When a colour is so very wrong for you, can you somehow make it right?
Last week I was faced with a colour dilemma of such enormous magnitude that it sparked unprecedented reactions from my Instagram stories. I bloody love that!
So many Women had such strong feelings about these trousers that it got me thinking if it’s possible to turn a feeling of yuk to yay? When I clicked BUY on these pants I was expecting the buttery camel colour on the website to show up at my door. I pictured myself in a head to toe neutral outfit, warm as milky tea and cool as Copenhagen fashion week. The colour I got was closer to baby poo or what is known as greige, a hue I have never warmed to.
Ordinarily in this situation I’d immediately return the garment. Not only was the colour repulsive to me but these pants were also as stiff as a board when I held them up. Never the less I persisted and tried them on to share on my Instagram stories. To my complete surprise they were actually really comfy despite the fact they could stand up even without me in them. Looking for some clarity and advice from my open-minded and very vocal tribe I sent out a distress signal in hope of an answer. Hmm O.K I thought, this is interesting but what about the disgusting colour? First of all it kills my skin tone to cadaver status, a definite no no at 51. And second of all I have absolutely nothing to pair it with. Or so I thought… Then the messages began flooding in from Instagram.
“hate this colour, they look awful, send back NOW!, they ruin your figure, colour is disgusting”
and that was just from Mark ! Hee hee kidding, he doesn’t watch my stories.
Anyway, because of the overwhelming negativity (I can count the Yay’s on one hand) I naturally kicked into challenge accepted mode and set out to create as many fabulous looks as I could with what I already have. AKA shop my wardrobe.
Turns out I have rather a lot to style with this particular colour after all.
STAY SAFE NEAR YOUR FACE
This sounds obvious but if you can pair the offensive tone with one that compliments your face you’re onto a winner. Putting distance between you and the harmful hue immediately dilutes its profanity. Naturally if the negative colour is in the form of a top the struggle may not be worth it, in which case get that return sticker on the bag stat. Bearing this in mind, my first thought turned to pink which actually worked a treat right off the bat. In fact pink changed my perspective of the pants immediately. Suddenly, thanks to this belt by Blaire Eadie, I now see awful GREIGE as sexy STONE.
Wait what! How did I magically change this colour? Well of course it wasn’t the colour that changed it was my point of view. I literally saw it differently and I liked what I saw. I liked it a lot. It’s a bit like an ugly bloke married to a beautiful Woman. When he’s standing by her side he automatically becomes better looking. Her beauty elevates his bland, by association.
From the pink belt I took the next obvious step to black. You can’t go wrong with black right? As it’s winter I opted for my classic black turtle neck from Winser. A simple black t-shirt would work equally well and for a layered look throw on a black cardi.
BUILD ON THE BASICS
If black and stone feels too basic, build it up using more tonal shades with a coat, bag and shoes. This is always an easy way to add more of the colours that truly suit you as well as giving a flat look much needed texture. I could also use a belt and scarf for this but I prefer clean and uncluttered right now.
Next add some bling in the form of hair accessories which are absolutely everywhere at the moment. This garnet pair of clips came from Burlington’s where I was shopping for kids knickers. Needless to say I was unduly sidetracked and ended up coming home with a lovely bright emerald pair too. Collecting hair clips has become an obsession for me I must admit. You may have noticed a range of faux pearl beauties on my Instagram, here here and here. Pixie Market has this pretty set that’s great value at $19 for three pins. You can wear them seperately or all at once for a proper Gucciesque statement. For our girls in the U.K try Maison Archives London for more of the same.
ANIMAL PRINT IS A NEUTRAL
What better way to improve the status of stone than to marry it with animal print? With a variety of leopard in my closet I opted for something less obvious in this Pauw Amsterdam top. There’s a hint of camoflage about the print however it’s most certainly animal related. My impression is it’s feather print although I’m not familiar with Amsterdam avifauna so who knows, perhaps it’s fur? In any case the browns and beiges warm my stoney butt creating yet another ensemble to which I add my Chanel T-bar flats. Accidentally I achieve my nordic theme with this exquisite pair of Chanel shoes that I found in Copenhagen. The next time you visit Copenhagen set your google maps to Magnolia’s Luksus. Otherwise there’s no way you’ll find this incredible little consignment store in a basement shop on Købmagergade. An Aladdins cave of luxury secondhand clothes, shoes and handbags with some amazing bijou labels for a fraction of the new price.
WHAT’S THE SKINNY?
You may be wondering why I’m not posting every week any more? It turns out I actually can’t manage to be in two places at once hahaha Although I love photographing the newborn babies, it is quite exhausting. Some days more than others. Say I have three babies out of five that cry between every shot and the Mummies aren’t using a pacifier. That means I have to re-swaddle and soothe the baby until he or she calms down. Patiently rocking, stroking and shooshing bubs back to sleep. Obviously at the end of a day like this I’m completely knackered. However when I get home I put dinner on and help Lucia and Jasper with their homework. Later on we all read together so there’s no time to blog in the evening. Some weekends I don’t work at the hospital so I can shoot blog photos but I’m also conscious of spending time with the children and Mark.
At one point it all got too much for me and I almost quit blogging. Fortunately there was a lot of support from you and everyone on Instagram that helped me come up with a solution. Now I know I can do both the babies and the blog without missing my family time which makes me incredibly happy. Thank you to everyone for offering sensible advice and making me feel very much appreciated, which after all, is what we all need to hear now and then, right?
So what’s coming up? Loads me darlin’s…bloody loads! I have a beauty post about the Broad Band Light treatment I tried, a travel post about our family ski holiday in Vermont and lots more fashion styling tips for you conscious consumers!
Bye for now darlings, Mx
Comments ( 8 )
Lisa the Sequinist
I’m still not crazy about the trousers, but I do love how you’ve styled them with the black Winser London jumper and the beautiful coat and bag. They do make a nice backdrop to everything else you have going on in this outfit. Also, let’s be honest, you can wear a bin bag and still look cool and beautiful, so a tricky pair of trousers is not a big stretch for you! Love the hair slides; I’ve got drawers of them (sparkly, of course) left over from the early 90s, so I’m going to wheel them out soon. Thank you for the inspiration.
PS You are not allowed to leave blogging, it is like the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
Samantha
Super 70s stylin in those slacks!
Juliana Sylvester
Love this blog post Michelle. The trousers definitely look more like stone when paired with black or a neutral like animal print. Have to say I love your analogy to the beautiful wife and the not-so-beautiful husband – I always wondered how that worked!!!! And I must invest in some statement hair clips this season, I love the look and they would be very handy too!!!! Xx
No Fear of Fashion
I think you did a great job. I am doing the same at the moment, getting lots of inspiration from my own wardrobe and putting my mind to it and from Pinterest.
When I read that the animal top is from Pauw Amsterdam I was very surprised. That used to be the shop where I bought quite a lot. Not anymore, but they have lovely things. How did you get to this shop? Little trip to Amsterdam?
Greetje
Rozanne
Haha I never saw the IG story with these trews but I am in a minority who is partial to the hue of baby poo. Can’t see it being named Pantone colour of the year any time soon though 😂 It is indeed awful worn next to the face on anyone who isn’t a soft and/or warm skin dominant palette. I like how you have grabbed that tricky shade by the giblets and shown it who’s boss here. Oh and don’t even THINK about quitting blogging. Sparse content is perfectly acceptable, your complete absence from the blogosphere is not 😉
This Main Line Life
Those are some great tips and I really like that plaid jacket. Saw you on #ShareAllLinkUp.
x, Julie | ThisMainLineLife.com
ratnamurti
I had a military style dress in this colour, many aeons ago, and it looked great near my face. I was wistfully looking at a photo of myself in it today, and wishing that I still looked like I did then. ….. But, seriously, I do love the way that you played around with your trousers and made them wearable and flattering. Big lesson here.
MT
Thanks so much! I agree, as we get older the same colours aren’t so forgiving any more but there are always ways around that. As you saw in my post 😉
Perhaps if you still had that fab dress (I think I know the type you mean, I had one too) you could wear a scark of more flattering colours to put space between you and the unflattering one?