Hey! I'm glad you're here, reading this and soaking up all I have to scream and shout about to do with styling, and using vintage or secondhand in this. I'm going to be writing about colour theory a little later, so stick around for that too ! It changed how I dress and what I look for in what I wear.
I ADORE fashion, the boldness, the experimentation, the wonder, the art, and all that goes with it and in between and around it. For me, it's all about feeling, and your clothing being such a huge part of that.
I find that colour and print really brings me joy, and that's what I've honed in on for Peony Vintage. I'm sort of a sniffer dog for anything bold and bright when I'm handpicking and sourcing, and seeing someone else's potential fear of how bright or loud something is, only makes me love it more! I'm heavily inspired by the 'eclectic aunt' vibes myself and my mum always gave off growing up, and how boring I found the 'jeans and a nice top' crew. Obviously, there is always time for jeans and a nice top btw, but I grew up in the 90s and as a child, the only thing I can remember about designer fashion was that everything was about wearing something once, and striving to be thin (neither of those I got along well with). I was around historical costume a lot also as a kid which heavily influenced by love for clothing and costume in general.
PRADA SS17
I'm obsessed with the SS17 runway looks from Prada, how stunning are they? The mix of tartans, feathers, colours, and accessories is so perfect in it's clashing and I really know so many of the pieces I've sourced for sale would work so well styling up in this way.
3'S NOT A CROWD
If you're going to go down this route of mixing and matching, I would use a rule of 3 as a starting point for most looks anyway but in this instance try :1 pattern, 1 texture, 1 colour. Ie, something tasselled that's brown, something blue, something patterned or printed. This doesn't mean you can't have something of the same colour throughout either, it's just a starting point.
Have those 3 all be varying, in order to create a look like this. Try it by picking one thing out in your wardrobe and then find 2 other things which are different to that, keep playing around and add or remove things as you go and you will eventually feel it when it's right.
See how I've styled this tartan dress using this rule of thumb-
1- Tartan print dress available here
2- Feather Texture
3- Introducing red which isn't involved in the dress or the feathered piece
See how I've styled this floral shirt and tartan skirt using this rule of thumb-
1- Tartan print skirt available here
2- Feather Texture
3- Introducing red which isn't involved in the dress or the feathered piece
4- Floral shirt available here
EXPERIMENT WITH LAYERING
A shirt is never just a shirt alone - or a dress is never just a dress.
For example, try layering over tops or jumpers
a dress can act as a skirt by layering too.
Shorts, skirts and playsuits can be paired with tights
dresses CAN be paired with trousers when styled welL
A shirt can act as just arms and a collar when needed
See how I've styled this floral shirt and tartan shorts-
Tartan shorts available here
Floral shirt available here
(2 patterns, plus feather cami layered and blue accessories)
YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
You don't have to get it right the first time you are styling something! When I was thinking of things to go with this dress, I put some things together first and then it just didn't feel right!! I kept going and tried out different things to see how it felt in my gut and visually.
I settled on this as the colour palette just felt like the red, purple and pink felt really soothing to me.
See how I've styled this dress -
(a patterned dress, plus feather jacket and boots)
Dress available here
It could be full on CONTRAST with other pieces put with it but it's completely up to you how you do it.
I want you to have a go and tag me on IG!!! EVEN if you aren't using anything you've bought from me, to know you have enjoyed this and used it to create some banging looks would be so lush!!!
If you are after anything in order to have a go, I've compiled some more pieces you could definitely use here: