Italian Style: Prints vs Solids
The main fashion take-away for my 18 year-old from our Italy trip? They didn’t wear many prints. She kept commenting on how much easier coordinating outfits would be if prints weren’t in the picture. (I told her with her idiom she’d be better off learning to mix prints and go for the trendy Dutch style we also saw.)
Do you wonder what place prints should occupy in your wardrobe?
- If you prefer solids, I noticed the Italians mixed textures and details into their ensembles, thereby keeping them from looking boring.
- A simple way to keep from having to mix prints: use them in only one part of the wardrobe, for example tops and blouses. Or suits and jackets. Or skirts and pants (my preference).
- Want to wear multiple prints? Pattern-mixing advice from “The Prince of Chintz”, famous interior designer Mario Buatta, via Sensational Color:
start with a biggest pattern first and then add all the other elements based off of the colors in the largest pattern chosen
This technique is illustrated in detail in a tutorial at Vintage Threads.
Are you a print person or a solid person? As the weather warms up I am drawn to more prints, but solids remain the backbone of my wardrobe.
Interesting take away. I always suspected with my tendency to want to feed everyone I come in contact with (and that I talk with my hands, a lot) that I have Italitan somewhere in my woodpile… This proves it! lol
It truly is easier to get dressed in the morning if you don’t have to fuss with prints. I can probably count on 2 hands how many prints I have in my closet. Since you posted that one entry on print scale, I’ve added a few prints to my collection. But they all run in the same color family as the rest of my closet.
I tend to go with solids more because I know that they will match more items (thereby getting more wear out of them-frugal ya know!) But that sometimes makes me feel like my wardrobe is boring so I have to purposely inject some pattern in.
Oh, and I just wanted to let you know I’m still here and reading, even though I don’t comment much.
Yay, I love solids. That’s why wearing more solids is my number one style tip.
See: http://www.allaboutappearances.info/my-number-one-style-tip/
Solids, definitely! Runs the risk of being boring but I recently picked up some striking jewel tones that suit my idiom perfectly.
[…] long as we’re talking about solids vs prints […]