Mixing Prints

My stylish friend Karen rockin stripes with plaid in Paris!  Love her look!
My stylish friend Karen rockin stripes with plaid in Paris! Love her look!

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Speaking from personal experience: a few years ago, I would never have considered wearing a plaid scarf with a striped shirt or skirt, never mind mixing prints to wear to work! But I have learned that it can look quite nice and it is a creative and visually interesting option. I remember noticing a woman in a train station last summer that wore a floral print shirt with checkered pants and she looked so put together and not “mainstream”. Look at my friend Karen in above pic, she mixes the plaid Burberry scarf and bag with a navy striped top – looks great. In photos of yours truly below, taken this week, I wore a polka dot blouse with a geometric print skirt – to work! Yes, it takes a bit of courage, but once you get the hang of it, it can actually be fun….

Here are some tips to start with:
– Stripes are an easy place to start; they can be mixed with a plaid or a floral.
– When mixing, use different types of prints together; such as a floral with stripe, polka dot with geometric, plaid with floral.
– Pay attention to color; either choose a color that is in both prints or have them contrast well, like black and hot pink…navy and coral…
– If one print is large scaled, use a contrasting smaller scale print.
– Animal prints are easily mixed with stripes, geometrics, florals.

Polka dot shirt (Shirts by Chino) from revolve, geometric skirt from JMcLaughlin
Polka dot shirt (Shirts by Chino) from Revolve, geometric skirt from JMcLaughlin
Small scale print top with larger scale print bottom
Small scale print top with larger scale print bottom
Leopard scarf (Echo) and JMcLaughlin top
Leopard scarf (Echo) and JMcLaughlin top
A subtle mix...cream Burberry plaid scarf with JCrew striped skirt.
A subtle mix…cream Burberry plaid scarf with JCrew striped skirt.

Have you tried mixing prints? Would love to hear about the combinations that work for you…..

candy in your inbox

Enter your name and email below to get notifications
of new blog articles sent via email.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Scroll to Top