Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

Style Imitating Art: Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) by Sonia Delaunay

May 19, 2021 / 30 Comments
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Daenel of Living Outside the Stacks, Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, and Terri of Meadowtree Style. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as curator, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the curator by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the curator will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You do not have to be a blogger to join. You are invited to share your images on Instagram or other social media platforms or you can just play along and the host will share your photo. If you do share on social media, please spread the word by using #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt and also tag the hosts Salazar, Terri, and Daenel so they know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

The Inspiration Artwork

The inspiration artwork was curated by Terri of Meadowtree Style. You can read why she has chosen this specific piece as her inspiration artwork here.

Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) by Sonia Delaunay (Oil on Canvas, 1925)

Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) by Sonia Delaunay (Oil on Canvas, 1925)
Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) by Sonia Delaunay (Oil on Canvas, 1925)
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dress, Shelbee on the Edge

About the Artist: Sonia Delaunay

Sonia Delaunay was a Russian-born French artist best known for her creative work in textile, fashion, and set design. She was a co-founder (with her husband Robert among others) of the Orphism art movement which is an offshoot of Cubism with a focus on pure abstraction and bright colors. The Orphism movement is considered a key movement in the transition from Cubism to Abstract art. The majority of Sonia’s works are representative of this movement with her focus on strong colors and geometric shapes. In 1964, she became the first living female artist to have a retrospective exhibition at the Louvre. In 1975, she was named an officer of the French Legion of Honor.

Sarah Ilinitchna Stern was born in Russia on November 14, 1885, to a foreman of a nail factory and his wife. At a very young age, she was sent to St. Petersburg to live with her mother’s brother, Henri Terk, and his wife Anna, who informally “adopted” her in 1890, at which point she assumed the name Sonia Terk. Her “adopted” parents had considerable affluence and she spent her youth extensively traveling throughout Europe while they spent most summers in Finland. As a result, Sonia had much exposure to the contemporary art world visiting galleries all across the continent.

Being recognized as a gifted artist in school, she was sent to art school in Germany at the age of 18 upon the recommendation of one of her secondary school teachers. In 1905 at the age of 20, she moved to Paris where she was heavily influenced by the post-impressionism art movement.

Three years later in 1908, she married German art dealer and gallery owner Wilhelm Uhde. It was purely a marriage of convenience as Uhde wanted to a wife to hide his homosexuality and Sonia needed access to her dowry so she could continue pursuing her art career with adequate financial support. However, early the next year, she met Robert Delaunay as he and his mother were frequent visitors of Uhde’s gallery. Sonia and Robert became lovers in April of 1909 at which time she and Uhde decided to divorce. Their divorce was finalized in August of 1910 and she married Delaunay on November 15 of that year, giving birth to her son Charles Delaunay just two months later on January 18, 1911.

In 1911, Sonia made a patchwork quilt for her son’s crib that was composed of bits of fabric similar to those she had seen in the homes of Ukrainian peasants during her childhood. She noticed that the arrangement of the fabric pieces evoked Cubist conceptions and this is the point that contemporary art critics recognize as her shift away from perspective and naturalism in her works. The quilt is currently on display in the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris.

From 1914-1920, Sonia, Robert, and their son Charles lived in Spain and Portugal where she began building her career as a costume designer when the revolution cut off her money supply from Russia. She opened Casa Sonia, her first clothing boutique, in Madrid in 1919. In 1921, they returned to Paris permanently where Sonia continued with costume design as well as clothing designs for private clients. She also embarked on fabric design during this time period. In 1923, she created 50 different designs using geometric shapes and bold colors on commission for a manufacturer in Lyon.

In the 1930’s, Sonia and Robert’s son Charles Delaunay was thriving as a jazz expert in Paris. He was the founder of the first jazz club in France as well as the first editor of Jazz Hot Magazine.

Sonia died in Paris on December 5, 1979, at the age of 94.

Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

About the Art: Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) (1925)

Sonia and Robert Delaunay created a sub-branch of Orphism called Simultanism, an artistic approach that focuses on the phenomenon of simultaneous contrast in which colors will appear differently depending on the other colors surrounding it.

In 1913, Sonia created her first “simultaneous” dress by sewing together oddly shaped pieces of fabric in non-uniform sizes and colors. This dress was created for actress Gloria Swanson to dance the tango at Bal Bullier and was described by Apollinaire as “a living painting” and “a sculpture of living forms.” It became the inspiration for the center dress in Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours).

Simultaneous Dress
Simultaneous Dress by Sonia Delaunay (1913)

The inspiration painting was originally called Trois femmes, forms, couleurs as was stated on the label attached to the painting for exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1926. The artist eventually changed the name of the painting to Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) in her personal inventory. This painting is an oil on canvas and belongs to a group of works where the artist transferred the result of her fashion designs from paper onto canvas. The painting is currently housed at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid, Spain.

Robes simultanées (trois femmes, forms, couleurs), or, Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours) depicts three featureless female forms in mannequin like poses wearing dresses that combine both earth tones and primary colors with a distinct array of geometric shapes and forms. The trifold dressing screen in the background of the painting features different color schemes on each of the panels to reflect each of the mannequin figures. This particular painting, while quite different from much of her painted work, is a direct reflection of the intersection between art and fashion illustrating how art inspires fashion and how fashion inspires art.

Resources/References:

Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

About My Outfit Inspired by Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours)

The central figure was the first to attract my attention and it immediately reminded me of my very favorite kimono in earthy tones with geometric shapes. I wanted to combine this pattern with something that was reflective of the figure on the left in blue and white triangles. This striped dress matched the colors in the painting perfectly and when I held it against the print of the kimono, I really liked the contrast and the fun mix of patterns.

To represent the little black dress with the gray sash that the third figure is wearing, I added black tassel slides, a silver belt, and silver jewelry. I did not realize that the background of the painting was supposed to be a trifold dressing screen until I started researching for this post. I thought it was big tall city buildings and so we headed out into town to take some photos by tall buildings. But then I remembered the fun painted garage in town and it was the perfect background with it’s combination of bold colors and geometric shapes (the first set of photos above).

Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge
Style Imitating Art, Simultaneous Dresses, Printed kimono, striped dress, tassel mules, fashion over 40, Shelbee on the Edge

To see more outfits inspired by Sonia Delaunay’s Simultaneous Dresses (Three Women, Forms, Colours), please visit Terri’s post for the complete roundup of submissions. You can also read the details of Terri’s own inspired outfit here, Salazar’s here, and Daenel’s here. Have you joined the Style Imitating Art challenges yet? Be sure to check for the next prompt on Monday, May 24, 2021.

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Kimono-c/o Rosegal / Dress and Shoes-Target / Belt, Necklace, and Earrings-Old

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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