Pattern Mixing: Florals

In this outfit, I started with the patterned kimono instead of the floral dress. My mom gifted it to me since it was designed by a friend of hers, who's beautiful clothes you can find here. I wanted the focus to be on the kimono, so the rest of the elements needed to be more understated, which is why this (thrifted) dress is so perfect! It matches the bits of blue in the kimono pattern, but the organized repetition of the flowers contrasts nicely with the kimono's chaotic design. Also the flowers are embroidered on, which also creates a subtle contrast in texture. I ended up matching all of the accessories to the kimono since I felt because the dress was monochromatic and already tied quite nicely the other pattern it wasn't necessary to do more. It also just helped bring more focus to the kimono.

This outfit went through some trial and error before landing where I wanted it. I started with the floral pencil skirt, and my initial thought was to pattern mix with a shirt, but nothing in my closet really felt right, so my next thought was to go with a solid green shirt to pull out the color of the leaves, but at last second I threw on the yellow top to contrast with the magenta/purple of the flowers. I felt like this gave it the more vivid look I was going for.

Because of the length and silhouette of the skirt on me, I knew I wanted to wear a jacket, so I decided that's where I would introduce the pattern mixing. I wanted the pattern to contrast with the skirt to really play up it up, so I needed the pattern to be bolder/have larger elements than the flowers, and I decided to go black and white since the rest of the outfit was so brightly colored, but there is a little bit of black in the skirt that still ties the patterns together. Luckily I had just picked up this perfect jacket (actually a dress) from Goodwill! Making sure each pattern has at least one accessory (shoes, scarf, necklaces) that matches it helps bring the whole outfit together. And voila! All done!

Out of the three outfits, this one is probably the most "daring" considering every element is a pretty distinct and busy pattern. No subtly to be found here. I've worn this dress many times before just as-is with no major styling or accessorizing, but I decided I wanted to change things up. Originally, I wasn't planning on doing any pattern mixing. Instead, I was going to wear a plain teal blazer to add a pop of color, but then this silk jacket I just picked up at Goodwill caught my eye. Honestly, I wasn't even sure if it would work until I pulled it on, but to my delight it did (at least for my aesthetic taste)! The line quality of both the patterns is fairly similar, which is what helps tie them together as well as the use of black. Naturally, the different background colors contrast them.

It turns out the dress must have shrunk in the wash last cycle, which is why I also decided to throw some tights on just to be safe since I was wearing this to work, and at this point I was like "go big or go home" and threw on the floral tights instead of some solid black ones. That same mentality led me to add the floral scarf in my hair. Overall, this outfit serves a very busy look that might not be everyone's jam, but works for my aesthetic.

I hope you enjoyed reading through my thought process with pattern mixing!