It doesn’t have to be cold weather to layer outfits, you can utilize this method of styling all year around. You see, the point of layering your clothing is to create interest with textures, colors and variation of lengths. Layering material creates breaks on the body producing visual proportions. These proportions help your body look balanced while strategic color blocking can have a slimming effect.
You see when someone first looks at you an impression is made within a split second. If everything you are wearing is harmonious i.e., you are wearing the right proportions, silhouette and colors on your body, a person’s eye will see you as a whole and then they will quickly focus on your face. (There are a few exceptions to this however; bare skin, curves, and sparkle will draw the eye directly to these areas—and these are tricks of the trade used to redirect attention from an area that you may want to minimize attention to and draw that attention to your assets instead--but this is a whole other lesson in fashion).
By proportions, we mean how the body looks vertically; it is the appearance between your bottom and top halves of your body. For inverted triangle body types for example, they have wider shoulders and are narrow at the hips, and vice versa for triangle body types. For some of us, where our natural waist sits, it either creates longer torsos and short legs or vice versa, short torsos and long legs. While this blog isn’t a course on proportions, it is important to define it as keeping this in mind will prevent you from looking frumpy when layering as it add lots of fabric and volume.
Below are five types of layering techniques:
1. Layering to elongate the body. If you want to appear leaner and taller, you want the eye to go up and down your body, so you need to keep the breaks on your outfit vertically and not horizontally to create a column and not a break. Our favorite way to do this is to wear a solid color base e.g., top and bottom or dress, and layering with a long cardigan or duster.
In this example, Melissa McCarthy is wearing a monochromatic outfit (top and bottom) in black, layered with a long duster with vertical stripes drawing the eye up and down. Other style notes: She is wearing black shoes so the solid color caries all the way through. She is not wearing anything horizontal to break the plane, if she had been wearing a belt in a contrasting color, our eye would have stopped there.
In the second example, the model is wearing a solid black dress layered with a cardigan in contrasting color. Again, vertical color blocking creates a column effect that is slimming. She further uses a long necklace to draw the eye down and it continues through her toes as her shoes are in a nude color matching her skin elongating her legs.
2. Layering in proportions. We all love layering a comfortable outfit but let’s make sure it doesn’t overwhelm the frame of your body to avoid looking frumpy or bigger than you are. Instead, dress within your body’s proportions and create visual horizontal break at your natural waistline. Long cardigans can often elongate our torsos but at the cost of shortening our legs. However, long cardigans are great to cover your behind and thighs that we sometimes want to minimize. So to keep your body in proportion, simply create a horizontal line to break up the vertical plane by either belting it all together, wearing a top where the hemline is as close to your waist as possible or tucking the top into the bottoms.
When you are using a top to create a horizontal break, use contrasting colors or a belt in a contrasting color.
If you are top heavy, we recommend layering with thinner cardigans and sweaters rather than thick or chunky ones so you don’t add additional weight to your top half of your body.
3. Layering for texture. Layers of clothing and accessories create texture to outfits. The layer effect creates depth, volume and a richness with color, print and material. So go ahead and put together a monochromatic outfit using the volume of the material to give your outfit texture, break up a solid base with print or the other way around by break up print with a solid layer.
Or if you are feeling sassy, layer print with print, to do this ensure that you are in the same family of colors (see a great example below, a print dress layered with houndstooth blazer).
On warm days use lightweight vests and dusters are perfect for adding color, depth and fun to any outfit.
Victoria Beckham in this image is wearing an all-black base with a sleeveless jumpsuit and has haphazardly tied (by design, for sure) sleeveless yellow trench coat over it. She has taken a simple base and dialed up a notch creating interest in this playful long vest with black buttons referencing the base as well as the black heeled sandals and sunnies.
While Khloe Kardashian below has used an all-white base and paired it with a silky lightweight dusty pink trench coat.
4. Layer with accessories. We've already discussed in the first layering example on how using a long necklace can create a visual cue to draw the eye vertically, well in this next example, additional accessories builds on this with volume and an amazing finish.
We just love this outfit, the base is simple with a cable knit turtleneck and pants, but then a long vest is layered on. At this point all three items are in the brown family creating a very nice rich look with the different tones and textures. This creates the perfect canvas to add a splash of color with a colorful scarf placed over the vest. All this layering has creating a lot of volume so to bring all and to define a waistline that has been covered up, it has been cinched with a brown leather belt which is dark enough to create a bit of contrast to the outer layers while referencing the base pants.
5. Layering Dresses. Layering dresses is our favorite way to style, as it maximizes the wear of dresses all year around! Dresses can be layered with sweaters, cardigans, blazers and even jackets. But again, you have to be mindful of volume and proportions, otherwise this great technique will leave you looking dowdy and larger than you are. So, when layering with sweaters, it’s best if the hem is as near to your waist as possible. There are a couple of ways to do this, simply fold the sweater up and secure it with a belt or even fold and hold with a safety pin.
When wear cardigans, blazers and jackets, same thing, wear them as closet to your waist as possible. Look for cropped length or simply belt them at the waist.
At the end, there is only on rule to follow when properly layering an outfit and that is to ensure your keep your body proportioned and using our tips here will help you accomplish that. We hope that these layering techniques will encourage you to try it for yourself.
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