My Monochrome Life: I wore a monochrome outfit every day for ten days. Here’s what I learned.
Quarantine dressing, A.K.A. getting dressed for no one, to go nowhere, has made me more willing to experiment and play with my clothes-- something I am super ready and excited to continue doing when we emerge in the post-vaccine era. Having never tried monochrome dressing before, I decided to give it a whirl for a few days… which turned into a few more… then a few more. It was life-changing and I’m so excited to share my findings!
My process:
I made a list of colors, but I didn’t plan my outfits. I would wake up and decide what I felt like. Sometimes I had a particular piece in mind I wanted to build the outfit around; other times I would lay out literally everything I had in a specific color and go from there. It was SO fun and I hope you feel inspired to try a monochromatic look out for a day or challenge yourself to do a series!
lesson 1
Getting dressed for no one makes you try new things and take sartorial risks! No one cares! Remember this when it’s time to get back out there.
purple
these purple iolite stones on the one-of-a-kind Aurelia Hoops from the Sirena Collection would perfectly complete a purple ensemble, or anything with abalone!
lesson 2
Monochromatic does not mean one hue. Different shades within a color category adds depth and patterns and textures add dimension.
dark blue
This started as an all navy outfit, but I was feeling sad, so I added the brighter blue vintage work coat on top and it set it off. i felt Great in this ‘fit! Getting dressed is a mood booster. Wearing Lapis baoding hoops and Gonghsi choker in cobalt, plus a turkish glass nazar buncugu to ward off the evil eye.
lesson 3
Once I got going it was hard to stop! I kept thinking of slightly different variations I could do. Purple, for example, could go in the plum/burgundy direction, or you could do a cooler-toned, royal purple. You could even blend it with darker pink and do a magenta theme. I want to try all of the above.
lesson 4
I learned what colors and pieces my already substantial wardrobe was lacking. I definitely would like to add some more colorful shoes in adventurous colors because most of what I have is quite neutral.
bright green
Prehnite pieces were spot on for my chartreuse lewk.
my monochromatic looks
Here are the eleven* outfits I wore with matching SKJ accessories, presented here in ROYGBIV order (i didn’t wear them that way!). Most of my jewelry inventory is stored at the studio, so some of the matching jewelry pieces are what I woulda/coulda/shoulda worn, if I had them before I left for the studio in the morning.
*i changed twice in one day because i just wasn’t feeling myself in the dark green, but it’s proving to be a crowd favorite, so I think I just got way too in my head— very counter to the whole exercise!
white
anything silver or pearls for white, of course! Wearing a silver quatrefoil cuff and small pearl hoops in silver. I also braided a cream colored scarf into my hair.
lesson 5
not only is monochrome dressing fun, it’s so dang easy! It’s kinda like having a uniform, only way more fun, duh. I picked a color and that was it. The outfit came together really fast.
yellow
wore my Yuzu necklace with tis yellow get up, featuring my new headband by Selina Sanders, a fellow filipina artist who’s work i love. Gold-toned anything works well with yellow, too! I’m wearing squiggle ear climbers in gold.
lesson 5
I also got some ideas for what stones and enamels to play with for new jewelry pieces to create in future. It was cool to realize that for almost every color, I did have something in my line or one of a kind pieces to match.
orange
the peach necklace would work great with an all orange look, or anything in the Unikko collection in the orange colorway. I wore the unikko stem earrings in orange. But there’s also the fruity studs and fruity dangles!
