Too much matching
July 28th 2009 07:22
As a child, I think for many of us our earliest fashion memories involve trying to choose our own outfits and being told what matches – and more to the point, what doesn’t. Clashing colours and patterns are pointed out ever so nicely when as a four year old, you try to dress yourself in every shade of pink you can get your hands on. Since moving beyond that phase, I have discovered some very interesting points about this whole matching business.
Firstly, matching isn’t always a good thing and I have discovered that there is actually such a thing as too coordinated. Secondly and very importantly, some of the taboo colour combinations I was told about as a nappy wearing fashionista are actually now some of my favourite matches. Take black and brown for example. I was always told never to attempt to work the two into an outfit, because black and brown just don’t go. And yet, my black and brown ensembles are now some of my favourites. Who doesn’t adore a fabulous black dress with even more fabulous brown boots in winter? Another big no-no of the fashion past which has become an exuberant yes-yes of the fashion present is the red and pink. What a fun, fabulous combination! And yet as a wee one, I was told not to even go there. This pairing of colour isn’t just limited to fashion these days either, it can be seen through homes, restaurants and bars. It seems even interior decorators are throwing these past mismatching myths to the wind.
There are obviously the eternal fashion combination mistakes, like stripes and plaid, but a lot of the time these days pretty much anything goes when it comes to pairing colours. The mismatching blacks, of course, is still the eternal fashion faux pas. But when so many other matches are now commonplace, and fabulous, it makes me wonder if it’s just fashion that has changed, or our perceptions of what works. When I am such a fan of my brown belt with my otherwise completely black outfit, how could it have been considered such an incorrect and unfashionable pairing not all that long ago? Similarly, how is it that I feel utterly ridiculous in a hat that matches my bag that matches my shoes when that was a fashion staple and the sign of a well put together outfit just a few short decades ago?
As I always say, when it comes to fashion, it’s all about self expression and working with what you know looks good on you. Although that said, I’m not sure that coordinating your get up to the extent of an all green ensemble (or any colour for that matter) is a good look for anyone…Yes these days anything goes but there is still a line, and I think maybe that’s the essence of what my fashion teachers were trying to drum into me from very early on.
Firstly, matching isn’t always a good thing and I have discovered that there is actually such a thing as too coordinated. Secondly and very importantly, some of the taboo colour combinations I was told about as a nappy wearing fashionista are actually now some of my favourite matches. Take black and brown for example. I was always told never to attempt to work the two into an outfit, because black and brown just don’t go. And yet, my black and brown ensembles are now some of my favourites. Who doesn’t adore a fabulous black dress with even more fabulous brown boots in winter? Another big no-no of the fashion past which has become an exuberant yes-yes of the fashion present is the red and pink. What a fun, fabulous combination! And yet as a wee one, I was told not to even go there. This pairing of colour isn’t just limited to fashion these days either, it can be seen through homes, restaurants and bars. It seems even interior decorators are throwing these past mismatching myths to the wind.
There are obviously the eternal fashion combination mistakes, like stripes and plaid, but a lot of the time these days pretty much anything goes when it comes to pairing colours. The mismatching blacks, of course, is still the eternal fashion faux pas. But when so many other matches are now commonplace, and fabulous, it makes me wonder if it’s just fashion that has changed, or our perceptions of what works. When I am such a fan of my brown belt with my otherwise completely black outfit, how could it have been considered such an incorrect and unfashionable pairing not all that long ago? Similarly, how is it that I feel utterly ridiculous in a hat that matches my bag that matches my shoes when that was a fashion staple and the sign of a well put together outfit just a few short decades ago?
As I always say, when it comes to fashion, it’s all about self expression and working with what you know looks good on you. Although that said, I’m not sure that coordinating your get up to the extent of an all green ensemble (or any colour for that matter) is a good look for anyone…Yes these days anything goes but there is still a line, and I think maybe that’s the essence of what my fashion teachers were trying to drum into me from very early on.
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