Artistic Inpirations: Japanese Prints

As I mentioned in my trend post, print mixing in Japan isn't a "so this season" thing so much as a a cultural art form. Case in point, the layers of bold prints in Japanese woodblock prints of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The woman in this piece titled "True Beauties" balances her boldness with graphic black and white over a bright red print. Inspired by the model, I finished the look with blue accessories.

Pick a theme. The panel below features three actors wearing what most people would consider a mess of patterns. But the equal levels of boldness tied together with the same color create harmony from cacophony. We think of this as the Salvador Dali approach to dressing. For an outfit with the same feel, I picked odd prints with a color theme and accessorized with equally grabbing pieces.

The actor in this print is wearing prints of the same design in different colors. I picked a polka dot skirt and a faux fur scarf with a similar dot. For the top, I went with a different blue and embellishments. I used a separate bold color for shoes and lipstick.

If you're hesitant to wear so much print, try texture. The figure in this eighteenth century print is wearing tonal shades of yellow and orange. My interpretation involves yellow, coral and gold each embellished or textured.

Comments

rachel said…
Fun post!
Anonymous said…
Oh, I love all of these!
Catie D. said…
I love these colors, but I tend to look like a tacky, Chinese Restaurant in those prints, lol

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