Summer Chic: Printed Blazer

Summer suiting separates are a chic alternative to dresses during the warmer months; a sateen blazer in a bright, printed fabric, gives this traditional piece a fun update.  Look for a tailored style in a modern cut like an apex hem or a button-less, shawl-front closure, to keep the ensemble light and fluid like the season.

1. Target- Merona Printed Open Layering Sateen Blazer
2.  Banana Republic -Timeless V-Neck Tee
3.  Banana Republic -Sateen Short
 

Sateen is one of my favorite fabrics; this cotton-spandex blend gives a piece like this blazer (1) quite a bit of structure, while the spandex ensure a great fit.  Found in items from blazers to dresses, sateen is produced with a smooth, shiny finish, giving any piece of clothing, like these shorts (3), a polished look.  T-shirts add a relaxed vibe to an ensemble, but one like this v-neck in a rich jade hue and woven cotton (2), keep the outfit looking sharp.

1, 2, 3 Chic!

1, 2, 3 Chic!

 

Accessorizing in bright, bold colors is easy and fun, if you know where to begin, and admittedly, for months, I have been lost; but I think I may have figured out how to rock a color-blocked clutch, and it is as easy as 1, 2, 3!  For a while now, I have been trying to match the color-blocking in my clutch to my outfit, without much success, but when I realized if I matched one color of the purse to my belt, and the other to my shoes, the outfit looks pulled together, without being matchy-matchy because only two out of three of my accessories match, although all three go together!

 

 

 

 

How I Styled It?

Although I try to employ 1, 2, 3 styling when coming up with an outfit, sometimes, I start in reverse order, and in this case, it was with these shorts.  As part of Pantone's Fashion Color Report for Spring, Lemon Zest (yellow) shorts have been on my radar for a while, but yellow can sometimes be a tricky color to style.  Utilizing the color wheel, the jade t-shirt matches the shorts because its green hue is a combination of blue and yellow, while the orange belt pairs well, due to its infusion of both red and yellow.  Analogous colors, those that are next to each other on the color wheel, play subtly off of one another, providing a soft, less jarring combination of colors.  The blazer, with its predominant violet color throughout, is a complementary hue to yellow (i.e. they are opposite one another on the color wheel) and was a lucky find on the clearance rack at Target!  SN