Styling a classic cashmere sweater
The reel on IG | my picks on LTK
Sweaters with that effortlessly updated cut tend to cost more than classic sweaters with the cinched-in waist and tapered sleeves. The vibe premium is real and quite common.
Some of my favorite affordable cashmere sweaters do have that classic cut, and they can easily look frumpy as a result. Here's how I style them to look more modern:
Simplest
The easiest way? Fold up the waistband and scrunch up the sleeves to about the same length. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
Over a Button Down
If you’re layering over a button down, make sure the tails aren’t too long - just about two inches sticking out at the bottom, and not the full cuff at the sleeve. more more modern.
On the right, I'm wearing the sweater over my beloved Banana Republic boxy crop shirt. (I do love the Banana Republic linen shirt on the left, too, just not under this particular sweater.) Another option is a dickey, which is an independent shirt collar, like the one I got for $9 at Amazon.
This layering benefits from a sweater with a straight hem, rather than the traditional cinched waist. I folded the waistband upwards on the inside here as well.
Over a Tee Shirt
As fussy as some trends have been lately, the biggest trend in layering this year is as simple as a tee shirt under a crewneck. To make this layering work, I'm choosing a tee that's not much longer than my sweater, similar to the proportions of the button down. I'm also going for a tee that's closer to the body, to avoid the awkward peplum that the oversized tee shirt creates.
What I love about this layering is a subtle asymmetry in the neckline. A tee whose neckline is slightly different from the sweater's will create a compelling shape peeking from just under the sweater. Frankly, it's harder to find a tee that's shaped exactly the same as the sweater, so an overly perfect look is hard to achieve anyway. You'll look effortless without extra effort.
With tees, a uniboob is a real danger. The two ways to avoid it: