Like you, we get most of our fashion inspo from Instagram and models and models on Instagram. But what if we looked to art to help us get dressed everyday? After all, it is always nice to blend in with your surroundings. In this new series, we’ll show you how to dress like some of the most iconic (mostly fictional) women of the art world.
Tash Sefton of They All Hate Us in a doorway
You probably haven’t though too much about Edward Hopper since Art History 101, but the American realist best known for depicting lighthouses and late-night cafe scenes was also very much in tune with the kind of classically American way of dressing often mimicked by designers like Calvin Klein and Michael Kors. Plus, all the women in his paintings are very beautiful and very sad and possess the ability to wear cloche hats without looking like wet felines, which is a trait very much worth studying.
Edward Hopper, High Noon (1949)
1. Opt for dresses.
I don’t know about you, but I was over the athleisure trend before it even started. Don’t get me wrong, I like the comfort and flexibility of leggings as much as the next girl, but how hard is it, really, to put on a dress? Arguably, it’s easier since it’s a single, all-encompassing garment rather than one that, as soon as it’s on your body, begets a frazzled rummage through the t-shirt drawer. It’s one and done! And then you look like a person ready to take on the world, rather than a person who just awoke from a 12-hour slumber ready to take on nothing more than the breakfast sandwich line at the local bodega. Plus, as far as I know, nobody ever made a famous oil painting of a chick in head-to-toe Lululemon. Just something to consider.
Edward Hopper, Automat (1927)
2. Obtain a cache of gorgeous, vintage-style hats.
You guys, hats are poised to make a major comeback. From Jacquemus to Gucci to Dior, the past couple of seasons have heralded the return of such difficult-to-pull-off styles as the cloche, the fascinator, and the beret. These updated versions, often rendered in fabrics like leather or in outsize silhouettes, are not for the faint of heart – or hair. Luckily, our old pal Edward Hopper never met a girl in a hat he didn’t want to paint, and so it is from his oeuvre that we gather the following tips: one, match your hat to your perfectly tailored dress for a modern monochromatic look. Two, don’t be afraid to pin your hair up underneath said hat. Assuming, of course, that you have the bone structure of someone who can sit alone in restaurants and not feel weird about it. Three, sunhats! They’re chic and anti-aging. You know you want one.
Jacquemus A/W 2017
3. Be achingly beautiful while projecting a sense of deep-seated wistfulness and melancholy
Sit alone in coffee shops, gazing into your cup as though it bears the answer to all of your worldly problems. Stay at your office until the sun sets so you can gaze out the window longingly across the expanse of the city. Make sure you only ride in train cars by yourself. Invite some guy you’re kind of seeing to a diner with you late at night. Sit at the counter together in silence, wondering about the life of the man behind the bar, but don’t order anything. Open the windows in your room and perch silently atop your bed, staring out the window while a light breeze pushes your slip up ever so slightly, exposing yet another inch of alabaster thigh.
Edward Hopper, Nighthawks (1942)
4. Pose for all of your Instagram photos in doorways
Hopper had a knack for an artistic device called framing, which may be exactly what your OOTDs are missing. Next time you’re posing for a full-body shot, locate the nearest doorway and position yourself inside it. Unleash that wistful stare we talked about, and bam! New profile picture. Not only does a doorway give you something to physically play off of (am I the only person who has no clue what to do with their limbs when I’m alone in photographs?), it’s also a great way to share a picture of yourself without seeming like you’re sharing a picture of yourself. You know, since you’re clearly just trying to show everyone the cool architecture.
Edward Hopper, Carolina Morning (1955)
5. Loaf around your house naked
Edward Hopper, A Woman in the Sun (1961)
Hopper’s women are all about looking ladylike in public, but as soon as they get home, all bets are off. This tells me that Hopper was unusually tuned in to the living habits of real women. But Hopper girls don’t just strip down and crawl into bed – no, they kick off their heels, tear off their clothes, find the nearest patch of light, and stand in it. In this respect, I suppose Hopper women are not that different from your pet cat, but, hey, it wouldn’t be the first time your pet cat was onto something.
Edward Hopper, Morning Sun (1952)
