Paisley and the Mild Mix

When you have a 6-year-old photographer, it shouldn't come as a surprise to find 50 selfies between outfit takes.  That's apparently what you get when you turn your back to swap one cobalt top for another like I did this morning when styling my $2.50 paisley skirt from Hope Missions Bargain Shoppe.

This skirt is like my art-print pants in that it "goes" with a lot, so it's a little more challenging to find a mix-not-match look for Mix or Match May.  And just like with the pants, I turned to stripes - when in doubt, wear stripes!

Cobalt striped top $4, earrings $4, leather belt $4.20 VV Boutique

Gifted thrifted red Miz Mooz and arm party a la closet

The skirt has a cool wrap piece that gathers to the side, which could be very bad but instead is very forgiving...

You may recognize this fashion formula for pattern mixing from florals and stripes!

For my matchy-matchy look, I paired the skirt with what I call my "Anthro" blouse because of its gorgeous colour and interesting style...

Cobalt blouse $3 and layering tank $4.20 VV Boutique

What luck to have the perfect layering piece for this blouse!  The flowy sheer style made this look even more forgiving!

I had 17 waffles for breakfast and you'd never know it.

I wanted to show that mix-not-match does not necessarily mean the polar opposite of matchy-matchy!  Same colour but swapping a pattern for a solid is enough for a mild mix!

Old habits die hard!  

I reached for the solid first and didn't consider my cobalt stripes until the Mix or Match May impetus!

I ended up wearing the solid top because a) it was the last outfit I tried on, and b) I felt like wafting around in my sheer pseudo-anthro-awesomeness (that is code for "I'm having a fat day").

Do YOU prefer the solid cobalt matchy-matchy look, or the striped cobalt mix-not-match?!