Here’s How To Properly Match Your Accessories And Make Sure They Complement, Not Compete, With Each Other
One of the easiest ways to take your outfit to the next level is with accessories. From jewelry to hats and sunglasses, accessories are an essential element to a look or certain kind of style.
When I was younger, I remember not wearing jewelry like necklaces or earrings for a while, even though I had pierced my ears and a jewelry collection at home. But as I got older, I realized how much accessories can affect even the simplest of looks, and now I hardly ever leave the house without at least a pair of earrings.
Once you start wearing more accessories daily, you’ll want to become better at matching your accessories. We often focus so much on making sure our clothes and shoes match before going out, but it’s important to ensure your accessories are cohesive.
Matching accessories goes a lot further than making sure you’re not mixing up silver and gold jewelry. You want to make sure you’re choosing pieces that complement your other accessories and your entire outfit.
When starting to figure out which accessories to put together, you can always fall back on your neutrals. Build a great capsule wardrobe or accessory collection of classic neutrals like all-black purses and wallets or all-gold necklaces and earrings. This way, you’ll always have matching pieces ready to go.
Keeping your accessories neutral is also helpful because they can often work with any outfit. If you want to wear some neutral or monochrome clothes, you have the accessories to go with it. If you want to wear bright colors or a bold print, you have neutral accessories that will add to your outfit without overdoing it.
If you like to take a walk on the wild side with your accessories and have them in brighter colors, you want to see if you can create a cohesive color palette with your outfit. You can do this by wearing two or more accessories of the same color or pairing complementary colors together.
For instance, if you have a bright yellow beanie you love wearing and also happen to have a bright yellow clutch, put them together! Or, if you have a beautiful pastel purple purse, try wearing it with a pastel blue sweater or pastel pair of shoes.
Matching accessories isn’t all about color but also textures and dimension. If you think a leather purse wouldn’t ‘match’ a knit sweater, think again. There are ways to pair accessories of different fabrics and materials with various outfits.
Victoria Chudinova – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
Don’t be afraid to hold your favorite black leather handbag while wearing your knit cardigan or a knit beanie with your leather pants. Just because they’re made out of totally different materials doesn’t mean they don’t work together.
I think one of the most important things to remember when dealing with accessories is to let statement pieces speak for themselves.
For instance, if you have a beautiful, one-of-a-kind handbag with a very ‘loud’ print on it that’s practically a work of art, why would you wear a dress that’s just as busy and risk upstaging it?
It goes the other way, too. If you got a new blouse you really want to show off, would you wear a big, bright-colored hat on your head?
It’s all about balancing out your look and ensuring you’re showing off what you want to show off versus putting on whatever you’ve got.
What’s your favorite accessory these days?
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