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Hey readers! It's Sunday 22nd and time for another #SundaySpecial! I know you're all probably oh-so excited about James Blunt's concert tonight, but let's pretend you do care about my take on how to wear patterns this summer, with this week's The Leopard Man. I think it was about time that I start talking about patterns! We men are generally less endowed when it comes to Fashion, in the quantity sense. You girls (and I know you are quite a bunch out there reading!) have all we have together with skirts (although kilts are basically skirts, let's say you own that. Clearly you do!), dresses, heels, crop-tops, blouses, and such. We men have pants (short or long) and shirts and T-shirts (short or long sleeves) and that's it. And this is why it's important to know how to add variety to your wardrobe guys! Because we own less distinctive pieces in terms of cuts. Patterns are basically repeated designs usually printed on fabric. As I hope you must be aware, one outfit should always have no more than 1 pattern-piece on. Although this rule seems quite blurry since a few years now with the full-on floral prints from D&G of Spring Summer 2013. With floral suit and dress pant, the 1 Pattern-Per Look Fashion Rule needed an update. But let's avoid statement looks for now, we are still learning how to dress well. Mauritius is still learning to validate statement outfits, so let's wait until we all adopt the full-on floral (which did raise criticism from the West as well!) So for this look, I picked a tank top I bought from FASHION HOUSE (it's from an old collection) which has a leopard print on it. If the print or pattern is leopard, the colour does not match the leopard's distinguishing colours, golden yellow-brownish, creamy-ish white and black. The tank top is actually dichromatic, with a purple base and a brownish pattern design. If men and leopard prints do not mix well in mainstream fashion, the leopard pattern is an all-time fashion favourite which is constantly being re-invented and given a new life in various forms (stand-out pockets, shoulder tags, short sleeves, snapbacks, etc). Even though I do not own proper leopard print, I prefer to tone down my statement pieces, just the way I did with this tank top. Leopard print yes, full on leopard, not so much.
If leopard is all all-time favourite which is never really out of fashion, Summer prints by excellence are undeniably floral prints. I actually saw the cutest floral short-sleeved shirt at WOOLSWORTH but it simply didn't seem as an effective affordable fashion piece at Rs1600 something. With such bold statement pieces, it is complicated to create a different look because of that one print piece is too recognisable. It has thus a low Versatility Factor. Point is, wearing patterns in summer can be tricky because people tend to remember them because they stand out so well. So if you're going for patterns this summer at an affordable manner, I'd suggest buying pieces that blend well with your existing wardrobe, that could be worn on various pants and shoes, for example. Given it's low VF, you'd want to not spend a lot of it - a quality tank top should not go over Rs500, or Rs600 for a rare coup de Coeur. I'd suggest easy to mix bases such grey or white which will be easy to mix and match. The smaller the pattern (in terms of clothing space), the higher the VF. The right balance is thus the pattern-print tank top - less bold than a full-sleeved T-shirt, the tank top is just the right piece for those who want to try wearing patterns. As a matter of fact, even I don't think I'm comfortable enough to be wearing a full-on floral T-shirt! If you remember the guidelines from The City Adventurer, you will also know that the right cut is absolutely essential for your ensemble to work in your favour, i.e. complement and compliment your body morphology. As you notice on the picture above, the neck line is somewhere between a granddad scoop neck and a deep-V. This allows for a bit of what both neck lines can do. The granddad scoop enlarges your chest while the deep-V elongates the neck and works to create larger deltoids for a more defined shoulder. I completed the look with ESPRIT Black Jeans and my TRUWORTHS leather sandals for a summer chill look for a day out. I picked black jeans which is normally a piece you'd not wear in summer to tone down the look, which would probably end up to be too bold with any other brighter colour.
I hope this special prints edition has been helpful. If you're thinking of trying out patterns this summer, start simple, and if you don't feel comfortable with one pattern, ditch it. Worse than looking bad is actually feeling bad about an outfit and still wearing it. I'd love to know what you want to hear about next, and until then, have fun with fashion and don't forget to smile! SC Kelvin
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September 2015
AUTHOR22-year old Fashion enthusiast. Find here ramblings about my fashion moods and occasional reflections. Categories |