This week’s Style Imitating Art inspiration piece is Cravat by Elsa Schiaparelli, created in 1927. Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar (14 Shades of Grey), Terri (Meadow Tree Style), and Daenel (Living Outside the Stacks). Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday one of the hosts selects an inspiration image and they each post the image on their blogs. The following Monday they share their art inspired outfits. Participants submit their art inspired outfits with the curator by 10pm Tuesday and, that Wednesday, the curator shares all of the submissions on her blog. This week, the curator is Salazar. For the last Style Imitating Art challenge, we styled Booky by Patty Carroll (probably my favourite so far!).
Cravat by Elsa Schiaparelli is probably the most unusual style imitating art piece I’ve taken part in so far. Being a huge fan of grey and black already, I figured it would be a relatively easy piece to style. I was wrong lol. I did have the perfect outfit for this but it was a wintery look—and there’s no way I could wear anything wintery at the moment! So I spent a bit of time perusing my wardrobe (and wishing my wardrobe was more like Shelbee’s who has such a fabulous collection lol). I was really struggling so I did a little more research about Cravat. In the end, I figured I ought to try and wear something inspired by the 1920s, hence this beautiful black dress which definitely has a 20s feel to it.
I bought it from eBay a couple of years ago when I was little bit slimmer. I’ve since put on a few pounds and found the dress just a tad snug around the chest and under the armpits. But it was still wearable. I also wore it for one of my self portrait shoots a couple of months ago. So that was the black element of Cravat by Elsa Schiaparelli. For the grey, I decided to add a simple grey cardigan, which I often do. I love these simple round-necked ones from H&M. I have so many in different colours. They’re super versatile and very girlie, which I’m rather fond of. I also added my grey shoes which I think have a slight vintage feel to them. They’re from Zara and I’ve had them for years. I don’t wear them too often these days because they’re not comfortable at all lol.
As for accessorizing this outfit, I opted for a very ladylike handbag—a gift from mother-in-law a few years ago. I’m not sure where she bought it from, but I love the look and feel of it, the polka dots especially. I decided against wearing a necklace because I didn’t want to detract from the lovely transparent effect of the neckline. So I simply added a pair of plain black drop earrings and a simple silver bracelet. It’s the kind of outfit, I’d happily wear out to dinner. I just wish the dress was a little looser up top lol! But I guess that’s just another wonder of getting older lol. But what about you? How would you style Cravat by Elsa Schiaparelli? And would you actually wear the sweater? I know I would. It’s funny how current it is, considering the piece is almost 100 years old!
