I often went to the circus when I was little — it was enchanting, magical. Yet, one thing that always drew my attention was the insanely colorful and conflicting patterns that the circus clowns wore. Before the people, I saw rainbow colored stripes and polka dots riding into the arena on miniature bicycles, converging into a clumsy mess of pattern, and inviting laughter from the entire crowd. They wore those somewhat crazy outfits to garner attention, and that is the last thing that I’m encouraging, but I do believe that seemingly conflicting patterns can be worn with a little less color and a little more class to create a lovely ensemble.
Simple colors and statement patterns…I believe it works.
Again, I must revert back to my all-time favorite of black-and-white stripes, a staple in my wardrobe. I choose the striped shirt from Mango with lovely three-quarter length sleeves and an interesting cut that emphasizes the high waist of the skirt.
The idea was to keep the color scheme consistent and simple, allowing for the patterns to be bold without overwhelming; therefore I paired the striped shirt with a black-and-white polka dot skirt from Dotsy’s Boutique. The high waist and pleats on the skirt add a bit more interest to the outfit.
I decided to keep the shoes a neutral and chose the purse to add to the black-and-white theme through a simple color block. The black pumps were a purchase from Antonio Melani and the purse from Kenneth Cole.
I have seen these two patterns mixed in many ways, with contrasting sizes of prints, prints of different shades of one color, and pairings of neutrals and brights.