All right, so I’ve read all your comments and held the skirt then shoes up against all my shirts and sweaters and think I can either do something funky with the color or the pattern, but not both at the same time. Professional stylists are very clever with mixing both colors and patterns but I still have to stay true to what I could realistically wear outside of my closet. So here are a few options I’ve pulled together so far…
Look 1: a very safe option with the crinkled gray embellished cotton shirt from JCrew. It’s a no brainer and I like the funky beading along the shirt placket, but it’s not going to win any award for imagination:
Look 2: I thought, well, what if I added something burgundy over Look 1 to play off the burgundy in the shoes? And what if this burgundy item were tweeded and fringed (and sometimes makes me feel like the Michelin Man on my bloated days) to give it yet another layer of texture? Too much mixing of patterns perhaps? Chanel overdrive, you say?
Look 3: Then I reached for more gray stuff, like this fringed t-shirt from last summer…kinda nutty with a totally different type of pattern in the shirt’s tweed fringe, right?
Look 4: When I’m uncomfortable with a color or pattern I have a habit of throwing a solid cardigan over what’s ailing me and pray it all works out. So to temper the mixing of patterns in Look 3, I add a dark gray Prada cardigan over it (no sleeveless look for me till I get back to my workout routine!)…but it’s really a dowdy look:
Look 5: But what if I went with a lighter shade of gray like in this JCrew cardi instead?
Yeah, still dowdy. Gray is gorgeous but it can totally un-cool you.
Look 6: Then I thought, what if I went all casual and wore a GAP chambray button down with it? I’d let my pearl lariat necklace dress it up a bit:
Look 7: In this final attempt, I’m trying to take your advice about color. You’d mentioned blush, green, yellow, aqua and I love all the suggestions with a checked skirt. I’m just scared to mix colors with a patterned skirt! So this is me being bold with one pop of color while keeping everything else toned down:
I’m not sure what these outfits will actually look like on, and as you all already know this, how you carry off a look depends a lot on how comfortable/confident you feel in that particular ensemble. So I’ll go try them on and submit my favorite photo in the next entry. And who knows, maybe inspiration will find me and I can surprise you with a completely different look :D.
^ya i’m still soooo old school when it comes to matching stuff on colors alone. and texture ALWAYS throws me off!
i think the problem you are having is that you are thinking mainly in terms of color. I would think texture. The nubby tweed skirt has so much texture to it that it needs something to balance the heaviness of it. In my opinion the 4th looks is the best because the fringe with the knit cardi is the most balanced. I like monochromatic as it is the very modern and I think adding a pop of color in the burgundy in the shoe is enough. adding it in a shirt etc is too much and a little dated. I would still also consider just going white on top as I think it would bring out the prettiness of the light tones in the skirt and look fresh.
L, my vote goes to look 4 and 6!! Personally I prefer something stronger at the top to balance the burgundy in the shoes, so the darker grey cardi is good. The burgundy tweed from look 2 is def an overkill…lol Too heavy for your lithe frame. As for 6, I am pleasantly surprised you picked a blue button down shirt and I love how it lightened up the tweed skirt a bit..lol
Sorry to go OT, but I just found out that Maureen Chiquet is coming to town!!!!
I like look 3 the best, the one with the fringed tee. Of course since it’s cooler now, you’d need some sort of topper. I think were it me, I’d go with a black cardi with sophisticated lines, not the JCrew type. A cardi that looks more like a jacket would work. But I love the fringes together in the top and skirt. And if you intend to wear this now in the winter months (altho So. Cal doesn’t really have winter, but you know what I mean) I’d stay away from yellow which is more spring anyway. I’d stay neutral, but that’s just me, and I’m a neutral sort of person.
I like Looks 1 & 3 the best. I thnk your right on the cardigans looking dowdy. How about Look 3 with a cute fitted jacket over it? I love that top!
Or maybe a burgundy button up similar to the one in Look 1. It’s a safe choice but the color gives it a little extra something.
I know we can’t change the bag/shoes but I think your pale grey Chanel croc purse would look fantastic with this skirt!
^ahhh but that’s the challenge of this exercise. we’re supposed to take the given elements (shoes, bag, skirt) and figure out the top, so no substitution for the shoes allowed, haha! i do have solid gray shoes to match the bag exactly, but that would be too easy :D!! plus i think this skirt needs heels…
wait, don’t forget to try yellow too!!
yellow and grey could work wonders!
hmm.. can we ditch the shoe for flats?
looks kinda “safe” to me.. wearable of course..
the truth, i’d like look 6 the most.’
u don’t happen to have the GAP shirt in green, do u?
since u’ve gone nuts with fuchsia there at look 7,
i’d say spruce up the skirt with your button down-red shirt.. yeah.. that’ll be perfect for the coming-into-spring-look..
ohhh this is fun!!