Style Imitating Art: “Blue Girl” by Holly Hobbie

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of Meadow Tree Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge. 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, Terri, and Shelbee 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

The inspiration artwork was chosen by me! When I was a little girl, I loved Holly Hobbie. I still do. She is like the original boho girl speaking right to my gypsy vintage soul! 

The Artwork

“Blue Girl” by Holly Hobbie

About the Artist: Holly Hobbie

Denise Holly Hobbie is an American writer, watercolorist, and illustrator who is best known for her American Greetings character, Holly Hobbie, as well as her children’s book (and television) series, Toot & Puddle.

She was born Denise Holly Ulinskas in Watertown, Connecticut, sometime probably in the 1940s. She married Douglas Hobbie in 1964 and currently resides in Conway, Massachusetts.

Upon the urging of her brother-in-law in the late 1960s, Denise sold her illustrations of a unique cat-loving, rag dress-wearing, giant-bonneted little girl with no name to the American Greetings Corporation. The artwork was inspired be her own children who she drew with the rustic New England influence of a bygone era. The unnamed character, who was originally identified simply as the “blue girl”, became so popular she demanded a name, becoming the Holly Hobbie we know. However, the really Holly Hobbie still remains a bit of mystery.

She has written a number of children’s books which were turned into television series with both her Holly Hobbie and Toot & Puddle franchises still going strong today. As a contract artist with American Greetings in the beginning of her career, I wonder how much money she actually made from her namesake character. Sadly, I am guessing probably not as much as she should have.

About the Art: “Blue Girl”

Although a variety of children in their rag clothes were created as a part of the Holly Hobbie series, the blue girl has become the most identifiable of these characters. In 1975, Knickerbocker Toys launched a series of Holly Hobbie rag dolls followed the next year by Coleco’s Holly Hobbie Oven. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, new lines of Holly Hobbie dolls hit the toy market, this time with vinyl heads and soft bodies instead of the original rag dolls. The doll line was redesigned in 2006 with the launch of the television series Holly Hobbie & Friends. And in 2018, Hulu released a live action Holly Hobbie series. (I need to find and watch that!) This little rag girl has got some serious staying power, don’t you think?

I cannot find any specific information about this exact illustration itself. In fact, I found the image on another blog, Finding Joy in Everyday, which shares some other really wonderful illustrations in Art friday: Holly Hobbie.

I struggled choosing which illustration to use as inspiration because they are all so darn cute! I ultimately settled on “Blue Girl” because she is the most recognizable of all the Holly Hobbie characters.

References/Resources:

• Wikipedia: Holly Hobbie (fictional character)
• Wikipedia: Holly Hobbie
• Art friday: Holly Hobbie

About My Outfit

I chose this Holly Hobbie illustration with absolutely nothing in mind to style for it. Of course, patchwork was the first thing I thought of when brainstorming outfit ideas for this post. But the only things I own that are even close to patchwork are my Kantha Bae kimono robe and my Kantha Bae coat. It’s too hot for the coat and the robe just didn’t have the right aesthetic or the right colors for this style prompt.

The one thing in my closet room that was an obvious choice for this look was my tan suede Bed Stu combat boots. They are really close match to Blue Girl’s brown lace up boots. But I couldn’t just wear boots. Or could I? Hmmm…

So with nothing in mind except an old pair of boots, I set about tackling my pile of upcycling projects.

I recently started following The DIY Designer on YouTube. She has some really adorable and easy thrift store upcycle projects including how to make maxi dresses from tee shirts and skirts. I have an enormous amount of graphic tee shirts that I don’t really wear but they are too cute to discard. I also have a few maxi skirts that I rarely wear because I much prefer dresses skirts. This tutorial offered me a brilliant way to bring new life to multiple unworn wardrobe pieces.

I have had this blue, purple, and white patchwork skirt in my closet for so long that I have absolutely no recollection of where or when I acquired it. I don’t think I have ever worn it because I never could get it styled comfortably. But I love the fabric so much that I could never bring myself to pass the skirt on. Turning it into a dress seemed like the perfect way to bring this beauty back to life.

My first idea was to use my Gilmore Girls and Coffee tee shirt as the top part of the dress, but I would have lost all of the coffee part of the graphic in order for the waistline of the dress to hit where I wanted.

When I realized that the Gilmore Girls tee was not going to work, I went digging through my tee shirt bin for other options and unearthed this Vintage Soul tee shirt. It is a bit oversized which actually turned out better for the purposes of this dress and the graphic was better placed as well.

I am not a fan of high crew neck tee shirts on me. They are very unflattering with my large bust so I have stopped purchasing them. But I still have a whole bunch of crew neck tops in my closet which I can alter with a few quick snips with the scissors. I cut the shirt just under the graphic, cut a vee shape into the neckline, chopped off the hems on the sleeves, slit them up to the shoulder, and tied knots for a subtle cold shoulder effect with a bow detail. Then I chopped off the waist band of the skirt, pinned the right sides of the top and bottom together, and stitched a straight seam all the way around.

Once I had completed this dress and tried it on, it occurred to me that it was absolutely perfect in every way for this Holly Hobbie Style Imitating Art challenge!

It has patchwork, it has blue flowers, it literally yells vintage appeal, and my old brown Bed Stu boots looked really cute with it, too! I added a white canvas bucket hat and used the belt from my Kantha Bae kimono robe as a hat band which I tied in bow under my chin like a bonnet. The colors in the hat bow coordinate with my brown boots and also bring in the yellows and browns that appear in Blue Girl’s patchwork pinafore. My rag earrings from Big Earrings seemed like the obvious choice for jewelry.

I kept this outfit fairly simple because it just felt right this way. And I have already made four more dresses like this! Archie calls them “Frankenstein dresses” because you sew together parts of different things things to make something new. Oh, he’s a clever one. Stay tuned for more of my Frankenstein dresses coming soon!

How did I do with my Holly Hobbie inspired outfit? If you want to join us and be featured in my gallery post on Wednesday, August 30, 2023, please send your photos to me at shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com by Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at 10:00 p.m. EST. In the meantime, be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation as well as Terri’s take on this artwork. 

Happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress-Upcycled by Me / Boots-BedStu / Hat-Torrid / Hat Band-Kantha Bae / Earrings-Big Earrings