The case for wearing your clothes the ‘wrong’ way

Thinking outside the box.

Getting dressed every day can feel like hard work. Some mornings it can feel like I’ve already cycled through every combination under the sun. Through trial and error, I’ve realised that the solution rarely lies in panic-buying. Instead, getting a little more creative with your approach is far more fruitful.

One tried-and-tested way to do this is by styling your clothing (and accessories) not as they were intended. This could be as haphazard as slinging a sweater around your neck or it might lean a little more experimental, like turning a top into a tutu. Whether it’s front to back or upside down, the options are as endless as your imagination.

Anything can be a skirt

My first venture into repurposing clothing was with a strapless Deiji Studios dress. I’d had a midi-skirt on my wish list, but after playing around, I found it worked just as well (if not better) pulled down onto my hips. Not only did it mean I still had a lightweight summer dress on hand, but the longer length felt better suited to work and paired nicely with a knit in cooler months.

For Melbourne-based model and FJ style muse, Dunya Mudesir, being plus-sized has often required a level of creative thinking. “I use clothes as a tool to express myself and utilising my wardrobe to its fullest capacity is the most satisfying and sustainable way to achieve this,” she explains.

Rather than being discouraged by an ill-fitting top she picked up at Savers, Dunya pinned the neck and attached it to a pair of bike shorts. “I was left with a beautiful makeshift tutu skirt,” she says.

And any skirt can be a dress

Writer and podcast host Maggie Zhou is another frequent source of inspiration when it comes to wearing clothing in non-traditional ways and her waterfall of skirts is as creative as it gets.

“A lot of my clothes fluctuate in size, which can be very beneficial in something like this, where you want something a little bit more oversized, or you want something to be tighter to sort of sit at different points for your waist and hips,” she tells us. In this case, her advice is to play around with different lengths and weights to get a feel for what order works best.

In this version worn recently at Copenhagen Fashion Week, her top layer is a mini skirt from Melbourne label Variety Hour, while the rest are secondhand. “I like this unexpected styling moment because it doesn’t require sewing or any permanent changes to garments.”

Experimenting on top

“I’ll often wear T-shirts or long-sleeved tops around the ‘wrong way’,” FJ’s Senior Editor, Lara Daly, tells me. “Even wearing a ballet-style wrap-around cardigan backwards can look nice, so you have a deep V at the back and a boatneck at the front.”

“It changes the shape just enough to make the piece feel new and gives the back of your outfit an interesting detail,” Jillian Arcenas, FJ’s Content and Production Coordinator, adds.

Another option is wearing your pyjamas beyond the boundaries of your bedroom. As Lara says, vintage silk slips and camisoles make for excellent going-out tops (à la Jenna Rink). “There was a girl a few years ahead of me in high school who would wear her pink Peter Alexander nightgown with a big pink ribbon at the front to school as a mini dress. I thought she was the coolest.”

Be free with your accessories

Belts are another easy yet effective way to break up and add a point of interest to your outfit – and the chunkier the better. When taking us through her Week in Work Outfits, fashion stylist and lecturer Thea Basiliou noted that she often repurposes a black slip skirt by twisting it into a thick, cummerbund belt.

For an alternative, vintage boutique PDA Shop make a convincing case for tying a fringe scarf around your waist (as pictured below), or I often repurpose a long, beaded necklace into a slinky belt.

And, if all else fails, writer Daniel Mizzi prefers to go foraging. Though a boutonnière is traditionally pinned to the lapel of a suit jacket for formal occasions like weddings, his advice is to pluck a flower and fasten it to a baby T-shirt or thread it through belt loops with a metre of ribbon.

“A fresh orchid, pinned to my chest, begins the evening alive. Through the night, it bruises against my body, loses petals and wilts alongside me. By morning, it hangs limp and lifeless, crushed under the weight of a good time,” he says. “I order mine from Vasette, Babylon or Pollon, simply to give an ordinary night something to be remembered by.”

Find more creative approaches to styling here.