I know you want to get plenty of use out of the clothes in your closet, yet you probably have pieces you love that you don’t wear very often. I want to help you with that!
You know I’m all about versatile pieces that mix and match effortlessly. But even when you have clothes you love, it can be hard to figure out how to put them together into outfits. Printed pieces can be especially tricky. You might love a printed shirt, skirt, dress, or pair of pants, but then wonder, “Okay, what do I actually wear with this?”
Today, I’m helping you figure out how to style printed shirts, pants, skirts, dresses, and more. And I won’t just be handing you a bunch of outfit ideas and assuming you have clothes similar to the examples I’m using.
Instead, I’m going to teach you three simple styling principles that work with ANY printed piece. With them, you’ll be able to pull together outfits with ANY of your printed pieces, regardless of whether they’re similar in color, print, or shape to my examples today.
Ready for your style lesson? Let’s do it!
SIZING: I’m 5’6″ and usually S/M or 6 in clothes and 8.5 to 9 in shoes.
Why Printed Pieces Are So Great
Printed pieces are fantastic because they add lots of visual interest to outfits—without you having to do anything extra. You’re going to put on a shirt and pants (or a dress) no matter what. If you make one of those pieces a printed one, you’ll look extra stylish with the same amount of effort!
The trick is knowing what to wear with those pieces so that your outfit feels pulled together without having to scroll Instagram or Pinterest for hours in search of outfit ideas.
3 Easy Ways to Style Printed Shirts, Pants, Skirts & Dresses
The simplest way to make an outfit with a printed item is to start with the colors in the print. From there, you can repeat those colors, add other neutrals, or introduce a pop of contrast.
Here’s how each strategy works!
1. Color Pulling: Repeat Colors From the Print
Color pulling is when you choose a color—or several colors—from the print, then pull it out to use elsewhere in your outfit.
You could incorporate this color in a big way, like with a pair of pants, or in a small way, like with earrings or shoes. And yes, you can—and should—pull neutrals from the print as well!
This is a no-brainer strategy for effortlessly creating pulled-together outfits with prints. You don’t even have to think about which colors go with your piece, because the print already did all that work for you!
Here are two ways I styled a printed shirt with burgundy in it — by pulling burgundy from the print and repeating it in my pants.
The tops have different prints, but the same strategy works for both. Easy!
Don’t forget about neutrals!
Color pulling doesn’t have to mean adding more color. In fact, if you have a print made of all neutrals, let decision-making be SUPER EASY by pairing it with a neutral from the print.
Here, I pulled the blue and white from the striped shirt and repeated them with white pants and a denim jacket.
If you’ve ever wondered how to style a leopard print skirt or how to style printed pants, you can use this same method. Grab one of the neutrals from the print and use it for the rest of your outfit, like I did here with black.
ZERO thinking involved, but you’ll look intentional and put together. 🙌
And you can pull more than one color from a print!
Here I pulled the red and white from the floral print shirt and echoed them in my blazer and pants, respectively. SO EASY, but looks really stylish and cohesive, right?!
2. Color Pulling + Other Neutrals
When styling a printed shirt, skirt, pants, a dress, or other printed piece, you can also add other neutrals that aren’t necessarily in the print. You don’t have to limit yourself to ONLY the colors in the print!
For example, I paired the leopard print shirt with a black jacket and dark-wash jeans. The black is pulled from the leopard print, while the jeans add another neutral.
With the blue and white striped shirt, I pulled white from the print with the pants, then added an olive green utility jacket. Olive green is a pseudo-neutral—a color that acts like a neutral—so it works easily with the blue and white even though it isn’t in the print.
In other words, start by color pulling, but don’t feel like every single piece has to match a color in the print.
3. Neutrals + a Pop of Color
Another easy way to style a printed piece is to keep the outfit grounded in neutrals, then add a pop of color. That color can either be pulled from the print or be another color that coordinates with it.
Here is the same animal print skirt + black tank + black sandals I showed earlier, except this time I added yellow earrings for a fun pop of color.
And here are black-and-white printed pants with a black tank and black sandals, plus aqua earrings for that pop. The black is pulled from the print, giving the outfit a cohesive base and making it easy to layer on another color!
Because the rest of the outfit is neutral, the earrings can stand out without the whole outfit feeling too busy.
You can use this same strategy when you’re figuring out what to wear with a printed shirt, too.
Here, the blue-and-white striped shirt and jeans create a neutral base, while the red shoes add a fun pop of color. It’s an easy way to make an everyday outfit more eye-catching without doing anything complicated!
This strategy works with printed dresses, too.
For this colorful printed dress, I kept the shoes neutral with metallic sandals, then pulled yellow from the print with the earrings for a pop of color.
Metallics count as neutrals, which makes them especially useful with a busy or colorful print. They don’t compete with the dress, but the yellow earrings still give the outfit that extra bit of interest and help everything feel pulled together.
Shop the Outfits:
Shop More Printed Pieces
Want to add a fun printed piece to your wardrobe? Here are some printed tops, bottoms, and dresses to check out!
Want More Outfit Ideas for the Clothes in Your Closet?
And if you’re thinking, “Okay, but I DO want some outfit ideas!” 😆 I’ve got you covered there, too!
Check out my One Piece, Many Ways series, where I take one wardrobe piece and show you several different ways to style it. It’s a great place to get ideas for getting MORE wear out of the clothes you already own!
See all of my One Piece Many Ways posts HERE!
Try These Strategies With Your Own Printed Pieces
Whether you’re styling a printed shirt, printed pants, a skirt, or a dress, these strategies give you an easy starting point for putting together outfits with your own clothes.
Go into your closet and pull out a printed piece you haven’t been wearing much. Start with the colors in the print, then decide: Do you want to repeat those colors, add other neutrals, or throw in a pop of color — or all three?
When in doubt, make the rest of the pieces a neutral color from the print!
Hope this helps you give one of those printed pieces in your closet some love! 🙌
