top: Forever 21, pants: J.Crew, jewel ring: Macy's, gold bands: gifted from Mimi & Lu, bracelet: Vince Camuto, heels; J.Crew, clutch: Kate Spade
Photo Credit: Robin Dayley/Dayley Photograph
So, you bought the printed pants, now what? You like the fit, you like the print, and now you are standing in your closet looking at your tops, looking at your shoes and wandering what on earth is going to go with these [insert pattern type and color] pants.
Let's start with tops. Wear a solid colored top. The color should be complimentary to all the colors in the print. For instance, a tan, brown, and yellow patterned pant will go nicely with a green top, because green will go with all three of those colors. Another example is pictured above. My crazy floral print pants is full of yellow, white, green, baby blue, orange, and red. The indigo shade top I chose compliments every single one of those colors.
The other option is choosing a top in the least used color in the pant. In my case, a white top would be lovely because there is very little white in the pant. I could have also worn a baby blue shirt.
When talking shoes, I find a metallic, or nude works wonders. I chose a gold heel to bring out the warm tones of my printed pant. Again, you want to keep things simple. As you can see I went a bit daring with the sparkly cap toe pumps, but the entire shoe is still gold, therefore, it does not disrupt the pants' print party. If the pant had black tones, a black flat would work. Think basic colors and simple color pairings for your shoes. A colored shoe can definitely work, but can be tricky. The louder the pant, the better it is to have a neutral shoe. In my case, these pants are loud. Had I used a white shirt, I could use dark green shoes, but since I chose the bold indigo hue, a neutral shoe is a must, in order to avoid an over the rainbow look.