Style Imitating Art | 17th Century Dragonfly Helmet

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. Style Imitating Art 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 #TeamLOTSStyle and #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

Salazar chose this week’s artwork. She has always associated dragonflies with softness and fragility, so she really liked seeing the dragonfly image used in a piece like this 17th century Japanese helmet (kawari kabuto). Salazar chose this artwork because it’s unique and was super fun to interpret into an outfit. 

The Artwork

Helmet in dragonfly shape

About the Artist

The designer of this helmet is unknown. Japanese feudal families of the 15th and 16th centuries often battled for supremacy, thereby creating vast armies that would help protect their dominion and conquer weaker families. In an effort to be more easily located on the battlefield, high ranking feudal lords would embellish their helmets with sculptural forms and symbolic motifs which reflected the leader’s personality or represented the collective battalion.

These exotic helmets were called kawari kabuto. A kabuto is a type of helmet that was first used by ancient Japanese warriors and eventually became an important element in traditional Japanese armor. The late 16th century was a period of intense civil war in Japan with battle helmets being constructed with a simpler design and a more utilitarian form. To ensure more visibility on the battlefield, armorers began adding fantastic shapes from Japanese culture and mythology to the top of the helmets. Some of the designs were more realistic while others were futuristic leading to the name kawari kabuto, which translates to strange helmet.

About the Art

This dragonfly helmet was created in 17th century Japan. The dragonfly is regarded as a symbol of vigilance and focus because of its manner of flying up, down, and sideways while always facing forward. Due to an abundance of dragonflies, Japan is often referred to as Akitsushima (Land of the Dragonflies) in ancient texts. Dragonflies are also believed to be the spirits of rice because they are frequently found hovering over flooded rice flats. Because dragonflies are a meaningful symbol of perseverance, it makes sense that a Japanese warrior would have chosen this creature to top his battle helmet.

The dimensions of the helmet are approximately 28 x 24 x 13 3/4 in. (71.12 x 60.96 x 34.93 cm) and it is made of iron, lacquer, wood, leather, gilt, pigments, silk, and papier-mâché. The helmet came to the Minneapolis Institute of Art, where it is currently on view, by way of the James Ford Bell Foundation Endowment for Art Acquisition and gift of funds from Siri and Bob Marshall.

Helpful Links:

• MIA: Helmet in dragonfly shape
• Wikipedia: Kabuto

About My Outfit

This was one of the most difficult Style Imitating Art challenges for me. I don’t have much gold in my wardrobe and I have really been steering away from outfits that are too heavy on the black. So what was I do to with an art prompt that is primarily black and gold when I am much more about bright, bold, and vibrant colors?

Well, I focused primarily on the burgundy rope tie that secures the helmet to the head. Starting with my burgundy rope sandals, I began building my outfit from the ground up. I recently added this beautiful maxi to my summer dress collection. It features a deep red paisley print with some little gold flowers on a black background. Paisleys are shaped like wings so they are a creative way to represent the dragonfly. Since I didn’t have anything with a dragonfly motif, I layered an old butterfly ruana on top of my dress. The butterfly print has the same color palette as my dress so it made a striking print mix.

For accessories, I wore gold earrings with burgundy feathers because feathers always represent wings (even the non-feathered wings of insects). Next, I purposely chose these three preloved necklaces because the two red ones remind me of Japanese lanterns and the big black and metallic one looks like armor. Then I topped it all off with my tan straw cloche hat because the shape most closely resembles a helmet. Finally, I took my photographs in front of a war memorial at our local park because that just made sense.

In the end, I loved this outfit and I think it worked pretty well for the helmet prompt, too!

If you enjoyed my outfit inspired by this ancient dragonfly helmet, be sure to check out Salazar‘s and Marsha‘s interpretations as well. If you would like to participate in this challenge and have your photo included in Salazar’s round up post on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, be sure to email your photos to her at 14shadesofgreyblog@gmail.com by Tuesday, August 12, 2025, by 10:00 p.m. EST.

I am excited to see what you all wear.

Happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee