Dress Fresh! |

As a writer, I am constantly reminding myself to “write fresh.” Which means no stale cliches, no tired redundancies — go for the unexpected, because that’s what gets noticed. It’s the same with dressing. Dress Fresh…which means avoiding the same stale, tired way of putting outfits together.

FullSizeRender — This blue acrylic necklace is almost lost against the same color navy.

navy-orange — Who thinks to pair orange with navy? Brilliant.

Sometimes when I write, I’m lazy or timid. I don’t think creatively. I tend to go with the trite. The same thing happens when I’m putting an outfit together. I’ll take the easy route, pairing the same old things together, just the way I’ve always done. I’d like to be more daring.

The key to “spicing things up” is to reimagine how you use color and accessories. Here are some novel ways to “think outside the box” when you dress.

Use unexpected color combinations. More often than not, I tend to match everything, rather than be imaginative with color. Combining colors can really give an artistic twist to an outfit.

Janna will tell you, “If one color looks good on you and another color looks good on you, chances are, you can wear both of those colors together.”* Why?

Well, let’s use me for example: Two good colors for me are royal blue and turquoise.

Because royal blue goes with me, and turquoise goes with me, by the transitive property, royal blue will go with turquoise. Get it?

blue:turquoise — See how the blue and turquoise create instant interest? And the pop of fuscia is fabulous. (photo credit: J’severydayfashion.com)

ralph lauren color — Look at these sweeties in colors by Ralph Lauren.

purple and red — Red and purple?? Oh yeah.

Combine prints and color. I don’t think we automatically think about combining prints with color, but take a look. It totally works.

animal print:turquoise — Got animal print? Got turquoise?

cardi and polka dots — Polka dots and pink.

animal print & cardi — More animal print…this time teamed with orange.

“Bottoms Up Rule.” Try this simple trick to pull an outfit together: find an accessory (necklace, earrings, scarf) that is the same color as the garment you are wearing on your lower half (bottom) and wear it near your face (up).*

bottoms up color — A perfect ‘bottoms-up’ look.

coral and blue — The embroidery at the neck is the same color as the bottom, so it pulls everything together.

Ditch the the matchy-match, and go for the unexpected. Head to your closet and begin experimenting with color, prints, and accessories. Don’t buy a thing. Just have fun. I’ll bet there are an endless number of combinations that you never even thought of pairing together.

Don’t be afraid to DRESS FRESH!

P.S. Check out Jseverydayfashion.com for great ideas. She’s a REAL girl, who styles her OWN clothes, and is nice enough to share how she does it with us. Thanks, J!

* Page 58 in QStyle