Style Savvy with Cynthia Sliwa… Prints Charming: Add Zing to Your Summer Wardrobe

Summer has arrived! Whether you’re heading off to explore new places or keeping close to home on a “staycation” this year, this season calls for casual, comfortable clothes perfect for play.

From a budget perspective, one thing that’s great about summer is that lightweight clothing is usually significantly less expensive than apparel designed to be worn in cooler weather. This allows you some leeway to play with your style choices even within a very limited clothing budget. Here are some pointers on how to assemble your summer wardrobe.

Dress by Suzi Chin Maggy London in a subtle abstract print on black. Nordstrom $168.

If you plan to travel, organizing a wardrobe around a base color (for many of us, this will be basic black) can make dressing easy and shopping more efficient too. You can use navy blue or chocolate brown as a substitute for black, but keep in mind that any of those dark colors, even in the lightest of fabrics, absorb light and can look and feel hot when worn in the sunshine. For evening, too, summer is the perfect season to get away from that LBD, the little black dress that is a staple in almost every woman’s wardrobe, and into lighter and more light-hearted colors.

How can you wean yourself from a wardrobe of dark colors?

Adding a solid color in a light or bright hue is a tried-and-true approach. Incorporate into your wardrobe one favorite light or bright color, whether it’s soft turquoise blue, bright red, or perhaps this year’s trendiest color, yellow. Make that your signature color for the season. Choose only styles that flatter your body shape, of course. Light and bright colors advance and dark colors recede, so wear your favorite color where you want to draw attention. Combine slightly lighter and darker versions of the same color for a sophisticated tone-on-tone look. For example, pastel pink plus a deeper bright pink plus your base color, whether brown, navy or black, can produce a beautiful effect.

Accessorize with color. If you love a color that doesn’t work well with your complexion, wear the color away from your face. Sandals or a purse or tote bag can give you the opportunity to enjoy that hue. Scarves and hair accessories, which are both very trendy this season, provide more ways to incorporate your favorite color.

This season, to ward off the chill of the evening or an overly air-conditioned room, pick up a cardigan sweater in your favorite light or bright color if you’re lucky enough to find it! The First Lady Michelle Obama is often photographed wearing cardigans, and I hope that, due to her influence, this extremely comfortable and practical garment will be readily available in the stores for seasons to come. To boost the practicality of a cardigan sweater even more, purchase a matching shell when possible to give yourself the option of the look of a classic sweater set.

Don’t forget the jewelry! This year, big statement necklaces and multiple bracelets are very much in vogue and can finish any look with the gleam of metal and a punch of color as well. Incidentally, if the thought of getting a bangle bracelet stuck on your hand strikes fear into your heart, look for hinged bangle bracelets or open back cuffs that you can place on your wrist, or opt instead to keep the attention up around your face with a great necklace.

Once you’ve built your wardrobe around a dark base color and a favorite light or bright solid color, now’s the time to get creative. You can add one or more additional solid-hued items into the mix, to be sure, and one could write volumes about that process. But this summer, think prints. Once again, thanks to the fashion preferences of the First Lady, prints are back in vogue. Prints are inherently more interesting than solid colors. And what prints! The designers have been pulling out all the stops in providing clothing rendered in exquisite fabrics that are a joy to wear or to view.

Here are few tips on how to choose your perfect prints:

• To lighten up your favorite dark hue, look for a print that uses your preferred base color as the background. Adding one subtle color (think, for example, pin stripes) is the most conservative way to introduce a print into a wardrobe.

Cardigan sweater by Semantics in black with a subtle one-color pattern. Nordstrom $68.

• Scattered abstract, floral or mottled designs are easier to wear and generally more flattering than stripes and geometric patterns, particularly on a curvy figure. The reason for this is that the straight lines visually become distorted as they navigate around the curves.

Maxi dress in an abstract print by Robbie Bee. Nordstrom $108.

• Prints can and do take the eye on a journey. A vertical or diagonal print can provide flattering visual emphasis.

• A print that incorporates white immediately lightens up a look.

Bathing suit by Miraclesuit in a black and white floral print. Nordstrom $150.

• To add even more zing to your summer wardrobe, look for prints that incorporate more colors – wonderful colors that make you smile. For the most versatility, choose prints that work with your base color and favorite light or bright hue.

• Low color contrast is easier to wear than high color contrast.

• A medium-sized pattern is usually optimal. Too large, and it can give a visual sense of expansiveness. Too small, and it can seem that the pattern goes on and on and on. . . .

Dress by Calvin Klein in a colorful large-scale print. Nordstrom $138.

One final word of advice: Because prints are inherently more memorable than solid colors, choose prints you truly love. I have print blouses I wore with my corporate suits during my lawyering days over a decade ago that I still adore. They are, without a doubt, my prints charming!