Styled by Kimberley: Insects

Have you tried the old 'Rule of Two'? It's fantastic if you're not confident in wearing colour or pattern. While I clearly have no problem with either of these, it's still a great way to mix more
than two patterns but keep the look coherent. As it says on the tin, you wear two of each. This means you can look put together while wearing a bold pattern along with a vibrant clashing colour. I suppose the classic version of this would be to wear matching shoes with bag, or a twinset, or matching necklace with earrings. However, you can bend these rules a bit to keep it modern (although am I mad or is a twinset suddenly sounding pretty good right now..?)

In my not-great-example here I have toned the rule down with two black (jacket, jeans), two brown/gold (shoes, clutch) and two insect motifs. The whole thing hangs together with the pale neutral top.
The insects are the stars here and they're my favourite pieces too. I'm wearing the adorable bee earrings that Sugar and Vice sent me. They must be mind readers because I love bees. I'm kind of funny about earrings- I looove big Pat Butcher door knockers but I have tiny ears and often find them too heavy. These are so lightweight and they're big enough to make a statement but aren't going to get tangled in my jacket collar etc. Win! I'm also excited to style up the ultra wearable bee necklace too but matching the earring and necklace would've been to easy for my demonstration! I just learned that Sugar and Vice recently celebrated their 9th birthday. Wow, what an achievement for any small business. Congrats, guys!

My other insect pairing is my favourite Naromode scarf, which has flies being zapped by a bug light. Exactly how Helen likes her bugs- dead! I personally quite like bugs. I find them interesting and just the right measure of creepy without being too dark or scary. I really should open the scarf out to show the print in its full glory- and it is glorious! Dead Sleekit (aka Naromode designer Iain's new brand) have just smashed their Kickstarter target and I could not be more thrilled for them. Partly so that I can get my reward haha.. but mostly because I'm just chuffed to see what incredible illustrations he'll have me drooling over next. You can still snap up a limited edition reward if you're quick- it ends on Sunday 28 February!


Jacket | borrowed from Helen
Top | New Look
Jeans | Primark
Shoes | Topshop
Scarf | Naromode (now Dead Sleekit)
Clutch | borrowed from Helen
Pompom hair ties | New Look
Earrings | c/o Sugar & Vice
Glasses | c/o IOLLA

It's funny how one item can completely change the vibe of a look. In this case, the addition of Helen's jacket to meet my Rule of Two has turned it from casual basics to a creepy version of a Pink Lady. If I'd seen this coming I'd have definitely done my hair up a bit more Frenchy style! My old candy floss hair is calling...

I think next I'm going to use this to inject pink back into my wardrobe. I'm missing my colour pop- and spring is coming after all! And the next way to step up the matchy matchy game is to make like the #LFW bloggers and match my dress to your handbag. It's next on my list...

If you have a go at Rule of Two (or a twinset!) give me a shout- I'd love to see how you wear it! If you're instagramming, hit me up @wardrobeconversations so I can take a peek.