Mail Bag: Purple Cardigan

Hello,

I read your wonderful blog and although I'm actually quite a shy little thing, I have actually started to comment!

So, when I had a dilemma regarding a purple cardigan you were the natural expert to ask. ;)

I have a very cute short sleeved purple cardigan, not lilac or maroon but proper bluey dark purple. I adore this little cardie but I never know how to wear it. Today I have it on with a black tee, navy jeans and blue earrings (these)...but I'm not satisfied. Any suggestions oh great one? Tee hee.

Tuesday smiles (from the UK),

Rachel x

I’m somewhat newly a fan of purple, myself. I’m glad I came around to the purple side because it’s a hot color again this fall and winter. You’re sure to be on trend in your purple cardigan.

Let’s Pretend
It sounds as if the color is new to you, too, and you’re a little unsure as to what it goes with. When I’ve got an item in a funny color, sometimes I just pretend it’s black. So, if the cardigan were black, what would you pair it with? Once you’ve freed your mind from the “oh God it’s purple and matches nothing” dilemma, you can create some unexpected and interesting looks. You could be that girl who always wears the purple sweater.

Reality
Of course, all the pretending in the world isn’t going to turn your cardigan black (but, really, who needs another black sweater?)

So, what looks good with purple? In a prior mailbag post (Purple Shoes), I suggested the following purple pairings:

Gray
Black
Dark brown
Kelly (leaf) green
Mustard yellow
Metallics

I cautioned against wearing orange, bright yellow, red, or blue with purple, but I take that all back. I’ve had way too much fun with the Red Hat Society Experiments to ban red and purple. Blue (like your earrings) with purple sounds wonderfully subtle. And orange or bright yellow could be paired with purple and the right attitude.

Inspiration
Usually, I’d just post a bunch of pictures of myself, but I thought ahead to get permission to publish some photos of Wardrobe Remixers rocking the purple cardi instead.


(Clicking on any of these photos will bring you to the individual’s blog or flickr photstream.)