I tried ‘clothes sandwiching’ to see if it would make my mornings easier

Is this the recipe for a great outfit?

I recently stumbled across ‘clothes sandwiching’ on TikTok. I love a good sandwich, but I’m more of a cheese and tomato kinda gal. I can’t say I’d ever considered clothing as an ingredient. But apparently, you can make your mornings easier with ‘clothes sandwiching’ – without having to bring out the cutting board.

The concept is simple – it’s about putting outfits together as you would a sandwich. As British style influencer Lydia Tomlinson put it, “If you think about a sandwich – it has the bread at the top, the bread at the bottom and something different in the middle. This in turn creates a balanced effect to the sandwich. The same rules can be applied to your outfits”.

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It’s a styling hack that centres around balancing out your outfit, based on the colour or ‘weight’ of the pieces (measured by colour, fabric weight or proportions). It’s about coordinating the pieces on your top and bottom half (eg. top and shoes), with a contrasting item or items in the middle. Essentially, it’s an easy way to make an outfit look put together and complete.

I’m a creature of habit when it comes to getting dressed. I wear the same jewellery year-round, and I have always been a jeans and T-shirt devotee at heart. But I’ve recently found myself increasingly interested in fashion and have started curating my own little collection of pieces I love, but have no idea how to wear. So I thought I’d give sandwich dressing a go, challenging myself to seven days of recipe-based outfits.

Day one

Balancing full-time uni with freelance work has, among many things, taught me when I’m feeling overwhelmed, it’s most productive to be out of the house in something other than trackies. So once a week, I take myself on a working date to a local cafe and spend a few hours feeling both cute and on top of things.

I didn’t want to stray too far from my default for day one, so I dressed myself up with an oversized blazer and added a headband to sandwich everything together. The tee might’ve been enough to match the shoes, but I thought the dark blazer took away from the balance – a headband felt like the answer.

Day two

On day two I had classes and a study session at the library, so I required something comfy and practical. I really wanted to wear these green pants, so used them as my sandwich filling. I kept it pretty basic for a day that was mostly going to see me sitting at various desks, but the chunky sandals made me feel like I’d put a little extra thought in.

The sandals created the perfect opportunity for a sandwich with a black tank and tote. I usually use a cream-coloured bag for uni, but changing to black for the sandwich made far more of a difference than I anticipated in feeling like the look was complete.

Day three

For a day of errands and classes I was overdressed, but I loved this fit. Once I was out and about, the extra factor didn’t even cross my mind. I’m obsessed with these boots but struggle to style them so have only worn them once, which makes me feel a little ill if we’re looking at their cost per wear.

I searched my wardrobe for something to sandwich them with and while not a perfect colour match, this jacket felt close enough. It also complimented the heaviness of the boots. I’m not sure if the addition of black sunnies broke the rules of sandwiching but they made me feel very chic, so I will not be investigating further.

Day four

I’d been struggling to style this thrifted shirt for months. I’d mostly tried it with white and it never felt right – but as one of my fashion-wise girlfriends pointed out, it’s a top that works best with black. I gave it a go and I will now be wearing this anywhere and everywhere I can. I topped this one off with a little black bag for drinks with the girls, and chunky glasses to bring it all together. I couldn’t have been more excited to give the shirt the debut it deserved.

Day five

A year ago, a maxi skirt would have been so far out of my comfort zone. Now that I’m in my fashion girlie era, I’m very much into a simple maxi. For date night, I paired this one with my favourite maroon tee and a bigger black bag to compliment the bottom-heavy skirt and boots. This sandwich feels ridiculously simple and maybe a little obvious in terms of its ingredients, but sometimes you really do need a recipe to spell it out for you.

Day six

I felt like the thrift gods were looking down on me the day I found these boots. But – you guessed it – I’ve never worn them. They just always felt a bit oddly placed with my other clothes. With the sandwich in mind, I headed for my wardrobe and found this jacket to wear for a pub dinner and drinks. How hadn’t I noticed this perfect match before? Again, I had all the ingredients. but no recipe to follow. I kept the filling very plain and this sandwich quickly became one of my faves.

Day seven

This was a very casual family dinner occasion, but I still wanted to honour the sandwich. I revisited sneakers for this one but resisted jeans and a T-shirt to create a very cute and comfy little ensemble. It was perfect for a wholesome dinner. I imagine this sandwich to be a little like my beloved cheese and tomato, comforting and forever reliable at getting the job done.

At the end of this experiment, I realised I’d had a whole week of feeling consistently cute, with little to no effort. Sandwich dressing gave me something to work off, I just had to pick one piece and let the theory do the rest. If your wardrobe is a little more colourful than mine, it may not work as well. The premise of the matching top and bottom means you’re often relying on your shoes, so sandwiching bright and bold pieces may prove a little more difficult.

I’m going to keep sandwiching my way through my wardrobe, but I don’t think it’ll be a rule for every outfit. It doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for creativity or allow for a monochrome moment, but it does ensure I feel put together and dressed for success, whether I’m grinding through assignments or heading out for cocktails.

For more on making the most out of your wardrobe, head here.