A Light Pink Winter Outfit for SIA Alphonse Mucha's Joan of Arc

Marsha at Marsha in the Middle is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art (SIA), and she selected the 1909 painting Maude Adams as Joan of Arc by Czech Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. Mucha produced this painting to promote a one-night performance of Friedrich Schiller's The Maid of Orleans at Harvard University, and it was displayed in the lobby of the Empire Theater in New York for many years. Marsha wanted to select an Art Nouveau piece for this challenge, and she was specifically attracted to the "lines and soft shades of this painting."

Source: marshainthemiddle.com

This painting immediately reminded me of two things in my wardrobe. First is my sweet rabbits-and-flowers sweater that is one of my high priority wear items for this winter/spring. Second is a scarf with a delicate floral design. Both of these pieces reflected the soft pastel color palette and the feminine floral motifs of the painting.

For a winter day in Minnesota, I certainly could not replicate the lightweight and frothy outfit that Maude/Joan is wearing in the painting, but I was pleased that I captured something of the soft and light quality of it. I wore a base outfit that is something of a go-to for me, combining two of the Pleasing Pairings in my closet (which is something I've done for the Style Imitating Art challenge before). The long blush pink vest is the perfect matching color to layer over the sweater into a modern twin set, and the long length of it works well combined with my beige slim-leg knit pants and ankle boots.

OOTD 1/27/25

The floral scarf with a deep aqua background and a floral print in pink, white, and aloe vera green added some contrast to the overall light value outfit while not looking jarring or out of place. I tied it using method #5: loop to the front with ends brought through as described in this post. I then rotated the scarf a bit to the side so I didn't entirely obscure the rabbits on the sweater. One of the bunnies is hiding, and the other is peeking out from between the scarf and the edge of the vest.

My daily bracelet stack has a pretty "saturated pastel" color scheme and is based on a new paper bead bracelet set I made to coordinate with the spring-colored striped sweatshirt I bought from Lands End in December 2022 (shown below). With the overall muted quality of my outfit, I was feeling the desire for just a bit of brighter color for its energizing quality. So while I have paper bead bracelet sets that match this sweater more closely, I decided on this cheerfully spring-like new set instead. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}

The top paper bead bracelet was made from this calendar page of a grumpy sea turtle. I loved the range of green, blue, and periwinkle colors interspersed with some darker tones. I edged the strips with gold marker before rolling to get the pretty striped effect on the beads.

This very colorful, very strange paper is from an alumni magazine and shows a university art installation. This is one of those pages that I can hardly wait to see how it looks as paper beads. It's cool how all that "too much going on quality" with the various colors, shapes, etc. is toned down in the rolled beads; they almost have a watercolor feel with the colors blending into each other. Sometimes you just know something will make great paper beads and you're right.

My DIY earrings are literally the very easiest kind to make. Supplies: two charms, 2 hook ear wires. Tools: a set of chain-nose pliers. How to make: Twist open the loop on the ear wire with the pliers; put it through the closed loop on top of the charm (with the charm facing the correct direction); close the loop on the ear wire with the pliers. Done. I didn't think these adorable flower-moon-rabbit charms needed anything extra whatsoever. (I purchased the charms in a set of rabbit-themed enamel charms from Amazon.)

Now for my favorite part of the post: revealing our Rabbit Imitating Art selection! Because I was running behind on putting this post together, my husband suggested that I choose a grumpy rabbit. (And that feels even more appropriate since I'm featuring the grumpy sea turtle paper bead bracelet in this post.) This Polish rabbit has a very high grump-to-size ratio and practically jumped off my computer screen in a lunge to ensure that I didn't overlook him. With this kind of aggressive volunteer, you just go with it, right? I mean, who am I to deny this grumpy rabbit his artistic moment?

Although most of us are familiar with the broad outline of Joan of Arc's story (teenage girl who saw angels, became a military leader, believed to be the prophesized virgin savior of France, burned at the stake but later made a patron saint) and know her as a brave, heroic figure from history, one small but important detail in her life has remained unknown...until now.

Since the age of 13, Joan routinely was visited by angels and saints in the garden of her home. These supernatural figures could go some way to explaining the look of mixed wonder, terror, astonishment, and yearning that Maude-as-Joan expresses in Mucha's panting. (Plus she has the ghostly foreshadowing of herself in battle gear lurking behind her, which is one of those bizarre visions that would throw anyone but Betsy Ross for a loop.)

But what can explain the bedraggled, nay, absolutely ripped and shredded scarf that she is wearing? Are angels and saints known for being tough on clothing?

Young Joan had another visitor...a secret visitor that she never confessed to anyone. Because it's one thing to tell all the world that God, his angels, and a variety of virgin saints have come to you in support of your certain knowledge that you are the maiden promised to put an end to the nation's suffering at the hands of the English. But it's quite another to admit that you have been visited by a constantly grumpy, occasionally lunging, and frequently scarf-chewing Rabbit of Unusual Size! Especially when that rabbit is a Polish rabbit...which is not a rabbit from the country of Poland, but a breed of rabbit with "polished" fur with origins in 19th century England! How terrifying to be visited by such an omen of English aggression! And yet...and yet...how totally awesome, right? Because for all his huffing and puffing, this giant little rabbit was also the most adorable thing ever.

Artwork "improved" with rabbit

Thanks for joining me today for this Style Imitating Art + Rabbit Imitating (and Improving) Art post!

To see other outfit interpretations of this artwork, check out the review on Marsha in the Middle.

Does this light pastel color palette and floral details of this painting put you in mind of spring? Do you ever wear light colors in the winter? Do you find grumpy animal photos cute?

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