Two Australian stylists on how to effectively layer for winter
IMAGE VIA @catforsythh/INSTAGRAM
WORDS BY RUBY STALEY
“I love combining feminine dresses with black pants for something a bit unexpected.”
Winter fashion definitely has its own special sort of style appeal, but sometimes you want to wear a specific piece or have a vision for an outfit that becomes all but ruined by having to layer for the cold weather.
I love oversized pieces, long-line coats and chunky knits as much, if not more, than the next person. But dressing to step out into the rain and the cold often forces me out of my comfort zone, sends my outfits into shapeless territory and causes my confidence to plummet.
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Avoiding ‘the bulk’ when layering up for a cool winter’s day has proved to be a difficult task time and time again. So to help me dress to my preferred silhouettes and ease my wintertime layering woes, I asked two of my favourite fashion experts, freelance fashion writer and stylist Cat Forsyth and stylist Sabrina Raso, for their valuable stylistic insight.
When it comes to wintertime layering, Cat says she exercises her freedom as a freelancer and “mixes it up between trackies, casual and a bit dressier, depending on what my day looks like and how I feel. At the moment, I’m loving skirts or dresses over pants – there’s nothing cooler than a kilt over ripped jeans.”
Sabrina admits that the cold season can cause repetition in our dressing and that “it’s so normal to go through periods of lacking inspiration” when the weather is crappy. To remedy this, she finds “looking through old runway videos or people watching in areas you love are some of the best ways to find that motivation again. In particular, Vivienne Westwood’s Fall 1993 runway is one of the most fun shows to take layering inspiration from.”
A cinched waist silhouette
Thick layers and bulky coats can make waistline-centric dressing difficult to achieve in the colder months. Where cropped tops, corsets and high-waisted pants draw the focus to the waistline, oftentimes winter-appropriate clothing disregards this area of the body completely for warmth’s sake. But achieving a cinched silhouette is not impossible, all it takes is a little finessing and some accessorising.
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To achieve a cinched shape during winter, Cat says she loves “to style a trench coat over winter layers and cinch it with a belt or some ribbon. I love the classic Audrey Hepburn silhouette, and a trench coat never fails!”
For Sabrina, the trick is to “keep it simple on the base with a body-tight thermal type long sleeve and straight long skirt. Then to accentuate the curves of the waist, wrap belts or string around the mid-torso. This creates attention at the waist without necessarily being roped into a corset all day. Then [I] might pair it with a cropped jumper, blazer or jacket further exposing the mid of the body.”
Drop waists, asymmetrical hems and dresses over pants
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For Sabrina, “drop waists, layered straight ’fits and asymmetrical hems” are go-to’s when it comes to winter layering. Taking inspiration from Maison Margiela’s 1999 collection or Yohji Yamamoto’s 2000 collection, she interprets this look by pairing an “asymmetrical longline dress [with] trousers underneath and buckled hardware boots” with the option of adding a “simple high neck top for an added layer underneath and either a faux fur long coat or structured jacket”.
Throwing it back to the layering techniques of the early 2000s, Cat says “a long-ish dress over pants can look really chic if styled well. I love combining feminine, colourful dresses with chic black pants for something a bit unexpected.”
An oversized or boxy silhouette
An oversized or boxy silhouette is arguably the most doable and on-trend of all the silhouettes when it comes to winter layering. For Cat, a strong outer layer is the key to feeling hot and powerful when wearing this silhouette. “I have two trench coats, both of which I thrifted, which are massively oversized. The boxy shoulder pads are so chic, and I love how these simple-but-elegant coats add to an outfit,” she says.
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When it comes to warming winter layers, Sabrina says an oversized style is her go-to. Starting with “an oversized men’s shirt, if [it’s a] short sleeve then wearing another contrasting, long sleeve shirt underneath” then adding “a pair of men’s straight leg suit trousers and Nike Tabis, possibly even adding a wide hem skirt on top too. It’s definitely the comfiest silhouette and I find it fun to layer until it doesn’t really make sense,” she tells me.
A peplum silhouette
In the same family as the cinched waist, a peplum silhouette can be a difficult one to execute. Not seen as often in contemporary styling scenarios as the previous silhouettes, Sabrina says she “can appreciate the silhouette and its history, not to mention the way it’s been reimagined into more recent fashion through designers like Vivienne Westwood with her peplum silhouette suits”.
To re-imagine this style in a modern, winter-appropriate way, Sabrina says she would begin “with a straight suit with a peplum waist, buttoning the suit jacket up and then tucking the straight leg trousers into some knee-high boots with an elongated toe. I adore vintage arm garters and [they] could be fun worn over the suit jacket with the look. I’m definitely going for a pirate-type aesthetic if I’m doing a peplum fit.”
For more advice on winter layering, head here.
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