This Spring I have really been drawn to full color looks. I love seeing the all one-color or two-color looks in the magazines and on fellow influencers. While I have always had a bright, colorful and truly Southern style, I challenged myself this Spring to do more of what I love – color coordinate. You’ve probably heard me talk about my love of full color and Spring colors that pair well together – hello pink and purple! Since I am naturally drawn to color, I knew I would had several pieces to make new outfit combinations work. Since nothing inspires me to dress in full color than the vibrant streets of Charleston, I used my recent trip to test out this look with some of my favorite pieces from seasons past.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I picked up this clutch after my first year at Charleston Fashion Week. I snagged these killer bow shorts in pink and black along with my pink shades last year and this multi stripe light-weight sweater the Fall before last. Before I landed on this combo, I went through a process and a few reject ideas. Read on to get the scoop of my 4-step process.

Take it All Out

To get this punchy pink and orange look, I pulled out all the items in my closet in the same color family. If you don’t have a lot of one color or feel limited by one, then try pulling all warm or all cool tones or any items that have the color in it. Even though my sweater reads mostly orange (at least to me) I pulled it anyways because the pink was almost identical to the shorts. Pull items in solids, stripes and bold prints to see what possibilities you really have.

Choose Your Focus

Once you have all your options pulled out and separated from the masses, pick one item you want to build the look around. For me, it was these bow shorts. I was getting that Spring itch and really wanted to wear them so I built the look around what worked with the color, silhouette and mega bow detail. By choosing your focal piece, you will naturally eliminate a few of the options. For example, the mega high-waist bow on these shorts eliminated all tops that cannot be tucked in.

Don’t Be Afraid!

Don’t be afraid of bad combinations. This is actually something I struggle with and always guilty of. I am my own worst enemy and often guilty of shooting down an idea before I even see if it’s a good one. It’s silly really, because when I’m in my closet pulling out different pieces and trying to come up with new outfit ideas, I am all alone. My husband is usually out in the yard or golfing and I use the alone time to be creative. Even if my idea is terrible and a total fashion fail, there is no one there to see it. Yet I am still really hard on myself for not having a good idea. If you like to express yourself through fashion, don’t be afraid to take the risks. High risk brings high reward and you may come out with something genius.

Accessorize

Finish it off with any relevant accessories. As you were pulling out all your clothing items you may have noticed that you had enough of one color or another. We like what we like and we just can’t help what we are drawn to. The same may not be true for the accessories section of your wardrobe. If you are finding your accessories are less than colorful (we all need ample neutrals to ground us), this is a great opportunity to introduce the complementary color to your ensemble. Pink is one of my staple colors for Spring & accessories so I simply repeated the “take it all out” step again for my bags and shoes and mixed and matched until I liked the end result.

I hope you guys found this helpful, even if you just identify with being your own worst enemy. What are your challenging yourself with this season? Let me know in the comments below! You can check out my other full color looks here: Lilac & Lavender

stripe sweater // bow shorts (sold out, similar here) // pom sandals // clutch (old, similar here)// pink sunglasses // crystal hoop earrings

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all photos Kim Graham Photography