With a monochrome outfit, you can keep your accessories neutral to maintain the minimalist look, or you can add pops of color by wearing accessories in a contrasting hue. Personally, I like to keep the rest neutral because I think it lets the main colors shine.

Color Blocking

Colorblocking has been pretty popular the last few years and basically consists of two or more solid colors worn together. It’s a great look for summer because it typically employs bold, bright shades. Colorblocking looks best when it’s with complementary or analogous colors; that is, colors opposite to one or another or next to each other on the color wheel, respectively.

While this trend focuses on saturated, bright colors, you can definitely use the same theory to mix and match your pastels and jewel tones. For example, if you lightened the two outfit examples I’ve shown, you’d wind up with combinations of sky blue + pale mint and peach + baby pink. Alternately, keep one color bold and use the pastel version of the other for combinations of sky blue + seafoam/cobalt + mint and peach + hot pink/orange + pale pink.

For more color combination ideas, make sure to check out our “Color Combo to Try” series!

Pattern Play

Patterns can be pretty intimidating, but they’re much more manageable if you just think of them as a collection of solids.

Take a look at your pattern and see what colors it’s made up of. Pick one and use it as a springboard. For instance, the geometric skirt on the left contains cobalt, brown, beige, yellow, and a predominantly teal background. Any of these colors would be suitable: I chose a yellow top and a pair of dark teal shoes. This easy method creates a cohesive, polished look.

Alternately, you can “colorblock” if your pattern is smaller and has one predominant color. The skirt on the right contains purple, green, white, and blue, but from a distance, it “reads” as blue, which is complemented nicely by a coral top.