“Harlem at Night” by Charles Henry Alston | Style Imitating Art

It is time to get back to our dress up games for the new year! Does anyone want to play along? It’s really easy and fun. Just read below for the “rules”.

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. It challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, 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 presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either. In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

To kick off a new year of fashion challenges, Marsha chose this week’s inspiration artwork because she loves all the shapes, colors, and movement in it. It is an oil painting by Charles Henry Alston who was the first African American instructor at MoMA and a major influence during the Harlem Renaissance. Having seen the original oil painting at Newfields, Marsha says the photo of the artwork does not do the original any justice. With framed dimensions of 36-7/8 in. x 45 in. x 2-1/8 in., I bet it is quite remarkable to view in real life.

The Artwork

“Harlem at Night” by Charles Henry Alston

At first glance, I thought this might be an extraordinarily difficult style challenge. But then the perfect outfit manifested itself right before my eyes! I look forward to sharing it with you next Monday, January 12, 2026.

If you would like to join us for this round of dress up and have your outfit featured in Marsha’s review post on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, please be sure to submit your photos to her at mlrbanks57@gmail.com by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee