2 Bright Pink and Black Outfits for Fall/Winter + DIY Bead Soup Earrings

I am continuing to wear outfits based on my fall/winter capsule wardrobe that rely on some of the capsule supplementation strategies I've talked about already: adding pieces in the color palette and adding pieces in a new accent color. Today's two featured outfits lean hard into the bright pink, black, and white color scheme that I'm really enjoying this year. It's partly the influence of Barbiecore, but I also am just grooving on the bold contrasts of this color combination.

My first outfit is a demonstation of the temperature version of "thinking in threes" as applied to my bright pink module. I wore a pink linen cardigan in my first set of pink outfits in October, which I have now upgraded to a warmer topper: a bright watermelon blazer. But I am following the same outfit formula for both outfits: simple black/white T + jeans + pink topper + print scarf + print flats. The bird scarf and geometric print flats are actually the exact same ones I wore before. I could have repeated the same T and jeans but chose to wear different ones (striped instead of polka dots; blue denim straight leg instead of black skinnies) just for a bit of variety. If it were colder, I could have upgraded my T to a pullover sweater and substituted ankle boots for flats.

I always enjoy a variant on Liz's Print Scarf + Animal Print Shoes formula that I discussed recently. I think it works just as well when you wear a geometric print shoe like these in place of animal print. Adding a third print to the look with a simple striped top further boosts the outfit's interest while still being easy to wear. The scarf pulls together all the colors in the outfit (except for the blue denim, which I consider the ultimate neutral that goes with anything).

I'm still taking advantage of the wide range of fashion-acceptable jeans silhouettes to mix them up regularly (including skinnies, which I consider a classic). It feels good to have all my blue jeans at a $0.50 cost per wear or lower! I am happy to wear this smoking slipper style of shoe with any of my jeans.

My daily bracelet stack is a 5 piece set made from snowflake obsidian using an Annie's Simply Beads kit (discussed here). It's nice to have this set ready to put on and go without needing to create a custom stack. I mean, I love creating custom stacks, but sometimes you just want to reach for something easy that still looks great, and this set fits the bill for me.

I debated my earring choice a bit, but decided to go with white and gold earrings that would pop against the somewhat busy pink print of the scarf. This is another pair of DIY bead soup earrings that came together very easily because I had two pairs of white acrylic beads with gold paint drizzle in different shapes. I added a clear glass crystal bead with a gold bead cap and a stardust gold spacer bead to complete the stack. The "golden" theme from my hair, headband, earrings, and the yellow bellies of the birds on the scarf feels remarkably cohesive.

Are you clutching your (genuine) pearls at the idea of wearing acrylic beads? Acrylic beads (which are a form of plastic) aren't my go-to option, but for earrings, I actually like them quite a bit because they are so lightweight. Earrings made solely from glass and/or stone beads can get heavy fast, particularly if you are using many beads or larger beads; with acrylic, you can go big without dragging down your earlobes. I also have some nice-looking acrylic beads (such as these from my Boss's Bead Bags from Fire Mountain Gems) that it would be a shame to ignore just because the material isn't considered "upscale" or whatever. These white beads have cool shapes and an interesting drizzle design that made for some good bead soup earrings. The calculation is different when you're looking to sell your jewelry, but that's not a consideration for me; I can just make and wear whatever strikes my fancy with no concern for marketability or profit maximization! (Thank goodness for my day job.)

Moving on to my second outfit...I flipped the colors so I'm wearing a bright pink lightweight pullover sweater topped by a black and white plaid moto vest. I don't have a preference when it comes to how to layer neutrals and rainbow/accent colors; I will wear colors over neutrals or neutrals over colors (or colors over colors or neutrals over neutrals, etc.).

I accessorized with both a necklace and a scarf because...hey, why not? Both pieces are quite subtle in this context, with the pink drop necklace blending into the sweater and the silky black scarf blending into the vest.

Black skinnies with black pointy-toed flats feels like a classic feminine combination I will wear despite the fads or trends. My personal style is clearly more colorful and whimsical than a straight classic or feminine style, but I have pronounced elements of both styles that show up in various ways in my looks. This particular shoe + pants combination has a "sleek" quality that I like a lot.

I also repeated my DIY paper bead bracelet set (created to coordinate with the bird scarf in the previous outfit) from my earlier pink cardigan outfit as the basis for my daily stack. I just changed around the bracelets I used to complete it. My other stack had a black and white paper tube bead bracelet and this one has the black bicone/clear crackle glass bracelet and black cat charm bracelet instead. It's fun to play "variations on a theme" with my bracelet sets.

Once again I wore a new pair of bead soup earrings! These are a more delicate pair in hot pink and silver, and I think they stand out nicely against my hair and the black vest. I've really enjoyed putting together these monochromatic earrings by selecting beads in similar colors but varying shapes/materials/finishes and stacking them up. The specific pink tones in these beads were similar enough that I didn't need uniform spacer beads as a unifying element; I chose 3 different pairs of silver spacers/bead caps to separate the pink beads.

Unlike most of my other bead soup designs, my monochromatic bead soup earrings aren't made to go with any particular scarves, necklaces, bracelets, etc. They are stand-alone pieces that can be slotted into any outfit based on the color...kind of the simple but versatile "solid T-shirt" of earrings, you could say. I am working to build a collection of these earrings so I will have one gold pair and one silver pair in each of the major colors of my wardrobe. (Some color/metal combinations are already represented by other earrings, DIY or not, in my collection, but there are a lot of "gaps" I can have fun filling in.)

Here is my updated bright pink module with the blazer, sweater, necklace, and bead soup earrings from these outfits added in.

Here is our updated accessory capsule for the main capsule wardrobe after 21 outfits (new items circled in pink).

What do you think of bright pink as a color for winter? Do you prefer to repeat outfits exactly or do "variations on a theme" with them? Is a necklace + scarf something you'd wear or is it too much for your style? Are "classic" and/or "feminine" aspects of your personal style?

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