Ways to Wear Floral Prints - April 2024
People have strong feelings about florals, but I believe there is a floral to suit most everyone. From soft and romantic to bold, graphic, and edgy, florals can be a great pattern to add to your wardrobe. The colors in the prints can bring together solids in a look and add interest.
I have broken the categories of floral prints into watercolor, Asian, botanical, paisley, ditsy, traditional, and geometric. Now let's look at each one and see how they work best in a wardrobe.
Most Common Floral Patterns to Wear
Florals are divided by their design and can range from traditional to very modern. Let's look at some of the common patterns.
How To Wear Watercolor Prints
Watercolor prints are undefined, with soft edges, often looking like a painting.
They are usually soft colors with low contrast, so they are good for those with soft coloring. Watercolor prints are usually printed on or woven into lightweight fabrics like chiffon, organza, and silk.
Their soft feel works well for classic or romantic styles.
Discover your most flattering patterns to wear
How To Wear Asian Florals
They often contain only 2-3 colors.
The prints can be low or high in contrast, working for both bright and soft types.
You will find these patterns on fabrics such as silk, cotton, and rayon.
Asian prints work well for romantic and classic styles, and can work for edgy looks.
How To Wear Botanical Prints
Botanical patterns are usually leaves or other realistic looking plants,
with a defined print. They can be low or high contrast, and often appear in tonal shades of the same color, with green being common.
But they can also be done in contrasting shades. Botanical patterns are available in most medium to lightweight fabrics and are usually related to warmer seasons. However, there are Autumnal versions with the warm colored leaves of Fall.
These bold prints work well for classic and casual looks, and large colorful versions can work in edgy looks.
How To Wear Paisley Prints
Paisley prints are found in a wide variety of fabrics, but cotton is common.
While decidedly classic, they can also be used in BOHO looks when printed in
washed warm colors, and can be casual when printed as a t shirt.
How To Wear Ditsy Prints
Ditsy patterns are comprised of a small repetitive pattern. They can be any color and can be low or high contrast.
Ditsy florals can appear juvenile, due to their cutesy look and inexpensive fabrics.
Since they are small, these prints work best on small frames.
Ditsy patterns work well for casual, BOHO, and romantic looks, and are often related to the peasant trend.
How To Wear Traditional Prints
These prints are what you traditionally think of when you think of florals, roses and other common flowers. They can be any color and of high or low contrast. They may look realistic, or be a color that would never exist in nature.
The rose prints often look matronly or vintage.
They can range from small flowers to large sprawling prints, and are available in fabrics like silk, organza, cotton, polyester, and rayon.
Traditional florals work best for classic and romantic looks.
How To Wear Geometric Floral Prints
The geometric florals can be the boldest of the florals. They can range from small and repeating to large and funky. They do not necessarily look like a real flower, but instead an artists creation. Geometric florals usually have defined patterns and are more often found in high contrast colors, but can also be low contrast. These prints are often found in cottons, Tencel, silk, polyester, rayon, and even denim.
The most modern of the florals, they can work in classic and edgy looks, or as part of a casual look in a little tee, dress or skirt.
Those are the basic florals, which is your fave? Make sure to sign up for the newsletter at yourcolorstyle.com so that you don't miss Part 2, when we share outfit inspirations and tips for wearing floral patterns.
Discover your most flattering patterns to wear
Welcome
New to Your Color Style?
Transforming your style is easy.
