One of my most oft-repeated formulas is patterned skirt + neutral top + solid, coordinating colour topper. More often than not, the print is a floral. I’m very predictable, you guys. But having developed a cohesive colour palette for my wardrobe, mixing and matching all these separates is super easy.

I actually learned to appreciate the importance of colour palettes from J. Crew. You know how it’s easy to mix their pieces from different seasons? It’s because they tend to have certain colours that repeat (either as stand-alones or as part of prints). Even if you’re not as much of a matchy-matchy person as I am, having a number of complementary pieces in the same colour palette does make it easier to get dressed every morning. Take, for example, my burgundy pieces and accents in this outfit (all from J. Crew or the Factory store): the shoes, cardigan, and necklace. They ground the outfit in the same way that black would – except that burgundy is a slightly less expected “neutral” – and they all go together, which means I can be a little more bold with the rest of the outfit. Enter the florals. Always the florals.

In fact, it’s safe to say that winter is HERE.

We got spoiled this year with a mild (for Edmonton) fall, but now that we’ve had our first proper snow, I’m already feeling the winter blues. It’s going to be a long six months *sobs*

I had a feeling it was going to be a cold day this particular morning, so I rearranged my outfit schedule for the week (what, am I the only one who has one of those?) so I could wear something with lots and lots of layers. Dress + sweater + blazer is a formula I really need to remember more often in the wintertime. It’s easy, comfy, and warm – just the ticket.

And, oh hey, look: another no-black combo. I was a little worried that the patterned bag would clash with the floral print (a bold print, at that) but I think the colour palette helped tie everything together.