As you know from previous posts like these here, here and here, weather appropriateness is a big concern for me. I do not like being cold (obvi from those posts); however, I don’t like being hot either. With Memorial Day right around the corner, that means it’s BBQ season in the Chicago-land area. As most residents around here know, the weather is extremely unpredictable until after the 4th of July. It can be 82° and sunny one second and the next a storm will roll through and the temp will drop to 61°. This can actually just happen from 3:00 in the afternoon to 7 pm as the BBQ rolls on. That means you need to be prepared to layer nowadays. Luckily, layering is the easy part of this post. In this case, I chose to toss on a chambray shirt which is perfect for summertime. My other fave options are good old jean jacket, a lightweight long boyfriend cardigan or a pullover sweater/sweatshirt. You can throw any of these options on top of an a T, tank or sundress to make it ready for dropping temps!
The part of this outfit that was a struggle for me was mixing prints. My brain does not function like that at all. I am one print on my body kinda girl apparently. I didn’t even know this until I tried!!! Like what? Am I print mixing deficient?? So, I tried really hard and figured out how to get the look without feeling like Carry Bradshaw on a crazy day (at least I hope didn’t)? Well, what were my findings?
- Choose an organic free form print and pair it with a basic, more geometric print like a stripe or plaid – below I paired my standard navy blue striped shirt with the pink leaf print short. I feel like that’s the easiest way to ease your mind into okay, I can do this. Other options would be like tiny polka dots (geometric) with bigger flowers (organic) or ikat and stripes. To me, stripes are the easiest to mix with and then probably polka dots and a big bold floral!
- Play to scale with the prints – if one print is really large, keep the other smaller. If one is super busy, keep the other one on the more subdue side.
- This one can be optional depending on your capacity for mixing prints. I found anchoring the look with the solid chambray shirt really helped. My takeaway was I can tone down the mixed print look with a neutral. You can take that to whatever level you need, but it helps a lot.
I’m not mixing print expert by any means, but these findings helped me create a look where I felt comfortable and cute and then like prints exploded on me. With these tips, you can test out your printing mixing capabilities this weekend!
Chambray Shirt: Banana Republic (Old) – Similar Below ~ Striped Shirt: Gap (Old) – Similar Below ~ Shorts: Old Navy ~ Wedges: Nordstrom (Old) – Similar Here ~ Crossbody Bag: Marc by Marc Jacobs (Old) – Similar: 1. / 2. / 3. ~ Watch: Michael Kors (Old) ~ Similar: 1. / 2. ~ Bracelet: A’Gaci ~ Headband: A’Gaci (No Link) – Similar: Asos ~ Sunnies: Ray-Ban ~ Phone Case: Sonix
Chambray shirt options for you:
Great Striped shirts like mine:
And a few more fun print shorts and some solids because why not??
Hope this post gave you some great tips on mixing and matching prints for your look. Also, hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and all the BBQ’s to come this summer!
Peace out,
Wet Hair, Don’t Care