I have written before about "trios": a top, bottom, and topper in matching/blending colors that can be worn together (without the need for any other pieces to make the garments go together). Having three coordinated items like this is useful because they can be worn together to produce:
-A "suit": topper and bottoms [aka an outer column]
-A "twin set": top and topper
-A "column": top and bottoms [aka an inner column]
It's funny because when I look back at my outfit of the day photos for 2021, my most common combination is none of those! I seem to go for three pieces in three different colors most often. After that, we have twin sets, then suits, then--trailing far behind the others--columns. You have probably heard that a column of color is a styling trick that can make you look taller/thinner because it doesn't create a horizontal line across your body that chops you in two visually (Liz Klebba of Closet Play Image demonstrates that on her blog here). But even if you don't aspire to that particular optical illusion, there are other advantages. Two of them I've noticed are:
-A column can provide a nice single-color background against which other colors, prints, textures, etc. can stand out.
-A column can help make certain mis-matched lengths (like a top that is longer than the topper) less obvious.
Today I'm sharing two outfits of the day from last week that built using a column of color...in light colors, which I think is much less common to see than dark colors, particularly dark neutrals such as black, navy, or brown. The exception is that a dress is usually a one-and-done column of color that people wear in a variety of colors. So I don't know whether people just more easily accept a dress in a bright or light color than they do a column built from two pieces or whether it's just that it's easier to find the constituent pieces of a two-piece column in dark neutrals than other colors. In any case, there is nothing about the column concept that dictates it has to be dark neutrals to generate the beneficial effects!
First, an outfit featuring a white column consisting of a white tank and a white textured skirt. I think this is an easy way to get started with a light column because most garments that you would describe as white will work together well. In my case, these two pieces aren't of the identical shade but they blend together well. I built this column to provide a backdrop to the dark blue rabbit blouse that shrank in the wash and is thus shorter than I would prefer. You can definitely see that the white tank is longer than the rabbit blouse over it, but because it blends in with the skirt, it's not super obvious.
As a comparison, when I wore the white tank and rabbit blouse over a pair of black capri pants, the mis-matched lengths were more obvious because there was a strip of white tank showing between the dark blue blouse and black pants. I don't think this look is "wrong" or anything! But if I wanted to avoid creating that contrasting strip of color, I could wear the black pants with my black tank instead, which is what I've decided to try next time.
Back to the white column. Here is a close-up of the pile-on-all-the-jewelry layered necklace I wore with the outfit. From top to bottom, we have a pearl necklace, a twisty black and clear crystal necklace, my DIY paperclip chain + White Rabbit pendant, two seed bead strands in blue/clear and black/clear, a silver tone elephant pendant, a set of 10 tiny seed bead strands (white, grey, and gunmetal), a bold silver tone circles necklace, and my DIY dark blue seed bead + tassel necklace. What can I say, I was just in the mood for a big, messy layered necklace for my WFH Friday look. I actually LOVED wearing this all day, but when I had to remove all the pieces to change into my exercise gear that evening, it did take a while to get them all off and put away. Luckily they didn't get tangled up in each other...I'm not sure how!
I enlisted Robot to take a photo of my bracelet stack so you could see the charms laying flat as they are supposed to. I made 5 of the 7 bracelets; the 3rd and 6th bracelets from the top are from a set of 4 that I purchased from CJ Banks. You can also see my DIY tassel necklace up close in this shot. It's not fancy at all, but I am liking the double tassels, one from a solid dark blue and the other from a variegated blue embroidery thread skein. I should get Robot to help me with this kind of photo more often! It's cool to see how the bracelet works with the rest of the outfit (which is something that doesn't typically happen with my tripod setup).
Moving on now to our second light column, this time a light yellow one. Now I'm the first to admit that building a yellow column could have been quite difficult had I not bought both pieces from the same collection. In fact, over half a year I bought a full "trio" in the Chamois Dust color from CJ Banks: cardigan (not shown) 5/2020, tank 7/2020, and pants 12/2020. I chose this column to accompany the dark teal cardigan that has tight arms so I only wear it over tanks (which means I pull it out mostly in the summer to fall or spring to summer transition seasons). To further visually extend the column, I even wore mustard ballet flats. They obviously are not a match to the light yellow column, but I think they still work well, and they do bookend my hair nicely!
I chose the yellow column to go with the teal cardigan because I have this lightweight aqua butterfly scarf that has both yellow and teal in the print. (The yellow is not showing very well today but I think you can see it if you look.) I did one of my favorite scarf/necklace styling tricks here by adding a long pendant necklace underneath the infinity scarf. This one is a teardrop shape with open metalwork daisies on the outside and a bunch of loose clear crystals on the inside that add some subtle sparkle. Even though the silver color is also light, it doesn't get lost against the pale yellow background in part because of that sparkle.
I repeated the aqua (and the sweet nature theme) in these DIY aqua mélange seed bead/silver hoop earrings with cute rabbit charms.
My bracelet stack is 5/8 DIY with the three silver tone bracelets purchased in a set of metallic bracelets from Amazon. I think I've mentioned before that I only started wearing bracelets at all about 18 months ago, and so far, I've stuck with beaded stretch bracelets. It's actually a bit tricky finding stretch bracelets that fit me because I prefer a 7.75" diameter, and most stretch bracelets I've seen are made 7-7.5". I got lucky with the metallic ones on Amazon being made slightly larger than usual (I scrolled through a LOT of options), and the set from CJ Banks were sized for plus-size women. This kind of bracelet is so easy and fast to make that it's simpler for me to make my own than to buy them. I just counted how many bracelets I've made in the last 16 months, and the total comes to 123! Whoa!
Do you like to wear a column of color? Do you tend to stick to dark colors? Neutrals? Dresses? Do you have any tops and bottoms in your closet from which you could make a column that you haven't worn before?
I link up with:
Nike at Life as a LEO Wife (Sundays)
Shelbee at Shelbee on the Edge (Mondays; 3rd Thursday)
Michelle at My Bijou Life (Mondays, Fridays)
Mica at Away from the Blue (Mondays)
Debbie at My Random Musings (Mondays)
Leelo at Beauty by Miss L (Mondays)
Roxanne at Glass of Glam (Mondays)
Claire at Claire Justine (Mon, Wed, Fri)
Laura at I Do deClaire (Tuesdays)
Emma at Style Splash (Tuesdays)
Jess at Elegantly Dressed & Stylish (Tuesdays)
Gail at Is This Mutton? (Wednesdays)
Shelly at The Queen in Between (Wednesdays)
Jodie at Jodie's Touch of Style (3rd Thursday)
Carrie at Curly Crafty Mom (Thursdays)
Ada at Elegance and Mommyhood (Thursdays)
Jacqui at Mummabstylish (Thursdays)
Nicole at High Latitude Style (Thursdays)
Suzy at The Grey Brunette (Fridays)
Nancy at Nancy's Fashion Style (Fridays)
Erika at A Little Bit of Everything (Fridays)
Lucy at Lucy Bertoldi (Fridays)
Kimberly at Being a Wordsmith (Fridays)
Rena at Fine Whatever (Saturdays)