How to Wear Colored Jeans; In Which We Play with Red, Blue, and Turquoise

This is a practical guide on how to wear colored jeans with prints, loud colors, and metallics for play, work, and nighttime playtime without looking like a misguided lollipop. Let's get started:

1.) Choose a palette and stick to it. Mixing colors, especially loud and vibrant colors, is no easy task. Starting out with a palette will save you from just randomly mixing blouses and shoes until you luck into something that matches. You can create your color scheme in your head, or you can use one of the many cool programs that help you create palettes (like kuler for example) freely available for all to exploit on the internet:

I usually think of a color, emotion, or adjective that I feel is the inspiration for my outfit and just type that sucker in. Voila, instant color master.

2.) Mix-and-match colors to your heart's content, but be careful when mixing in prints. While you can typically color block any combination of colors into sophistication, playfulness, or cray cray chic depending on your mood, adding in print will tend to limit you to a more daytime look than a work-ready outfit: 

Adding in an element of print simply makes the whole thing more playful, as the color swatches and the textures inevitably vie to be the center-of-attention of the piece. Find the jeans here, the blouse over here, and the purse here.

Now, color-blocking for work is a fine art. A good tip to keep in mind is that the cleaner the lines and the more structured the pieces, the more sophisticated the look:

What makes this outfit more formal, despite the loudness of the yellow, bright blue, and intensely vibrant red, are the tailored nature of the blazer, the clean lines of the perfectly rectangular clutch, and the crispness of the classic white blouse. You can shop the jeans here.

3.) Don't be afraid to add metallics and some sparkle to your color musings. Metallic accessories can be used to make a wild statement even wilder, or as part of a soft and delicate piece:

Shop the jeans here. Shop the purse here.

It's all about the initial palette and the inspiration behind your outfit. Using brightly colored jeans doesn't mean you can't have a soft and feminine look. Nudes, a touch of chiffon, and some pale metallic gear can help you achieve that. Loud colors aren't doomed out of the office either (so long as you keep it classy). Ultimately, the only real tip to keep in mind is to get inspired! Try on colors that you wouldn't normally wear and take them places you normally wouldn't dare.

Happy shopping, everyone.