We love prints. Not only do they add colour to the outfit, they add visual interest and dynamism to the ensemble as well.
That’s why we love one of the more colourful trends that we saw on the fall/winter 2018 runway: The print on print look. It’s a riot of colours.
However, prints can be overwhelming and difficult to style into your everyday look and you might risk looking like a fashion faux pas rather than a fashion maven.
To aid you in this quest, we’ve rounded up four ways that fashion houses styled their print on print look and we’re going to teach you how.
Big and small
Photo: Showbit
The first way to dress with the print/print trend is to play with varying print sizes – the overarching idea is to create contrasting textures. In these three variations, the dense and detailed are set against the sparse and dainty.
In Ellie Saab, the lightly floral printed coat is layered over a densely detailed dress, while the opposite is done for Kenzo – the green arabesque coat is contrasted with the sparsely printed tube top and high-waisted skirt. For Manish Arora, the heavily packed design is kept on the torso while the lower body is covered with a light print.
Contrasting colours work
Photo: Showbit
Think ‘pop of colour’ – let one colour be the outstanding feature and the other a supporting character.
Tory Burch use a printed white top to juxtapose against the two-coloured orange and purple skirt, while Balenciaga use a white and black houndstooth top to let the bright floral skirt take centrestage. Lastly, Michael Kors wasn’t afraid to let colours clash – he used a common tartan print to unify the look despite the use of a bold red and yellow. Oh, and some animal print thrown in too, natch.
Harmony in tonality
Photo: Showbit
To make this method work you are going to layer prints that have similar tones or are from closely related colour families. This works counter to the previous two concepts where contrast is the intended goal. Here, harmony is key.
Rochas used a neutral palette to coordinate the look – black, browns and a leafy green are judiciously used. Missoni create a bright, warm ensemble with an underlying colour choices of rusty browns and brick red. Conversely, Giambattista Valli created a cool-toned look with dominant hues of blush pink, silver and black.
Half-half trend
Photo: Showbit
We had previously talked about the half/half print trend of FW’18 and it’s another great way to rock the print/print look we are discussing here. It’s for people who can’t decide how and what prints to mix but still want to rock the style.
Sacai combined two separate coats to make a singular outfit, the first being a camel trench with a green coat and the second is a grey/pink tartan trench and a black/pink coat. Gucci, by Alessandro Michele, took it a step further and fused a puffer jacket with a fringed kimono-esque outerwear.
ALSO READ: MINIMALIST AND MUTED DRESSING: HOW TO NAIL THIS STYLE FOR THE OFFICE