sartorialistLayering, like cooking souffles and forging balance in your life, is a fine art. Some are naturally gifted with it, who can work a loose shift dress over leggings, a grungy cardigan over that, a scarf wrapped jauntily around their neck, sleeves of a coat scrunched up at the elbows revealing a glimpse of the blouse beneath. These are also the kinds of girls whose souffles never sink and who manage a morning yoga session before a full day at work and an opening party later that night. Huh.
I used to be quite good at layering. It was my thing. Back when wearing 5 necklaces was better than wearing 1 (and 20 was better than wearing 5) and boho was the name of the game I could have layered for my country. I used to throw on these tricky variations of fur gillets/denim vests over a loose peasant tops over a striped singlet. And on the bottom there were things like tiered skirts and cowboy boots. Disk belts. Headscarves. Jangly bangles. It all sounds like a bit much, which is probably why when i got so into vintage i slavishly followed a style that required no layering at all (other than the layers in a viennese opera cake, of course) - the slimline and ankle baring frivolities of the 1920s.
sartorialist
But as sure as rain, style has this way of boomeranging back to where you started. And though i may not be dusting off those cowboy boots any time soon I am intrigued once again by the whole concept of layering. Not just because this Sydney spring weather has gone from diaphonous fine-ness where the air is light with blooming fragrance to the predatory rains that leave everything swollen and raw. And it has been so, so cold. Or is that just because i've been in the mountains. You know it's time to at least try to layer when you have to find some wood and light a fire. I found a thick woollen scarf and a pair of fingerless gloves that were forgotten and left behind many trips to the mountains ago and suddenly it all seemed so right for now.
Because now is all about that kind of easy glamour and sunny nonchalance. No-one's really rocking the big hair, big brands, big ego look anymore. It's not so much about the trend following as much as it is about the trend avoiding. Maybe it's just me, but i think the whole mood of fashion has been subdued as of late. Even when it's going over the top, it's not doing so in a gauche, crass way. Extravagance is not necessarily a bad thing. But i do find myself identifying more with those looks that are grounded in their ability to translate that kind of effortless chic that is so irrepressibly french. In fact, it's more irrepressibly european, i suppose all that cool weather makes it harder to just venture out in a cardigan and shorts over tights (hello, sydneysider's favoured winter outfit).
It is those northern hemisphere-dwellers that do is so well though. Out of necessity they have to wear more clothes, but out of personality they do it with style. That's why we get such a smorgasbord of gloves, scarves, berets, leg warmers, cardigans, vests, chunky knits, dare i even say sleeveless coats, coming out of european fashion houses. It's their bread and butter. For the discerning customer with disposable income that stretches beyond perfume and eye shadow they can get a warm silk scarf from burberry or a pair of elbow length calf-skin leather gloves from lanvin. European fashion houses make a killing on these layer-friendly accessories that are the cornerposts and staple diet of cold weather. And they look so good.
garance dore
But layering isn't easy, despite the effortless effervescence that it conveys. One of the most tricky parts of layering is getting the silhouette and the proportions right. Too heavy on top and you can feel unbalanced, too much on bottom and it can throw the whole look off. If you try and mix too many textures it can come off haphazard, but just throwing a little bit of leather in the mix can be extremely dull. If you want to get tricky you can layer two jackets (my ultimate dream outfit, considering i have about 3 jackets to every top in my wardrobe), but if it doesn't work you can look like you've escaped from a bad 80s dance movie. And not bad good, like flashdance. I'm talking bad bad, like footloose. And if you layer too much you veer it into the scruffy territory that no amount of fresh skin and clean hair can veer you out of. It's a tricky line to walk.
Oh, but when you get it right it's oh so right. When you layer perfectly, a cashmere cardigan under a leather vest under a grey tweedy coat, for example, or a tunic top over slimline pleated trousers and socks and high heeled sandals, or even my classic favourite - breton top under a printed dress under an embellished coat - it is incredible. Stopping bystanders in the street kind of incredible. People stare when you layer well. It's fascinating in that kind of 'how does she do it' way. I know i do, unashamedly, trying to ascertain how exactly that girl swung her scarf around her neck to get it hanging like that, or what kind of cut her sweater is to fall like it does off her shoulder revealing the organza strap of an LBD.
Like i said, the weather in sydney right now is perfect for layering. It's not quite chilly enough for a coat (a sleeveless one maybe, but that's a whole other story), but definitely not tee shirt weather. To get optimal warmth you have to throw on a few things all at once with the slightly interested gaze of a hawk. And that mixed up, messed up, kookiness that ensues? that's the layering magic you've been searching for all along.
X
I used to be quite good at layering. It was my thing. Back when wearing 5 necklaces was better than wearing 1 (and 20 was better than wearing 5) and boho was the name of the game I could have layered for my country. I used to throw on these tricky variations of fur gillets/denim vests over a loose peasant tops over a striped singlet. And on the bottom there were things like tiered skirts and cowboy boots. Disk belts. Headscarves. Jangly bangles. It all sounds like a bit much, which is probably why when i got so into vintage i slavishly followed a style that required no layering at all (other than the layers in a viennese opera cake, of course) - the slimline and ankle baring frivolities of the 1920s.
sartorialistBut as sure as rain, style has this way of boomeranging back to where you started. And though i may not be dusting off those cowboy boots any time soon I am intrigued once again by the whole concept of layering. Not just because this Sydney spring weather has gone from diaphonous fine-ness where the air is light with blooming fragrance to the predatory rains that leave everything swollen and raw. And it has been so, so cold. Or is that just because i've been in the mountains. You know it's time to at least try to layer when you have to find some wood and light a fire. I found a thick woollen scarf and a pair of fingerless gloves that were forgotten and left behind many trips to the mountains ago and suddenly it all seemed so right for now.
Because now is all about that kind of easy glamour and sunny nonchalance. No-one's really rocking the big hair, big brands, big ego look anymore. It's not so much about the trend following as much as it is about the trend avoiding. Maybe it's just me, but i think the whole mood of fashion has been subdued as of late. Even when it's going over the top, it's not doing so in a gauche, crass way. Extravagance is not necessarily a bad thing. But i do find myself identifying more with those looks that are grounded in their ability to translate that kind of effortless chic that is so irrepressibly french. In fact, it's more irrepressibly european, i suppose all that cool weather makes it harder to just venture out in a cardigan and shorts over tights (hello, sydneysider's favoured winter outfit).
It is those northern hemisphere-dwellers that do is so well though. Out of necessity they have to wear more clothes, but out of personality they do it with style. That's why we get such a smorgasbord of gloves, scarves, berets, leg warmers, cardigans, vests, chunky knits, dare i even say sleeveless coats, coming out of european fashion houses. It's their bread and butter. For the discerning customer with disposable income that stretches beyond perfume and eye shadow they can get a warm silk scarf from burberry or a pair of elbow length calf-skin leather gloves from lanvin. European fashion houses make a killing on these layer-friendly accessories that are the cornerposts and staple diet of cold weather. And they look so good.
garance doreBut layering isn't easy, despite the effortless effervescence that it conveys. One of the most tricky parts of layering is getting the silhouette and the proportions right. Too heavy on top and you can feel unbalanced, too much on bottom and it can throw the whole look off. If you try and mix too many textures it can come off haphazard, but just throwing a little bit of leather in the mix can be extremely dull. If you want to get tricky you can layer two jackets (my ultimate dream outfit, considering i have about 3 jackets to every top in my wardrobe), but if it doesn't work you can look like you've escaped from a bad 80s dance movie. And not bad good, like flashdance. I'm talking bad bad, like footloose. And if you layer too much you veer it into the scruffy territory that no amount of fresh skin and clean hair can veer you out of. It's a tricky line to walk.
Oh, but when you get it right it's oh so right. When you layer perfectly, a cashmere cardigan under a leather vest under a grey tweedy coat, for example, or a tunic top over slimline pleated trousers and socks and high heeled sandals, or even my classic favourite - breton top under a printed dress under an embellished coat - it is incredible. Stopping bystanders in the street kind of incredible. People stare when you layer well. It's fascinating in that kind of 'how does she do it' way. I know i do, unashamedly, trying to ascertain how exactly that girl swung her scarf around her neck to get it hanging like that, or what kind of cut her sweater is to fall like it does off her shoulder revealing the organza strap of an LBD.
Like i said, the weather in sydney right now is perfect for layering. It's not quite chilly enough for a coat (a sleeveless one maybe, but that's a whole other story), but definitely not tee shirt weather. To get optimal warmth you have to throw on a few things all at once with the slightly interested gaze of a hawk. And that mixed up, messed up, kookiness that ensues? that's the layering magic you've been searching for all along.
X
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