The sea and the almost wedding dress

I really love this picture! It belongs to Jen, who is one of the curators of the Style imitating art blog-challenge. It is a serigraph (?) print entitled 'The sea', printed in 1976 by St Louis-based printmaker, Richard Schallert.  Any sort of seascape is my cup of tea. I have some underlying obsession with the sea. Some day soon, I must get my sea picture framed. It was painted by my friend, Philippino artist Thomas Daquoiag, who gave it to me when we said goodbye after our year studying in Bali and cemented a love of acrylic paints in me. I'd never realised what they were before that.

I knew immediately that this M&S skirt was perfect for the challenge- it has all shades of stripey blues and the weird-piecing and sort of fishtail was appropriate (shame I couldn't be bothered to iron it- it's a PAIN to iron!) and teamed it with the necklace which is made of plastic glass-looking beads in the same shades, linked by black cord.   The top half challenged me a bit. I really don't do beige very much (apart from some lovely silk trousers- oooh totally forgot those!) and my yellow is restricted to that mustard blouse and this yellow broderie anglaise dress from Topshop (thrifted and worn on here recently). So I tucked it in to form a top.  Don't look too close, it looks decidedly dodgy up close- having an empire-line doesn't go well with a normal waisted skirt and there's a whole dress stuffed inside the skirt- the hands are in front for a reason!  Still, I quite liked the effect of the items together! Loving those roses too- thanks neighbour - soon, I am going to totally lop them off and stick them in a vase!


I also have another Style imitating art to catch up on.  The last one, curated by Salazar, was a great fun challenge as she just asked us to pick an example of the floating paper sculptures of Peter Genternaar from the Netherlands,  and everybody picked her favourite piece to interpret.  They're made of paper pulp with bamboo ribs.
I was immediately struck by the balletic grace of these artworks-they seemed to billow like they jeted across the air like a primadonna, just about to execute a perfect series of pirouettes or foutte's (ahrgh, spelling!)





It was however, this one, that I decided to draw my inspiration from:

 It totally says, "Les Sylphides" to me!
Well, my first thoughts were: er- my wedding dress.  Could I possibly get away with wearing my wedding dress, purely for the sake of art??!! (Yes, I could!)
Here it is, for a reminder (or an introduction to anyone who missed it last August)








It was totally suitable- it had pleats, a light, floaty quality to it and it moved in the twisty-turny way that the sculpture does.
But then, I felt a prize twit getting into my wedding dress for it!!!! And also, I cannot do it up by myself and I knew CBC would just think I was a twit if I asked him to do it up!  I thought about asking my friend when she came over in half-term but again, thought I'd look a twit!

My second thought was to wear the wedding dress that I bought but didn't wear! Before I found my much-longed for Johanna Hehir one (I'd given up on finding it anywhere!), I found one in Monsoon that was in the 70% off sale that was almost as lovely but in a simpler way- it was more Jane Austen that my real one- it had a ruffled/pleated bodice but a straight down bias cut skirt and a hanging pleat.  But somehow, I decided not to.

Finally, instead (I'm milking this rather uninteresting tale aren't I?!?!), I remembered this champagne-coloured silk dress I had purchased on Ebay (new) years ago! It also has a pleated bodice and a lovely hanging ruffle. I've never actually worn it because I thought it was more of a blush-pink on ebay and when I got it, there's no way you could wear this to a wedding without looking like you're trying to upstage the bride by wearing white and it's a little too posh for most other occasions (apart from maybe Ascot?!). So, rather like the saying, "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride"- it has remained in my wardrobe. I really do love it- the shape is lovely but not sure how to wear.



To create my contribution for the challenge, I took these photos (it was raining) and then proceeded to prance over my landing like a 'Sylphide' and hold some balletic poses.  Bare feet seemed appropriate for the Sylph look.

One of my nicknames is actually 'Sylph' due to my propensity to wear white floaty skirts and dresses at music camp. A fellow musician, harpist, who also delights in white floaty dresses and skirts called me that and she promptly became my 'Sylphette'

So, what do you think?  How would you have interpreted these artworks?  Would you have gone for the wedding dress?
xx


Click the links to the above bloggers' names to see how everyone else interpreted the art!

x

P.S.  I totally get the sausage dog thing. I originally thought badger or otter, but I'm seeing sausage dog now.x


P.P.S.

Just remembered this hilarious shot from the wedding photos of my sister and eye! Loved it!

(photos courtesy of KAphoto