The Vine: April 13, 2007
Hey Sars,
Following a recent incident whilst travelling — overweight bags + evil airline check-in lady = me with eighteen layers of clothes on — I have finally decided to convert to the layering trend. I actually liked the way I looked with all those layers of clothes; but the thing is that I put the look together completely by accident, and I can’t recreate it in a manner that looks even halfway normal.
To say that I am not a major fashion-head would be putting it mildly. I’m usually a jeans, trainers and sweater girl. I do have plenty of tees and tanks though that might look cute together, but I just don’t know where to start. I have gathered that you are somewhat of a layering expert; are there any tips you can give me? Are there rules I should follow? Are there colours that should never, ever go together? And how do I avoid looking like a hobo?
Thanks for your help!
Lost in Layersville
Dear Layers,
A lot of my layering comes from necessity — the heat in my apartment doesn’t work very well, and there’s only so many ways you can “wear” a cat — but in my experience, pulling off layering is the same as pulling off any other fashion-y thing: it only looks as good as you believe it does, or if you don’t care too much. The first time I wore a dress over pants, I could have given a shit what it looked like — it was a wedding in the desert and after the sun went down I was freezing my dupa off. But it looked pretty good, so I kept doing it.
My friend Chick is another example. A typical Chick outfit is a lavender long-sleeved tee, a pink tank top over that, a ruffled mini over khaki capri pants over black patterned tights, black cut-off socks as arm-warmers, and mint-green Chucks. It sounds like a hot mess, but she makes it work — and yeah, Chick is in the fourth grade, but everyone in her class copies her. Hell, I copy her. She walked past me the other day wearing some poncho-necktie rig or other, totally nonchalant, eating an apple, and I’m like, “Hold up, Stevie Nicks, let’s see how you did that.”
Perhaps the readers have more specific advice. My only particulars in this regard are to 1) use light fabrics and long tees or tanks, to give yourself a good line and avoid bulk; 2) take care with the dress-over-pants thing if you’re not very tall, because it can sort of cut you in half at the ass; and 3) always do exactly what What Not To Wear UK’s Trinny and Susannah tell you to in their books — but generally, I’d say to do what you did the first time. Throw everything on, take a couple things off so you don’t look too much like you’re playing dress-ups, keep the jewelry simple, and don’t overthink it.
Readers: your layering tips, please.
Tags: Ask The Readers retail
My usual layering nowadays is a long-sleeved solid-color top and one of the awesome short-sleeved “sweater”s my mother knits for me over that, but without my mother in the equation, a short-sleeved t-shirt or babydoll or a tank top would achieve a similar effect. The biggest tip I have to give is either go for color gradation (the lavender/pink combination by La Chick gets that, and before you start thinking I’m some fashion bigwig, I totally learned the word “gradation” from a friend who has an artist brother) or for complete contrast—black over dark green, blue over dark pink, etc. Either is easier to achieve if the inner layer is solid color.
(By the way, as a longtime reader of Tomato Nation, and as someone who laughed herself to tears over the Ketchup archives numerous times, I am very happy with the comment option, because it gives me the chance to thank you. For all the much-needed laughs and the clearmindedness.)
Invest in Old Navy’s long layering tanks. They hit me mid-hip and come in about a million colors, but are light enough to layer under pretty much any shirt. They’re also really cheap and have lasted a really long time. Also, keep your color palette pretty simple – if one piece is patterened, make the other one simple. As Stacy and Clinton say, “It doesn’t have to match – it has to GO.” So don’t be afraid to try some crazy colors together.
Dupa! I love it. You don’t usually see Polish slang tossed around too much these days. Great job as usual, Sars!
Na zdrowie!
Funnily enough, the best layering I’ve ever achieved was also unplanned–the direct result of half a pitcher of sangria and a round of thrift store shopping on Haight in SF (rule: whatever we bought had to be put on immediately, over what we were already wearing, out on the sidewalk). That said, I agree that successful layering has everything to do with how the wearer feels about pulling it off. I find that being unapologetic about fashion goes a long way when attempting something adventurous.
I actually don’t have anything more specific to add because layering is such a personal, feel-as-one-goes thing. My best advice is to just try everything–wildly different textures, mismatching patterns, weird color combos: some of it will look like a clown just threw up on you, Lost, but there will also be some inspired surprises.
If you’re layering pieces like a tank top and a t-shirt, make sure that the outside piece is slightly smaller/more fitted. If you wear them the other way around, you’ll look bulky.
The only tip I can offer is what NOT to do, as I recently saw it happening at my fiance’s place of work. One of the ever-so-stylish 17 year old hostesses had it in her head that if people can wear a DRESS with pants, then she should try wearing a SKIRT with pants!
Nuh-uh.
She wound up looking like she simply couldn’t decided between which one she should wear that day, and so she wore both. And it was not cool. (Poor thing!)
Otherwise, I’m a simple cami with a long-sleeved shirt and then the hoody-on-top kind of girl, and it works for me. I buy those stretchy-type camis that they have at Limited…I have about 13 of them in all different colors. I wear them under *everything* pretty much. So I’d highly recommend the cami thing, if nothing else. I also am a recent fan of the shorter skirts worn with leggings. I’m 33, so I’m verging on the age where shorter skirts in any case will no longer be acceptable, so I’m milking it for all I can right now. (I look younger than 33, so I think that’s why I can still pass it off at this age, honestly.)
Always remember that if you get hot, you can only take off so much. There’s nothing worse that deciding to drop to the bottom layer and realizing that the bottom layer is an incredibly thin tank more suitable for bed than public. Especially if you were very tired when you put together said ensemble and the bra is the wrong color. Not that I would know from experience.
Also, if you sweat like I do, keep the lower layers in very light (whites, pale pinks) or dark (black, navy) colors.
Lucky Magazine gets a lot of flack, but this is exactly the kind of thing it’s perfect for. Pick up an issue, or see if your library or a friend or your hairdresser’s has the recent spring issues, which probably have more layering examples. Ignore the ludicrous price tags and focus instead on how the models are wearing the pieces. There’s lots of tips for different body types, and they actually feature different body types in their photos, imagine that, so you get to see how it works in practice. I credit Lucky with my finally figuring out how to pull this shit off. Well, that and living in Manhattan for two years.
One of the things that makes layering work is the contrast between things – in Sars’ example, mini and Chucks don’t necessarily go together, etc. If you pair your short dress with a grampa sweater, or a really casual tee under a kinda formal suit vest, you get that crucially under-styled, ‘whatever, I’m not trying’ kind of look.
the places that show me what NOT to wear are tlc’s “what not to wear” and the fug (gofugyourself.typepad.com). i tend toward button down shirts with a coordinating cami or sleeveless shirt, and if the weather allows, a structured jacket. but, that can get boring.
if you don’t know where to start, though, you should browse through magazines, look at mannequins you like in stores, and take notes from those.
Good tips, all.
Hand in hand with #1, and a good rule of fashion in general, is to make sure that all the layers fit you properly in the first place. If you’re layering baggy on baggy, you’ll probably end up uncomfortably close to “hobo”. But if you wear a long fitted tank top under a cute T-shirt with a fun jacket or something, you’ll be fine.
Also, a good rule of thumb if you’re uncomfortable with mixing colors and patterns in an Oh-this-looks-cute?-I-didn’t-even-notice! way is to keep in the same general tone family. For example, a bold pink with pastel orange could look sort of weird and crappy, but you can absolutely wear a medium rose with a medium orange and make it work.
But mostly just have fun and trust your instincts. And take note of what you get compliments on or feel especially good in so you can keep moving in that direction.
I can’t add much, I’m kind of a novice layerer myself, but the feel-your-way advice is good. I do have another suggestion, inspiration-wise, is the wardrobe remix pool on Flickr. It’s basically just a whole lot of people (who are different shapes, sizes, and ages) posting pictures of what they wore that day, and a lot of the time, making things that you would think would be ugly together look awesome.
Absolutely go with Old Navy – they always have a ton of tanks, camis, long-sleeve, short-sleeve, whatever. And in every size and color imaginable. Plus it’s mostly lightweight fabric and inexpensive, so you can go wild.
I too, would highly recommend Old Navy, but I’d go further and suggest the “tiny fit” style. It sounds like they’d be too tight or look like little kid shirts, but what they do is just give you a nice line without any bulk and fit in just the right way. I’m short and round and I love how they look on me. I wear them alone, but they’d be awesome layered because they’re so lightweight.
My favourite layering things at the moment are: a long sleeved t-shirt with another t-shirt (preferably one with a slogan, such as “I (heart) geeks”) over top; for something dressier, a low v-neck tee over a lace-trimmed cami; and my very favourite, a v-neck sweatervest over a square-necked long sleeved shirt.
I like pairing a couple of long, thin- or spaghetti-strapped tank tops — I have a green one and a white one, both from Old Navy, that look good together. And maybe throw a corduroy or denim jacket over those if it’s chilly. Dress it up with some dangly or hoop earrings, and you have instant cute. Or you can put a thick-strapped tank under an off-the-shoulder sweater or T-shirt. (If the straps are too thin, though, it’ll just look like your bra is showing.) Contrasting patterns can be a lot of fun, but a little dangerous. So experiment, but get a second opinion before you try out your new combination in public!
Thank you so much Lost in Layersville.
At the start of this year (in the Australian summer) I moved from my coastal, moderately temperatured hometown, to an inland, rural town, at altitude.
I’ve always been able to wear pants, a top and jacket to work. All my tops are summer or spring/autumn. I don’t do winter unless I have to. And the recent drop in temperature is telling me that I have to!
I’ve been thinking I should write to TN and ask for Sars’s help – I know she is a layering advocate. I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
I actually dragged my boyfriend shopping last night, looking for “things I can layer.” The mannequins weren’t much help. You Vine readers on the other hand… Thank you
I’m small, so I have to be pretty careful layering, lest I wind up looking like a homeless person a la an Olsen twin. I absolutely love wearing a dress over jeans, but if you are petite (and this is just personal experience) the jeans have to be fairly skinny and a darker denim. I do best with a pair that has a little bit of stretchiness. And I always wear it with heels which keeps me from looking like my legs are a foot long. Before I made the jump to the actual dress, I did a lot of babydoll or tunic tops over jeans with a cardigan with 3/4 length sleeves over that. It was like a baby step to the dress over jeans.
For a more everyday deal, I have about a zillion long sleeve t-shirts from Target. I think that I have five white ones alone. I also have a bunch of the Target short sleeve v-neck ones to wear on top. My favorites, though, are my Gap Favorite tees. My favorite layering tool is a cord jacket I got at Kohl’s that has a knit hood that buttons in and out. Makes you look like you’ve layered a hoodie under the jacket without having all the bulk.
One good rule of thumb for layering without looking like an explosion in a paint factory is to match what you’re wearing on your bottom half with the bottom layer on your top half, if that makes any sense at all. For example, you could wear navy trousers with a navy scoop neck top under a red shirt. This works especially well for people like me who are short and don’t need chopping up into even tinier pieces. Also, if you’re wearing something patterned, restrict yourself to picking out two colours from the pattern for the rest of your outfit.
Another tip is to make sure that the hemlines, necklines and/or sleeves vary. Sure, start with a “layering tee” since they are usually cut longer, but then top with a regular tee, so that you have the bottom of the layering tee showing. Or, try a v-neck over a crewneck, and that sort of thing.
Today’s outfit: chocolate brown drawstring-cuff pants from the Gap sale rack, olive Old Navy shelf-bra tank, faded orange v-neck tee from Target on top, funky silver and green sneakers, black nylon waterproof jacket with green lining. This was a “got dressed in the dark” day and I think it’s kinda awesome. Chocolate brown is my favorite neutral, although that might be ’cause the majority of my clothes are “earth tones.”
I watch What Not to Wear religiously, but can’t bring myself to wear pointy-toed heels in the laboratory, so I do my own thing.
Personally, I can’t imagine NOT layering. I always dress using layers and pretty much always have, but I think the layering novice ought to avoid the skirt/dress + pants thing. I won’t even go near that style. Just too much potential for disaster, IMO. Plus, I’m short, so see Sally’s comments on that.
I recommend investing in long, skinny wifebeater-type cotton tanks, and cotton tees with varying necklines, weights, colors, and sleeve lengths. Target, Express, American Apparel, Threadless, Old Navy – these are all great places to find stuff. Pretty much any color will work with any other color as long as they’re not super-bold or competing patterns. Personally, I prefer to use solid colors and open (non-crew) necklines, and use a funky necklace or a scarf as a unifying piece (in the case of “unusual” color combos). The occasional lacy tank spruces things up, and I have a handful of vests to throw on in a pinch. I can wear this stuff with black pants to work or with jeans for a more casual look. It’s pretty simple, and it’s versatile.
Good luck and happy layering!
Lately I’ve been obsessed with long-sleeved American Apparel tee, with short-sleeved AA tee over it, and a cardigan over that. All in different colors (but the bottom tee white or black).
Someday it will warm up, though, and then I do ss tee under polo shirt. No logos, though!
Speaking as someone who sometimes spends all day dressing mannequins (yes, to some of us this is an actual profession…woot!) I agree with some of the other commenters…i.e. the key to layering is varying the length of the articles of clothing. Start with the longest (sleeve or hem) and work out from there. I personally think that one item in a pattern or stripe adds interest, but if you vary the texture or fabric it creates the same effect. I work at a department store, but have seen some great layering on mannequins at Fossil, The Buckle and Abercrombie. There are a lot of “fake” layered shirts out there (with a hem of a diffrent shirt actually sewn under the outside shirt) but it’s easier and looks better to just wear both shirts, fer goshsakes.
Final note? You can now buy boy’s shorts with a fake layer of boxer short attached around the waist. I think the end of the world is nigh.
Speaking from the standpoint of one who is short and busty, you have to be careful to keep a waist. I tend to wear a very close fitting first layer that will also be my longest layer (don’t let it go past the hips or your butt will look ten times larger). Then add a slightly looser-fitting layer on top – think loose, not floppy – you are still going for fitted. It works great with either a tank under a wide-necked tee on top or a long-sleeved tee with a fitted short sleeve tee or polo type shirt over that. Be careful wearing woven shirts over layers – the structure tends to make the underlying layers look more bulky.
i am 5’4″, and personally…i love the short dress and jeans thing. sure, i’m not tall and some might consider me short, but i think this look does me justice.
my favorite is this little knit-type dress (ivory, with holes at the bust, and at the bottom). aside from wearing a slip underneath, i’m not sure how else to actually wear this dress. but paired with a white tank underneath, and a pair of slim, destructed jeans…it looks plain cute.