MFAM Week 1: Remington Steal

Week one of My Favorite Art Museum is here! To kick off the MFAM series, I decided to start with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art's American collection.

In terms of American art, we've got quite a bit to choose from. There is a variety of artists and schools whose work is uniquely American, and I could have chosen anything from the founding of our nation to the present. Instead, I chose the most iconic "American" subject we have - the cowboy.

Enter quintessential cowboy artist Frederic Remington. With my inspiration pinned down, it was time to get to work. I started with white Western style shirt and a pair of brown jeans.

Holy mom jeans!

The jeans were pretty easy. Basically, I turned them into skinny jeans.

It's it the jeans.

The shirt was fairly simple as well. Using my seam ripper, I removed the pockets and the little loop between the shoulders. Then I cut off the sleeves with my scissors, and nipped in the sides and waist, leaving the original length.

Off, off, off!

Next, I whipped up a dye bath using a combination of Rit and mystery brand dyes, which turned out to be a mistake. Luckily, I was able to remedy my colorful screw up, and we were ready for business.

That's more like it!

Once the shirt was dried and pressed, it was time to pull the Remington look together. I had the shirt (not quite as dark as I intended, but close enough) and the brown pants. Next came the accessories. I opted out of the cowboy chaps (sorry everyone) and went for knee-high boots instead. I also pulled an off-white floral scarf out of my seldom worn collection and tied it around my neck to match the white bandanna seen in the painting.

MFAM week 1: American Art

For a complete rundown on this refashion - including the full how-to for crafting this look, information about the art and artist, a semi-embarrassing confession, and photos of my dye-saster - check out the post on my blog.

Don't forget to tune in next week for the next MFAM installment, and remember, please don't touch the art.

- Elizabeth
aka The Hungry Octopus

Now blogging at www.TheHungryOctopus.com!