Stress levels were running particularly high in the student union last week. While families wandered about on the first level looking for Gator memorabilia, engineering students raced robots on the floor above. When this Fashionista’s team descended the stairs with second-place honors and wandered amid the other other gussied-up students– some chatty, some simply exhausted– it became obvious that she outshone them all.
This dress, which was purchased at one of Gainesville’s Urban Threads stores, is a perfect example of color blocking. Many Gainesville inhabitants have overlooked this trend in favor of featuring one stand-out color per outfit, but this dress makes it incredibly easy and adorable to pair two offbeat shades– navy and coral red. It is still available in four different color schemes at Urban Outfitters. If you'd like to skip the structure and go the classic breezy route with sundresses, Modcloth offers one with a purple palatte that's much more suited for spinning. For those of you who are paying more attention to the fit of the top than the bright hues it employs, Modcloth also offers a shapely dress that creates the same sort of figure featured here.
If you’d rather use another one of her pieces for color blocking– say, the cardigan– go for it! Fashionistos can get in on this trend with H&M’s versions, which come in blue with dark blue and green with white.
Even with her shiny headband and cute earrings, the best accessory that this Fashionista uses is her braid. This look has been more popular for long hair this summer than any expensive accessories, and all it requires is a hair tie and a minute or two of your time. Although my hair has been far too short to use one myself, my personal favorite is the fishtail braid. You can find out how to do it yourself with the help of this YouTube video. I'm already excited my hair is growing my hair out, and with any luck, I'll find a friend that will let me practice on hers until then.
To those of you trying out color blocking for the first time: good luck! You don't need to wear an outfit as bold as the pieces mentioned here, but try not to say "no" just yet. You might have more fun dressing up than you think!