Today I am following up on last week's rainbow striped top and beauty bundle/accessory set post to feature a surprisingly useful beauty bundle accent color that I wear frequently in the summer months: orange! (Don't know what a beauty bundle is or why you should care? I discuss this thoroughly in the other post.)
Let's just say that orange is NOT my best color, so it would be easy to assume that creating a collection of accessories (and some clothing) in this color would be a bad idea. Not so! It turns out that I have quite a few print pieces in my closet that contains an orange (or orange-based coral) tone, so when I use Road Map Styling to select a color from the print to accessorize with, orange keeps showing up. Of course I could simply ignore orange in prints and use different colors instead, but I find orange such an exuberantly cheerful color that I have been happy to find a way to incorporate it into my outfits.
Here are some of my orange/coral accessories that are included in my orange beauty bundle (which you will see worn in the outfits to come). First up, I have a small collection of DIY bracelets: 3 dull orange stone bracelets, a bright orange/gold glass bracelet, and a set of orange and sandstone coral seed bead bracelets. I also have some paper bead bracelet sets with orange in the palette: a maroon one, an aqua one, and a navy one.
Some other orange accessories include leather leaf earrings, an infinity scarf, a swag necklace, a DIY seed bead/tassel necklace, and a pair of ballet flats. I've got orange options available to me from head to toe! You'll notice that, like with the bracelets above, my orange accessories cover a range of orange and orange-based coral shades rather than matching. That's perfectly OK! One of the nice things about accessories is that they are usually worn spaced out over the body rather than right next to each other, so it's not easy for people to tell how much the colors match when you wear them. And bringing in a variety of orange tones that coordinate/blend adds some richness and added visual interest to your look. I find items like the two necklaces that contain multiple variations on the color to be particularly useful as they easily blend to different orange/peach/coral tones and help tie disparate versions together in an outfit.
These are three pieces of clothing that you'll see in the outfits in this post. I have both a pleated skirt and a pair of ankle pants (recently retired in favor of this newer pair) that are a very bright orange/coral color; it works better for me to wear this shade on the bottom half of my body rather than right next to my face. I also do have an orange/coral T (that I usually use as a sleep top) in a more muted tone since that's a nicer color next to my face. I don't mind that the T and the skirt/pants don't go together; I would never wear them together so they can clash all they want.
Today's outfits include two or more of the above items that were chosen to wear with print garments that have orange in print. Pulling colors from a print to complete an outfit is one of the easiest ways of wearing color. It doesn't take a lot of sophisticated understanding of color theory because the designer of the print did all the hard work for you!
One of the interesting things about prints is that you might find a color (or color family) well-represented in your prints even though it's not one that you seek out, as I found with the orange/coral color. And since I don't wear orange in clothing very much, it makes a great accessory color for me. I can pull my preferred/common/favorite colors from the print for my clothing and reserve the orange/coral for accessories. When the orange is a small amount of the print, the orange accessory serves as a pop of color that just happens to be very well-coordinated with the rest of the outfit!
Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to orange/coral specifically, I hope this gives you some inspiration for how to pull an accent color from a print and how to think about putting together a beauty bundle in that color. Remember that a beauty bundle is like a buffet of choices; you can pick and choose what pieces (or single piece!) you want to include in a given outfit.
Let's get started...
Tops with Orange in the Print
Because I don't wear orange shirts or topper layers very often but like the bright color, pulling orange from a print top to guide my skirt/pants color is a common way for me to wear orange. I will often add at least one orange accessory to the outfit to create a sense of color cohesion.
My first outfit features a print T I bought last fall/winter as part of my short-sleeved T refresh, and it's one that I purchased with the expectation of usually wearing it as a sleep top. But it has a pretty soft aqua/sky blue background (one of my best colors) and a cute celestial print, so I decided to try wearing it in a WFH outfit. While it could easily be paired with denim, white, or other neutrals, I pulled the orange from the print to pair it with my coral pleated skirt...which I LOVE. I bought this Target brand skirt from Goodwill for $3 in 2018; I've only worn it 13 times (as orange is not one of my common colors) but that brings the current cost per wear to $0.23!
In lieu of a standard third piece (cardigan, vest, jacket, etc.), I wore both a scarf and a long necklace. The DIY necklace used variegated embroidery thread for the left tassel and a solid soft peach color for the right tassel along with soft peach/sandstone coral seed beads. The particular orange tone in the T is more of a yellow-based orange but I think the skirt and necklace work well with it anyway.
I chose the aqua scarf to coordinate with the sky blue background color of the T. This places a "flattering" color next to my face, and more importantly, adds a print mix to the top of my outfit! I then picked up the white from the striped scarf with my white pearl stud earrings.
My all-DIY bracelet stack includes all the colors of the outfit: various blue-greens, white, and orange, plus multiple metal tones. You will actually see the print top that inspired this paper bead bracelet set in outfit #4 below (with the turquoise cardigan).
This outfit is also an example of picking a shoe color to match your skirt/pants, as I discussed a couple weeks ago. Count of orange items in this outfit = 4: skirt, necklace, bracelet, shoes.
Last month I introduced this floral button up shirt from Lands End in outfits with black capri pants, a black skirt, and a sandstone coral denim skirt...and none of those looks involved accessorizing with orange. For this outfit, I used seafoam as my main coordinating color but added the orange ballet flats for a pop of orange. They definitely don't match the peach/sandstone coral colors in the print, but I thought they were a fun touch and coordinated well enough. Count of orange items = 1: shoes.
I went way back in my OOTD archives to find this outfit with a pretty silky polyester shell top in a print that I absolutely loved. Sadly, the fabric was hot and uncomfortable in the summer (the obvious season in which to wear a sleeveless top) so it didn't last terribly long in my closet. (I still have it in my fabric box, though, because I want to make something from this material eventually.) The orange of the pants and shoes is brighter than the red-orange in the print, but I love the vibrancy the orange brings to this otherwise somewhat dark outfit. Count of orange items = 2: pants and shoes.
Count of orange items = 2: necklace and shoes.
Count of orange items = 2: necklace and shoes.
Dress with Orange in the Print
I only own four dresses (I know!), and one of them is this brightly colored short-sleeved dress that has the same problem as the polyester shell top above (it's too darn warm for the season it's intended for) as well as being an obviously cheap, low-quality fast-fashion item from Shein (where I'm not shopping again). But the print is so fun, right? I wore this outfit for the summer-to-fall transition season when I could cover up a lot of the shiny cheap polyester fabric with a blue cardigan. I pulled the orange from the print as my second accent color. This outfit had so much color that I went with the good summer default of a nude-to-me shoe instead of the orange ones. Count of orange items = 2: scarf and bracelets.
Skirts with Orange in the Print
I was quite surprised to realize that I have several skirts with orange in the print! First up is a thrifted skort that it so easy to wear with a combination of the navy, soft indigo, white, and orange from the print. In this outfit, once again I chose blue for the main accent color (including my new indigo linen top) and used orange for a secondary pop of color. I don't cover a lot of territory with the orange, but it's present in many of the pieces. Count of orange items = 4: earrings (orange leather leaf earrings, not shown), necklace (orange spots on some of the fish dangles), bracelets (navy/orange/gold stack), and shoes.
After seeing so many orange and blue pieces, it's nice to see this skirt in a warm fall tone print with a black background. I styled it for the spring-to-summer transition with a rust T, green cardigan, black polka dot scarf, and some pops of orange. Count of orange items = 2: bracelets (maroon/orange/gold stack) and shoes.
This navy floral pleated skirt is another one of my favorites, and it's another Target brand one thrifted for $3 at Goodwill (7 months earlier than the coral pleated one). I've worn it 17 times for a current CPW of $0.18, and I would happily keep wearing it forever as these navy-based floral prints get me where I live. And no, I don't always wear it with the orange flats, but I definitely do sometimes! (Long live the Payless orange ballet flats; I don't want to have to replace them.) Count of orange items = 2: scarf and shoes.
Count of orange items = 2: scarf (print) and shoes.
Count of orange items = 2: necklace and shoes.
Count of orange items = 2: top and shoes.
Do you like to wear orange in clothing, accessories, or both? Do you have a color that you wear more in accessories than in clothing? Do you have any color-based beauty bundles for summer?
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