Start with Art Archives - Page 27 of 59

Start with Art: Vocal Fabric of the Singer Rosa Silber by Paul Klee, and French 5-Piece Wardrobes

April 20, 2022

We visited this fascinating painting a few years ago, and I've never forgotten about it!

So when someone asked me about having a couple of accent colors for summer, and after we looked at the possibilities of 1 scarf for 4 women, I got to thinking.... (as my mother would say - "we knew you were thinking; we smelled the smoke...")

The last time we looked at this painting, I only isolated 3 accent colors, but today I'm choosing four!

So my plan is this - I'm going to start us out with a core summer wardrobe in light colors - white and beige. Then I'm going to scare up four French 5-Piece Wardrobes - one in each of the accent colors...

Let's start here:

I'm not going to run through how many outfits ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Water, Monaco by William John Leech

April 18, 2022

Making Compromises, When Your Palette is Difficult

She's really committed to these colors, even though she knows that it's not going to be easy... There's no real way she can envision getting dressed for an entire season without wearing black - even if it's hot!

And the rest of the colors? She has accepted that "her" beige, that green-ish, rain-soaked and slightly lichen-colored quay, isn't going to be anywhere to be found; she's prepared to compromise with the much more common beige...

The accent colors could be tricky; she can't actually see herself wearing soft lime OR light periwinkle with black!

But she gives it all a go - it's just clothing, after all.

Starting with the simple stuff - it's never difficult to ... View the Post

A Travel Capsule Wardrobe in 3 Moods; Start with Art: Composition by Mainie Jellett

January 14, 2022

Curtain Call Her latest major work - a 3-movement symphony - is debuting this weekend, at the gala opening of THAT orchestra...

For years, these have been her colors, and her inspiration for clothing:

Mood #1 - Nervous, to the point of feeling "green around the gills" She's taking the train, and then will have a handful of interviews; it's not every day that a work by a woman composer is the finale of the Grand Gala!

note: this green turtleneck comes in 9 other colors...

Mood #3: Peachy-keen, after the concert! Once it's all over, she will be just fine! Since she gone to the trouble of making the trip, she's going to stay at least the entire next day, and possible into a 2nd day...

Her regular ... View the Post

Start with Art: Lucinda by Sofia Bonati

December 31, 2021 An Expert in Medieval Flower Illustrations...

You know, those flowers that appear in the ornamented capital letters at the beginning of a manuscript chapter?

Or in the dividers between sections of a breviary, or other sacred document?

She knows why that particular flower was chosen, and what it means!

It's a niche bit of study, and she is the acknowledged master of it!

From the time she chose her thesis topic (a few years ago, to be honest!), she realized that her wardrobe made a great deal of sense if it was the black of print, the ivory of old paper, and the shades of rose and lavender that are the colors of most of the flowers. If they were colored, of course!

So when she travels to ... View the Post

Start with Art: Southern Window by Louis le Brocquy

December 17, 2021 Not Feeling Festive...

It hasn't been a festive year for her, and she is really struggling to get in the mood for her holiday trip...

But, assuming that she will be able to travel during the health crisis, she knows that she's going to have to pack! Her family doesn't do anything amazing for the holidays - she will spend a lot of days in the house with the older family members, and some time walking outdoors with younger people. Cooking, helping clean up, reminiscing...

She decides to pack mostly neutrals - grey, navy, brown, and ivory - with a couple of pieces in dark green. It will be an interesting challenge to mix things together, and will be somber enough to reflect her state of mind. This is NOT ... View the Post

Start with Art: Revisiting Understanding by Parscha Mirghawameddin

November 24, 2021

Remember this heroine? Nobody seemed to think that she was beautiful, except her! And possibly someone that she met while traveling....

"Did You HEAR What She Told Her Great-Nieces?!?!"

"You mean the part about moving to the city?"

"NO!!!! The part where that silly frog ring is her engagement ring!"

silly is in the eyes of the beholder - this ring is legitimately very fine jewelry...

"Well, I knew that she met someone while she was there, but I assumed that it was just a platonic thing; what's someone her age doing getting involved romantically?"

What's someone her age doing? Feeling beautiful, feeling loved, having buckets of fun, and treating herself to all sorts of frog ... View the Post

Start with Art: Saints Genevieve and Apollonia by Lucas Cranach the Elder

November 19, 2021

Remember our old friend, the expert in Gothic Architecture iconography?

She's worked from home;

with a wardrobe to which we added lots of accessories!

She also visited a college campus to lecture;

and she took students to The Cloisters in New York;

and she's been working with Paris officials on Notre Dame.

You can tell that she's a favorite heroine of mine!

This is her inspiration:

She Could Work from the Photographs that the church in Dublin sent to her, but she decided to go actually see the carvings in their location within the building. The church members had taken advantage of the pandemic to build scaffolding and climb up to clean decades of candle smoke and incense ... View the Post

Start with Art: Construction by Max Weber

October 13, 2021 Difficult...

Very early in her career, she became instantly famous (at least in architecture circles!) for her innovations in combining unexpected construction materials. She discovered new synergies of strength and flexibility that changed the industry...

Since then, she has deliberately cultivated a reputation for being a difficult partner in projects. She's actually a lovely, kind woman, but she finds that she is treated with more respect if everyone approaches her with a certain... trepidation?

Her wardrobe reflects her interest in combining things in unexpected ways; she might show up for a project summit dressed in a soft, approachable way:

But she knows that she's going to want to surprise ... View the Post

Accessories – Neutrals and Brights! Start with Art: Stargazing by Helen Frankenthaler

August 27, 2021

I don't image that you've forgotten this lovely and inspiring painting:

When we looked at a wardrobe inspired by this painting, I started with a simple Weekly Timeless Wardrobe in navy and white; I thought it was important that this heroine have a good neutral base for her clothes...

And then we of course moved into bright colored clothes to spark up things...

So I was thinking - what if we started with a handful of essential neutral accessories, and then added bright things to go with the bright clothes?

In this approach, we start with this handful of classic things to wear with navy and white:

Then let's take each accent color and find some accessories that will also serve as ... View the Post

Start with Art: Stargazing by Helen Frankenthaler

August 13, 2021

Happy Friday, the 13th!

We often ponder the merits of having a LOT of accent colors in a wardrobe... I think this post might offer an idea of how to manage them all!

This heroine understands that she needs quite a bit of navy to establish a base for her wardrobe. After that - watch out!

She starts with this - yes, it looks familiar:

Of course, I would be perfectly happy with this - I'm content with neutrals. But our heroine has other ideas, starting with bright blue!

Just out of curiosity, this is what her wardrobe would now look like with these additions. Yes, it gets her to a "4 by 4" Wardrobe plus 1 garment:

But she's just getting started - let's toss in 4 pieces in bright ... View the Post

Start with Art: Green Way by Todd Schulz, and Thinking about a Keynote 10?

July 21, 2021

Oh, I've been thinking... What if the 10 garments you chose - just for thinking purposes - are the 10 things you have that you would keep if you had to start from scratch?

For me, this changes everything - I wouldn't need to keep jeans, nor tee shirts, nor basic neutral sweaters that are always available. No white oxford shirts...

Let's experiment with a heroine who wears an unusual color palette:

She's sorting through her wardrobe, looking for the really HARD to replace pieces that she loves the most...

For me, that would have to start with cardigans!

why yes, she may have skipped paying rent one month to buy that grey cardigan...

And some other sweaters - they may not be amazingly unusual styles, ... View the Post

Start with Art: Locus 87 by Susan Osgood

July 7, 2021 The Call Came... and she's expected to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week, starting in September...

She can't wear her old work clothes - her size has changed in the last while, working at home!

And she's overall not thrilled about the whole "back in the veal feeder pen cubicle" office environment.

So she's going to be as super-professional, organized and mature as she can manage!

Starting with an inspiration that will leverage her navy and grey wardrobe core - almost mandatory in an office that's mostly men, and in a conservative industry.

She loves her colors...

Her office isn't non-stop suits, but she still has to be pretty serious some days, so she starts with the "the Board of Directors is ... View the Post