How to Style White Novelty Print Shorts

Hello, and welcome to Dressed for My Day. Indeed, some days it’s amazing that I even manage to get “dressed for my day.” Ha! Do you have days like that? Today’s outfit is one of my go-to’s this summer. But, I have to admit, after I fell in love with and bought these novelty print shorts I got a little stumped as to how to style them. I mean what do you wear with pink flamingos?!?

I do have a bright pink top that I sometimes wear with these white denim flamingo shorts, and a bright green top in the shade of the palm trees would be appropriate, too. But for a more sophisticated look, I like a black tee and black accessories with a novelty print like these. The idea is to treat the novelty print like a an accessory itself instead of playing to it too much. Make sense?

Really, black and white is just classic. So I think that by pairing the fun novelty print shorts with them, it ads some whimsy but doesn’t create a matchy-matchy outfit.

This Talbots tee is a little boxy on me so I did a little trick with it. I found a neat idea somewhere online (I really can’t find the post anymore!) for taking a rubber band and creating a little “tuck” in the shirt wherever you’d like. You can see in the photo below how I attached the rubber band to the underside of the shirt.

You can create the “tuck” in the front and center or off to a side like I did. You can even go further around to one side or the other. Everything stays put and your shirt creates more of a fitted look around your waist. Not only am I supposed to have a fitted shirt for my body shape, but this shirt was just too baggy without it. Also, this rubber band cinching trick creates something similar to a front tuck without the hassle of that little trick!

I think I’m going to play around with this little trick some more. But I do think it helped salvage a tee that I otherwise would have had to discard.

I wore my black capri sandals and carried my black and white straw tote. Both of these just scream summer. I kept my jewelry simple. I wore a unique cluster pendant created by my friend Kathy Riebock who designs jewelry here in southern Arizona. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the colors in the pendant happen to be pinks and greens, so it’s a nice tie-in with my shorts. I have on my butterfly bracelet by James Avery (similar) and my Brighton earrings.

Do you have a novelty print item that has you stumped when it comes to styling? Try pairing it with a neutral like white, black, navy or gray. You’ll have to complete the look with accessories in that same neutral, but I bet it will create a more sophisticated look than if you try pairing it with some especially matchy. The trick is to treat the novelty print as an accessory rather than the main attraction.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Thank you so much for spending some of your time here today. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll subscribe to my email list. I treat my subscribers well. In fact, today I chose one lucky subscriber to win a $25 gift card and announced it to all my subscribers. Find out more about subscribing here.

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Blessed for My Day

Today may you be a blessing to others. May God open your eyes to those in your path who need a kind word, a smile, a gentle touch or even a hug. And may you be the one who shows them His love and tenderness. Even if your act of compassion is not returned or acknowledged, may you know that you have been obedient to the God of all comfort and may you find joy in loving others well.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.