Help me analyze prints - YouLookFab Forum

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Help me analyze prints

harmonica

Veteran

Hi all,
I'm pondering about why some I love some prints and feel bored about others. Maybe you can help me figure out why?

#1 Blush dog blouse. I absolutely adore this blouse and the dogs (I'm a cat person). They are fun and happy and not girlish.

#2 Penguins and dots. I've taken this shirt out many times and tried it on, but put it back in the closet. Don't know why I feel so dull and not me in it. I like penguins and dots. Maybe it's the colour or maybe its the pattern mix or maybe something else? Should I donate?

# Blush flowers on dark green. I love this one. Feels fresh with my copperish hair and I get a retro feel about the floral pattern. It's borderline frumpy, but I get a modern feel to. Why?

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14 replies

Latest reply was from

Liz

Veteran

I love this kind of question! Here's my take on the differences among these prints:

# 1: the print is low contrast and a bit subtle/"off" (Love those dogs!!)

#2: the print is more high contrast and "literal." (The shirt itself also looks more structured and less drapey. Would that be affecting your opinion?)

#3: the print is less structured and a little blurred, though the colors are high contrast.

For what it's worth, I'm not personally drawn to geometric prints (stripes, polka dots, checks). I like my prints random, abstract, or blurred. Is something like that going on with you?

Anonymous

Hmmm...for some reason I'm getting a more men's shirt vibe from the penguin/dot combo shirt. Something about the way the dots are lined up doesn't appeal to me and yet I love dots, so maybe I'm feeling the same as you. I love the other two patterns a lot and I feel like the colours are livelier.

harmonica

Veteran

Liz - so great to hear your thoughts on this. I've always struggled a bit with more structured shirts. That's a good point! I like geometric prints, but I'm thinking the penguin/dots print may be a bit too structured, not random enough, for my taste. Random is good because it's sort of "challenging the box".

harmonica

Veteran

Diane - you're right about the men's shirt vibe and the livelier colours. This is so helpful!

Sara L.

Veteran

I love the prints in #1 and #3. I want to love the penguin/dot print but I don't. For one thing, from far off, the penguins look like bugs not birds. Also the shirt looks a bit short and stiff.

LaPed

Veteran

The penguin shirt, to my eye, is mega-preppy. If High Prep is not part of your style goals, I can see why it would be hard to wear.

Love the blush puppies!!

harmonica

Veteran

Sara - hmmm, bugs don't give me positive associations. I have a short waist and it's not short. The cotton is also soft, but there is a "stiffness" to it.

LP - Preppy is not part of my style. I have some preppy items (striped blazer, V-neck sweater from Brooks Brothers) that I sort of de-prep by styling in another direction.

Ginger

Veteran

I'm big on (i.e. extremely picky on everything to do with) color, so this is my take on the prints!

#1: Cheerful and whimsical. The dogs aren't visible as dogs from a distance, but the curving lines of the outlining does. And it looks like an interesting, non-traditional pattern, with color involved. The white/blush/black proportions seem balanced and don't go muddy.

#2: Lack of actual color; it's all neutrals. Also, small dots (any small scale pattern) tends to either disappear from a distance, if widely spaced, or just muddy the effect if they're closer together like these are. Style may definitely play into this; it looks heavier. I might like this if it were (a) drapey and (b) on a pastel color background. Or with bigger dots. (Though personally I don't do all neutrals!)

#3: Love this! Big pattern, lots of color and difference in contrast levels, but it has movement, too. I want this shirt for myself!

These are extremely smart questions to ask! It's taken me a long time to learn to analyze items that I should like but somehow don't. Though when I do, it's incredibly helpful, and keeps me from a lot of unsuccessful p7ruchases.

Zibbets

Veteran

The dots on the 2nd one are static and predictable, while the haphazardly placed dogs and organic floral are more interesting to the eye.

I especially love the dogs (and I'm a cat person too). They remind me of the work of the New Yorker cartoonist whose name escapes me...so cute!

The dots also make my eyes tired. Closely-spaced, high contrast stripes do the same thing.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I don't know if this matters, but in the thumbnail image of #2, it looks like a pink shirt with cockroaches on -- which means that's probably what it looks like from a distance. Maybe your subconscious has picked up on the fact that the penguins are masquerading as bugs, which is why it keeps making you put in back in the closet!

The other two are much more appealing from a distance. The dog one just looks like a pale, pretty abstract pattern or texture (you can't tell it's dogs until you get close up), and the other one is obviously floral.

harmonica

Veteran

Ginger - great insights! Thanks a lot! I should ask more questions like this. Helpful (and fun) in so many ways!

Zibbets - predictable, static and tireing is no good. I need to keep that in mind.

AZ - you definately pulled the donation trigger for me. It's impossible to ever wear the penguin shirt again. Thanks for helping me to let go!

crazyone

Veteran

OMG, Aziraphale, even before reading your post I had the same reaction to the thumbnail of that shirt--"like, of course, you don't like the print, it's a print of cockroaches!".

cindysmith

Veteran

This may sound like gibberish to everyone but me, but my eye sees more motion in the dog print and the floral print. The bird print looks more static to me.
Like, my eyes move around to look at the different dogs, and my eyes move around the floral print, but the bird print I just see the entirety of it all at once and nothing draws my eyes around to different places on the shirt.
If that makes sense...

Anonymous

The dog print looks feminine and floral from a distance. The floral is lovely and feminine. I want that blouse. The dots and penguins look more masculine and regular.