When it comes to patterns, it can be hard to find one that is perfectly soft autumn. Does that mean we get rid of every pattern we own and avoid them completely? Of course not! If it’s entirely out of our color palette (i.e. there are NO soft autumn colors in the pattern), then it is most likely time to get rid of it. But, if the item has some soft autum colors in it, we can enhance them by accessorizing accordingly. Today, I’ve got a skirt that has some soft autumn colors in it, but I’d say that on the whole, it would not be a great soft autumn fit. However, let’s see if I can make it work just by how I style it.
Here is the retail image of the skirt I’m using for this exercise. The white elements of the skirt in real life are a bit bright, and the light blue color is not a great fit for us soft autumns. Let’s see what we can do to make it work…
To start off, this top is technically a soft autumn white. But the fact that it pulls out the lighter colors in the skirt makes it not the best choice.
I swapped the white out with navy blue. This can be a harsh color for us soft autumns, so we have to find the “just right” shade of it. This color definitely matches the skirt, but it doesn’t give huge soft autumn vibes.
Here I added an earthy brown necklace and a camel cardigan. We’re moving in the right direction! Can we do better?
I decided to try a red blouse and see how that matched with the skirt. I think it looks great! You can see here that the shoe choice would make a big difference in the look of the outfit as well. I’d definitely opt for the brown shoes rather than navy. We’re moving toward pulling out the minimal earthy tones in the skirt and making the entire look more autumnal.
And the last look is with a light cognac shirt and a navy cardigan. I like this look the best since it matches the skirt so nicely and really emphasizes the soft autumn colors of the pattern. I’d say this one is definitely a keeper – just as long as I style it correctly!
