How, Exactly, Do You Wear Illusionary Clothing? We Have Tips.

The Viva team offer up their top styling advice on what to wear and how to wear it. Multi-media journalist Madeleine Crutchley shares her tips for styling a confounding print.

Though plenty of my wardrobe relies on well-cut and simple black-and-white pieces, I often find myself wandering my Pinterest algorithms to find something bolder and, frankly, more exciting.

Through those accommodating digital pathways, I’ve started to explore the marvels of uncanny and weirdly-printed clothing. More specifically, I’ve found myself drawn to illusionary pieces, which play with print or cut to confuse the reality of what the piece actually is.

Notable luxury versions of illusionary design might include the trippy polka-dotted looks from Jean Paul Gaultier’s autumn/winter 1995 collection, or Mugler’s dramatic body suit cut-outs. The design techniques indulge in a bit of trickery, creating very stylish pieces reminiscent of magic eye pictures.

The outfit

That search has left me swooning over pieces from the London-based brand Elliss for a long while now. The brand houses a collection of slinky garments printed with perplexing imagery. The designs are commonly comprised of ‘collagescapes’ which mix vintage and contemporary pictures. This technique cultivates an idiosyncratic and head-scratching brand aesthetic, which I’ve been longing to pair with all my sturdy basics.

The Handy Jean Print Skirt by Elliss has graced the racks at the Wellington-based store Sully’s, which is currently the only stockist bringing Elliss to New Zealand. The illusionary piece is a bias-cut RPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) silk satin skirt, with a pair of super-baggy jeans printed on the front and back. The skirt also has some interesting shadowing and a hand reaching out over the back ‘pocket’.

The piece feels like a good tiptoe into experimenting with illusionary clothing — it’s still playful and puzzling, but it mimics a piece of clothing I’m very comfortable with wearing.

The advice

I think the biggest challenge in approaching illusionary prints, or any bold print for that matter, is making the ensemble feel purposeful. A loud piece is likely to make people look twice, and I feel that succeeding in styling something attention-grabbing (for me) is feeling comfortable with the response I get from others. With this ensemble, I wanted to feel confident with people questioning the quirkiness of the piece.

The solution for that, I felt, was to fully commit to the illusion. I approached the skirt as if it actually was a pair of baggy jeans, wearing a crisp white T-shirt, tucked up at the back to create some structure, as well as my go-to pair of loafers. I kept the jewellery simple too, with subtle silver hoops and a small pendant necklace.

With the final look, I wanted to give a witty nod to the age-old combo of a tee and jeans and allow the skirt to revel in its inherent cheekiness. It felt thoughtful and made me laugh a little, and I loved amplifying the slight silliness of the design.

I also feel a real denim jacket would also make for a fantastic layering piece, creating a tongue-in-cheek interplay with the skirt — a kind of faux Candian tuxedo. That would be quite a step up from comfy, unfussy neutrals.

The shop

Paloma Wool dress, $390, from Good As Gold.

Arthur Apparel shirt dress $170.

Rory William Docherty dress $1275.

Kowtow Shirt $259.

Collina Strada trousers, approx. $689, from Ssense.

With thanks to Fuji Instax.

Previously: How, exactly, do you wear wide-legged jeans?