On Friday we took advantage of the “Free Friday” at the St. Louis Art Museum and checked out the latest special exhibit, “Roaring.”

The exhibit focuses on art, fashion, and automobiles in France from 1918-1939. They have a total of 12 cars on display, and they are themselves works of art!

I really enjoyed getting a chance to look at some of the details up close…like most things, I find that the design of early to mid 1900s automobiles, with their curves and bright colors, to be much more pleasing to the eye than modern design. There were also some surprises…I couldn’t believe the kind of patterns they used to place on the outside of cars!

There were pieces of art mixed it in with the cars and clothes, like this classic by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian:

Of course my favorite thing about the exhibit was the fashion. There were primarily dresses on display (we even got to see a Coco Chanel or two!), but there was also some outerwear, a pair of beach pajamas, and even examples of what we would call “Athleisure Wear” today!

I learned so much about how automobiles influenced fashion design, and how in turn, cars became fashion accessories themselves!

There were also drawings of fashion designs:

And some other textiles mixed in…the colors of this rug were so vibrant!

I really enjoyed seeing the colors and prints of the time…it’s easy to think of the past as being dull and flat, but the opposite is true!

This is one of the best special exhibits I’ve seen at the St. Louis Art Museum…I learned a lot, and I’m so thankful that they gift their visitors with the opportunity to see them for free on Fridays!