Frocktober, day twenty six: a lesson in mixing prints
I’ve had a couple of (extremely flattering) questions from friends and readers recently about how I shop and dress so I thought I’d start introducing an occasional DIY/’how to’ post on the blog, kicking off today with a couple of pointers on wearing mixed prints.
If you’ve gone shopping, picked up a fashion magazine, or laid your pretty peepers on a style blog at any point in the last year, you will have noticed that mixing, matching and clashing prints is rather on trend at the moment. The good news is that you don’t need to have the style nous of Susanna Lau to pull this off, as there are a couple of no-fail tricks you can employ to start out comfortably and confidently.
I’m not so keen on fashion ‘rules’, so these are more like guidelines that you can use to start out if you’re feeling unsure about trying this out, or as a fallback on the days where it feels like nothing in your wardrobe works for you.
1. Choose patterns in the same colourway, or at least with a shared base colour. In today’s post I’ve used black as the matching base colour across two patterns.
2. Combine similar prints of differing sizes for greater impact – for example, try a small floral print with a large floral print. Or, as I’ve done here, mix a fine graphic print with a thick and bold one.
3. To keep the focus on your clever choice of prints, go with simple accessories and a sleek hairstyle. I’ve repeated the base colour from my prints – black – in my hosiery, shoes, and bag to anchor the look, and chosen a simple gold necklace to add a warmer tone to the outfit.
Tali Roth ‘Zig Zag Barb’ dress, worn as cardigan / Yeojin Bae ‘Art Noveau Stripe Katie’ silk shift – still available and on sale / Leona Edmiston opaques / Calvin Klein ankle boots / black patent leather bag by The Leather Satchel Company (currently on sale at ASOS)
Don’t let the pretty dresses distract you from the cause – Frocktober is a fundraiser! I’m raising money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, and if you’ve enjoyed this post, you can contribute here.
If you’ve got a style question that you would like answered or addressed, tweet me at @_KaylaBrock, hop on over to the F tangent Facebook page, drop me a line at theFtangent {at} gmail {dot} com, or ask away in the comments. I’d love to see what you’re wearing too, so if you’ve been playing with mixing prints, share a link below.
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Very cute dress