As I described in my post about my 2025 clothing no buy year (shopping break), I have fallen behind on blogging about new wardrobe additions from 2024. I showed you my teal pants from 2023 in this post, and now I'm back to feature two new items from December 2024.
First, the stats on these items and how they ended up in my closet. The magenta long-sleeved tunic was a birthday gift from my mom that she purchased because I had told her that I didn't have any bright pink long-sleeved tops in my wardrobe. I was happy to see this top not just because the color is gorgeous (I washed it separately before wearing because the dye looked so saturated but it didn't bleed any dye that I could tell) but also because I have this same style of knit tunic in navy blue and really like how the lightweight fabric drapes. So even though it's a tunic length, it can easily be partially tucked to create a shorter look.
The pants are yet another of my favorite Effortless Stretch pants from Kohls, this time in a small scale navy, blue, and white print. I paid $36 for the teal version in 2023, but this pair was on sale for under $16, which I consider a terrific price.
Here's a close-up view of the print where you can really see the blue in with the navy and white; at a distance, it reads more like navy with small white dots with the blue blending into the background.
When I had all my December 2024 purchased together, I noticed that the rich magenta color looked really good next to this navy and blue print so I decided to create an outfit pairing the two pieces. I realized right away that I was using one of the iterations of Jodie's "color recipe" for prints.
Jodie's color recipe for prints includes:
Neutral in the print
Color in the print
Neutral not in the print
Color not in the print
Print mixing
By putting a magenta top with the navy/blue/white print, I was using option 4. Color not in the print...which I think can be the most challenging of the 5 options for several reasons. One, it goes so against the "matching" grain that was the gold standard of outfit creation for so long, which means a lot of people don't even consider it. Two, there are typically a lot of colors not in the print, which means there are a lot of possible choices, which can feel overwhelming. Three, there is no "rule" about which color not in the print to choose; you just pick based on what looks good to you...and this can feel risky if you haven't developed a sense of confidence in your style.
Knowing that this aspect of Jodie's style recipe might be hard for people to do, I thought I'd point out something that made my print pants a great "color not in the print: beginner's edition" choice: the entire print is basically one color! It has the nice medium blue shade, right off the standard Blue hue of the color; it has navy, which is the Blue hue darkened by the addition of black; and it has white, which you could think of as the very palest Blue possible, created by adding so much white that you basically can't even see the Blue anymore.
Unlike a print with multiple hues, where you'd be adding a third hue, I can think of my pants as a Blue print, and just add a second hue to the outfit. Coordinating two hues feels a lot easier than coordinating three to me. So if you are curious to experiment with Jodie's color recipe for prints but have felt unsure how to add a color not in the print, I'd say check out your closet for prints that are various shades of one hue. And if your print has black, white, and/or grey in it (the purest neutrals that lack color), you can ignore those neutrals entirely and focus on what color would look good with the hue in your print. Choosing the opposite hue on the color wheel is always an place to start, but really, you can just hold up the two pieces together and see what you think. Here are some more examples of single hue prints from my closet.
And now...on to the outfit! Since I am high on the Color Integrator side of the Integrator/Blocker divide, you'll also see multiple ways that you can make the Blue Print + Pink Solid color combo look more intentional, if that's your jam. (But really, I think the magenta top and blue print pants would still look great even if you just added a simple pair of white sneakers and called it a day.) Because it's winter in Minnesota, I needed a topper layer, and I went with the absolute easiest choice: a blue denim jacket. (Denim can function as a version of the Blue hue or as a neutral...or in this case, both.)
My suede loafers in navy blue with lighter blue tassels was a very satisfying pairing with the navy and blue pants. The tassels are such a tiny touch but I enjoy the magic in the small details.
To help sell the color combination, I added a bridge piece scarf that contains all the colors of the outfit, including navy, blue, white, and magenta (plus purple). I used method #2: tuck a scarf under the collar of a jacket and let in hang, as described in this post. By adding this scarf, I also brought in another aspect of Jodie's color recipe for prints: print mixing! It's a fabulous way to bring extra visual interest to a look, and you can make the color story of your outfit as narrow or as broad as you like by choosing a print mix that shares all/most colors or just one color (or, theoretically, sharing no colors!).
Because I had space to work with on the magenta top, I added a DIY layered necklace in blue and white that both adds more depth to the existing color palette and pops against the magenta background. I know that the dzi beads with the fun blue-and-white design and the blue glass crow beads were from the September 2024 Bargain Bead Box companion bundle (maybe others were as well), and then I supplemented with some beads from my stash, including the white lampwork glass disk that I used as a focal on the long necklace.
My daily bracelet stack started with a pair of paper bead bracelets that I made specifically to coordinate with a navy, blue, and pink floral skirt in my closet (shown below), but of course it was a great color combination for today's Blue + Pink outfit too. I finished off the stack with a navy/silver bracelet I bought plus 3 DIY bracelets in pink glass pearl, glass in shades of blue and clear, and magenta wood beads. I stuck with silver for all my bracelets, but mixing metals continues to be a trend for 2025 (and in my opinion, is timeless if done with intention) so you could mix it up if you wanted to. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
Today's paper to bead examples once again demonstrates the power of paint in customizing paper beads. The top paper bead bracelet with the flower focal (third from top) was made from this not-particularly-promising paper from a catalog. The pink and blue colors are there, sure, but look at all the white background, the white text over the prints, and the off-palette red sale symbol. Cover all that up with some pink and blue paint, however, and you're off to the races.
The other paper bead bracelet (bottom of the stack) had similar origins: a Lands End catalog page with a woman in a blue sweater and pink jeans but lots of extraneous white space. I covered it with the same pink paint around the blue sweater and a lighter shade of blue paint around the pink jeans to create a striated colorblock appearance in the rolled beads. I love that the visual texture from the chunky knit sweater comes through on the beads, and the painted areas that show have a very different look (matte and streaked with varying thickness of paint) from the untouched catalog paper.
My DIY earrings are one of my very favorite styles: the long skinny stick earring. I stacked a bunch of small beads in shades of blue and bright pink on a headpin and, to repeat the bird motif from the scarf, added silver bird beads about halfway down the stacks. I made my two earrings match by using the same beads in the same order on both, but you could really have fun with this design by making them asymmetric. You could use the same beads in a different order on each earring or you could use similar but not identical beads on the two earrings. With mismatched earrings another trend in 2025, it would be fun to wear one of these stick earrings with a totally different earring; I think a larger silver bird charm earring would be a cute pairing, for example.
We finally got some more snow this weekend so with the sun out in force, it's a blindingly bright winter day here in St Paul...I mean, blindingly. So to save your eyes, I am sharing this restfully cloudy day photo with a pair of finches in the trees next to my balcony. (And yes, mid-April is 100% still winter here as you can see!)
Have you tried adding a color not in a print? How about a neutral not in a print? How about print mixing? Do you own any single hue prints?
Blogs I link up with are listed here.
Comments