If you follow us on Instagram, you know that twinning is one of our favorite past times. It’s a fun way to express ourselves throughout the seasons and a challenge I enjoy when it comes to pairing women’s clothing - that fits my generally neutral style - with dog accessories.

How to twin with your dog

It’s not always easy matching exact patterns from dog accessories to women’s clothing, but it’s definitely possible. Here’s my advice for curating a killer twinning outfit.

1.Find dog brands that make accessories that also fit your clothing style.

This one recommendation helps hone your style and saves your wallet. I try to match Ruby as much as I can so if I’m only buying things that are a pattern or color that I would also wear then I’m not buying extra dog accessories. This means I also always have a lot of options on hand to mix and match as we get new pieces and they all generally go together. i.e. leashes, collars, tags, etc. Some my go to dog brands are The Foggy Dog, Puplove + Co, Leshoob, and Rororiri. When it comes to women’s clothing brands there’s obviously a lot of options but ones I always have success finding matches on are Vici, Lulus, Madewell, Asos, and H&M.

2. Start with your dog’s accessories.

Dog accessories are naturally more limited so it’s easiest to curate your dog’s accessories first before finding your matching outfits. When selecting your dog’s accessories try to lean into patterns and textures that are a natural fit to human clothes, like denim, plaids, gingham, flannel, stripes, etc. The more unique the pattern, the harder it will be to match.

3. When you’re matching, it doesn’t always have to be an exact pattern match.

If you do have unique patterns you’re looking to match, then think outside the box of an exact match. If you’re always looking for an exact match, you’ll drive yourself mad. Trust me, I’ve done it and in some cases still do it. If you’re not seeing women’s clothing in the exact pattern or colors, pull color Inso from the pattern and align your matching through the color palette vs print.

4. Always be looking.

I am always on the look out for clothes that match Rue’s accessories. We’re generally on the same buying cycling with adding to our wardrobes when we have trips coming up or with the changing of the seasons, so I’m always keeping a pulse on what the new styles to easily match or finding new pieces for me that match accessories Rue already has, like black and white gingham or denim. Those are go to staples for me so we have several twinning outfits built off of one bandana Rue has.