In her 1988 autobiography, I Shock Myself, artist Beatrice Wood (1893-1998) relates that friends once confronted her and asked her to be more conventional in the way she dressed. She complied, buying a tailored suit. “Four months had passed when one day I realized that I had withdrawn into a shell. Puzzled, it suddenly occurred to me that I was subdued because of the suit. I felt uncomfortable in it, totally not myself. From that time on, I made up my mind that I would dress the way I wished.” (115)
By the time she became a celebrated artist her wishes were quite elaborate. Her outfits came to show her life story and her wide ranging tastes. The indigo shibori shawl above might have been bought on a trip to Japan. The sari-like garment perhaps came directly from India. And the big bracelets look possibly Tibetan. Along with folk art, which you can see in the background of this photo, she was an avid collector of jewelry.
Wood took a winding path to become a famous artist. You can read a short life history here. The scanty photos of her younger years show that it took her awhile develop her wrapped and decorated style. In her youth she favored embroidered tunics. She added more and more jewelry as she aged. By the time she moved to Ojai California, a gathering spot for independent thinkers, she added hats, unusual dresses, and saris.
Most of the photos of Wood in her old age (she lived to be 105), show her wrapped in shawls and saris, with earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings of every color and shape.
If you think about it, she found an elegant way to present her aging body. Wrapped up in gorgeous textiles, with a jewelry collection from a lifetime on display, she was the embodiment of a motto she lived by: “Life is an Art.”
