Inspired by Interiors

Back in my Breaking Out of a Fashion Rut series, I mentioned that I sometimes use interior design as a source of fashion inspiration. Today I'm showing you an example of this.

I spotted this modern, sleek interior in a magazine and was instantly drawn to it. I love the use of different shades of gray and green to create a design that is visually arresting, yet clean and simple.

The ideas I plucked from this interior were the use of different shades within the 2-color palette, the sparse use of pattern, and the nickel-finish metals rather than shiny silver. To translate these ideas to an outfit, I mixed the steel gray dress with dove gray tights and boots and a charcoal gray waistcoat. To this I added the grass green t-shirt and yellow-green hat. Finally, for jewelry I selected the black pearl necklace to mimic the nickel finishes in the interior.

Of course there are plenty of other ways to interpret this interior, and this is why I love getting inspiration from non-fashion sources. It takes the idea of fashion down to its most basic concepts and strips away the literal ideas that fashion magazines get us locked into. Instead of looking at a particular garment or outfit and wondering if you can wear it or even if you can afford it, you can instead focus only on important elements such as color, pattern, texture, and style. You can take as much or as little from it as you want: for instance, rather than interpret the sparse modern style of this interior, I could have lifted only the color pairing and nothing else. Or I could have used the checkerboard pattern of the dining room rug as a place to start, and incorporated square shapes into the look. Or I could have played with the approach of blending various shades in a 2-color palette, only with 2 different colors altogether. The possibilities are truly endless when you look at fashion in this way.

I should mention that this is also a great way to 'shop' your own wardrobe, because instead of having to go out and buy pieces to adhere to a certain trend, you can search for items in your own closet that have a particular qualitiy such as color or pattern without worrying too much about anything else.

So now comes the big exciting news, dear readers: since next month I'll celebrate the one-year anniversary of my blog, I will be presenting you with a contest in which I'll post a photo of an interior for you to use as inspiration for an outfit. The prize will be one of my handmade hats, so get your creativity working! In the meantime why not practice by using the interior I've shown today? Be sure to leave a comment if you've posted your outfit somewhere!

Hat: Alternative Design Studio
Dress: Red Dress Shoppe
T-shirt: Old Navy
Tights: Noa Noa
Boots: Fly London
Necklace: from Macy's a few years ago