After last week's post with bright color skirt outfits to celebrate Jodie's Bright Color Challenge, today I'm sharing two January skirt outfits with more muted colors...because muted doesn't have to mean boring!
Case in point: In St Paul, it warmed up enough that we had rain (RAIN!) over the weekend (that did then change to snow later), which caused some melting on the Mississippi River. So my world now looks like this rather than the brighter, covered in snow environment we had earlier in the month. Muted but still quite beautiful with the interplay of colors and textures...
...Which is good inspiration for muted but interesting winter outfits!
My first outfit started with the sweet bunny sweater, as so many of outfits do this winter, befitting its high priority status. I added my comfortable burgundy knit pencil skirt since I consider burgundy/wine to be the darker version of the blush pink for creating tonal outfits. I layered a white button up tunic to repeat the color of the rabbits (and for warmth). Then I finished the outfit with an olive paisley scarf, aloe earrings, and olive ankle boots to play on the aloe/sage embroidery on the rabbits' ears.
I would have worn olive tights too but I didn't have any at the time (I have now purchased a pair on Amazon; it only took me like 2 years to find a pair in plus size). I almost switched to my maroon ankle boots instead but decided to give this mismatched tights + ankle boots combo a try.
My all-DIY daily bracelet stack is the sage/pink/silver set I made specifically to match this sweater.
I actually have made 3 bracelet sets to wear with this bunny sweater! The Sage/Pink/Silver version I'm wearing with this outfit plus a Taupe/Pink/Silver set (left) and Aloe/Pink/Silver set (right). I do sometimes add more bracelets to create my daily stack...as I added an olive serpentine/silver bracelet above. And of course I wear these bracelet sets in other outfits, too, not just with the rabbit sweater.
I also added a blush pink/silver necklace for a bit of subtle shine against the sweater. For some reason, the addition of a collared shirt under the sweater made this work for me in a way it wouldn't have otherwise.
My second outfit is based on the comfortable teal geometric print knit pencil skirt that I styled with neutrals. I was initially planning to wear a dark grey boyfriend cardigan over the denim shirt, but then remembered, Oh yeah, I'm not a big fan of layering cardigans (esp. relatively thin sweater knit cardigans) over button up shirts! I like the look just fine, but it often requires a lot of futzing to get the layers lined up right and then it's not very comfortable to wear. So I opted for the grey open sweater vest instead, which is a style that I LOVE with collared button up shirts/blouses. It gives me a bit of a 70s vibe with a more academia aesthetic color/fabrication context.
Shock of shocks, I wore a single necklace in this outfit! I know. It should be a layered necklace or paired with a scarf, right? But with the white buttons down the front of the denim shirt creating a contrasting vertical line, it felt like there was enough going on here.
My daily bracelet stack consists of 5 DIY stone/glass bead bracelets in silver, teal, and mixed metals. I really like the interest that the mixed metal bracelet adds to the stack! It also helps tie together the silver in my earrings and other bracelets with the gold in the necklace.
I wore my DIY 5 braid upcycled t-shirt headband in faded black to pick up the background color of the skirt...otherwise, there's no additional black in this outfit. Have I mentioned lately how much I love chambray/denim as a neutral? I mean, it's a flattering blue color that functions like a neutral, which is the best of both worlds for those of us with a color contrast dominant appearance.
Pairing a denim shirt with a print skirt is such an easy and, as far as I can tell, reliably good outfit formula that it's always worth trying. I had not worn my denim shirt with this skirt before but the combo totally works despite no shared colors because denim is the ultimate neutral! I really like the combination of colors and textures in this outfit.
Do you wear outfits in muted colors in the winter? What's your favorite way to add interest to these outfits?
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