A Dash of Paisley

This is the other blouse that Tim gave to me for Mother’s Day this year.  As with the watercolor blouse in my previous post, it is not something that I would normally buy for myself, but I do wear this paisley blouse when I am in the mood for printed and flowy.  The deeper muted jewel tones keep it from being overwhelming with the main visual being dark navy blue.  It brings to my mind the Lily Pulitzer prints that can often be too bright and busy on me.  In that case, a printed skirt with a solid top would work better than so much pattern near the face.

A Brief Paisley History

Paisley is an old classic pattern that originated in India with their woven textiles.  Imports of the fabric made way into Europe in the 1600-1700s with many believing that the pattern was a protective charm to ward off evil demons.  It was also used in royal garments and tapestries then and now.  Paisley is still popular today in many different styles and uses from conservative to the unconventional, showing that it can change personality through color, detail, size, scale, fabric and item in which it is woven or printed upon.

Accessories with Paisley

I chose to pull out red from the print for my necklace and earrings, you know how I love a pop of red whenever possible!  You can read about my necklace and earrings in this previous post from our trip to Blue Ridge.  I found a similar red necklace and earring option for you at Amazon.  By adding a gold chain to the red Amazon necklace, the look would be almost identical.

Here are similar Red Crystal Drop Earrings on Amazon, really fun to wear with so many things.  I change out the wires to longer ones when the earrings do not show below my hair in the front, very easily done.

// Red Crystal Necklace //   //Red Crystal Drop Earrings //

My blouse has a 3/4-length flutter sleeve with an additional ruffle across the bust line for added design.  I found a similar print blouse on Amazon that looks very soft and comfortable.  They show some great options in this listing that I will be considering.  I hope to put together a complete outfit every month or two that I have purchased from Amazon to show you what great options they offer.  I have been happy with most of the clothing and jewelry that I have purchased from them, I just make sure to read the size chart and fabric content, measure yourself if necessary, don’t guess.

// Amazon Paisley Tops //

Since we are still in Summer, I chose to wear basic black capri length cotton leggings.  The top provides plenty of coverage around the hip area and the leggings are comfortable with a cool look for day or evening, white jeans would work also.  Switching over to long dark pants or jeans would be a nice transition look for Fall.

I chose to pull out the olive color from the blouse with my fun olive wedge sandals that I bought on our recent trip to Blue Ridge.  You can read about that shopping experience and our trip in the previous post here.   It makes the outfit more interesting when wearing shoes or an accessory that is one of the unexpected colors and not always “matchy-matchy” with one of the major colors in a printed fabric.  I found a different style of embellished olive sandal on Amazon, with a lower heal.  I may be buying these lower ones for when I need to do more walking.

// Olive Sandal //

Size and Scale of Paisley

I think it is important to experiment with the size of the paisley emblem in the fabrics that you wear.  This seems to work for me since there is the dominant navy color among the print without heavy bold edges.  I have tried to wear small consistently sized paisley print in the past and it just seems to be too busy near the face, kind of distracting for wearing jewelry and not quite in line with my personality and look I am going for.

Give paisley another try if you tried in the past and felt that it wasn’t for you.  There are so many options now and you have nothing to lose by trying on a few things in the dressing room.

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