Mark from Plano said:I seem to be sensing a lot of folks (not all) suggesting that "rules are bunk", "experiment yourself", "wear what you think looks good."
I'd like to respectfully disagree. If you are asking the question it's probably because you haven't yet trained your eye to understand what looks good and what doesn't. This is precisely the situation in which listening to others and following a few rules makes the most sense. Otherwise you're just floundering in the dark. No one would suggest learning to ski or do surgery by just "experimenting yourself" or "doing what you think makes sense."
Color and pattern matching is a skill that can be learned and rules are helpful while you're learning. Once you've mastered the basics, then experimenting and trusting your eye makes a lot of sense, until then it's probably a bad idea.
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the axiom I have always liked in writing is you have to know the rules or at least understand them to break them properly. Same with clothing I would guess. YOu have to understand why a certain rule (if it is a good one) is true, before you can break it without it looking bad.