Way back in January, I put together an outfit for the Style Imitating Art: Sweet Dreams by Rus Khasanov challenge using this long magenta cardigan from Lane Bryant. I purchased it on sale for $11.99 in June 2020 and had only worn it twice prior to the SIA outfit! It's one of those one-off items in my wardrobe that doesn't have a matching top or pants/skirt for an easy color formula like an outer column of color or a modern twin set. So other than pairing with neutrals, it takes a bit more thinking to wear, and I just hadn't put effort into styling it. But the SIA challenge inspired me to wear it with burgundy pants and an apple green top, and I loved the colorful combination! It turns out that this was a breakthrough for me with this cardigan.
Since I liked the magenta cardigan + lavender swirl scarf + green in the SIA outfit, I tried another variant on this theme using a pair of green pants. I thought that was plenty of color so I picked up the black from the scarf with my top.
My cheetah Oxfords were the perfect shoes for this outfit; I liked the subtle print mixing, the repetition of the black from the upper part of the outfit, and the "neutral, but make it really interesting!" quality that I love in footwear.
For my bracelet stack I put together a hodgepodge assortment of bracelets in the colors of the outfit: magenta paper tube beads, black glass beads, and green jade chip beads supplemented with purple stone beads that pick up the lavender in the scarf.
With that outfit a success, about a week later I decided to branch out to another color combination using this cardigan: magenta and teal. Once again, I used black for the third piece (this time the pants) to create an accent + accent + neutral color scheme. I added a scarf woven from teal/aqua, bright pink, yellow, and black (a gift from my sister) and braided it into a necklace so that it wouldn't obscure the teal top. I wasn't sure how it would work braided like this because it's made from stiff fabric and is a bit bulky, but I really like the result. I added a long black necklace for a vertical element and finished the look with teal suede loafers. The matching top + shoes combo is something I wear more often in warm weather with a t-shirt and ballet flats, so it was fun to do this with a colder weather outfit this time.
It's strange...I think of this magenta cardigan as being bright, but when paired with the dusky teal top, it looks toned down. Perhaps it's the strong similarity in the lightweight sweater knit textures of the top and cardigan, but maybe the magenta is also a bit of a chameleon. In any case, this top + cardigan combination works really well to my eyes!
For bracelets I went with a DIY paper bead bracelet set consisting of the peacock tube beads, teal striated bicone beads, teal glass pearl beads, and black glass beads you've seen before, plus the same magenta paper tube bead bracelet from the outfit above. (Why yes, I do like that the white pearls on the bracelet repeat the white pearls from the necklace!)
In both of these outfits I wore a DIY headband made by braiding strips of an old, faded black t-shirt. The faded quality of the fabric is actually a bonus here because it keeps the headband from being a very dark and stark black that is overwhelming on me. I wear this headband quite a bit because it's an easy way to tie in with other bits of black in an outfit and it gives a subtle Alice in Wonderland vibe in combination with my blonde hair. Today's earrings are a recently-made pair of the world's easiest DIY hoops: a silver-tone pre-made hoop to which I added a few teal glass beads and some pretty silver spacer beads with a cutout design (from Fire Mountain Gems).
Do you ever find yourself inspired to create new outfits based on your own successful experiments? Do you have any items you haven't worn much because you're not sure how to style them or just haven't put the time/effort into creating outfits with them?
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