Every season the shops are awash with amazing prints and patterns and this spring is no exception.  From simple stripes to fancy florals there’s a print to suit everyone.  Wearing print is a fun way to add interest to your outfit, helpful to draw attention towards (or disguise areas of your body) or can be used to inject some variety into your wardrobe.

Follow these simple rules and you will master the art of wearing print and patterns in no time.

Choose prints to mimic your body shape

A straighter body shape suits stripes, checks and geometric prints while curvy body shapes look fabulous in curvy prints – think dots, paisley, florals and soft abstracts.

Consider your scale

Your scale is your bone structure, your physical size.  If your large boned opt for wearing large prints and patterns (relevant to your body shape), medium boned – choose medium sized patterns and if small boned wear small patterns and prints. Large prints worn on someone with a small scale will be overpowering (you’ll see the print before the person) and small prints worn on someone who has a large scale will make the area they are covering look larger.

Incorporate pieces which reflect your style personality

Your style personality will impact the sort of prints and patterns your naturally drawn to. Feminine personalities love florals and would feel out of place in strong geometric prints while natural style personalities prefer plaids and animal print.

Dramatic style personalities are drawn to bold, abstract patterns, artistic personalities are all for ethnic and hand dyed prints and classic personalities often prefer to stick with wearing plain pieces. After all there are others ways to style up your outfits!

Combining Patterns

Your clothing must always appear soft to the eye so as a general rule stick with two prints per outfit.  And take care when combining patterns that are too similar.

Stripes on stripes can get along together providing there is sufficient variety in the gauges.

Checks on checks are more difficult to wear and care must be used to make sure that the outcome is
visually balanced. When mixing patterns there should be a change in scale.

Have fun experimenting with different prints and see what feels good. And don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you discover!