It’s subtle, but it’s there, I promise! Actually, if you look closely, there are not two but three patterns in this outfit, which I wore when my sweet mum took husband D. and I to dinner to celebrate my birthday. (Ed. note:  if I really wanted to be a wise-arse, I’d count the mosquito bites polka-dotting my legs as a fourth!). The bold, modern-arty floral print of the dress, the delicate paisley on the pashmina, and the die-cuts on my shoes are all not only different patterns but different textures. When combined with the bold color combination of orange and blue (wahoooowa, anyone?), they form not so much a subtle bending of the rules but a whole kaleidoscope of rule-breaking, pattern mixing craziness. And of course, remembering that bodies are never neutral, the fact that the woman wearing all this is 8+ months pregnant, and we’re at least sending one unexpectedly cohesive message: this woman is no shrinking violet. And she is not having a quiet day.

Amid all that loudness, though, I am following at least some of the “rules” for mixing prints: I’m using prints on two different scales, I’m letting one print dominate the other, and even though the blue and orange color combination is loud, it’s a well-traveled pairing of complementary colors. As for the fact that being this pregnant makes nearly all fashion statements appear more like fashion screams than fashion whispers? More for better than for worse, there’s little I can do about that at this point! And although this may not be my favorite-est-ever foray into mixing patterns, there’s a joy and a playfulness to this trend that I can’t get enough of, and that seems particularly apt as I experiment with dressing this increasingly foreign body in late pregnancy. And seriously, who can keep a straight face in an outfit like this?