Mixing Patterns

If you spend any time on fashion and clothing websites, you'll see a lot of outfits comprising a wild mishmash of colors, patterns, and textures. You'll also see graphic tees tucked into skirts (with half the graphic covered up, which I will never comprehend). I take a more conservative (some might say obsessive-compulsive) approach to coordinating my dress, preferring to pair colors with similar colors, prints with solids, and distinctive textures with textureless materials.

Today's outfit is my attempt to break that habit.

On the top, I'm wearing a jade-colored shirt in floral lace, and below that a satin black and white skirt with stars. These do not go together. But I tried anyway, just to see if I could get away with it. Unfortunately, the shirt makes me look fat, so you might say I didn't quite get away with it (this is the last time I'll wear this top!). The irony is that ruched tops are supposed to disguise your fat—I guess they don't work that way when they're too big to start with. I learned something today.  Ruched tops can hide bulges, but make sure they fit tightly, because they also add bulk!
Because one strange pairing is about as much as I can handle, I chose to wear unobtrusive black boots.