Today I am sharing two outfits from my fall/winter capsule wardrobe that feature bright pink garments along with black and white items from my capsule. And yes, in celebration of the coming of spring, I am wearing cute insect-themed scarves with these outfits to further brighten up the darker pieces. Though these outfits are suitable for cooler spring weather, when sweaters and tights are still in play, they can easily be adapted for warmer temperatures as well.
It's hard to believe I'm already sharing outfits #34 and #35 from my fall/winter capsule wardrobe! Yes, I had initially planned the capsule through winter, but I'm enjoying the color palette (especially with the addition of bright pink and white) so much that I'm going to keep it going through the spring as well.
My first outfit was created around the bright pink crane sweater that I've worn several times with this capsule because the vivid color stands up so well with graphic black and white. I paired it with a textured white skirt that seemed more summer than winter when I bought it, but that has turned out to be a cold weather favorite when layering tights underneath (it is nicely lined). The black plaid knit moto vest is not one that I typically wear with a sweater, but this one is so thin that it almost wears more like a t-shirt.
To add some more color to the mix, I wore my cartoonish cicada scarf using the "tuck into the neck of a jacket and let it hang" technique as shown with method #1 here. A print scarf can easily be A Lot with this vest, but wearing it so that it just peeks out from the vest tones it down a bit. This is still more print mix than some people would be comfortable with, but it worked for me.
I repeated the black from the vest in my tights and shoes...yes, shoes rather than boots! Wearing these Mary Janes with black tights and a skirt/dress is my favorite way to style them, so I always try to wear them a few times each fall-to-winter and winter-to-spring transition season. (It's crazy that I'm referring to early February as "winter-to-spring" but we had a really warm winter, which I am not complaining about.)
My all-DIY bracelet stack was created around the paper bead bracelet set in black, grey, white, and pink (plus some other accent colors) that I made to wear with a pair of floral print pants (details with page to bead images shown here). The colors were spot on for wearing with this outfit, repeating the main colors of the outfit plus additional colors from the scarf. The pink glass beads with the silver butterfly is an old favorite, and the mixed pink quartz beads I just shared in my last SIA post. The other two bracelets are new. The magenta one was made from 6mm wood beads (Fire Mountain Gems), and the black/pink swirly one was made from 8mm pink fire agate beads (Bead Box Bargains). I love how both bracelets look with this paper bead bracelet set, and as you've come to expect, I will use them to supplement other bracelet sets as well. {bicone paper bead tutorial} {stretch bracelet tutorial}
I do have a new pair of DIY bead earrings to show also, though these I did not make specifically to coordinate with any of these pieces. I have been creating monochromatic earrings in colors that I think will be useful in wardrobe...which in practice means "every color"! I am working on making two pairs of earrings in each defined accent or neutral color in my wardrobe, one in silver and one in gold.
These easy dangle earrings were created using my bead soup: a pair of light pink glass pearls and a pair of chunky acrylic coin beads. These earrings are a light version of my "candy pink" color and were finished with silver findings. This checks candy pink + silver off my earrings to-be-made list.
My second outfit started with this very bright, warm-toned, salmon-pink ribbed skirt, which I paired with a muted grey sweater. (Grey isn't technically part of my capsule palette but I didn't want to wear a black sweater, and I can't bring myself to reject a good neutral option.)
I chose to wear this colorful scarf with a large-scale butterfly print (that was added previously to my bright pink module) even though it's not quite a match to either the sweater or the skirt. The scarf's pinks are cooler-toned and the scarf's grey is a much darker charcoal. Nevertheless, I thought it looked good as a bridge piece for the outfit because it relates to the colors even if it doesn't match them.
I wanted to see how working within the confines of what I'd already added to the accessory capsule would play out when selecting a scarf, and I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I think we can sometimes get too worried about choosing the exact right thing in the exact right color to create an outfit...which often turns into spending money to buy some new, outfit-specific item...instead of experimenting with the things we already own. We often already have something that will work well at no extra cost to our wallets or to the environment. And as a bonus, the coordinates-well-enough option can give your look a dash of fresh, modern, "effortless style" appeal.
Again I wore my black tights + Mary Janes combination (which is definitely a Pleasing Pairing in my closet).
Continuing the theme of selecting from the accessories already in the capsule, I wore the same paper bead bracelet set as in the previous outfit and included the pink mixed quartz and pink/black fire agate bracelets again. I changed up my stack slightly by including black glass/mixed metal and gold/silver bead bracelets in place of the bright pink and magenta ones above. It's a subtle difference, but the previous stack was more pink-dominant and this one is more black-dominant.
I added my DIY black braided Alice band to bookend the black tights/shoes, and that felt especially appropriate given the Alice vibes of the Mary Janes. I wore another pair of light pink bead soup earrings, this time a pale "watermelon pink" with gold findings. I combined glass table cut heart beads with a couple crystal beads on each earring for another simple dangle design.
In both of these outfits, I chose earrings that were a much lighter shade of pink than the outfits themselves because I wanted the earrings to take a backseat to the rest of the outfit. These earrings are a good size and have nice shine and movement, but the soft pale colors keep them from being statement pieces that compete with everything else going on in the outfits.
These two outfits added one garment and three accessories to my pink module, indicated with yellow highlighting.
To the neutral accessory capsule, we added the black Mary Janes.
And to the accent color capsule, we added the colorful cicada print scarf.
Here's a close up of how the two bug-themed scarves look unfolded. The butterfly scarf looks very pretty but the cicada scarf is kind of terrifying in a cartoon way.
Today I have another insect-and-flower photograph to share, this time with a butterfly and a bee on coneflowers.
Do you own/wear any bug-themed jewelry or scarves? Do you prefer exact color matches or do you sometimes choose the "coordinates well enough" option? Do you ever buy outfit-specific items for your wardrobe? Do you follow any guidelines about being able to style an item multiple ways before buying it?
Blogs I link up with are listed here.