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"   Q: &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know how to mix prints. Are there any tricks to make it easier?&amp;quot; A: There are a lot of rules out there about how to mix prints, but they&amp;#039;re usually outdated and more focused on what &amp;quot;doesn&amp;#039;t&amp;quot; work than what does. In other words, they&amp;#039;re total bullshit. Take plaids and stripes for example. It&amp;#039;s often said that plaids and stripes do not mix, but really stripes go with everything, including plaids. In fact, prints are pretty mixable across the board. You just want to keep these four tips in mind. 1. Match colors, not prints. If the colors look good together, more often than not the prints will look good together too. If you&amp;#039;re not sure which colors go best together, here are some general color-matching guidelines to help you out, but it&amp;#039;s really a matter of personal preference. That said, you&amp;#039;ll never go wrong with black and white &amp;amp;#151; they go with everything.   Clockwise from the top left: Blue and White Striped Button-Down, EQUIPMENT, $190; Floral Corset, AMERICAN EAGLE, $20; Pink Flamingo Skirt, DELIA&amp;amp;#146;S, $30; Pink Cuffed Shorts, AMERICAN EAGLE, $40  \u20282. The simpler and more graphic the prints, the easier they are to mix. This is why stripes, especially black and white stripes, go with everything. They&amp;#039;re so simple, they&amp;#039;re pretty much the neutral of prints. Graphic prints go great with each other and with more complex or organic prints like florals or animal prints. These more complicated prints can also look nice together, but it&amp;#039;s not as easy to pull off &amp;amp;#151; color and scale become more important, so it can get frustrating if you&amp;#039;re not totally comfortable with the idea of print-mixing to begin with.  Clockwise from the top left: Pink and Black Plaid Crop Top, FOREVER 21, $30; Houndstooth Crop Top, NEW LOOK, $22; Red, Black, and White Printed Pants, ZARA, $50; Silver and Pink Snakeskin Pumps, VINCE CAMUTO, $100; Black-and-White Striped Skirt, MINKPINK, $75  3. Spread your prints out across your outfit. It&amp;#039;s not that you can&amp;#039;t wear a printed jacket over a printed top. You absolutely can. But if you feel like your outfit is getting a little busy, try distributing your prints more evenly by doing one on the top and one on the bottom.\u2028\u2028    Clockwise from the top left: Pink Floral Bustier Tank, TALULA, $30; Blue Printed Blazer, SCOTCH &amp;amp; SODA, $115; Green Leaf Print Shorts, SCOTCH &amp;amp; SODA, $89; Black-and-White Mixed Print Pencil Skirt, WHISTLES, $100  4. Break up the look with solids. If print-on-print-on-print is just too much for you, that&amp;#039;s fine! Just layer in some solid-colored clothes and accessories to calm things down and ground your look.     Clockwise from the top left: Pink and Black Plaid Jacket, TOPSHOP, $136; Pineapple Print Front-Tie Top, NEW LOOK, $25; White Denim Jacket, MANGO, $70; Black Crossbody Bag, STELLA &amp;amp; DOT, $98; Blue and White Pleated Skirt, REISS, $210; Black-and-White Chunky Sandals, RIVER ISLAND, $80; Black-and-White Paisley Print Sneakers, DKNY, $95; Animal Print Crossbody Bag, JUICY COUTURE, $128; Turquoise Shorts, DKNY, $76; White Tank, MOTEL, $47 RELATED ARTICLES: 6 Awesome Ways to Pair Sneakers With Skirts and Dresses How to Make High Heels More Comfortable 6 Super Simple Ways to Become a Color-Mixing Master Follow Charles on Twitter. Do you have fashion or style questions? Submit them here or tweet your questions to our Style Editor @charlesemanning.  Photo Credit: Polyvore "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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