Important Inches

Following on my layering skirts tutorial from last week, I thought I'd break down what I did with this layered skirt look. As I've mentioned before, this black skirt is made of a lightweight fabric that blows around easily; that, combined with its short length, make me loathe to wear it without a layer underneath. I decided I wanted to play up the fullness by adding this little gray tulle skirt, however the gray skirt is even shorter than the black. So, since the gray skirt has a thick elastic waistband, I simply yanked it down around my hips, positioned the waistband of the black skirt above it, and covered both waistbands by belting over the top. Everything stayed in place, a couple of important inches were added to the overall skirt length, and the layers of tulle had the added benefit of keeping me warmer than the black skirt alone.

As luck would have it, Sal recently posted some brilliant, and very timely, advice for balancing accessories. One of the gems that stuck with me was this: "Consider pattern to be an accessory itself, and choose pieces that will complement instead of fight with a busy print." Since I already had a lot of pattern going on here between the skirt and the leopard print top, I chose one of my smallest pairs of earrings and a single bangle that fits with the safari vibe of the top. In this case I wouldn't really count the belt as an accessory, because the black is pretty harmonious with the black of the skirt; in fact, I positioned it to give the illusion that it's part of the skirt, giving it a high-waisted proportion.

T-shirt: H&M
Top: F21
Belt: Red Dress Shoppe
Skirts: F21
Boots: Fly London