Blackberry – Wardrobe Color Palettes and Adventures in DIY

Hi everyone! When choosing colors for your wardrobe, it can be helpful to pick a color palette to revolve everything around. I wrote about wardrobe color palettes a while ago, and my color story (dark red, dark purple, navy and grey) has remained largely the same over the years, although I’ve been adding much more black these days. It’s helped immensely with picking what to wear, and what to pack for trips, since most things mix and match pretty well right off the bat. This richly berry-hued blouse is a great example of the type of “pop” colors I like to add to my closet (falls into that dark purple category). I prefer to cap my “pop” colors with neutrals (in this case, black on the top and bottom), but color lovers could easily choose a complementary color for a little something fun (imagine a turquoise necklace with this blouse…what a gorgeous pop of color!).

Something I’ve been looking to add to my closet for a while now has been a black statement necklace. I love how they cap off an outfit with that oft-worn item pretty much everyone owns…black shoes! I feel it rounds out the look and is pleasing to the eye. When the only black necklaces I liked were a little too pricey for what I wanted to pay, I decided to just try making one. Those who follow me on Instagram already saw a sneak peek of this. =)

My inspiration was this beauty by EK Thongprasert, which retailed for about $500. The necklace I used for this DIY was a dupe from Zara which was a relative steal at $35. This was a very simple DIY, that even a non-crafty person like myself was able to accomplish pretty well if I do say so myself. I missed a few tiny spots which can only be seen when the beads spin around in weird ways (despite taking great care to really get in there with layers of paint at the sides of the beads), but other than that, It looks really good! I had to let it air out for a few days before wearing, and I tested it against a junky white shirt to make sure there would be no color transfer onto clothes. See the transformation below (click photo for closer look):

Lessons learned from this DIY include:

• Paint and clear coat finishes can be layered to achieve the look you want. “Satin” paint with a “satin” clear coat would have a little more shine. “Matte” paint with a “matte” clear coat would be very matte. By layering “satin” paint under “matte” clear coat, I was trying to achieve a slightly satin look for this piece.
• Spray paint in a light sweeping motion.
• Attack the project from all angles so paint gets into all the little crevices.
• Work your way up to deep color with multiple layers of paint. This necklace took 3 layers of black paint and 1 layer of clear coat.
• Too much clear coat can look speckled. Be careful and conservative.

— DIY Details —

Necklace Zara (check stores) (other good candidates are here, here, and here)
Black spray paint Krylon Colormaster “Black Satin”
Clear coat spray paint Krylon “Matte Finish”

— Outfit Details —

Shirt Ann Taylor (similar)
Jeans Rag & Bone thanks to Shopbop
Shoes Gianvito Rossi
Handbag Givenchy (‘mini’ version!)
Watch thanks to Daniel Wellington (15% off with code “alterationsneeded” ends today!)
Sunglasses Oliver Peoples
Necklace DIY
Rings vintage & Catbird

— Altered —

Nothing