… patterns!
I was a solids girl for years. YEARS, I tell you. The occasional floral dress would weasel its way into my wardrobe, but stripes, spots, abstracts, plaids, and paisleys all scared the daylights outta me. I felt like patterns were limiting, busy, challenging, and just plain daunting.
But if I’ve noticed anything about my dressing tendencies this season, it’s that I’m suddenly thirsty for pattern. Especially in dresses, but in tops, skirts, scarves, and just about everything else, too.
Something about wearing a busy, vibrant pattern makes me feel energized, awake, and alive. And in the lazy, slow, dog days of summer, I can use all the energy I can muster. Also handy? When it’s unbearably hot out, a patterned piece looks interesting and pulled-together on its own and doesn’t beg for accessories. Which will just stick to your sweaty bod and make you ornery anyway.
I’m still leery of patten MIXING. Don’t get me wrong, I love to see it done skillfully by others … just haven’t felt compelled to dip my toes in that water just yet. I feel like my eye takes a very, very long time to adjust to new and new-to-me dressing techniques, so it may be another year before I feel like I “get” pattern mixing enough to try it out. But my new-found love for wearing patterns will inevitably lead to mixing them, I bet.
How do you feel about pattern? What percentage of your closet is patterns? What types of patterns are you most drawn to? Do you feel that any patterns are seasonally specific? Any you’d NEVER wear during the current season? Never wear at all? Do you pattern mix?
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
I agree – I love patterns, particularly in summer when you really don’t want to be adding layers or even jewellery sometimes when it’s just too hot. A pattern dress is an ideal go to on those occasions and if it’s a great shape and in good condition always looks dressed up.
I’ve recently realized how much I love patterns. It makes it easy to add interest to an outfit without accessorizing (I just don’t have many accessories and some are impractical at my job because they get in the way). I’m drawn to polka dots -am wearing them right now, in fact – but also like small florals. Large-scale patterns aren’t great on me as I tend to get lost in them. But I’m trying to branch out. I don’t really like pattern mixing though, as it’s a bit too busy for me. It can look great sometimes though!
Oh yes, I LOVE patterns and I’d say the vast majority of my wardrobe is pattern-based. Like offhand I can only think of about 10 dresses that are a block colour. I have an especial weakness for polka dots and florals. I don’t own any animal print but am after some animal print shoes. I know they’re totally ubiquitous at the moment but I really love fruity prints and anything kitsch gets my vote too – I have a frock with an anchor print, one with pinup cowgirls and have my eye on one with anime characters all over it!
I don’t know what percentage but I find that when I’m fabric shopping I’m drawn to beautiful prints so by default I’m wearing more prints lately.
I ADORE patterns and prints. I am pretty equal-opportunity when it comes to patters, although I definitely prefer high-contrast, bold ones with medium to large patterns. Although I like both florals and geometrics, I like them all to be a little bit organic and not too regular.
I like the idea of pattern mixing but I find it very difficult in practice with my closet, precisely because most of my prints are high contrast and bold, so mixing them ends up being a little too much. I think subtler, lower contrast, and smaller patterns are easier to mix.
I own a few solid slacks and only one solid blouse, sad to say. In the bad economy, I can’t shop for clothing like normal people do. Have resorted to sewing garments, from a vast fabric stash made up of “gifts” and leftovers (someone moves, someone dies, and “I thought of you immediately when I saw my relative’s/friend’s fabrics and patterns. I’d love to give them to you.”) So, yes, I do pattern match, sometimes among garment pieces, sometimes within a single garment. It creates a signature style, for certain sure.
I really love pattern actually, I find it makes getting dressed easier because then I can just match items up with the pattern colours. And as you said, less need for accessories, which is great since I don’t wear many. I think pattern mixing can be done, but it needs to be subtle. Like colours, or a solid item in between the patterns…
Well, this may surprise you, but I LOVE PATTERNS, TOO! (And mixing patterns.)
I’d like to hear your take on color blocking. That seems to be the opposite trend.
I am wearing, today, both COLOUR! and PATTERN! In ARTIFICIAL FIBRES! (It’s a Comrags dress I got secondhand, made of nylon fabric with a kind of green gingham allover pattern with a design of slightly exploded roses in pink and gold on it. The dress itself is a semi-deconstructed retro silhouette.)
In general, I don’t like pattern. I flirted with both pattern and colour during my latest big style shift, which started about six years ago, and decided that they just didn’t feel right. They made my wardrobe as a whole feel messy and un-integrated, and pattern in particular just makes ME feel … I don’t know. Sloppy. Femmy in a way that doesn’t fit. I have a few patterned things, mostly in greyscale monochrome, mostly either geometric or those smears/acid/bleach things that look like industrial accidents.
But today’s dress is a real outlier, and it’s funny that somehow the style (and maybe the tech-y fabric) makes me feel good in something that otherwise I wouldn’t suit at all.
Normally, though, I prefer to colour-block.
So, picture number 3 is the dress your mom made, right? Every time I see it, I fall in love. Do you think she’d make some for the rest of us??
I am still a solids girl. I try so hard to branch out, but I have difficulty finding patterns I love. I think I find that I like patterns in smaller measure, and I am definitely leery of mixing … maybe someday I will reach the Sally McGraw heights of pattern greatness.
I feel a little naked without some pattern. Don’t care for animal prints, though. I usually don’t go too terribly crazy with the pattern mixing, but am currently wearing an insane skirt with FOUR patterns in it.
I had a sea of neutrals for the longest time, out of sheer laziness I think. I love patterns now, especially patterned dresses that are floral and vintage inspired. OOOOh and plaid.
Marie @ Lemondrop ViNtAge
I’m heavy into solids but I’ve been adding patterns this year. I still lean to small graphics and stripes, but I’ve got a couple of florals going too, for example my favorite Anthro skirt. Baby steps : >
I am like Henry Ford when it comes to patterns: I like any of them, as long as they’re black and white
I love pattern, especially leopard print, paisley, and florals. I love polka dots, too, on other people, but somehow I don’t own any myself. I very rarely buy anything striped, but this year I bought a horizontally striped maxi skirt (fashion DEATH for a short woman, right?;)) and I get ridiculous amounts of compliments every time I wear it, making me re-think my anti-stripe policy. I wear more pattern in summer only because I wear more skirts and dresses and more light “ethnic” tunics, all of which are a main source of pattern in my wardrobe. I do have some patterned wool cardis for the cooler months, though. And leopard print clogs.
I love patterns in theory but I’m very picky about which patterns I think look good on me. I adore stripes & plaids & small dots, easy. I love florals, but only certain ones — color & scale are crucial bec. I don’t want to look like grandma’s couch. I don’t like most abstract prints either. But I’m always on the hunt for patterns that please me!
Love you in the black flower print, adorable! Makes me think grunge
Check out the pattern mixing tutorial at Unusual Form. It’s the best I’ve ever seen, complete with example outfits. She’s a great teacher, very relatable.
http://unusualform.blogspot.com/2011/07/pattern-mixing-101.html
LizY, LOVE THAT! So helpful!
I love patterns in theory..they don’t always translate well to me, though. Stripes I wear most often, but I do have some geometric and floral items in frequent rotation. None of them are too bold, though—still working on injecting more colour into my wardrobe!
As far as pattern mixing, since I wear mostly neutrals I tend to pull in another pattern in an accessory. Little nervous about mixing a printed shirt with a printed skirt, for example! Ummm, I wore a tan-and-white striped tee the other day with paperbag shorts, and used a scarf that had tan, white, red, black and hot pink in a geometric pattern as a belt. It looked cute, but all other attempts at willy-nilly pattern mixing make me uncomfortable.
I really do like patterns, though looking through my closet you probably wouldn’t guess it. I’d say that 15-25% of my closet is patterns. I think I’m just really picky. I don’t like big patterns, and I only like floral to a point. I do have a really sweet pair of plaid pants
I don’t feel too many seasonal pattern restrictions, though I am am drawn to the plaid more in the winter…
And as for pattern mixing, I’m not very good at it yet, though I love the look. I think its that pickyness manifesting itself again.
I checked my closet and saw…. lots of one-color items, with about a quarter in patterns. I tend towards abstracts, mid-century modern-inspired and geometrics. (I also love the quirky, whimsical patterns but haven’t gotten the hutzpah up to wear them quite yet.)
My wardrobe tends to be color blocked, with a patterned scarf, as Audy says, to pull them all together. I guess I could say I wear patterns as a condiment.
I love pattern mixing, and maybe one day I’ll be bold enough to mix more than stripes and polka-dots in my clothing, but I pattern mix the heck out of my accessories. I’m utterly confident mixing patterned scarves and bags with patterned clothing, and will go really out-there on the high contrast.
That Karina dress looks AMAZING on you. Seriously.
I love pattern and I would say my closet is about 85% patterned, though the patterns range from very delicate polka dots to larger scale geometrics, and of course florals, which are my favourite. I agree with you that patterns inject energy into an outfit. I have solid skirts and tops, just to set off patterns, but my closet is definately a sea of pattern overal. Sometimes two patterns get along, esecially stripes (pinstripe pants seem to go with any type of pattern) — stripes seem to offset several types of patterns, but for the most part, I don’t really mix patterns. I see the pattern itself as the focus, so I let it work on its own.
I’m 15 years old, and up till about three months ago I never cared a thing about fashion. Actually, let me rephrase that — I really wanted to LOOK like I didn’t care a thing about fashion. If you’d seen me, you’d have seen me in a five-sizes-too-big-ugly-as-anything t-shirt and the most ripped-up pair of jeans I could find. In the winter? All that and my mom’s old coat, which was so big on me it made me look like a hobo. But then a few months ago, I realized it was okay to be feminine, and to dress like it, too. So I started getting into fashion, and I realized I loved it. For me right off the bat I knew I loved clothes from the 1940′s, (surprisingly) anything pink, yellow and/or frilly, and patterns, particularly plaid and floral. And I have a sort of natural talent for mixing them. I’m very careful and always ask my sister or mom their opinion on the red stripes with the yellow paisley — which actually looked quite good — but I enjoy mixing patterns. I think you ought to try it more often, it’s fun!
I find it really hard to wear/purchase patterned pieces. I feel like I can’t wear them as often because people will recognize it quicker than they would a solid!
I love patterns, although I tend to steer clear of the overtly ethnic ones such as the Navajo prints I’m seeing around right now. It’s not so much the cultural appropriation aspect so much as the feeling that I’m just doing it wrong — in other words, using the pattern in a way that the originating culture would find ridiculous or inappropriate.
I love prints and patterns, My favorites being stripes and geometric prints, my least favorite being ditsy florals. I’m not real good about mixing anything other than stripes myself.
You have such a warm, friendly smile!
Ha, I recently said on my blog that I don’t own or wear a lot of patterns, but now I feel like that was just plain wrong–if you look very quickly through the pictures, it’s stripes and polka dots and florals and other patterns with an occasional solid thrown in. I think this started happening after I felt comfortable moving away from wearing too much black (too safe, too easy) and got more into browns and other colors. Then I moved from silver to gold accessories. Then I got more exciting shoes. And now my challenge is more patterns! I’ve found that it’s not so bad after all…actually, it’s fun and just as easy (more colors to play with!). And I would used to say, “Yes, some patterns are meant for specific seasons, like floral,” but now with fashion on its head, that’s not the norm either. I love wearing something unexpected like bright florals in the winter.
I’m doing a lot more pattern mixing now, and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments actually! A lot of people say, “Oooh, I love that outfit but I could never wear it,” or, “You’re so good with picking up on colors!” Try it, Sal! Have a look through your closet and find similar colors, with patterns of similar size. You might be surprised!
First comment from a new reader (though I’m very quickly making my way through your archives!). I have always adored fabrics and prints, and my time in India certainly fed my love of patterns. If you ever want to see bold pattern mixing in bright colors, Indian fashion can certainly provide that! I tend to pair large prints with smaller-scale monochromatic patterns that highlight one color from the more audacious piece. Though I don’t think this is what you’re referring to above, I like to use textures as pattern-mixing in an outfit (like the stripey rib of corduroy or variations in a wool blend).
Ha! I was just thinking that I really need to wean myself of an addiction to patterns! When I go shopping, it is hard to get up the excitement to buy a solid color piece of clothing. But when I see a fantastic pattern, one with all my favorite colors, or even better, two of my favorite colors and one I never thought to throw into the mix, I HAVE to have it. I love colors and I love the way colors interact with each other in a print. My youngest memory of liking colors (age 4) was saying that my favorite color was greenANDpink, and trying to explain that I didn’t like green and pink separately, my favorite was the way they interacted in the design I had drawn with my markers. So anyway, I sorta feel like my pattern loving is just a failure of imagination at times, because the colors are already combined for me. But I love the funkiness that a wild pattern throws into the mix, that isn’t accomplished by a wearing a mix of solid colors. Funky florals and botanicals are probably my favorite, but I like them all. Particularly patterned skirts.
Oh, one more early color/print memory, also around age 4: I loved looking through wall paper sample books. I guess I have always loved prints!
Yay for patterns! Glad you’re enjoying them. I love patterns – though I work in a conservative world (legal world) and I’ve had colleagues raise eyebrows at me about some of my patterned dresses. (By raise, I mean asking me straight out “don’t you think that dress is a little out there . . .) I think patterns make the world a happier place.
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