Adventures in Thrifting Part 26: Crazy Orange Culottes & Spread The Kindness Link Up On the Edge #815

Do you remember my Bohemian Fruit Bowl outfit from two weeks ago? It featured a newly thrifted tie dyed dress in safety orange layered over my yellow and green geometric print bell bottom pants.

I mistakenly mentioned in that post that I had styled the orange dress over these crazy orange culottes that I found on the same thrifting adventure. It turns out that I tried the two pieces on together in the thrift store and at home but then I never photographed the outfit. Instead, I ended up photographing this wild combination.

I wore this outfit out for a lunch date with my husband a few weekends ago and kept my fluorescent DIY scarf wrap in my rainbow straw bag in case I got chilly dining al fresco out on the river. However, I never needed the extra layer so that piece didn’t make it out of my bag and into my photos.

But this look is colorful and crazy enough that it doesn’t really need another layer to keep it interesting. But you know how I love my layers!

There are a lot of pictures in this post because this ensemble required a bit more fussing than normal. Generally, when I wear a big, billowy bottom piece, I try to pair it with something more fitted on top to keep the proportions balanced. These culottes are definitely big and billowy but I was digging the vibe of billowy over billowy for an easy breezy boho style. But lots of billows still need a little bit of structure to avoid looking like a woman dressed in an ill-fitting cloth sack. That’s where the fussing came in.

So I started with the flowy orange culottes and a teeny tiny fitted white cropped tee shirt layered under a striped crochet tunic. The tunic is very boxy, long, and shapeless, so I added my white macrame belt but secured it loosely around my hips instead of snugly around my waist. If you look closely at the groups of photos, you can see how I slightly changed the belt to create subtle proportion changes. First, it was slung low on my hips. Then I tightened it around my waist to give more obvious definition to the silhouette. Finally, I removed the belt and let the tunic just hang loose and straight.

In the mirror, I preferred the belt slung low on my hips but in the photos I prefer it cinched tighter around my waist. Unbelted was my least favorite in both the mirror and the photos but I wanted to share it anyway just to show how the different ways you wear your accessories can change an outfit.

Speaking of accessories, let’s talk about the rest of mine. First, I love the way this striped tunic coordinates with my rainbow fedora. I have previously styled this hat and tunic together with a yellow dress and the combination always works.

I created a necklace pile with three thrifted wooden bead necklaces in black and teal to coordinate with the stripes of the tunic and then I added teal beaded hoop earrings that I found at a flea market. My new white Furkenstocks have been in regular rotation since they arrived a few weeks ago although this is only the second time you are seeing them here.

Finally, I added an extra long scarf which is really just two coordinating scarves tied together. I liked the contrasting shades of green that don’t appear anywhere else in my outfit. The tie dye scarf was a birthday gift from my oldest son and the green leafy scarf was another thrift store purchase.

Overall, I didn’t love this outfit, but I also didn’t hate it. I do love the joyful burst of vibrant colors and the cheerful combination of many prints but I was not thrilled with the proportions and fit of the whole thing. I can definitely do better with these fun culottes!

I still want to style them with the orange tie dye dress as it was my first idea for these pants but I definitely want to show them styled with a more fitted top as well. I don’t know if I’ll get around to it this summer as short as our summer are, but I’m going to try.

I am certainly open to any other styling ideas you may have so please share them!

In the meantime, I’ll be spending this weekend doing a major closet room clean out. I am a bit nervous and slightly overwhelmed because it is a mess in there! I’m not sure what I’m doing with all of my unwanted things yet. I’ll probably keep some for crafting but the rest of it needs to find new homes with as little effort as possible on my part!

I’m not really into reselling my used clothes either. I have done that in past and honestly I find it way more annoying than it’s worth. Plus I want the stuff out of my house. I don’t want to store it as I slowly sell it off one item at a time. I also don’t love the idea of dumping bags of clothes at a thrift store. I would rather personally pass it on to someone else who needs or wants my stuff. Please feel free to share any creative disposal ideas you have as well!

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I hope you all have a productive weekend!

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee