Mixing Neutrals, Part 1

I like to mix neutrals. Black, brown, navy, grey, whatever. I throw them together in various combinations and pretty much forget that a lot of people frown upon it. I'm not saying it always works in every situation, and for me the determination is always made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account shades and tones of the colors I'm putting together. The outfit below is a prime example:

I almost named this post the Blue, Black and Brown-fit, but I decided that was to cheesy. (Is it? I mean, it's kinda funny, right? No? K, moving on...)

Here I am flagrantly flouting convention by putting together navy, brown, AND black, three colors that many people feel VERY STRONGLY should NEVER BE MIXED. Yet I loved it. Particularly because this skirt has been sitting around in my closet for years, barely worn because it's an awkward length on it's own, and has a slight bubble hem that falls weird on me. I had an epiphany last week that I could throw a belt over it and turn it from a low-waisted to a high-waisted piece and BAM--it looked awesome. Add the simple, casual looseness of the t-shirt and the edginess of what I like to call my Take That! wedges (cause they're five inches high and if I got in a fight I could be all Take That! and kick you and you would fall down and I would win), and it just works. Don't ask me how or why exactly, on paper it sounds awful. Casual, sweet, vintage and edgy with only neutral colors. The final product was the result of pure experimentation. I just started putting stuff on in determination to make use of an underutilized skirt.

So my point is that there's no hard and fast rules or guidelines. Sometimes you just have to try something  weird. If it looks awful, well, no one saw except your mirror. And you might stumble on something great and unique.

Detail of skirt pattern

Copper, bronze and silver ring from Picadilly Circus in London, sapphire and diamond ring from the lost-and -found at work (not claimed after 3 months)