What works with eggplant? And my sheath in that colour? - YouLookFab Forum

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What works with eggplant? And my sheath in that colour?

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

As many of you know, last week I acquired a three-season eggplant sheath with a matching bolero. It was the dress that sold me on the purchase, since I loved everything about the style of it and felt it fit me very well. I've also been soldd on the versatility of that straight cut, too, so was keen to add a non-black option to my wardrobe. And so, of course, I turn to YL
F!

My first question is pretty fundamental. I know most neutrals work well with eggplant, but I'm wondering what colours would work? Since I love colour and hope to wear the dress through spring, all suggestions are welcome. I know lighter purples and cheerful shades of green work well, and many say red and purple look great, but some more specific guidance on the particular shades to target would be most welcome. Other colour thoughts, too.

Here are a couple of pics to help you along (please note that I'm not wearing any shapewear and things may look off because of it). The first is the sheath with relatively little adornment, just so you can see the fit. Am I right to think this green necklace helps dress it down and adds some additional colour, or does it just look stupid? In the second pic, I threw over my grey boyfriend blazer just to see how you thought they worked.

Many thanks, ladies!

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Dressing

21 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

londonkiwi (now back in NZ)

Veteran

Great sheath!

Neutrals for me would be silver, white, off-white/cream and black.

For colours I think that you are on the right track with greens (like the colours of an eggplant!), but I think that you blazer is slightly too long, but it may be that I am thrown by you lack of shoe.

Kari

Veteran

Michelle, your sheath is beautiful and I think the necklace is spot-on. I think the blazer is fine - I like to wear my eggplant top or sweater with my gray pencil skirt, though I I think it looks best with my green skirt instead. To add to what Fi write above, my favorite colors to wear with aubergine are coral/salmon/a warm red, turquoise (light or dark), mossy green or chartreuse. Denim is of course a fool-proof neutral. I kind of think of eggplant similar to burgundy (purply-brown) in terms of the colors I like to pair with it. One of my favorite pairs of specs are burgundy with an inner turquoise frame and a thin band of white between the two colors, and honestly I have used that color combination to inspire everything from outfits to my living room colors.
Personally, the outfit first pairings that popped into my mind with this dress were a denim jacket (I think you have one, right?) and your red shoes.

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Fantastic tips, ladies. So are you saying that I could wear my new turquoise jacket with this dress to give it a spring vibe? If I did this, should I keep the other accessories neutral?
Kari, yes, I h ave a fantastic denim jacket. Thanks for elucidating the relationship between the two colours.

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Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Michelle, I think that is too bright of a turquoise for me. It's to bad, but I think maybe just a small amount in a scarf might be better.

I have a few items in this color and most frequently pair it with silver and white.

londonkiwi (now back in NZ)

Veteran

I was just thinking that you have a white denim jacket? I think that would look good, plus isn't it a little bit more cropped than the two blazers you are wearing?

Do you have a turquoise necklace? That might be just the right amount?

rosee

Veteran

I second Kari's recommendations of colors! Also, golden or marigold yellow for when you are feeling bolder. I have some eggplant (or aubergine, as we know it) and lots of chocolate brown -- anything that works for chocolate works for eggplant. Even chocolate and eggplant, but save that for fall.
I like the grey jacket above. The turquoise is fine too, for when you are feeling bolder. A better match of the turquoise shade would be more teal -- darker shade and a slightly more green hue.

greenglove

(website)

Veteran

I love the dress, eggplant is a great color. I think that grey is not the greatest with eggplant. Browns, golds, greens, reds, and black all work well. I would tend to stay away from pink, purple, grey, navy, turquoise. When colors are similar in temperature- all next to each other on the color wheel things get too matchy IMO. Especially the pink, turquoise, purple category- like MY Little Pony. I always tell my students that. I do not think turquoise is a great choice but there are many options. This is only my opinion and it is hard to say for sure without seeing the shade in person

Melissa

Great sheath, Michelle! I would like to see a skinny belt over the blazer to see if that helps the length.

I'd second cream as a great neutral here. For colors, I'd also say some yellows, and I might say that there are certain shades of orange and rust that would look good with it.

Can't wait to see how you style it.

Joy

Veteran

This dress looks fabulous on you, Michelle! For spring I think the turquoise works, especially if you add pearls or a multicolored silky scarf with teal or turquoise and some shade of purple in the mix. I'd like to see the sheath with the turquoise jacket and your red shoes, especially if you add a scarf or necklace with red in it. In the photo the eggplant looks deep enough not to be in My Little Pony territory, but Jean makes a good point with the purple-pink-turquoise mix.
It also works for me with the grey jacket if you add some cream or white, like your pearls. Silver or pewter shoes would repeat tones of the grey jacket without being too matchy, IMO.

Anonymous

I agree in that the jacket in pic 1 is too long, try a cropped jacket. I'm not a fan of the turquoise, but I LOVE the idea of chartreuse, with a scarf! You could also do your cropped white denim jacket for a more casual, funky vibe!!! I must get me a sheath....;)

Michelle

(website)

Veteran

Great tips, ladies, thank you! I'm glad to know I was picturing things more or less right -- I envision wearing this with mostly black, white, metallics and green (with maybe the odd red thrown in). Pairing things like purple and red is tricky for me, since I can't visualize how they work together and can't play with colour nuance to make sure it looks deliberately mismatched rather than just an ignorant blindguy mistake.
The interesting thing to me here is that the grey jacket wasn't working, and I realize my mistake was to confuse the pairing above with the more typical combination of charcoal/jewel-tone purple that I sport more often.
Thank you for reminding me of my white denim jacket -- it's coming out as soon as temps rise!
I'm surprised to hear so many comments about the length of the BF blazer. My understanding was the longer jacket would work over straight sheath cuts? It certainly got a lot of approval in the birthday video outfit, and that dress was only slightly less fitted!
New mission -- spring-weight scarf in eggplant/friendly colours! Now accepting suggestions.

san

Veteran

http://youlookfab.com/2010/10/.....r-dresses/

Hi Michele, I know this ventures from the question asked about what colors to wear with your beautiful eggplant sheath, but it was mentioned that a cropped jacket might work better than a boyfriend jacket. I found the article Angie wrote on this subject and pasted a link.
I love eggplant so all of this info is really interesting to me also.

thimblelina

(website)

Veteran

Beautiful dress on you! I saw this thread earlier w/no time to comment, but I think the gals above have covered the bases. I'm a garden designer who fancies plants with foliage in these dark tones, and in spring it is always dramatic to see this color against tender yellowish new green growth, like chartreuse, or very grayed down -- even silvery -- olive green tones. With all the army green in stores this spring you will find a lot I'm sure! I also like this color with warm colors like cognac and camel, but that might be because I have warm even sallow coloring. Can't wait to see further styling! L

Jonesy

Veteran

I think your instincts are totally on target re. what colors to pair it with! I happen to like the longer gray jacket just fine. The dress is fab, BTW!

Queen Mum

Veteran

Our resident artist, Jean, has settled the color question, but I wanted to pop in and say that I really like it with that jacket. The only thing I would change is to wear a longer necklace.

MsMary

Veteran

I would totally wear the turquoise jacket with that dress! I like the first jacket with it,too!

I consider dark purple as kind of a neutral, so I would pair it with red, yellow, green, pink, gray, tan, cream, white, metallics, orange -- almost anything!

krishnidoux

Veteran

What a great dress and how pretty you are in it! for the colors to pair it with golds, cream, greens...

Whatever you chose, know if your garment 's shade is cool or warm. To know this, look at the color of the dress under sunlight: If there will be a blue quality to it, it is cool. If there is a deep red or orange quality to it, it is warm. From the picture I would guess cool; but again it is difficult to assess from a photo.

So if your garment's shade is on the cool side, look for complementary colors carrying "grey" in their blend. You won't see the gray, but it's as if the color has been toned down. The color is softer.

If your garment's shade is warm, it will look good with accessories that do not have the grey in their shade, but have a vibrant yellow/orange component in the shade.

The gray or yellow/orange components I'm referring to are very subtle, but often that's why an accessory will feel right.

And, again, rules are sometimes made to be broken. But this trick can serve as a guide.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Or instead of an opposite color, try accessories in the same color but a different shade. For example with navy blue, lavender...

Joy

Veteran

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/co.....tback=2756 in silver shine. This scarf is very attractive and clean with a broken zigzag design of black on white with touches of aqua, citron,

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/co.....tback=2881 This scarf in Cerulean blue is a mix of geometric patterns arranged in stripes mostly in a medium denim blue and turquoise with a bright red narrow border at the edge of the scarf. It's shown tied muffler style. The "Ikat birds" are very stylized in the design in an ethnic way. I could see this with the dress and with your turquoise jacket.

http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ja.....tback=4634
I could see this square scarf in navy or fushia as it has your deep tones. The floral are simple flowers and outlined paisley scattered on the navy blue or fushia background with lighter tones in pinks and nude in both and light blue ion the navy. The design is feminine and classic.

Actually nothing I saw on the Nordstrom or macy sites looked like the perfect scarf for you. There are others that have pink and purple. Of the ones I saw I think the one I liked best for you would be the third one above in either fushia or navy but I don't know if you want a square scarf. Maybe others have found something better. A polkadot in black or navy or grey with white would be good for spring or any time.

Lisa

Veteran

I love the idea of yellow and purple together. More of a mustard yellow for egglant.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The gals have you sorted. Just wanted to say that the sheath is KILLER. Add grey pearls to pick up the grey in the BF jacket. You look beautiful!!