tonal/monochromatic, or too matchy-matchy?

trix

Oftentimes, I read fashion advice saying that people who want to look taller/thinner should dress in a long, unbroken line, i.e., tonal/monochromatic. But as I read more fashion blogs, I find lots of people saying they steered away from certain looks as too "matchy-matchy" and swapping out not simply accessories like purses and scarves but also shoes, tights, or tops or bottoms. Which works well on some of the size 0/2 bloggers out there, but I have no idea how to do this without visually chopping up my 5'3", short-legged, could-stand-to-lose-a-few-pounds body, or without spending vast amounts of money to update my almost-all-black shoe/bag collection (I've only just branched out into colored scarves).

So I'm turning to you to ask what you think. What does it mean to be too "matchy-matchy"? Is monochrome out, and am I hopelessly out of date for even asking? How am I supposed to achieve that long unbroken line while staying in style?

15 years ago

Dressing

4 replies

Latest reply was from trix

garmenta

Active Member

I think that most of the ire about overmatching was about accessories (and BTW, the fashion pendulum has swung back to thinking that there's nothing wrong with a black handbag with a pair of black shoes).

A monochromatic outfit can be timelessly stylish, if all the pieces fit you beautifully. It can also be a bit dull. Another way to fool the eye is to use pieces that make parts of you look taller and slenderer--for instance, your neck, your torso, and your legs. That's all about cut and fit, not just color, and you can do that with a variety of silhouettes.

Do you have questions about specific pieces or looks? Ask away, and we'll do our best to help.

15 years ago

Queen Mum

Veteran

I think the trick to keeping monochromatic interesting and not matchy-matchy is to use different textures within your outfit.

15 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

These are super questions, Trix. Fully loaded questions actually! Here’s the brief answer to compliment what garmenta and Queenie have already suggested:

o Monochromatic colour combinations are KILLER when done with taste and texture. Always in and always fabulous. For my style, I prefer them with a sharp contrast of cream or white thrown into the mix, but that is not a must.

o Matching your shoes and handbag is totally stylish.

o Creating a long lean line has a lot to do with fit as well as colour.

Now, to throw a spanner into the works, I personally prefer to mismatch things in an outfit because that’s my aesthetic preference. But it’s not cheesy to match things up if you prefer the look.

15 years ago

trix

Active Member

Wow, thanks all for the good advice! Sorry it took me a while to respond -- this thing called Real Life got in the way and kept me thinking about work instead of what I was wearing to work.

Anyway, I'm relieved to hear that tonal dressing isn't taboo. Those are great suggestions about mixing textures and highlighting the best body parts and concentrating on how fit creates the long line -- you made me realize that all I've done so far is mix patterns. (And actually, the only monochrome look I do is variations on all gray, because I think all-black is too much, and I don't own enough of any other colors to make a monochromatic look out of them.)

As for mismatching colors, well, I'm not sure I own enough things in different colors to do anything other than big blocks of color over black. Maybe this is a sign that I need to go shopping.

15 years ago

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