Style Imitating Art | Wave I & Wave II by Vanessa Barragão

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

It was my turn to choose our artwork and I wanted to feature some type of textile art simply because I love textile art. So I did an online search and quickly found the work of Portuguese textile artist Vanessa Barragão. As soon as I scrolled through her gallery, I immediately knew she was the artist to feature for this round. My only struggle was choosing just one of her works. So I chose two! Barragão’s entire collection of textile art is all so amazing but I eventually settled on her Wave Collection because I am finally starting to feel the summer creep in. The colors and the ocean vibe seem like the perfect sartorial inspiration for a June style challenge. And it ties in nicely with my thrifty nautical outfit that I shared earlier today.

The Artwork

Wave I (2023) and Wave 2 (2025)

About the Artist: Vanessa Barragão

 Born in Albufeira, Portugal, Vanessa Barragão is a fiber and textile artist who founded her studio in 2014 after earning her Masters degree in fashion and textiles from the University of Lisbon. Born and raised in a seaside town in the south of Portugal, surrounded by family, the ocean, and the countryside, Vanessa found inspiration all around her. Since early childhood, she was creating things with her hands such as sand castles, doll clothes, drawings, and crochet.

At 18 years old, Vanessa left home to attend the University of Lisbon which is just a few hours drive north of her birthplace. Throughout her 6 years of fashion design studies, she became more aware of and concerned about consumption, sustainability, and eco-friendliness in her art as well as her daily living. This new awareness shifted Vanessa away from fashion design as she began to explore textile arts and handmade ancestral crafts.

In 2016, Barragão moved even farther north to Porto, the center of the Portuguese textile industry, where she worked as a textile designer at an artisanal rugs factory for 4 years. She also worked on her own personal textile projects while in Porto, dedicating her entire final year there to opening a studio in the downtown area. In early 2020, Vanessa decided to return to her roots and relocated her studio to Albufeira where she is closer to the environment and the people who inspire her.

The focus of Vanessa’s art is the negative impact that pollution from the textile industry has on coral reef environments. In an effort to alter mindsets and improve Earth’s health, Vanessa utilizes eco-conscious production methods in her artwork by upcycling the headstock from a specific artisanal rug factory in Beiriz. All of the deadstock materials are cleaned and recycled to be reused in her artwork. She also implements ancestral and handmade techniques, such as the latch hook method, hand tufting, embroidery, felting, and crochet, in order to keep her entire process as eco-friendly as possible.

Not only is her artwork absolutely stunning, but Vanessa Barragão is truly a beautiful human being. I don’t know her personally, but I watched this video and you can just tell.

About the Art: Wave I and Wave II

The Wave Collection is still in progress with Wave I (2023) and Wave II (2025) completed. This collection reflects the rhythm of the ocean as well as Barragão’s deep connection to nature while representing how waves shape the shores in the same way that nature and our environments shape who we are. These creations are extremely large with Wave I measuring 10.5 x 7 feet (320 x 210 cm) and Wave II measuring 14.75 x 6.5 feet (450 x 200 cm). If you scroll through her Instagram, @vanessabarragao_work, you will find some images of the artist with works in progress which really show the scale of these beautiful creations.

Resources/References:

• Vanessa Barragão Website
• Wave Collection by Vanessa Barragão
• Vanessa Barragão Instagram
• CoBrA Gallery: Vanessa Barragão
• East: Textile Artist Vanessa Barragão
• YouTube: SURROUNDED BY NATURE – a journey through sustainability

About My Outfit

I already explained how I came to choose this particular artist and this specific collection of her artworks. However, I did not mention that there was one factor that helped me decide on which Barragão artwork to choose…my new teal cowgirl boots! I knew they would be perfect to represent the little bits of teal and turquoise that appear in both works and I wanted another reason to wear them.

The rest of the outfit came together rather easily in monochromatic ivory. To represent all of the different textures in the art, I wore a lace sundress with a macrame belt and a sheer robe featuring a subtle mandala print. My accessories added a few more bits of blues. My cream fedora is hand painted with teal and gold leaves and my husband just gave me this beautiful turquoise necklace and earrings for Mother’s Day (because they match my new cowgirl boots).

I was really pleased with the result of this style challenge and look forward to wearing this outfit somewhere special.

I hope you have enjoyed this round of Style Imitating Art. I sure have. It has inspired me to set a new life goal of one day owning a Vanessa Barragão original!

If you want to play along and be featured with your own art inspired outfit in my gallery post on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, be sure to submit your photos to me at shelbeeontheedge@gmail.com by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. In the meantime, be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of this textile art as well as Marsha’s take on it. 

Until then, happy styling, my friends!

Shelbee

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