I tried an experiment last week, and it looked like this:
There’s a lot (and I mean a lot, as I am finding to my dismay as I prepare to move house) of stuff in my closet that I don’t wear — not because I don’t like it, but because it doesn’t EXACTLY go with something ELSE in my closet. So last week I took a look at a few of the favorite things that I don’t wear as much, and thought “oh hey, why don’t I just wear all these things at once?” So that’s what I did. It’s not like they don’t go together, it’s just not the level of obsessive color-matching that I usually aspire to. (Or maybe they don’t go and I’m just fooling myself? But no kindly people came up to me in the street to commiserate with me in my affliction, so I feel okay about it.)
So this was: peacock Land’s End sweater, orange scarf that I think was a gift, although I’m not sure who from (Kate, was this from you, maybe?), black-and-gray gingham 9929 dress (which I don’t wear as much because it only EXACTLY MATCHES either a red, black, or a gray cardigan), and Fiorentini and Baker buckle boots that I saw on Pinterest and then obsessively searched for on eBay for months, because they are truly unconscionably expensive when new. (I don’t think of them as “used shoes,” I think of it as “outsourcing the breaking-in period.”) I also have them in brown, because they are that awesome. They increase the badass quotient of any day by 37-42%.
I expect that there will be a few more random outfits than usual in the next few weeks, as I’ll be both packing things from and unearthing things in my closet. I really don’t mind packing, and I actually love unpacking — it’s the schlepping things from place to place that isn’t that much fun. But expect a post about my new sewing space — it’s slightly bigger than my current space (if not as blessed with electrical outlets, sigh) and I have BIG ORGANIZATIONAL PLANS for it.
A Dress A Day 
OK Erin to be frank – the only element out of kilter are the boots – but the rest is grand! Dashing! Blue with orange is so Van Gogh. The boots are fab but need a longer hem.
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Ditto.
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Boots too heavy and too dark. Shoes (or less bulky boots) about the same color as her hair would have worked far better.
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since the 80´s gone by i try to avoid matchy-matchy looks.
there has to be a break or twist for me. the classic combos like red/black or blue/white i try to break with soft brown, pink, green or yellow. but thats just me 🙂
with the colors here you did a good job, maybe unusual for you but very young and flattering.
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You may be out of your comfort zone, but this outfit works just swell. You’ve got complementary colors, in a triad with grey/black. So happy for you that you’ll have more room to expand into, sewing-wise.
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I love the combination of blue and orange. It looks terrible on me, although I endorse it whole-heartedly on other people. Cheers!
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It’s lovely! At first, I thought you had a split complement or triad color scheme, with peacock as the dominant hue. But after I dial back my love of all things peacock, it looks more like an accented analogous scheme, as the warm colors are the eye-grabbers and the peacock makes them pop: although its value is close to the dress grey, the sweater adds zing that bounces you back to the scarf because peacock is complementary to the middle of the warmer colors in your scarf. The result is the viewer’s eye keeps moving way more than it would without the sweater. Try covering up the sweater and see what happens.
If you want to play with different formal color combinations: colorschemedesigner.com
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Moving AGAIN? Didn’t you just move to CA?
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Just moving a mile or so down the road! California is stuck with me. 🙂
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you look great.
your cartoon you looks great too!
Riley Blake is bringing out a glasses fabric. I’ve a feeling you’ll need some. http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/shop/category/riley-blake-designs/coming-soon/geekly-chic-cottons/
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[…] whatever they’re currently reading. When you get to the bottom of a post on McKean’s own blog A Dress A Day, for example, you’ll see three recommended posts from her blog, and three recommended articles […]
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Hi, I know exactly what you mean, it is not about ‘matching’ as in old school but matching to excel over what you can merely combine. In short make it stylish rather than just a combo. I agree with the lady finding the extra touch of colour to bring things out but style is still tops and that’s what we aspire to in an effort to be more inspiring to others too. I have lots of things that don’t quite go together… tis maddening, I am getting/making more dresses as easier to work up a look.
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I stalked F + B boots for awhile on Ebay but a style I like never showed up in my size. Thanks for re-igniting that fire! I love the way that they’re detailed — that “+” as a notch for the buckles is just about the coolest thing I can think of right now.
Looking good, Erin!
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My daughter did this on the final day of her job which she hated. Wore all her most favourite things together. Nothing was meant to go together. Normally her dress code is very controlled and matching, but she said that day she felt like a kid again, near freedom from a difficult job and not caring about the strange looks from the people who had been getting her down doe the last few years.
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