Style Imitating Art - Portrait of Dido Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, circa 1779

It seems a while since I have remembered to submit an outfit picture for the Style Imitating Art Challenge! Luckily, Jen, who is the host this week, reminded me on Instagram so I quickly put something together!

Portrait of Dido Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, circa 1779

This week's inspiration is the picture which inspired the film Belle.  The exact painter is unknown although it once was attributed to Johann Zofanny.  It is
In the words of Jen, our host,

This was the portrait that inspired the 2013 film, Belle, about the real-life, mixed-race young lady, Dido Belle, who was born into slavery in the British West Indies and ended up a heiress in London, England. The painting was commissioned by Lord Mansfield (William Murray), and depicts both of his great-nieces, Lady Elizabeth Murray and Dido Belle. The two ladies were second cousins.

It is such a vibrant painting and I like the poses- it does look like the cousins are up to do good and about to dash off and do something mischievous to each other once the sitting has finished. The girls are very pretty and vivacious and I would love to know more!

When I was thinking about what to wear,I immediately thought of two light, pretty cardigans I am about to say goodbye to. I really like them but realistically, I never really wear them and I really do need to clear some space in my clothing storage spaces because I do have too much! Both of them are highly decorative but I decided on the white on in the end though perhaps the pink would have been better.
 Apart from some plain black trousers, the detail is all in the top half.  The cardigan has little pearls which mimic the jewellery of the girls, the applique flowers in pink and yellow shades are a nod to the headdress worn by Lady Elizabeth whilst the lace applique is a nod to the lace on her dress. Incidentally, I chose the white cardigan because I thought there was more white in the painting with both Belle's dress and Elizabeth's detailing.  The top I chose underneath has a sort of lacy pattern which was a further nod to the lace detailing.
I chose to stand in the spare room as its new Dix Blue paint shade was a nice nod to the sky
 I chose to wear my wedding earrings which I thought mimicked the earring which seems so prominent in Belle's ears and thought I'd do a sneaky pose with a book also!