Peony pants

 

What manner of flowers are these? That's what I wondered to myself over and over again as I marveled over the print on my pants and mused about what to title their debut blog post. As you can see, I settled on peonies because of the alliteration (but I'm open to the corrective influence of my more horticulturally minded readers!).

What's more important is how fabulous they and their respective trousers are. The print looks like a painting, and with its strategic placement of light and dark colors, the flowers seem to glow from within. The photo really doesn't do them justice. The pants are well made, a perfect fit for me (not a stitch of alteration needed!), and in pristine condition despite being a pre-owned find.

When I discovered them at the thrift store, the price tag read $11.99. Even half off, they were pretty pricey for this cheapskate, but I could not resist the allure of a practically-made-for-me pair of statement slacks!

The only question (other than what type of flowers they really depict) was how to wear them to make their first outfit a stunning success. As per usual when I have a new item of clothing, I took pictures of the pants with several shirt options, ranging from plain black (the better to put all eyes on the wondrous pants), to various pinks, to what you see here: a golden yellow top.

I was planning for one of the more subtle options that involved short sleeves, but the weather forecast went down from 66 to just 60 overnight, so in the morning, I called an audible and went with the long-sleeved tee. It makes for quite the daring explosion of color when combined with the pinks in the pants, but somehow (rather against my expectations), I think the combo works—tied together by the swipes of yellow that suffuse both the pink flowers and the brownish-green leaves. 

 

Yet all that yellow is still kind of much, so I sought to tone it down by covering some of it up—thank you, black scarf—and tucking the rest of it in. I'm not a frequent shirt-tucker, but somehow, this particular yellow tee disproportionately gets the tucking treatment when I wear it!

I'm happy with the way these pants' first outfit turned out, and I'm looking forward to my next opportunity to wear them in a new way. The only third question is, will this maximalist combo of crazy colors be the best way to wear 'em, or will less prove to be more and a subtler pairing win out?