On the Practical Magic of Joan Mitchell’s Personal Style

In 1981, the late American Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell appeared in the pages of Vogue wearing a black leather blazer, cornflower blue turtleneck sweater, and a pair of rust-colored pants. Her trademark spectacles and no-nonsense Prince Valiant haircut, along with the electrifying diptych Two Sunflowers (1980), completed the scene. It’s a wonderful example of Mitchell’s often terrific style.

In the accompanying profile, art critic Barbara Rose remarked on the fact that Mitchell refused to remove her glasses, “even to be photographed”—adding that the “high degree of discipline in Mitchell’s work is especially surprising since she is so casual about dress and decor that she could easily be mistaken for the last Beatnik.”

This year marks the centennial of Mitchell’s birth (a n