Winter Style Challenge – Day Three // On How To Embrace A Trend

Hooray! Ten days of inspirational style prompts. God knows I need some! Check out Kayla’s post explaining the challenge here if you would like to play along.

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Today’s challenge was: Embrace A Trend.

This made me panic a bit, friends. But “embrace” is a nice word, I think, when talking about trends. You don’t want to completely snub them, right? Or at least I don’t. I find fashion a fun thing to keep up with because it’s fascinating to watch how aesthetics are influenced over time and I enjoy seeing an artist’s cohesive vision be interpreted by the masses. But enjoying that element, and actually executing a trendy wardrobe aren’t always kissing cousins. You see I don’t ever really purchase designer pieces (you know this, my love for Target is well-documented!) and while I enjoy scrolling through runway looks, I am still the type of style student who thinks LAYERS are hard. So what’s a girl like me to do?

Well let’s get back to the warm, fuzzy hugging. How can someone like me embrace a trend?

For starters, it helps to get friendly with patterns or color combos you hadn’t thought to pair. Last year I fell in love with stripes. This might seem like a really tiny thing, but I was NOT a person who wore patterns. Solids were awesome! Polka dots and prints were a no-go. A year ago you would have never caught me even contemplating something like Fair Isle, but you know — had there been ANY SNOW ON THE MOUNTAINS at the end of last year, I would have found myself an adorable little tunic and rocked the heck out of it drinking hot chocolate in the ski lodge. That baby step of stripes has opened my mind to future possibilities. Hearing that Pantone picked Tangering Tango to be the color of the year, I immediately though…whoa, that’s some ORANGE! Won’t be wearing that, I don’t do orange. But then I saw things like this popping up everywhere and I thought: Ok, orange! No big deal! I could maybe do that. So now it’s on my radar. Of course I don’t own anything that could pass for Tangerine Tango yet but the point is: I’m open!

So — today, as far as trends go, I played it safe. I haven’t purchased a single item of casual clothing in months so while I’d love to be sashaying the heck out of a pair of hot pink pants (hello this is perfection!) I don’t actually own any yet. But last year, after spending way too much time on Pinterest, I was inspired to purchase some items in a color combo that had absolutely NEVER crossed my mind: Mustard and Navy.
(I know, you are laughing at me right now, I know. Everyone has to start somewhere!)

(From left to right, sources include: Academichic (RIP! loved that site!), Dee-Construction, and A Beautiful Mess)

So after all of that! Here is my trend baby step:

Cardigan: Merona for Target
Tank: Banana Republic
Jeans: Old Navy – The Flirt
Sparkly Shoes: Payless
Bracelet: Target

It won’t win an Oscar for Best Accessories or Most Trendy just yet, but it is helping me open my eyes to new possibilities. And that is what keeps things fashion thing fun, I think. Next stop HOT PINK PANTS.

They will be mine.