SCHARF MURAL

Walking along Houston the other night, I was delighted to come across the new Kenny Scharf mural at the intersection of the Bowery. This famous wall has been home to work by Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey, and Os Gemeos in the past, and, most recently, an illegal tribute to the late Dash Snow.

Scharf is a multimedia artist, who was a fixture in the 1980s East Village scene, along with artists like Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

He uses cartoon characters, whether appropriated, or of his own creation, to make his work accessible and instantly recognizable.

One very important and guiding principle to my work is to reach out beyond the elitist boundaries of fine art and connect to popular culture through my art.

--Kenny Scharf

I loved how the bold colors and black outline in the mural corresponded to what I was wearing: a vintage leather jacket, vintage leopard silk blouse, H&M scarf, Uniqlo jeans, BCBG boots, and a Marc bag. These photos were taken by Kathy on site in the East Village.

FINALLY, the winner of the CSN stores giveaway was Prutha! Thank you to everyone who dropped by and left a comment. Look for another giveaway soon.

ACHROME (and my first giveaway!)

After the first snow this week, I was suddenly thrust into panic mode after the realization that Christmas is right around the corner. If you've put off your shopping until the last minute like moi, see the end of this post for a giveaway that might just help you out!

Once I realized that it is, indeed, the Christmas season, I thought it was time to pull out my Tartan plaids and Abominable Snowman jacket.

This jacket isn't very warm, but it always makes me think of Piero Manzoni's Achromes, and that's reason enough to wear it.

Piero Manzoni (1933-1963) was a Conceptual artist whose work was a response to post-war Italian society.

In his Achrome series, he used all manner of multidimensional substances to evoke the white paintings of artists like Kasimir Malevich, Lucio Fontana, and Robert Rauschenberg.

Although the Achromes appear to be white, they were actually clear and colorless.

These works were originally intended as a response to Yves Klein's monochrome paintings (remember the bright blue squares?). Manzoni eventually created works with pigments that changed color over time.

The Achromes are beautiful studies in texture and the effects of light on a clear ground.

I decided to pair the jacket with leather leggings to contrast the fluffiness, and flannel shirt for warmth.

I'm wearing an H&M flokati jacket, mens' vintage flannel shirt, H&M leather leggings, BCBG booties, and Ralph Lauren leather driving gloves.

As I mentioned earlier, if you're a bit behind on your holiday shopping, you may want to check out CSN stores. They have loads of gifts from sparkly heels to leather messenger bags and they're giving one of my readers a $35 gift card! To enter, follow Artfully Awear with Google Friend Connect (click on the Follow tab in the left sidebar) and leave a comment on this post. The contest will be open to U.S. and Canada readers only through Tuesday, December 14 at midnight. I will announce the winner here on Wednesday. Good luck!

[Manzoni images from moma..org, artnet.com, rotatestockforfreshness.com, and museomadre.it, respectively.]

CULTURAL COLLAGE

In fashion, as in art, one of the biggest challenges is for an outfit to be greater than the sum of its parts. In this sense, I look to some of my favorite collage works for inspiration.

Heralded as the most important American collagist, Romare Bearden produced an incredible array of multi-element works dealing with the subject of African American culture during the civil rights movement.

As a former social worker, musician, journalist, and scientist, Bearden's artwork combines a multitude of different elements to produce a social commentary.

A great number of his collage works focus on the daily rituals of African American life in the South.

I love the disparate elements he incorporates into the works--from newspaper and magazine clippings to watercolor, fabric, and construction paper, they all combine to form a multifaceted depiction of civil rights-era African American culture.

This outfit, like Bearden's collage, is somewhat of a mishmash of different elements that I hope work together to create something interesting.

I combined the bold, bright colors of Bearden's collage with a watercolor-print scarf and a few printed elements to represent the various layers of his collages.

I'm wearing a vintage Yves Saint Laurent blazer, J. Crew sweater, thrifted scarf, vintage leather skirt, Betsey Johnson tights, and Divided shoes.

[Bearden images from negroartist.com, businessweek.com, artregister.com, and negroartist.com, respectively.]

THE ARTIST'S WIFE

It's always a thrill when I find artwork that really appeals to my aesthetic sensibilities. Less often, I find a garment that evokes the same feeling. This coat was one of those things.

Hanging forlornly on a cheap plastic mannequin at a secondhand store, I knew it was meant for me. I love everything about it--the colorful print, the faux fur trim, the dramatic hood, and the fact that it looks exactly like something Edith Schiele would have worn.

I recently mentioned Schiele's drawings and paintings of multitudes of women from the early part of his short artistic career. After his advantageous marriage to Edith Harms in 1914, she became the sole woman in his work, save for a few portrait commissions.

I find Schiele's portraits of Edith to be completely endearing, not only for the youthful way that she is portrayed, but also for the amount of detail he gave to what she was wearing.

Schiele died of the Spanish flu in 1918, three days after Edith, who was carrying his child. His poignant portraits of her remain as a testament to their short, yet fulfilling life together.

The vertical stripes and bold colors of this coat immediately reminded me of Edith. Is it odd that I feel as though Egon and Edith are old friends of mine even though they were dead before my grandparents were born?

I expect to wear this thrifted gem often in the coming months. I received a "technicolor dream coat" comment on the first day I wore it--I'll take that as a compliment.

I'm wearing a vintage velvet coat, J. Crew cashmere sweater, DKNY leggings, leather gloves from Urban Outfitters, and a vintage suede purse.

[Schiele images from awesome-art.com, forbes.com (courtesy Leopold Museum), and egon-schiele.net, respectively.]

STARS & STRIPES

I'm still enjoying what must be the last few days of warm fall weather. Though it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the retail scene, the weather as of late has felt more like back-to-school, making me want a bouquet of sharpened pencils instead of poinsettias.

This outfit was inspired by the work of contemporary artist Jasper Johns. Considered a Neo-Dadaist, Johns is well-known for his depictions of common iconography, such as the American flag, targets, and maps.

I have always been fascinated by the artistic triumvirate consisting of Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly (frequented by Merce Cunningham and John Cage as well). Feeding off of one another, they produced some of the best American art post-Abstract Expressionism.

This is probably Johns' most famous work, Three Flags. Though Johns' work seems to be fixed on American themes, he mainly chose the subjects for his work based on their recognizability.

Johns is well-known for his use of encaustic, building up wax on the surface of his paintings mixed with the pigment, which gives his work a two-dimensional quality.

Johns was interested in using common imagery and symbols in his work as a means of drawing attention to the surface and medium.

I decided to go along with the themes in Johns' works by sporting a red, white, and blue color scheme interspersed with instantly recognizable prints.

I chose the shiny leather skirt to represent the waxy finish of his encaustic works.

I'm wearing a vintage leather skirt with a J. Crew sweater, BCBG hat, sash from the Gap, and vintage boots with an old Juicy Couture bracelet as a boot chain.

[Johns images from globalgallery.com, artmarketingsecrets.com, michaelarnoldart.com, and artchive.com, respectively.]

NEW SHADOWS

One day I'm wearing woolly tights and fur-lined boots and the next I'm tromping through the underbrush barelegged. Not that I'm complaining--I'll take fall as long as it wants to stick around.

This outfit and setting was inspired by an artist I recently discovered while perusing the MoMA collection. Per Kirkeby is a Danish Expressionist, currently living and working as a painter, sculptor, and filmmaker.

The painting below is entitled New Shadows. I love how Kirkeby's work appears abstract at first glance, but incorporates subtle figural elements.

Kirkeby began painting late in his artistic career, and is probably most well-known for his architectural works and set design for the New York City Ballet, but I think his paintings are extremely interesting.

There is something eerie about Kirkeby's paintings--the way the colors shift from dark to light and the unintelligible figures are quite mysterious.

I love the incredibly bold palette used by Kirkeby to achieve the deep space in these works.

I've really enjoyed utilizing the fall landscape as a background--it automatically adds a whole new dimension to my outfits.

I'm wearing a vintage silk dress, vintage belt, Franco Sarto boots, and a vintage button ring.

[Per Kirkeby images from moma.org, 30.media.tumblr.com, likeyou.com, and amblodon.um.dk, respectively.]