Tuesday- Leslie

Bird Cardigan: CAbi

Dot Print Skirt: The Limited

Red Cami: NY & Company

Red Heels: Diba (Meijer)

Mixing patterns has always been a bit scary for me. For two years I thought I had to wear this skirt with only solid color tops since it had the small dot print in it.

I then saw someone wearing a printed cardigan with a lightly pinstriped pant once and realized I loved the look--the print on the bottom was small so it didn't conflict with the top. When I bought this cardigan, I realized it would be a perfect chance to practice mixing prints by matching it with this skirt.

Mixing prints is hit or miss--sometimes you hit it out of the ballpark and sometimes you strike out badly. A couple summers ago, I decided to try the whole idea of mixing stripes that I had seen in so many magazines so I wore black pants with a bold white pinstripe, and a black and white wide horizontal stripe cashmere tee. It wasn't good. My honest co-workers told me it wasn't. But that was ok--I didn't have any meetings that day so only the people in my office and the ones that I passed coming in from the parking garage saw my faux pas. But you know what? It was worth a try. It was outside the box. And it helped me figure out that the look could have worked--if the pinstripe had not been so bold. So I learned something.

That's what fashion is all about. And that's your challenge--hit a home run this week--but don't be so afraid of striking out.