Sunny Hues and Straw for Spring

This week marks the “ides of March” and with Daylight Savings behind us, I’m fully charging ahead with introducing Spring colors to my and my clients’ wardrobes. Towards the end of the Season, I like to start preparing my closet turnover by washing my coats and putting them away, and rotating my sweaters out in favor of tees and mid-weight tops, and getting my leather and suede jackets ready for action.

Each year, I love to incorporate the color I consider the epitome of Spring into my Seasonal looks: Yellow. It’s the color of sunshine, is full of positivity and optimism, and after what feels like an endless winter, it brings such a welcome uplifting vibe to my closet and surroundings. 

I love pairing yellow with its color compliment – blue – and introducing textures into my looks to make them feel more intricate and grounded.

For this look, I was inspired by my new Cropped Suede Trucker Jacket from Anthropologie in “Citron” yellow, which has a fun, slightly boxy shape and is as versatile as a leather jacket but reads more like a denim jacket – best of both world.

I wore it with my new Cloth & Stone Belted Denim Shirtdress (also from Anthro) — which I can see becoming my go-to Summer piece as it’s easy to thrown on, and dress up or down with either some flats/sandals, or espadrilles.

To dress up this look, I wore my fishnet ankle tights by Wolford which I love for milder weather, and coordinated two of my favorite wardrobe pieces that I’ve owned for years — my Missoni Rainbow Scarf and Missoni Multi-Color Chevron Flats. I purchased the items at two different retailers (Anthro and Intermix) but they happen to go together perfectly. I love Missoni patterns – they always make me think of Mediterranean vacations with their vibrance and color juxtapositions. There is a lurex thread woven into both the scarf and flats – which adds a bit of glamour and shine to the pieces.

As my final finishing touches, I carried this gorgeous Ulla Johnson Pomme Straw Bag from Nordstrom, and wore my favorite Diva Strass Necklace by Gas Bijoux.

I know yellow can feel intimidating as a color to embrace, but the key to wearing it is two-fold:

1) Finding the right yellow for YOU (which Color Analysis really helps with) 

2) Finding colors that both complement it and make it stand out

Without an official Color Analysis, my recommendation is to go with a yellow that contrasts your skin tone enough not to blend in, but has a similarity to your overall features in whether they have more softness or clarity about them. In other words, if you have a lot of softness about your face (similarity in coloring in your features), softer shades of yellow will be more complimentary, like warm golds, dusty mustards, etc. If you have a vibrancy/contrast to your features — like dark hair and light skin with bright eyes — more vivid yellows, like sunshine yellow, and even neon yellow hues will compliment you best. Without fully understanding what your Color Season is, it’s difficult to generalize, but the tip above would be my one general guideline.

As far as finding colors to compliment/contrast yellow, or those that harmonize with it, my favorite combos are yellow + blue (like this look), yellow + purple, yellow + black, yellow + white, yellow + more yellow!

Today I dare you to choose a yellow you love, and incorporate it into your look! You’ll notice that others respond to it (and you) on a subconscious level, reacting positively (great conversation starter too, I promise). Would love to see the looks you create if you #DareToYellow, please share on instagram and be sure to use #ModnitsaStyle so I can repost the looks on my stories!

Photography by Leslie Moncada