Dark and Pastel

Continuing my How to Dress more Creatively series.

March is a funny old month. I feel like every year there’s a few days when the sun shines and everyone feels hopeful for spring, but the reality is, March is often still a pretty gloomy month! It’s also pretty cold, but oh my goodness we are so done with winter.

Thick black leggings are still keeping my legs warm, but I’m ready to add a little spring into my wardrobe. And this is where mixing dark colours with pastels comes in. The classy way to go about this is to go tonal, so if you have navy on your bottom half, you can go pastel blue on the top half. Mix burgundy with pastel pink; rich brown with cream; Forrest green with light green. This looks timelessly stylish.

And if you have a lot of black or dark grey clothing in your wardrobe, instead of adding pale grey so you look like a cloudy sky; why not mix it up a little and go with any pastel shade you like?! In alternative circles this is called ‘Pastel goth’! I agree with Trinny (from Trinny and Susannah) that black and a colour of the same intensity can dull or even cheapen the look, but if you’re going for pastel colours rather than brights, I think they look lovely together. The intensity of black with an unexpected splash of pale pink or lilac is pretty cool in my opinion!

I don’t currently have any dark florals in the Threads of a Fairytale shop at the moment, but dresses with a black background and a pale floral print looks really pretty at this time of year too, and will look good with your black boots.

So if you’re ready to add some spring into your life, then take a fresh look at your wardrobe and see if you can find some new mixes of dark with pastel colours.

pink witch dress

Pastel Goth outfit ideas

Over on my blog, When I Grow Up, I’ve written a post with a few pastel goth outfit ideas. I thought that now would be a good time because many of us have reached into our wardrobes for our black items to make a witch’s costume for Halloween, and now need some inspiration for how to wear them again! I’ve found some gorgeous tops from independent designers, so do go and check them out! Plus, if this is your kind of style, I have several pastel goth dresses for sale in my Etsy shop in the Fairytale and Cosplay clothing section. 🙂

Pastel goth kawaii dress