?!!! That’s right, friends, fall weather has truly arrived in Hanoi. It’s been hovering around the edge of the days for a while now, but this past week, after some heavy rain, we can put away our fans and summer clothes and finally enjoy the cooler weather. It means I can bring out the fun socks I’ve been saving since the summer – I got a bunch of them in an end-of-season sale, so expect to see a lot of them in the weeks to come!
My socks have cats on them, so I figured it made sense to feature a photo of my dog (my cats are lazy and hid in my blanket at the first hint of the cold)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Posted: October 7, 2019 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: animal print flats, belt, brown, green, green linen pants, maroon monk shoes, peach tee, pink, style imitating art, white, white v-neck popover 1 Comment
When I hear “Sweet Dreams”, the song is the first thing that pop into my head, so naturally, I have to use it as the post title. Sorry if I gave you an earworm.
Anyway, here are my outfits inspired by John William Godward’s painting, not the Eurythmics song. I put together two outfits because I couldn’t include all the elements of the painting – the green and maroon fabrics, the white, gray, and pink marble, and the animal print – in just one look. I chose these green linen pants as the base because the color is perfect, and for one outfit, I paired them with my pink T-shirt and animal print flats (it’s leopard print, not tiger, but hey, they’re both big cats), and for the other, I paired them with my white shirt, maroon monk strap shoes, and animal print belt (I think the print on my belt is zebra, actually, but it’s close enough.) I prefer this second outfit simply because I think the shirt and the shoes go together a little better, but the other is good too.
Don’t forget to check out Daenel’s blog on Wednesday to see other outfits inspired by this lovely painting!
