How to Style – Prints

I think it’s probably fair to say that most of us have a print or two in our wardrobes. Some of you might be attracted to any version of animal print, others a bold geometric pattern or a ditsy floral. Whatever your print poison, the most important thing to consider when styling a print is what colour works best with it.

The key to styling a print back with another item in your wardrobe is to create synergy in the outfit from head to toe. It’s all well and good having a fabulous print or patter in your wardrobe, but if you don’t know how to style it, or don’t have the right items to make it work, that fabulous print is just going to sit in your wardrobe.

Here are some really simple tips to help you style your favourite prints.

A print or pattern will usually be made up of at least 2 colours – and could be many more! But what colour do you team with the print? If it’s a printed blouse, what colour do you wear on the bottom? A patterned skirt, what do you wear up top? What jacket can you wear with a printed top, skirt or dress?

Firstly…. take a look at your print and note the dominant colour or colours. Those are the colours that will work best with the print. When I say ‘best’ I mean they will look most complimentary with the print.

Your outfit will have synergy from head to toe. The eye will travel up and down your body, making you look taller. You’ll also look very stylish.

Below are some examples of how this looks:

As you can see from the examples, the colour doesn’t have to compliment the most dominant colour, but it’s best if it compliments one of the colours.

Below is an example of a colour that does not compliment the print. The camel trouser is too light for the very dark patterned blouse. The contrasting colours in the upper and lower body (the deep navy vs camel) create a disconnect and chop the body into two halves. A navy or even red pant would look much more stylish and coherent with the colours in the blouse.

Many of you might be tempted to wear black with a print because black goes with everything right? Well no, it doesn’t. Black can sometimes be too heavy depending on the colours in the print. The example below shows that the black top is too dark for the softer colours in the pants.

If you don’t have ‘ideal’ colour match for your favourite print, don’t despair! Do you have a pair of blue jeans, a denim shirt or denim jacket? Denim is the ultimate neutral and will pair pack and compliment any print or pattern in any colour. Below are more examples:

For more explanation and examples check out my video on How to Style Prints.