Ethereal prints reveal the beauty of abstraction, openness, and spontaneity.

I remember taking an internet quiz years ago about how your personality predicts your aesthetic preferences.

I think the theory behind the quiz was that if you prefer more realistic, linear, or organized paintings, you might have a more realistic, practical, straightforward thinking style.

And if you prefer more abstract, non-linear, non-realistic paintings, you might have a more abstract, less straightforward style of thinking, such as making connections between different ideas that might seem strange to other people.

I don’t know if there’s really a genuine link between personality and aesthetic preference, though I’d guess there is a correlation.

And something I love about Ethereal prints is that they reveal the beauty of the abstract, dreamy, figurative, mystical, and hard-to-define.

Ethereal Prints Qualities

Ethereal prints tend to be:

Curving
Elongated
Moderate-to-large scale
Diffuse-edged
Abstract

Beyond that, Ethereal prints are hard to characterize. You could say they’re defined by being undefinable, by featuring images that are hard to put into concrete words or clear categories.

Ethereal’s Best Prints

Here’s some of your key print options:

1) Watercolor or Ombre

Abstract watercolor that evokes clouds or the sky

Watercolor with splatter paint, ripple, or wave-like effects

Watercolor that evokes the ocean

2) Florals

Watercolor florals

Narrow, elongated florals
Abstract florals

3) Tie-dye

Tie-dye swirls or spirals
Curving tie-dye

Spiral tie-dye shirts are sometimes Ethereal Natural, because while the print is often fully Ethereal, the silhouette of tie-dye shirts often has an oversized, baggy Natural quality.

But if you can find a spiral tie-dye top that’s long and body-skimming, that can be fully Ethereal.

4) Swirl

Spiral

5) Paisley

Paisley is often Natural, especially when the borders are clear and well-defined. Natural paisley sort of has a casual floral-like quality.

But when the paisley is more blended together and abstract, it feels dreamy and fully Ethereal.

6) Flight Motifs

Abstract or diffuse-edged butterflies, birds, and feathers

7) And More

Other designs that feel dreamy, magical, or otherworldly

Prints to Avoid

There can be exceptions, but Ethereal generally doesn’t connect to:

Well-defined stripes and pinstripes
Geometrics
Tiny dainty florals
Very curvy florals with well-defined boundaries
Polka-dots
Camo
Gingham
Intense-feeling animal prints (snakeskin, cheetah, zebra, etc.)

But you can likely still wear some of these if you have other essences in your blend.

Ethereal Blended Prints

Most people aren’t a pure type. But even if you only have a little Ethereal, you can still be flattered by fully Ethereal prints.

You can also choose designs that combine two or more of your essences, like:

Ethereal Ingenue

Look for butterfly prints with an abstract or diffuse quality (Ethereal) and a small scale or well-defined borders for Ingenue.

Ethereal Gamine

Look for prints that feel “trippy,” “groovy,” or “psychedelic,” or have a playful yet hypnotic quality.

In literal terms, this can simply mean combining elements of Ethereal and Gamine prints, such as choosing an ombre (Ethereal) print with stripes.
Vertical pinstripes are often Classic, but there’s exceptions to that. Since the pinstripes in this image are accompanied by ombre and a lot of color, they feel playful and bold (Gamine), rather than conventional and refined (Classic).

Ethereal Dramatic

Look for “edgy tie-dye,” such as tie-dye in very dark or high-contrast colors.

Ethereal Natural

Look for tie-dye or watercolor prints that combine blue with green or other earth tones.
Also look for tie-dye that includes Natural nature motifs, like branches.

Ethereal Romantic

Look for Romantic prints with an abstract, watercolor quality, such as watercolor leopard print.
Also look for abstract, moderate-to-large, curvy watercolor florals.

Ethereal Classic

This is probably the trickiest pair! Ethereal prints are defined by complexity, spontaneity, curves, and diffuse edges, whereas Classic prints tend to be the opposite: simple, organized, and straight, with clearly-defined borders.
One option is to choose an Ethereal print in a Classic silhouette, like a basic button-down. Or choose a very subtle, low-contrast Ethereal print.

Another option if you have a lot of both Ethereal and Classic is to look for Ethereal prints in blues or mints, such as very light-colored ombre. These colors flatter both essences, and while the print is likely to be fully Ethereal, choosing a light or low-contrast version can help it not overwhelm Classic.

Print-Mixing

Print-mixing is a natural fit for Ethereals, since this essence’s prints already have an inherently blended, diffuse, “mixed” quality.

So combining two or more Ethereal prints simply enhances their complex, dreamy feel.

Here’s just a few examples:

Use Scarves

Sheer, floaty scarves are one of your best Ethereal accessories. Choose one with a subtle ombre print to complement a busy paisley dress.

If you look closely, the dress’s collar also has tiny florals (Ingenue) and colorful polka dots (Gamine). So this full look would be amazing for an Ethereal Gamine Natural Ingenue (Natural from the loose, carefree dress silhouette).

Wear Your Face on Your Sleeve

Pair Ethereal Gamine marble print thick-framed sunglasses with a dreamy-meets-quirky loose dress for an inventive Ethereal Natural Gamine look.

Prints with abstract faces often seem to have some Ethereal, since they can have a surreal quality. Sometimes playful Gamine, too.

Feet First

A lot going on with this edgy Ethereal Dramatic tie dye and athletic piping Gamine socks. Paired with a basic slouchy oversized button-down (Natural), a fascinating look for an Ethereal Dramatic Natural Gamine.

Another EDGN look using a similar formula of edgy Ethereal Dramatic tie-dye, this time paired with “printed” footwear (color-blocked Gamine sneakers) and a Natural Gamine frayed mini skirt.

And More

I didn’t really find it when searching through street style images, but I think an awesome print-mixing look is to pair two highly Ethereal prints together as a top and a skirt.

For example, a tie-dye skirt with a marble print blouse.

Or you could even try a more complex, busier tie-dye top paired with a subtler, simple tie-dye skirt.

Maybe that’s breaking some sort of official fashion decree. But with their unique beauty, Ethereals are one of the types most likely to succeed at subverting fashion “rules.”

Colors and Color Season?

The Ethereal essence is surprisingly versatile when it comes to color season.

Angelic beauty is often stereotyped as being best in very light, low-contrast colors, and it’s true that if you’re an Ethereal, those colors (within your season) will be great on you.

But Ethereals are also amazing in medium, dark, or high-contrast hues, especially purples, blues, and blue-greens.

And while Ethereal may be stereotypically best in cool-feeling colors (blues, purples, mints), the essence is also fantastic in sunset color schemes, like pairing oranges, yellows, pinks, and reds. You can look for a diffuse-edged Ethereal print that combines those colors.

Why So Blue?

Today’s post featured a lot of blue Ethereal clothing. That’s partly because blue is one of Ethereal’s best colors. But it’s also because blue is simply one of the easiest colors to find in fashion. So it was what came up most frequently in my search for blog-friendly photos of Ethereal prints.

I actually think Ethereal’s very best color is purple, but purple is much less ubiquitous in fashion than blue (and that’s part of why purple is so good for Angelic beauty—the color feels unique and otherworldly, rather than traditional and down-to-earth).

Especially if you do a Google search, though, or do some hunting through stores, you’re likely to encounter plenty of purple Ethereal fashion.

General Print-Mixing Tips

Here’s a summary of general print-mixing strategies (we also covered all these previously when discussing the other essences!)

These are absolutely guidelines, not rules—all can sometimes be broken with success:

Pair a subtler print with a louder one
Mix a simpler print with a more complex one
Mix a more well-known and recognizable print (like tie-dye) with a more unusual one
Pair larger scale with smaller scale
Pair a printed garment with printed shoes, accessories, or jewelry
Have one or more of your prints be mostly neutral
Mix prints in the same or similar color schemes
Keep color season mostly consistent—if the print mostly suits your season while also incorporating some colors that are outside your season, it may still work for you. But in general, if you like to dress by your color season, then you’ll want the majority of the print’s colors to match that

Dreamy Beauty

With their abstract, surreal nature, Ethereal prints remind us of the beauty of being open and exploratory and not having to have everything all neatly figured out. The beauty of abstraction and imagining and dreaming and not always having to be realistic or practical. The beauty of the unique and unconventional. And the idea that there is often more to reality than what we may initially perceive with our literal senses and with straightforward, linear thinking.

Ethereal fashion and faces are beautiful for so many reasons, including that they remind us that beauty is symbolic and deep.

Ethereal Essence Prints

Ethereal Prints Qualities