STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

shopaholic · Kenneth Cole

revisiting the matchy-matchy dilemma

ILoveChoo · Hermes

IMO, those are good, but wheen you add matching shoes and bag they turn bad. obviously, you want them coordinate, but no green bag with that last outfit. :)

lynnie · Chanel

I think those are ok because they're suits and they are supposed to match. I don't like it when people match their shoes to their bag or their jacket to their shoes, etc, unless its like black or something. But the same red jacket with the same red shoes with the same red lipstick is too matchy for me. A real life example, I have this jacket and these shoes, and while the styles would look great together with the outfits I envision, I can't wear them because I look too "matchy"

settlement jacket

honey · Gucci

i agree with the others with a suit it's different. as far as too matchy it depends on your style. i'm not the biggest fan of matching bag & shoes, but i don't think it looks bad when the colors are neutral. my co-worker wore bronze (muted tones) shoes that matched her bag perfectly, and it looked cute. also it worked with her overall style. in general i think when you start to perfectly color coordinate more than 2 items in your outfit (i.e. shoes, bag, & jewelry) then it's dangerous territory.

-- Edited by honey at 11:24, 2005-06-22

Meow · Coach

To me those suits you posted are very good matchy-matchy. An example of bad matchy-matchy to me is this:

I certainly no fashion expert--you should have seen the way I was dressing before I started participating in this forum, but I think the girl in this picture has gone overboard with the red. She should have worn maybe a pair of blue shoes to pick up the blue in the skirt and maybe carried a neutral bag.

MissMee · Kate Spade

See, I don't get the red in the above outfit at all!!! Why did she put on a red shirt? Is there red in the skirt, because I can't see any. ;If there is, then fine, but I would've put neutral shoes w/ it or something. Or maybe just red shoes & bag. I don't know. That outfit makes no sense to me. I like matching, but I like to throw in an unexpected color if it makes sense. Hell, I'm just rambling now.....

I think "matchy-matchy" is when there's total overkill on a color (but I don't know if it counts when you wear various shades of the same color). Like The green outfit you posted in the 3rd pic. It would be matchy-matchy if the shirt was the same green, her shoes were the same green, her earrings and necklace were green, and her bag was green. maybe that's already been said.

-- Edited by MissMee at 17:56, 2005-06-22

kisa · Dooney & Bourke

This might not make much sense, but I think the yellow in the last green outfit (subtle pinstripe in the suit, darker shade on buttons and trim) is a muted enough shade of yellow (compared to the other yellow in the suit) to use for the shirt and make it work without being matchy matchy, looking at the suit, however I think if she would have worn a blue shirt the same shade as that ribbon detail, ( which I think kinda sticks out) that would have been matchy matchy.

-- Edited by kisa at 18:06, 2005-06-22

halleybird · Hermes

I think matchy-matchy is much worse when it's done with bright colors, like in the pic meow posted.

For some good examples, I'd look in threadstyle -- FashionPrincess, for example, always wears coordinating colors but she never looks "matchy." Same with several others, like meow and sfclinevandy.