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I’ve always been a fan of wearing colors, and I love seeing other people making exciting color choices. So for those of you scared of looking like a walking rainbow (although that sounds pretty awesome), here’s a little tip on one way to spice up your outfit palette.

Today I’m playing the role of your elementary school art teacher. Remember learning the color wheel? No? Tsk tsk. Well, the primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. The secondary colors are made by mixing different pairs of primaries, making violet, green, and orange. For each primary color, there is one secondary color that is contrasting, meaning that the secondary doesn’t contain the primary. Lost yet?

For example, both orange and violet contain red. Green is the only secondary color that doesn’t contain red, so red and green are complimentary colors. That means that when red and green are next to each other, they both make the other one look bolder (merry Christmas). Same goes for orange and blue, and yellow and violet. All these combos are fun to wear together.

If you just want to dip your toes in the color pond, you can try what I did here: take a bright necklace and pair with a contrasting top. Keep the rest of the outfit neutral.

Happy dressing!

Top: Target / Skirt: Ann Taylor / Necklace: Charming Charlie / Shoes: Nicole by Nicole Miller / Bracelets: American Eagle

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I don’t normally ambush people like in “What Not to Wear,” but if someone asks me for style help, let’s just say I nearly pee my pants with excitement. As I mentioned earlier this week, I’m in South Carolina visiting my in-laws, and my mother-in-law Cindy said she wanted my help cleaning out her closet and shopping. Well…twist my arm.

Cindy is an excellent candidate for a style makeover because (a) she actually wants help, (b) she already has lots of cute clothes, and (c) she loves to shop.

You might be wondering what Cindy even needed my help for. Well, Cindy’s problem is that she’s still hanging on to some less than attractive garments that for some strange reason she thinks it’s OK to still wear. And as for the cute stuff she already has, she doesn’t always do the best job at styling it. You see, Cindy comes from what I like to call the Matchy Match Generation. She thinks that the way to make a cute outfit is to pick a couple colors that look good together and make everything you wear one of those colors.

For example, in the picture below, Cindy styled the outfit on the left. While the print mixing was a great fashion-forward choice, notice that she picked a yellow belt, yellow earrings, and yellow shoes. Please make it stop. I restyled her (picture on the right) with bronze sandals, some silver accessories, and a pop of turquoise in her bracelet. She said the turquoise made her nervous – let’s try not to make fun of her; she’s new at this.

I had a great time going through Cindy’s closet and saying things like “are you in middle school?” and “are you a Florida retiree?” She would respond with excuses like “well it’s really soft,” and then I would say “I don’t care” and throw it dramatically on the floor. I don’t mess around.

Below is the pile of clothes for Goodwill. The picture doesn’t do it justice – it was huge! And yes, that is a velour paisley blazer on top. Now you understand why I was needed.

Then of course we had to do some shopping for some stylish and age-appropriate clothes. Cindy shopped like a champ. She ended up with 3 skirts, 2 tees, a blouse, a tank, 3 pairs of shoes, a summer scarf, a necklace, a bracelet, a clutch, and a belt.

That night we went out to dinner and I dressed Cindy in a new outfit. Doesn’t she look beautiful?!

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