What a crazy few days it’s been in NYC weather-wise! After extreme humidity settled in for the early part of the week, yesterday the weather finally broke courtesy of a torrential downpour, complete with hail. My twitter stream lit up with retweets of this insane Instagram photo showing the storm concentrating directly over Manhattan. 

It was beautiful to watch all the lightning strikes from my apartment…but not exactly conducive to OOTD shots. So I’m a little behind where I wanted to be in Pattern Mixing Week. Today the weather held off just long enough for me to grab these shots – though it rained on me a bit at the end!

On Tuesday I presented a top that itself was multi-patterned and today that idea expands with this beautiful Elie Tahari dress. No playing around here – this dress is bold and in no way quiet. I first saw this dress while walking around Soho. I passed by the Elie Tahari boutique on W. Broadway…and then I stopped…and then I backed up…and then my jaw dropped. It was love! I tried the dress on and then cried over the price. Luckily, I soon discovered that Saks 5th Ave carries the dress. I had a sizable Saks note that was about to expire that covered almost all of the cost. So I trotted myself up to midtown and left the store with a beautiful new piece slung over my shoulder. (And a new Tom Ford lipstick. And a new Chanel nail polish – black pearl.)

I knew the dress would work well with my Liza Peep-Toes, a J.Crew shoe from 2008 or maybe 2009 that has outlived my expectations. These shoes are great; they’re very comfortable and the small black & white pattern makes them easy to pair with almost anything. I pattern mix with these all the time without even thinking about it! If you’re just starting out with your pattern mixing expectation I highly recommend a piece like this – something with a small and neutral-colored pattern. Likewise the Fine-Ruled Satchel makes its second appearance because it’s so easy to work in to a multipattern look.

Do you have any favorite pattern mixing pieces?

And then the rain came…

I’m outta here!

In this outfit:
Elie Tahari Ginny Dress
(also available here, here, here and for some reason more expensive here)
J.Crew Liza Patterned Peep-Toes
(here’s another option from J.Crew, and this one has a similarly scaled print
Holding Horses Fine-Ruled Satchel via Anthropologie
(here’s something similar from American Eagle)
Anthropologie Earrings

These photos were taken at the Elevated Acre in Financial District, Manhattan.

If the Ginny Dress isn’t quite your style, Elie Tahari has a whole collection of mixed pattern dresses for pre-Fall 2012. Just as a warning, they all have exposed zippers. Some are in the back and some are on the side and concealable. My Ginny has an orange zip down the back. Take a gander at some of my favorites from the collection:

More Elie Tahari…