Ok, there’s no escaping the fact that bangles are my thing. I’ve been obsessed with them for YEARS!! Look at the mega stack I was wearing in my graduation photo! This was when I admired full vintage looks from afar... Don't laugh... Anyway, I’ve been wearing bangles for a very, very long time, I think my first stack was actually from Tammy Girl, but have never really thought about the art of stack creation and the thought process that goes into it so I thought I’d try and put it into words. Here goes…
Most of the time I’ll put my outfit on and build my stack from there but I have been known to get dressed bangles first (yes, really) and make the outfit work around the stack! My boyfriend finds this most amusing.
Anyway, normally it’s outfit first and let it be known that I LOVE colour. Like, really love it. I often find a new colour combination and obsessively wear it for a whole season so when choosing my stack, I can often wear the same bangles many times a week.
So, let’s assume I’ve already got my outfit on (and not just underwear and bangles), I’ll then start picking my bangles and other accessories based on the colours in the outfit. I really like complementary colours, rather than 100% matching so, for example, if I’m wearing a blue dress, I’ll add pops of red along with the blue to match my outfit or if I’m wearing something quite softly coloured, I’ll almost always add a bit of edge with some black or charcoal. Pink and green together are also another obsession of mine, as are mustard, purple and leopard together.
I'll try and mirror the amount of colour in the outfit with my bangles. For example, if the majority of the fabric in a dress is pink with a black and yellow print, I'd reflect this with a wide pink bangle then a midi yellow and narrow black, to match the print.
I also quite like to mix up textures, using carved Fakelite, true Bakelite and other, more natural bangles in between. I will also try and mix up my bangle widths. Normally I’ll go for a wide, a midi and a narrow but that’s definitely not a steadfast rule. Whatever looks best on the day, really! Three is kind of my go to but if I want to make a statement, the sky’s the limit!!
If I'm going out, I tend to have a mixture of Fakelite, glitter, diamante, moonglow and anything else glitzy that I have to hand. Once again, I try to mix widths to create interest.Once the stack is picked, I'll then add the earrings and anything else to match.
Well, there we go! That's how I do it but I absolutely love to see how you guys do it too. I especially love to see the different, creative combinations you come up with. It blows me away every time!! Thank you for sharing your creativity!
