How to Wear: Statement Plaid

When I typically discuss trends with friends or family, many of them look at photos of top bloggers and think “It looks great on her, but I could never wear that.” I always respond “You can wear that. You just don’t know how.”

My friends will always ask me how I thought of pairing “blank” with “blank” or how did I get the idea to put those two things together. Hence the inspiration behind this post was born. I love helping people dress. It’s part of the reason I started this blog in the first place. I hope this new category teaches you some things as well as inspires you to try some fun stuff. After all, getting ready is supposed to be fun right? Right.

What print is more fall than plaid? (If you are trying to think of one, it could be awhile).

In this particular season, editors and bloggers alike have been mad for plaid. From street style to the glossy pages of your favorite magazine, this print has been present.

All of us are used to the common pieces plaid is found during fall. A plaid scarf may not intimidate you (or at least I truly hope it doesn’t), but when it comes to plaid pants like the ones featured above, you may as well be asked to write a 10 page paper on brain surgery in Chinese.

Style Lesson One: It doesn’t have to be that hard.

A plaid is a strong print, therefore, your outfit does not need much help beyond that. The colors in my pants are black and white, so I paired them with a mostly black top and a black blazer. As far as matching is concerned, that’s all you really need to know with this outfit. Find similar colors, and put them together.

Creating a cohesive outfit, however, is much more than finding matching colors. The reason why this outfit works is because the pieces go. When I am creating a new outfit, I always ask myself “what vibe am I trying to create with this?”. I like to think of this look as “School of Rock Chic”. My pants are on the edgy side, so I paired them with a ripped band t-shirt and some red-orange mules for a pop of color.

My outfit creates a cohesive message. It tells the story of the girl who would buy high-rise plaid pants and probably has a record collection and only shops at vintage stores. Not that girl? I’m sure as heck not, but I wanted to be last weekend, and ta da, my outfit was born.

Of course, there are a trillion ways to style these pants. Maybe you woke up feeling girly and wanted to pair them with a pale pink blouse, maybe you felt sporty and wanted to rock them with a cool sneaker, regardless of what girl you felt like being that morning, the opportunities are endless. This was just my interpretation.