BREAKING THE RULES WEEK: PATTERN MIXING

Welcome to Breaking the Rules Week, where each day we'll feature a fashion rule that we're going to smash to smithereens -- and look amazing doing so! Today's broken rule is: Never mix patterns.

And here is my example of arrogant disregard for that limitation:

I found that staying within the color palette of my boldest print (the Reed shirtdress) helped the outfit from getting too Crazy Town. The striped belt picks up the blue in the dress, and the khaki-colored cardigan acted like a neutral despite having a pretty distinct print. I originally had on some polka-dotted tights as well, but it was a little too much look.

And some beautiful pattern mixing outfits submitted by you guys --

Here's Tara's (Mix and Match Fashion) take on pattern mixing, and how spot-on is her blog name for today's feature? The striped cardigan has a very subtle print from afar, so it almost acts like a solid piece with the lovely abstract print cami, which is why I think it works so well. But the fact that the cardigan is actually striped just gives it a fantastic bit of edge. The overall look is professional and polished! And hello, cute brooch!

And here's Lisa's (Respect the Shoes) rule-breaking ensemble, which is a bolder and wilder look! The gingham and stripes really shouldn't work together, but by keeping one print large and the other small, it manages to look cohesive and sassy without veering off into crazy. It doesn't hurt that Lisa's pretty sassy in general from her blog, so having the right attitude definitely helps! Also, pops of coral? Yes, please!

Last, but certainly not least, is Sara's (You, Me & Anthropologie) rebel outfit, which is actually quite sweet. The adorable polka-dotted skirt and printed top work wonderfully without looking like an overload of print because she anchored the ensemble with some solid colors in the cardigan and tights. And the pop of color in the shoe makes it all complete! Watch out, Sara -- you may see me stealing this whole outfit from you in the future, haha!

So overall, you can definitely make pattern mixing work by: keeping your printed items within the same color palette as your boldest piece, pairing louder patterns with more subtle ones, making sure that one pattern is smaller than another, or diffusing the look with solid pieces.

Thanks again to the lovely ladies who sent in their outfits, I really loved looking at them and picking them apart to figure out what it is that made them work so well! Again, if you want to submit your outfits for this week's features, check out the schedule at the bottom of this post here and email them to amy.kelinda@gmail.com at least the night before the post is scheduled to run.