Mixing & Matching Prints (Literally)
You ever have those days where you just feel like throwing on all black? Feeling sexy, feeling depressed, maybe a little or a lot bloated or just playing it safe … it’s for sure the most necessary non-color in your wardrobe. Now picture this; you’re dressed head to toe in black. Feeling good, living better … until you walk out in the sunlight to see you’re wearing 50 shades of black. Shoes are dusty, jeans are faded, and your shirt has that greenish tint to it that just makes you want to throw the whole garment away. You’d think black would be pretty easy to match with more black, but it’s actually pretty damn difficult without adequate lighting. I’d say most solid colors are unless it’s a part of a matching set. So imagine the shit show of a task it is to match prints. I really don’t think it’s a huge thing that people do, because I mean … really, who truly wants to look like a cheetah, leopard, or zebra outside of halloween? I think it’s one of things that kind of just happens, you know? Like you just so happen to find a pair of shoes that match a handbag that you bought and now there’s an obligation to wear them together. At least once just to get it out of your system. Then you’ve got to move on. You don’t want to feel like you have to wear one every time you wear the other, but if you don’t match them together at least once you’re literally missing out on an opportunity that you created yourself.
Outfit Deets
Let me tell ya, Facebook ads will really get you. I was just casually scrolling on my timeline, minding my business, and boom. I’m forced to look at a Shoe Dazzle ad featuring the foxiest pair of over the knee boots ($10, originally $47) that I’ve ever seen in my 23 years of existence. Smitten - that’d be the absolute best way for me to describe how I felt about these shoes that I never would have known existed if it wasn’t for social media. As much of a shoe fanatic that I am, I’d never had any interest in seeing what Shoe Dazzle was all about. And I damn sure wasn’t interested in paying a $39 membership fee every month on top of however many shoes I would have irresponsibly bought.
That was the old me.
Present day me is all in, and it’s not solely because I was just so in awe over how gorgeous these boots were. It was the fact that I had plans of buying a red leopard print midi skirt (JCPenney / $19, originally $60) that would match the boots PERFECTLY. I’m talking cut from the same fabric kind of perfect. I hadn’t thought about how I’d style the skirt just yet, but I knew I wasn’t going for a matchy-matchy kind of look. Because of that, black boots and a black top weren't going to cut it. I needed something to lighten up the skirt, offset the print just a bit. So I feel as though this grid print top (Shein, $8) would’ve made its way into this look regardless; if not this exact one, it would’ve been something very similar. Actually, now that I think about it, I originally was on the hunt for an oversized cowl neck sweater. I just couldn’t find THE ONE. I was waiting for that “oh yeah, that’s the one!” feeling like I had with the boots but nothing did it for me. I just ended up doing a broad ass search for printed tops and sweaters and chose something. That’s REALLY how the grid print came about.
All of this just comes to show that I’ve never been a fan of being matchy-matchy because I’ve never came across a true match for anything I’ve owned until now. I’m convinced that’s the only reason because this shit is just too good for me to not have done it before. Like when I tell y’all I’ve never been so excited to see an outfit I put together in my head on my actual body?! Whew. And the satisfaction I felt when it actually looked how I envisioned … that’s what I love the most about fashion. Putting different clothing pieces together and making literal art in wearable form. It’s a truly beautiful thing. And once you get that part down, the only thing left is to figure out how to accessorize. It’s the icing on the cake, essentially, so you don’t want to come up short by not putting thought into the little details. I’ll be honest, I’ve always struggled with the final touches to my looks because I don’t buy accessories. It’s something that I’ve been telling y’all I would work on from the very beginning but I’m still at square 1.2. The .2 accounts for the pieces of jewelry that I have bought in the three years I’ve been blogging, so that’s at least a little bit of progress.
While my top did add a nice little contrast to the look, I still felt like I was missing something; and the denim jacket is exactly what it was. I had an idea of pairing it with this look pretty early on, and I honestly loved how it looked, but what killed me is how worn it looks. If I was going for the vintage, old school look then I’d be wearing that bad boy, but literally everything else I was wearing was new. Like I popped the tags off right before putting everything on. So all this newness paired with a very nice yet over 20 year old stained denim jacket just isn’t something I could make myself do. However, I did want to at least show y’all that denim would look perfectly fine with a look like this, hence why I just threw it over my shoulder. It gives it a bit more of an edgy look in my opinion, but if you’re trying to keep it a little more classic and simple, a camel colored trench coat is exactly what you need (trust me). I took these photos the day after Santa Claus decided to gift us all with slightly warmer weather for Christmas, so it’s his fault why y’all don’t have a true visual of what that would even look like. But like I said, trust me; the coat is initially how I decided to wear these tassel earrings (Aldo) to have another shade of brown in the mix, but turns out the earrings were really all I needed. That’s the great thing about having a semi-neutral pair of almost obnoxiously large statement earrings; they’ll take you from 90 to 100. These particular pair go best with gold in my opinion, so it was only right for me to sport the necklace Deion got me for Christmas the day before. I had been talking about how I wanted an everyday type of necklace to wear, so I’m glad he actually paid attention to me while I was talking to him (but of course not hinting at him 😉) about things that I wanted. I can’t remember if I actually mentioned that I wanted gold (just because that’s mostly what I wear), or if it was just a lucky guess on his part, but whatever it was it worked. Another good thing about it is the fact that the “D” is filled with diamonds which would allow it to work with silver jewelry as well. The metal in the belt (Shein, $6) ALMOST had me accessorizing in silver for once, but the only ones I had would’ve gotten lost in the look. They aren’t nearly as extra as the ones I decided to wear.
Just because I felt as though I needed some kind of purse or bag on my shoulder, I threw on a simple chain link purse (Maurices). It’s one of those that’s the perfect size for all the little necessities for a night out. The older I get the more I realize my need for a larger variety of purses. For obvious reasons I’d love to always have something to carry all my shit in, but it’s also because the grown woman in me is feeling like a look can’t be complete without one. I think that’s why I’m so determined to own a Coach purse; the classic look would pretty much allow me to wear it with anything, and if I’m willing to spend that kind of money on it I absolutely will wear it with everything.
