Layering Clothing Stylishly

Friday, January 11, 2013
Officially, summer has weeks left on the calendar, but retailers have begun the transition from lightweight and lighthearted vacation clothes to the more dressed-up, sophisticated styles that come with fall fashion.  The solution? Lightweight layers in a deeper, more autumnal colour palette.

It’s essential to learn how to properly layer clothing on the body.  Using the proper layering techniques not only provides the necessary body warmth and comfort during the chilly days of the fall, winter and spring seasons; but this fashionable skill also helps to inspire a variety of stylish outfits.  The art of layering doesn’t need to be made into a complicated process, or be performed as a methodical task.  By simply combining a variety of popular staple pieces to create fashion-forward outfits.
  • The thinnest garment should be worn closest to your skin, which means that the thickest garment should be towards the top of the layer.  For example, wear a camisole or a fitted cotton T-shirt as the the layer closest to your body.  For the next layer use a lighter cardigan and then wear a heavier jacket or a blazer for the the topmost layer.
  • Most fashion advisers would recommend you to stick to a maximum of three layers for the top half of your body else you could end up looking too bulky! As explained in the above point, apparel which are more loose fitting (jackets, blazers, shrugs, trench coats) are worn towards the top to reduce the bulkiness.
  • For the bottom half of your body layering is usually done with leggings, skinny fit jeans, shorts and a skirt. Again we follow the same principle as the top half, the fitted and thinner garments become the bottom layers, so these would be your leggings or jeggings whereas skirts, boots and over the knee socks become the top layers.Tucking in your leggings or jeans into your boots looks more fashionable. If you are wearing a short skirt with knee high boots, wear over the knee socks and expose a little bit of your socks to make it look more chic.
  • One of the reasons why we want to layer clothes is to show off the contrast between different colours and cuts, so there is no need to be dull and boring and wear a single colour for all your layers. Be bold, layer a white ruffled blouse with bright blue or a purple button down sweater and you will make heads turn while you walk down the street!
  • While experimenting with cuts, do not wear two garments with the same style, for example if you are layering a ruffled shirt with a sweater, avoid using a sweater which also has ruffles. Wearing a plain sweater over the ruffles will make your shirt stand out and that's exactly what we want to achieve!  Also mix and match patterns with solids. The whole idea here is to make each of your layers clearly visible for a complete fashion statement
  • Other items to add to your layers are scarves, belts and accessories. These pieces work as enhancers to your overall look.  If you are wearing a plain white shirt or a blouse wear a sequined or a colourful scarf along with a long necklace for detail or simply throw in a chunky necklace and a bracelet with contrasting colours.  If you are wearing leggings with a long cardigan, wear a belt over it and also throw over a scarf to give your look an extra lift.