Mint Green Hounds Tooth Skirt - YouLookFab Forum

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Mint Green Hounds Tooth Skirt

Jen

Hello, all.

Very first post here and actually joined specifically to ask for opinions about a self-made conundrum.

I bought a very adventurous mint and white houndstooth pencil skirt a couple of years ago and I like it a lot, but I can't figure out how to style it. It is on the chopping block if I don't figure it out this spring.

Since I'm brand new, I can't post the picture yet but... it's a knee-length pencil skirt in mint and white medium-sized houndstooth print. It's almost certainly going to go to the office, and it likely needs a cardigan or blazer with it.

I've pulled out color wheels and pattern-matching rules and looked for ideas for months, but I keep coming up empty.

Since it's a skirt, it feels a little off-balance to put it with a dark top (like purple or navy). Since it's mint and white, I don't feel like it plays very well with khaki or camel kinds of colors.

I'm generally circling around two concepts with it--

a mint top (which I actually have, but I keep chickening out... seriously, is that too much mint? and then what do I do about shoes? I have mint shoes, lighter mint jewelry... but I'm starting to look like a pistachio ice cream cone at this point...)
a peachy-pink top (of which I have two... one is a very soft, flowy blouse with a bow, the other is a screen-print tee with a watercolor floral motif). But when I try this idea, I feel like I need a topper and I lose my way there. Gray? White? Navy?

I also tried it with a royal blue top and I actually really like the color combo but it looks top-heavy with a dark blue top.

And really, the shoes. Mint? White? Nude? Something else? Gold seems to work well with mint, but I'm not sure it plays well with the 'mint and white'.

I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions and I'll post pics when I'm able.

Dressing

25 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

What about a lighter denim top? I'd probably go with nude shoes or maybe cognac.

Jen

I did try using a light denim jacket with the coral screen print tee. It's definitely less shocking than most of the jackets/cardigans I tried. Hadn't thought about cognac shoes. Pretty sure I have some I could try with it.

Thanks!

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Welcome! I've been here about a week and only just posted my first photo. I'm a total matchy- matchy lover and I would wear a mint top AND mint shoes if I had them, pistachio ice-cream or no. Otherwise could you pick out the white with a white top and/ or shoes, then say mint earrings? And metallic shoes could be great if you then had the same metallic in your necklace, earrings, rings or watch. That is how I dress though, you have to like the matching- in thing. I adore houndstooth, have a shirt, socks and ballet flats so far, used to have a jacket but gave away. Cheers Jenni

Jen

I'm not opposed to matching. The mint color is already a little outside my comfort zone, and I'm a little intimidated by the head-to-toe mint look. It does, however, look more polished to me than anything else I've tried with it.

I'd kind of wondered about a metallic shoe. I have a pair that are a light gold and in general I think mint and gold complement each other nicely.

If you were going to do the head-to-toe mint, would you vary the shades or try to keep them all actually matching?

Tina

Veteran

I love the sound of your skirt! A very pale gray blouse or top would look good, at least in my mind:-/ For shoes, metallic is very versatile I've found. Part of putting together outfits is figuring out ones threshold for color and pattern mixing.
Looking forward to a picture!

Jenni NZ

Veteran

With the head-to-toe mint, my own style would be to match perfectly if I could. But sometimes with my various clothing, earrings and shoes, the match is not able to be perfect, as I don't own every conceivable variation! In that case I look at my outfit from a distance in the mirror and realise that so long as the shades are toning, it still looks good and no one else will probably be as fussy about the exact shade as me.
I love the sound of the mint and gold also, I imagine a beautiful dark chocolate with a creme de menthe middle wrapped in gold shiny paper, in a box with a gold ribbon. Clearly a chocolate fan as well as a shoe fan x

Jen

Ah, here we go.

Just the skirt:
http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0490.jpg

Skirt with mint sweater, heels and necklace:

http://s1123.photobucket.com/u.....2.jpg.html

with coral screen print tee,

with light denim jacket:
http://http//i1123.photobucket.....G_0493.jpg
with khaki blazer:
http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0494.jpg
with gray cardigan (would not actually wear that particular cardigan with it, but a gray cardigan)...
http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0495.jpg

with coral blouse

with white cardigan:
http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0498.jpg
with khaki blazer:
http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0494.jpg

with royal blue shirt and white cardigan:

http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0496.jpg

with cobalt floral print and white cardigan:

http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0497.jpg

Jenni NZ

Veteran

The skirt I find so beautiful, and also the mint shoes. My own taste would like me to have those with a white top and the mint necklace, if it were me. I don't like the mixed patterns myself- sorry, I feel bad saying that, hardly an expert after being here for precisely 8 days! I've found with reading the site for over 6 months that everyone's opinions differ but maybe you can begin to recognise others with similar thoughts and sensibilities. And then have that maybe confirm or not the way you're leaning, I hope.

harmonica

Veteran

Welcome!
I'm on my phone and can't see all your stylings, but the ones I saw looks great.

The all mint outfit looks great. It coordinates well and the necklace adds a bit of nice bling. Mint shoes pull it together, IMO. I wouldn't think too much about getting the exact same colour shade. Almost matching or variations of a colour is great too.

I also like the coral blouse and white cardi with white or cognac shoes. The white is repeated in the cardi, skirt and shoes and is a fresh look.

How is your colouring? That might influence how you perceive colours. Keep posting, I look forward to follow your style journey.

kkards

Veteran

welcome...ok this is WAY outside my personal comfort zone (skirts, color etc) but check out posts from MsMary....color is right up her alley, and she posts a lot of great workwear. she may not have a mint houndstooth skirt, but i'm willing to bet you will find some great inspirations.

unfrumped

Veteran

The mint sweater is a slam dunk. Then you could play with not matching shoes or jewelry a bit.
I think you are on track that for tops , softer colors work best.
The lighter peach-- but the design on it also suggests pattern mixing with a soft floral might work when there is mint in it. Some of the lighter denim colors.
Adding a really good mint colored accessory could make non- mint tops blend better.
I think it is harder to make this super versatile and some risk of buying extra stuff to make it work. So I would first wear the mint combo to get some wear and see if you want to keep working with it. Sometime I keep items that make just one or 2 really fun outfits , and sometime I end up tossing if something better turns up.

Anonymous

Welcome Jen and Jenni NZ.
I really like the outfits with the khaki jacket, denim jacket and mint top.

I think if it's summertime you can get away with a lot of mint without standing out too much.

I rather like the clashing of the khaki and mint but I think you need to feel confident about it.

I don't like the navy top with it as much.

Lisa

Veteran

That's a pretty skirt. I like the idea to use softer, pastel colors against it. Yellow or pink would be lovely. Or you could let the skirt shine and just wear a white top. For footwear, again the softer color shoes would work, or you can do a nude color shoe too.

BrieN

Veteran

I'm finding the responses so varied and interesting. I would pair the skirt with a white top -- lace or button down or mock turtleneck so you don't have a big color delineation from top to bottom, and I'd top with a jean jacket. Metallic shoes or maybe congnac/nude. I'd probably try to wear some jewelry with blue/purple or maybe coral tones... I'd have to see how it looked.

Anonymous

I like it best with the peachy patterned tee and the denim or camel (?) jacket.
Very cute skirt.

Echo

Veteran

After looking at the pictures, I love the skirt with the mint sweater - great combination and not too matchy-matchy. I also love the skirt with the white cardi; it would look great with a white blazer, too. I don't prefer the khaki blazer or the t-shirt with it, as I feel the t-shirt is too casual and the khaki is too muddy a colour to go with the crisp, bright skirt.

While black would be too heavy, I also like the skirt with the cobalt top. I think you have some great ideas here. Wear it once or twice, and I it will feel more natural.

Sheila

Veteran

With a distinctive graphic pattern like this skirt has, I would go for a 'column of color', that is to say, everything in the same color (or very close tonal shades) to keep the overall impression harmonious. At the very least, I would start with that for a first wearing of the skirt and then branch out with other small changes the next time you wear it.

ETA I can't recall if you mentioned your hair color. Since I am a redhead I always add that into my mix of colors that I am wearing. If your hair is less of a bright color then it probably would not be as much of a factor when selecting your outfit for this skirt.

Tisa

Welcome to the forum, Jen.

Your skirt looks great with your white (is it cream?) and your mint shoes. Interesting and elegant.

A jacket in a colour tone of your white shoes would look nice with the skirt. You could add a top in the same tone, in mint, or in some other pastel colour.
Do you have any white or cream tops? Perhaps a more pastel shirt or a blouse?

I think blush would be a better choice than coral, and a shirt or a blouse would look better than a tee. Although a white or mint tee could look good too, if paired with the right jacket.

Is your white cardigan in the same white tone as your skirt? In your photos it looks like the skirt is a more cream white colour (like your shoes), but it could be just different lighting.

PS: I also like your mint sweater.

Ginger

Veteran

You've gotten a lot of great feedback! I just wanted to add that I'm a big fan of mixing different greens. I'm super picky about colors (different reds and blues in particular really do not play well together unless they're extremely close matches) but greens are extremely forgiving when mixed. It's like nature! God's neutral, I've heard it put.

So I LOVE the one with the mint top. I'd actually call it more of a jade or sea green instead of mint, because it's darker. And it doesn't look too ice cream to me. For a bit more of a stretch, a forest green top or topper would also work. The key with greens is making sure you have approximately the same amount of yellow in the tints. This mint has a lot of blue and less yellow, so any other shade of green with more blue than yellow is going to look pretty terrific.

I think that light blues will be your most pleasing blend, instead of a more traditional neutral like khaki or gray. There is very little khaki or gray in that shade of mint, but a light blue will pick up on the blue in the mint. So light denim is a good call. Also try a sky blue in non-denim material.

The darker blue tops are good as well, as long as you are okay with a darker color on top. (I struggle with that, too; it's not wrong, it's just your preference.) I like how the print picks up the mint, and the necklace ties it together with the solid. These richer blues tone down the mint, but are definitely more contrasting.

Jen

I am absolutely overwhelmed by all the responses! Thank you all! Some great feedback and suggestions here.

A couple of people asked about my coloring- Definitely cool. I have dark brown hair and pale skin with obvious pink undertones, and dark slate-blue eyes. My best colors are basically any shade/tint/tone/hue in the red-violet-blue wedge of the wheel, including blues that shade to greens but not reds that shade to orange. Greens that edge into blue are fine. Orange is my nemesis-- these kind of middling light peachy, soft coral shades are about the only 'orange' that I can do. Yellows are also tricky for me, but as long as I keep them light I'm usually okay. There is no gold or mustard or anything like that for me. I also struggle with any but the most neutral shades of medium-to-dark brown. The khaki jacket is not one that I can pull off with just anything under it. It really only works for me with those pinkish tops.

http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....G_0520.jpg

Since I have such high-contrast coloring to begin with, I actually carry off bold prints and colors quite well. I have to be careful with pastels because they will wash me out. These sherbety shades are about as light as I go.

I found some more tops to pair with the skirt as color references (most of these tops I would never wear with that skirt, and a few I actually dug out of my donate bin just to get the color sample). http://i1123.photobucket.com/a.....20tops.jpg

The suggestions for a white top with the skirt are good suggestions, but I probably won't do it. I'm still working on exactly why not, and that's an interesting question in terms of understanding my own style, but there's something that's a little too sweet about a white top with that combination of silhouette, color and pattern.

I may be warming up to the idea of the head-to-toe mint (or sea green or jade or whatever you call that color I do think there's something to the lighting about that because if I lay the skirt and sweater on the bed and just look at them, the two greens are barely a shade off but in the photos the sweater looks a good bit darker. My leading theory is that the skirt reflects the light from the flash more than the sweater does).

kkards: I have to admit it's pretty far outside my comfort zone too, but I like to get out of my comfort zone now and then. Every now and then, I even expand my comfort zone to accommodate things that I didn't really think I'd like (such as sweater dresses. If you'd told me five years ago that I would love my sweater dresses as much as I do, I'd have said you were delusional).

unfrumped: I'm not overly concerned about the skirt being versatile. To be really honest, I don't wear skirts that often. I have a section of my closet dedicated to 'silly spring dresses' that serve no practical purpose and have nothing to do with my life except that I like them. I think this skirt fits into that corner very well, and if I only pull it out once or twice a year it's okay. What I don't want to do is buy a top I don't like just because it goes with the skirt.

smittie: you actually hit on exactly one of my problems. It's definitely not summer here, but it's a very summery color, isn't it? However, the pencilness of it and the houndstooth print say fall to me, and I definitely don't have the confidence to wear the skirt with a top that doesn't hide my tummy so I'm kind of looking at layers and sweaters. So despite the summer-time color, it has to be a winter/early spring piece for me.

Lisa: I can see the softer pastels, but I know from experience that they wash me out. I can put pastels under a black blazer or even a charcoal cardigan, but I definitely need help wearing them. And the right yellow (I'm thinking a lemon chiffon kind of yellow) wouldn't suit me at all unfortunately. really unfortunate because I absolutely love yellow.

Echo: I generally agree about the khaki/camel being too 'muddy'. That is frequently my issue with that color.

Tisa: The 'white' in the skirt may be more of a cream. I think it's white, but it certainly doesn't look white next to the white cardigan. The white in the skirt compares to normal copier paper. Again, I almost think it might be something about the sheen/texture of the fabric and how it reflects the flash. The white shoes are definitely *white*. I struggle with them because of it. I have exactly one dress I wear them with.

Ginger: I adore greens as well, and I think you're right. They play so well together (and I know exactly what you mean about blues and reds. Nothing makes me cringe like seeing a tomato-red top with crimson shoes. I think blues can be coaxed together, but it has to be deliberate. They rarely just go without a little help.) I gravitate towards more bluish greens, and I've finally learned to keep away from muted shades so any shade of green I own would work well in theory. I do run into the issue of the top being darker than the bottom and so far I don't think my white cardigan solves that problem with a darker green.

The sky blue was a good call. It's a very lush combo with the white and mint. I have a sky blue sweater that needs mending and this might actually spur me to do something about it.

Thanks, everyone for your insights! I think I have a little more shopping to do this weekend

Gigi

Veteran

Nice skirt!

My personal preference would be to wear the skirt with a drapey white button-down. I'd wear the mint shoes too. Maybe a gold statement necklace.

Sara L.

Veteran

I feel your pain! I had a mint green tank that I eventually got rid of because I couldn't figure out what to pair it with besides white. I think you have some great suggestions here. I would probably wear nude shoes. That's my go-to when I'm not sure what shoes go with an outfit.

Brooklyn

Veteran

For a winter look, I would go with chocolate brown or caramel brown sweater, brown opaque tights and brown boots (knee high or ankle). Maybe with some white accents (white bag, pearls) to lighten things up and pick up the skirt. Of course, not everyone loves brown.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Welcome! You've had some great responses. For what it is worth, really love the skirt with the first sweater (not too matchy at all to my eye) and also with the coral and white. It might look good with a berry tone as well if you are better in cool colours than warm -- and of course with white. I find the khaki too "muddy" for it. You could try black too...since you are high contrast yourself, it might work well. Angie had a post last spring I believe about pale blue with black, and she's also showed blush with black -- this would be a similar effect.

rachylou

Veteran

A light tan, as opposed to a pink or peach, would be sophisticated, I think... in both top and shoes. I.e., I'd match the top and shoes instead of top and skirt for the office.