The Muse: Beyond Barney

Do you ever have certain color combinations that you just avoid? For whatever reason? Sometimes we just do't like certain colors, or they clash with our hair, make our skin look sallow, or above all else have unpleasant connotations. The adorable Marie from The Joy of Fashion addressed this a few weeks ago when she tried to re-imagine and rework the classic Christmas combo red and green. SHe made it work here by changing the shades and saturations of the colors and accessorized with neutrals that didn't incorporate either color. Personally while I will tend to shy away from the holiday colors (black and orange is another challenging one) my personal pet peeve is green and purple together, even when we used to color in school, on maps or things I never wanted them next to each other and I know why, this guy is to blame:

I don't know how much of Barney you remeber, but I remember enough and it was annoying as hell. Barbara, my babysitter always would put it on for the little kids, I was five or six when it first premiered and I was old enough to hate it and all the stupid songs that went with it. I'm not sure if its my averesion to Barney that cased my intese dislike of purple and green together or its just that the color combination on him was so glaring and unattractive, but 20 years later I still feel this way. So I forced myself to reexamine how I saw the colors on Wednesday by taking a page out of Marie's book and trying to rework my colors by replacing the originals with more muted olive and royal purple shades. Still not sure if its my favorite go to color match-up, but its an improvement and didn't come to life when I told the clothes I loved them like Barney does. It also photographed really well in my sylvan setting, which is always a plus.

 Top (removed from a dress): vintage, Chetta B by Peter Noviello and Sherrie Bloom thrifted via Goodwill
Belt (off another dress): Corey p. via J.C. Penny
Skirt: vintage, no label, thrifted via Salvation Army Family Store
Necklace and bracelet: Anthropologie
Purse: Style and Co., gift
Shoes: Wild Rose, thrifted via Krazy Daisy

I also think this may be the swan song for this purse, I received it for Christmas from my sister-in-law Natalia maybe five years ago, and carried it a lot. Its a good size and has nice compartments so you can keep things separate, i.e. keys away from sunglasses, bottle of water away from electronics, but its lost its shape and the handles which are buckles always come undone, which is very annoying. More and more I've been carrying this purse instead, but its smaller though the interchangeable straps are a nice bonus and it has a great dispatch case/briefcase like style I love. Sigh, what can I say I'm indecisive. Then again its not a decision likely to greatly impact my life now is it?