Style Imitating Art: Calyx by Lucienne Day

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of MeadowTree 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 curator, 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 curator by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the curator will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join! You are invited to share your images on Instagram or other social media platforms. 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!

The Inspiration Artwork

The inspiration artwork was chosen by Terri. You can read why she picked this work here.

Calyx by Lucienne Day (Fabric Print Design, 1951)

About the Artist: Lucienne Day

Désirée Lucienne Lisbeth Dulcie (Conradi) Day was one of the most influential British textile designers of the 1950s and 1960s. She was born on January 5, 1917, in Coulsdon, Surrey, England, to Dulcie and Felix Conradi. Her father was a Belgian insurance broker and her mother was of English descent. Lucienne received her earliest education at home, but was sent to a boarding school at the Convent of Notre Dame de Sion in Worthing, Sussex, when she was 12 years old. At 17, she enrolled in the Croydon School of Art where her interest in printed textiles developed. From 1937-1940, she attended the Royal College of Art where she specialized in the field of printed textiles.

During her final year at the Royal College of Art, Lucienne met furniture designer Robin Day. They shared an enthusiasm for modern designs and were married 2 1/2 years later on September 5, 1942. After marrying, they established their residence in a Chelsea, London, flat that was furnished with Lucienne’s hand printed textiles and Robin’s handmade furniture.

World War II placed constraints on textile manufacturing which put Lucienne’s design career temporarily on hold. During that time she taught classes at the Beckenham School of Art, but returned to freelance textile design as soon as the war ended. Initially she designed textiles for dress designers and women’s clothing brands but her goal was to design furnishing fabrics. She secured her first significant client for furnishing textile designs in 1949 which marked the beginning of a very long and successful career in textile design for home furnishings.

In 1952, the Days moved into a Victorian era house in Chelsea which they transformed into a model of contemporary interior design. Their home was featured in various magazines and the ground floor served as their joint studio for the next five decades.

Lucienne was appointed as a faculty member at the Royal Designers for Industry in 1962. From 1987-1989, she was the first female Master of Faculty. Five years into this teaching position, she began focusing her work on printed fabrics and wallpaper designs. During her 60 year career, she was the recipient of many prestigious awards including an OBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) which she received in 2004. Lucienne Day passed away on January 30, 2010, at the age of 93. She was survived by her husband Robin and their daughter Paula. In 2012, Paula Day established The Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation in order “to further public knowledge of and access to her parents’ design legacies, and to provide resources for the study of design.”

About the Art: Calyx

In 1951, a landmark exhibition, the Festival of Britain, was held on London’s South Bank. Lucienne Day created several textile and wallpaper designs that were displayed in a variety of room settings at the festival. Calyx, which would quickly become her most famous textile design, was created as a furnishing fabric for an interior that was designed by her husband. The Calyx print features free floating cusps or mushroom caps which represent Lucienne’s fresh interpretation of the geometry of nature. The large scale abstract pattern was screen printed on linen with the original color palette representing the festival itself with sharp yellow, orange, black, and white on an olive background. These colors would become representative of the 1950s and 1960s. Calyx was so popular that it was eventually created in various different color palettes to meet the demand and tastes of a growing fan base.

Although there was initial skepticism about this unique print, it proved to be commercially successful and would soon become part of the decor of every contemporary living room in mid-century England. The print won a Gold Medal in 1951 at the Milan Triennale and essentially generated a new school of pattern making that would be classified as the “contemporary style”.

Resources/References:

• Lucienne Day: Wikipedia
• Lucienne Day – an introduction
• Lucienne Day obituary
• The Story of ‘Authentic Lucienne’ by Paula Day
• Robin and Lucienne Day Foundation
• Lucienne Day’s Calyx fabric lifted glum post-war Britain

About My Outfit Inspired by Calyx

I struggled with outfit ideas for this one because I just don’t have very many abstract prints in this “contemporary” mid-century vein. Most of the prints in my closet are florals, stripes, plaids, paisleys, and tie dye. I have one dress in a teal color that is similar to the blue Calyx print and it is covered in tiny gold flowers that have a shape resembling the mushroom caps in the pattern. But I wasn’t really loving that dress for this artwork. Also, it is long sleeved and with soaring temperatures and uncomfortable humidity levels, I wasn’t feeling like I could tolerate that dress on my body.

As I was still brainstorming what to wear, I was editing my outfit photos from our recent weekend trip to Pennsylvania and realized that the colors in my outfit were really on point for the original Calyx print on the olive green background. And since I wore this outfit to give the gift of art, I figured it had enough artsy elements incorporated into it to work for his style challenge.

While my floral and paisley prints are not at all representative of the mushroom cap pattern of Calyx, they are still reflective of Lucienne Day’s inspirations from nature. Many of her pattern motifs were drawn from nature and transformed into something new…similar to the transformation of my floral print scarf into a top.

Since I didn’t plan this outfit around the textile design at all, I am really just stretching my interpretation to make it sound purposeful!

I bought this floral scarf at Charlotte Russe a few months ago with the specific intent of wearing it as a top. During that same shopping trip, I spotted this maxi skirt in Burlington Coat Factory and thought it was the perfect color palette to do some print mixing with my new scarf top. I brought the two pieces home to wear together and then they both sat there unworn for months.

I tried to wear the scarf top with a strapless bra but after about 30 minutes I was uncomfortably saggy so I put the straps back on and let the world see them. Because who cares? It’s just bra straps. There is so much other stuff going on in this outfit with my bracelet stacks and layered necklaces and big ole sun hat that my bra straps aren’t really in there fighting for attention anyway. I added a sheer ivory kimono for sun protection and because I love my kimonos. If I can incorporate a kimono into my outfit, I will.

This is definitely not my best Style Imitating Art outfit, but it still was lots of fun! How do you think I did?

Be sure to check out Terri’s interpretation of the artwork as well as Salazar’s take on it. And please visit Terri on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, to see her review post of outfit submissions. If you want to participate, you still have time! Terri needs your photos by Tuesday, August 23, 2022, at 10:00 p.m. EST to be featured in her post. 

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Skirt-Burlington Coat Factory / Scarf Top-Charlotte Russe / Sandals-Nomadic State of Mind / Kimono-Target / Horn Necklace-Traveling Chic Boutique (Asheville, NC) / Moon Necklace-Enlightened Lotus / Sea Glass Necklace-Loretta’s Custom Made Jewelry / Earrings-Torrid / Bracelets and Hat-Old / Bag-Teddy Blake