RIP Oscar de la Renta

I like light, color, luminosity.  I like things full of color and vibrant.

--Oscar de la Renta (1932 - 2014)

In light of the passing of one of my most revered fashion designers, I'll find a way to wear my favorite garment, a custom Oscar de la Renta gown. RIP OdlR

MUCHA, REVISITED

Now that it is becoming a bit more like spring in New York, I'm revisiting one of my favorite posts from last spring.  Inspired by Pantone's Champagne Beige, I evoked the image of Alphonse Mucha's muses at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  View the full post here.

RECAP: Favorite Colors of 2013

What a year it's been for Artfully Awear!  In a mood of reflection, I've decided to recap some of my favorite moments of the year.  In April, I launched a project with Pantone, in which I created artwork-inspired outfits centered around their forecasted palette of fashion colors.  My favorites were as follows:

1.  Green Glow

I used the work of Tauba Auerbach and a gorgeous Oscar de la Renta dress to draw correlations with the bright, springy green hue.  Coincidentally, my favorite dress of the year is my favorite color of the year!  View my original post here.

2.  Grenadine

With this hot, bright color, I was inspired by Jason Martin's paintings.  See the post here.

3.  Emerald

Pantone's Color of the Year was also one of my favorites, and it is found in the work of Helen Frankenthaler.  View more photos here.

4.  Magenta Purple

A rich, warm purple is showcased by a Nicole Miller gown and Morris Louis Color Field paintings.  See my post here.

Thank you for a great year!  

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Green Glow.

I decided to save the best for last in the final post in my Artfully Awear + Pantone series: my favorite dress and my favorite color.  Pantone's Green Glow is showcased by this Oscar de la Renta gown and captured by these tromp l'oeil paintings by Tauba Auerbach.

Born in 1981 in San Francisco, Auerbach now lives and works in New York City.  I first came across her work in Vitamin P2, one of my favorite painting books, and became better acquainted with her story via The Gentlewoman.

The canvases shown here are just one part of her artistic oeuvre, and I've found them extremely powerful in their use of the canvas as well as paint, to create a two-dimensional/three-dimensional dialogue.

The unique rumpled, wrinkled effect is achieved by folding or crumpling the canvas before stretching.  Finally, Auerbach adds paint using a spray gun.

According to Auerbach's profile on the website of the Whitney Museum of American Art, "By creating an object in which two supposedly discrete states—flatness and three dimensionality—are merged, Auerbach confronts the limitations between these states, revealing an ambiguity that is often overlooked."

I love the way the unique fabric of this dress holds beautifully imperfect wrinkles, and the color and texture reminded me of Auerbach's gorgeous canvases.

Auerbach will be signing a limited edition issue of The Thing Quarterly at the New York Art Book Fair this Saturday!  Details here.

Dress: Oscar de la Renta

Embroidered clutch: Vintage, belonged to my Grandmother

Shoes: Brian Atwood (also worn here for one of my most popular posts to date)

The Artfully Awear + Pantone series has been a dream for me.  One last thank you to Pantone for the opportunity!

Photos by Kathy Paciello.  Auerbach images from taubaauerbach.com, pictify.com, and wiels.org.

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Blue Aster.

I'm picking back up with a brand new post in my series inspired by Pantone colors.  This time, it's the cool 18-4252 TCX Blue Aster, which is beautifully apparent in the accompanying paintings by Swiss artist Karina Wisniewska.

Born in 1966, Wisniewska was trained and performed as a chamber musician and concert pianist before discovering her love for the visual arts, including painting. 

For her, the act of painting in essence records a musical composition onto the canvas.  This ideal brings to mind the visual compositions of Wassily Kandinsky, who said:

Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.

Wisniewska's approach to painting is similar to Kandinsky's in that she equates strokes on the canvas with musical representation.  However there is very little formal similarity between the two artists' works.  

Wisniewska applies pigment to canvas using a brush or spatula and often mixes the paint with quartz sand in order to build up a surface.

When I forget what something is called and how I normally know it, that's when I begin to see. By keeping the wrist flexible and varying the pressure and speed, it is [possible] to draw a line without hesitation that will flow like a piece of music. --Karina Wisniewska

Dress: Aqua via Bloomingdale's

Necklace: H&M

Shoes: C'N'C Costume National (available here for 70% off!)

Photos by Meri Feir, images from 1stdibs.com, artnet.com, artsy.net, and karinawisniewska.com.

ARTFULLY AWEAR ON VIMEO

If you haven't yet seen my mini interview, in which I discuss the inception of Artfully Awear, my project with Pantone, and my goals for the site, check it out on Vimeo!

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ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Champagne Beige.

For my latest Artfully Awear + Pantone post, I'm featuring the shimmery color Champagne Beige.

My inspiration for this look has been on my mind for years, as I've always loved the sinewy Art Nouveau elegance of Alphonse Mucha's ladies.

Mucha (1860-1939) was a Czech painter and decorative artist who created the Art Nouveau style, originally known as Mucha Style.

He began his career as a theatrical designer in Moravia, and eventually relocated to Paris, where he met the acclaimed actress Sarah Bernhardt, one of my style icons.

In 1895, Mucha began a six-year contract with Bernhardt, creating lithographs for her performances.  This solidified his position as an important commercial artist.

Throughout his career, Mucha struggled to separate himself from the Art Nouveau style he essentially created, and found art's importance through its spiritual connotations alone.

The women depicted in Mucha's Art Nouveau paintings and prints hearken back to an even earlier age, referenced in their Neoclassical garments.

Mucha's view on Art History is summed up by the following quote, and beautifully represented by his work: "Nothing has changed in these past two thousand years.  Only the names are slightly different."

Dress: Nicole Miller Artelier

Headpiece: Vintage necklace

Shoes: B Brian Atwood (buy here in nude and black)

All photos by Kathy Paciello at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

[Mucha images from gelaskins.com, wikipaintings.org, graduate-extraordinaire.blogspot.com, bohemia-apartments.com, and commons.wikimedia.org.]

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Grenadine.

For the second installment of my Artfully Awear + Pantone series, I'm featuring Grenadine.

I originally intended to use this dress in relation to the flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe (see my previous post here), but when I came across Jason Martin's paintings on Artsy, the resemblance to both color and form was undeniable.

Martin's (b. 1970) paintings are almost sculptures, utilizing thick impasto, resembling brushstrokes.  They are actually made using modeling paste on canvas.

The "brushstroke" is the subject of these monochrome works, and his paintings have been described as paying homage to Abstract Expressionism because of their focus on the process of painting itself.

They hearken back even to Suprematism, reminiscent of works such as Kazimir Malevich's Visual Realism of a Peasant Woman in Two Dimensions (Red Square), 1915, and even Piero Manzoni's Achrome series, which I discussed here.

I appreciate the paintings because of the way they collapse the realms of two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, existing simultaneously as both.  

Dress: BCBGMAXAZRIA Ginger Strapless Ruffled Silk Dress (the color in my photos is closer to the actual hue)

Necklace: Emporio Armani (some options here)

Shoes: Lisa for Donald J. Pliner (75% off here!)

Leather clutch: Lauren Merkin (similar here in straw)

Photos by @kay_elle_pea, images from artsy.net

ARTFULLY AWEAR + PANTONE: Magenta Purple.

I'd like to present Magenta Purple, the first color in my Artfully Awear + Pantone series.

When I discovered this gown, featuring Magenta Purple at the yoke and gradually changing gradient, I could not overlook its relationship to the Color Field paintings of Morris Louis.

Louis (1912-1962) lived and worked for most of his career in Washington, DC, becoming central to the Washington Color Movement along with Kenneth Noland and others.

Louis is best known for his gorgeous unprimed canvases featuring specially formulated Magna Paint.

Two important series make up his artistic oeuvre, the Unfurleds and the Veil paintings, pictured here.  View my previous Morris Louis post here, from 2011.

In addition to the beautiful tissue-like quality of the layers of paint on Louis' umprimed surfaces, I've always been drawn to his use of color, and the way they interact on the canvas by overlapping and becoming more or less sheer.

Dress: Nicole Miller Evening Ombre Strapless Gown (on sale!)

Shoes: Badgley Mischka Ginnie

Beaded handbag: Vintage, thrifted

Necklace: So Good Jewelry in SoHo

Thank you to Pantone for sponsoring this post!

Photos by @kay_elle_pea

Images from phillipscollection.org, dfwarts2010.files.wordpress.com, faculty.etsu.edu, and guggenheim.org