One important rule of fashion is that you don’t need to be matchy-matchy with every outfit. We all love a good monochromatic look–it’s sleek and requires very little thought– but you and your kids can get a lot more wear out of clothing and shoes when you learn about color combinations that work. We are all guilty of the impulse buy that ends up sitting in the closet for months or even years without being worn. At the time, you’ll convince yourself that you’ll wear those yellow pumps or your fancy girl will convince you to get those blue sequin shoes, only to fall back into a regular safe routine of the same neutral shoes. I’m here to give you a little homework assignment for the near future, and it involves a color wheel (yup, the same color wheel you learned about in elementary school). You’re going to make a goal to try a new color combination and then come back to let me know what you did (or at least tag me on Instagram). Continue reading for how to pair colors together using the traditional color wheel.

The following are color combinations that work:

1) Colors that are next to each other, like blue and purple, yellow and green

2) Colors that form a right angle like purple and green, red-violet and orange

3) Colors that form an X or a triangle, or that are directly across from each other, like  yellow and purple, yellow and blue, pink and orange

Below are just a few ways that my fancy girls put colors together. One brand that makes this easy is FabKids. A lot of their outfits (as seen in many of the photos below) come with mixed colors and prints to take all the guesswork out. Visit FabKids.com to browse and shop!