Why This Works

You should be very proud of me.

I have made a concerted effort to not use the beginning of every post this month to gush on and on about how much I love this time of year. However, once trees start to change and it's cool, all bets are off ;)

I saw this picture in Lucky magazine the other day, and I wanted to use it for a "Why This Works" post.

It's a gorgeous example of pattern mixing, and here's why...

The print on top is big and bold and works with her pants because it echoes kind of the same colors. It's hard to truly tell all the colors in her pants, but even if it just had a matching navy blue it would work because then there would be something to tie them both together.

I love that the pants have a pattern because it gives the outfit depth and tons of visual interest. What it also does is minimize her legs. A small pattern not only conceals lumps and bumps, but it makes you look small in comparison (the adverse is true as well, so stay away from putting large patterns in large places).

And by putting the larger/bolder pattern on top, your eyes are drawn up and away from her legs. Also the pattern of that top makes her look slim because it draws your eye in rather than being horizontal stripes across.

Anchoring the whole outfit with a solid bright sweater and matching shoes ensures that she doesn't look too costume-y but still keeps up with the playfulness of the whole thing. A dark sweater and shoes would work, but it just wouldn't be as happy and right as this bright sweater/shoe combo is.

Then finally the clutch that has kind of the same pattern with only two colors from the whole ensemble is just perfection. Now I understand you can't run out and buy an outfit just like this, and you may not even want to go this bold. But my intentions are to give you reasons why it works so that you can mimic (even in the smallest of ways) a look as fun and flattering as this.

For more pattern/layering ideas click here!