Start with Art Archives - Page 31 of 34

Start With Nature: Ornamental Cabbage – a Four Pack

Why do I feel confident suggesting that this may be the only fashion ensemble in history that was explicitly inspired by a cabbage? But I don't feel very apologetic about this - these cabbages look more like big, gorgeous flowers, with subtle colors. Frankly, if you find colors that you like, they can come from ANYWHERE, and you never have to tell your secrets!

It would certainly be possible to go with more pink, and a couple of different shades, but I was in a green mood... There could also be some white in this combination, and you could use black in place of the dark grey. I can't stress enough that you should see what YOU want to see in these colors, and adjust your choices accordingly. The only real point of this is to ... View the Post

We are SO ahead of our time!

When we were in Amsterdam last month, we of course went to the Rijksmuseum. They have lots of Rembrandt's, some Vermeers - it's worth the effort, trust me. It's a museum that will linger in our memories for the rest of our lives.

But there was one thing there that really caught my eye - our TICKETS!

Both of the paintings are in fact details from The Night Watch by Rembrandt - arguably the crown jewel of the Rijksmuseum collection. But note the color schemes on the left side, drawn from the paintings! Remind anybody of our Start With Art?

These two bit posters were outside the entrance to the museum. The first is colors taken from The Milkmaid by Vermeer:

And this is colors taken from The Night Watch. ... View the Post

Start With Art: Yellow Tree by Linda Jacobson

Seotember 16, 2014 So beautiful, and such inspiring colors! I was completely unfamiliar with this artist; my readers send me the most wonderful things...

I chose a muted palette from this painting - I think I'm in a muted mood today. Would you like to see a 2nd post (after my vacation!) based on this painting, with more vivid colors?

I've been asked to clarify the role of the various "fours" in the 4 by 4 Wardrobe, so I'm going to do that while working with this painting. Multitasking... The First Core of Four is designed to give you two tops and two "bottoms" (I don't know why, but lots of people are completely bothered by the term bottoms...) that can be ... View the Post

Start With Art: The Church at Coggeshall, Essex by John Armstrong

September 11, 2014

What a cool painting! It shows the World War 2 damage to the church, and the "reveal" of the interior structure of the church is fascinating. So sad that such a lovely piece of art is the result of destruction...From this, I selected two relatively minor colors in the painting as the neutrals, and then used the gorgeous pastels as the accent colors. The black is clearly visible, but I grabbed the sage green from the shrubbery that's relatively obscured on the left side of the painting. I think what I'm trying to show here is that, although the painting itself is very bright and muted pastel, it's still possible to pull together a wardrobe from these colors without enriching your dry ... View the Post

Start With Art: The Magpie by Claude Monet

September 4, 2014 In our mythical leisure, Belovedest and I watch art courses from The Great Courses. Our current course is The World's Greatest Paintings, in which we studied at some length the beauties of this:

Talk about mixing warm and cool colors to great effect! I was irresistibly drawn to use this as a Start With Art subject. Note one really interesting innovation that I'm trying: rather than attempt to nail down two specific browns and greys, or one color to represent the damp and frozen branches, slats on the gate, and branches in the fence, I'm working with a spectrum of brown to darkest grey. Doing this frees you up to build a wardrobe around any color that might be ... View the Post

Start with Art: Lucy Hessel at the Seashore by Edouard Vuillard

June 4, 2014 My readers have the very best taste; this painting was sent to me to consider for a "Start With Art", and I thought the colors were so beautiful!The mood of this painting - languid, soft, dreamy, relaxed - made me think of a honeymoon, or a second honeymoon...

These were my color choices:

If you wanted to pack for a second honeymoon, you could certainly do worse than this!

As always, a well-chosen handful of outfits selected with a unifying theme will give you lots of options.

love, Janice ... View the Post

Start With Art: Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte – Version 2

May 22, 2014 A second look at this great painting - focusing on the left half of it, and picking up the lovely periwinkle/chambray blue details...

It is interesting that such a drizzly and cold painting lends itself so beautifully to hot-weather clothes.

I love this dress...

A couple more garments, some accessories, and shoes:

Soft and pretty - a great travel capsule wardrobe!

love, Janice

Looking back: 2012 - What to wear with a necklace: dragon pearls 2013 - We look at a whole bunch of ways to wear One Dress: Six Ways in Black, White and Pink ... View the Post

Start With Art: Paris Street; Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte

May 21, 2014

This wonderful work is back in the Art Institute of Chicago; it was being restored and was not available to view for a while. It's such an amazing work - the asymmetry, the subtle powdery colors, the juxtaposed angles...

Even though this is a chilly winter scene, I'm going to look at some warm-weather clothes... I love this coral color, so that's going to be the primary accent color in this wardrobe.

And the taupish grey that suffuses this painting is a perfect base for some simple summery tops.

A few more lovely coral items...

These should get you through at least a long weekend in style!

I could ... View the Post

Start With Art: The Girl with A Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

May 13, 2014

The most beautiful color scheme, combining warm tobacco brown, black, and brilliant blue and golden yellow highlights... That Vermeer guy was good!

One nice warm outfit, for in transit, or for a sudden cold snap, and some beautiful silky solids...

A simple outfit, and a nice basic dress:

A much less basic dress, and a warm-weather outfit with an over-shirt for air conditioning.

And a few extra pieces, for versatility!

love,

Janice

Looking Back:

2012 - one of my readers had a piece of jewelry that she wanted to wear more, and so I suggested What to wear with a ... View the Post

Start with Art: The Libyan Sibyl by Michelangelo

May 6, 2014

I am often asked to consider basing a wardrobe or a travel capsule on this most lovely of Michelangelo's works, and I have to admit that I find her sort of intimidating! The unusual color combinations, as well as the overall strength and power of her image are so striking that my brain goes a bit blank after studying her for a while.

Let me quote, at length, the excellent www.moodbook.com site's description of her:

"The Libica, or Libyan Sibyl brings pre-Christian prophecy to a close. With a graceful movement, displaying her lovely shoulders, her foreshortened arms, and the lowered profile of her fine head with its gold tresses, she lays aside the open book as if about to close it. It is a large and cumbersome ... View the Post

Start with Art: From Mount Darling by Peter Simpson

February 28, 2014 So this is your dream:

And maybe this is your current reality:

All the more reason you should consider shopping your dream, and at least wrapping your immediate self (i.e. your body) in the calm, soft, organic and tranquil colors of which you dream. Start small - a simple silk tunic that can be worn with any pair of pants you own... This tunic, all on it's own, could raise your spirits for a few days! Maybe some blue shoes, or a bag. And your next pair of jeans could certainly be green rather than something more predictable and conformist...

So many shades of blue from which to choose - but you don't really have to choose! ... View the Post

Start With Art: An Interior from Architectural Digest

February 25, 2014 This photograph was sent to me as a suggestion for a wardrobe - and what a great idea. This photograph prompted, in me, ideas of wood, stone, natural fabrics and textured fabrics. While I'm going to start with mostly colors in the beige/brown/grey families, there are definite hints here of green, blue and orange that would be great accent colors here.

Another question I've been asked is about the possibility of purchasing garments one at a time, so this is something we're going to try here. And the idea of not matching colors exactly - the colors in this wardrobe (with one exception) won't be identical matches... So here we go! First off, wouldn't you like to be sitting ... View the Post