Adorn Yourself in Florals: Yin + Yang in Personal Style
It’s spring 2023 which means that florals are EVERYWHERE. Take it from me, your Personal Stylist, that you can safely wear a floral print and be on trend.
Spring is the season where everything comes alive again. After the muted darkness of winter, the air is alive with flirtation and sensuality. Every species is making eyes at each other from across the blooming garden.
Plants communicate via pheromones on the breeze. Flowers, after all, are a display of the plants’ reproductive organs. Clearly we can’t get enough.
We give and receive flowers, we plant and harvest flowers, we walk down the aisle holding flowers. (This tradition was inherited from an earlier time when baths were hard to come by, so bouquets helped to mask body odor. Oh, anthropology!)
Why not adorn yourself in florals as well?
You may be a person that says, “Ugh, florals make me think of my grandmother’s floral couch/tapestries/dresses. I wouldn’t be caught dead in florals.” If this is you, you’re not alone.
The last few generations have grown up in a period of minimalism in fashion, particularly in prints and patterns. And whatever our parents or grandparents were wearing, we wanted nothing to do with it.
(Until the cycle repeats and it’s cool again. Ahem, mom jeans.)
Before you write off florals completely, it may just be a matter of finding the right floral for you.
Let’s talk personal style.
A concept I work with in my styling methodology is yin/yang. Borrowed from ancient China, yin and yang are opposites that complete each other.
We can look to nature for representation of both:
Yin is the gentleness of the moon, and the romance of the willow tree
Yang is the strength of the sun, and the stability of the cedar
The same can apply to your personal style and even personality traits. (More on that another day)
To help visualize this for you, I have two floral dresses for you:
The first dress has delicate, smaller flowers with a sweet bow at the neck, lower contrast in the colors, a romantic sheer sleeve with a flirtatious ruffle at the wrist.
The first dress is more yin.
The second dress has large, bold flowers in a sexy fitted silhouette, made from a firmer scuba fabric, with high contrast colors and long lines.
The second dress is more yang.
Ask yourself:
Can you see how yin and yang is represented in each?
Which look are you more drawn to?
Which elements of style do you appreciate in each look?
I encourage you to start to recognize how yin and yang are represented in your closet!
You may be a person who likes boldness in their style. Or someone who prefers subtlety. Start to identify this as yin or yang.
Seldom is someone’s personal style all yin, or all yang. We are complex representations of each. And that’s what makes us interesting.
So how will you wear florals this season?
You may want to start small, especially if you’re someone who wears mostly solid colors.
Tie a floral silk scarf around your neck or handbag handle with a floral design
Try a baseball cap with a playful floral design
Instead of paying full price, try shopping at a consignment store so the cost to entry is lower
If wearing a floral print is out of your comfort zone, layer on a light jacket or cardigan over top
If you’re really ready to commit, try a floral handbag, printed shoes, jumpsuit, jacket or matched suit
The thing we can take away from flowers is this: they don’t bloom all year round. And neither do we.
Show me how you are wearing florals! I would love to see how you were inspired by this post about yin and yang in floral prints. Tag me on Instagram sarahward.co!
